Question: Which money messages did you absorb as a kid?

Reader,

I recently asked on Twitter whether the rich have access to better investments.

Here are some of the answers I got:

• “Sometimes it’s who you know, not what you know”
• “How about art investments, real estate investments, etc.? It’s not only about the stock market”
• “Rich people have more money so they have access to better investments because they have more money to invest”
• “More money = more access”
• “Accredited investors definitely have access to more investments. I’d take 500 startups > S&P 500 any day”
• “Accredited investors get the best investments when you are well connected”

There are 2 lessons from this:

1. Be careful who you take advice from 
2. In most of life, the more money you have, the better quality you can get: food, travel, housing. But in personal finance—with very few exceptions—it’s not true. This is EXTREMELY hard for people to believe (see lesson #1)

Personal finance is one of the rare areas of life where someone earning $35,000 and someone earning $1 million have access to the same winning strategies. Pick a low-cost index fund, automate, and move on with life. You can read the entire thread here.

OK, so avoid taking financial advice from ill-informed people who spend their Thursday afternoons commenting on Twitter. Check.

But what about some less obvious places where we hear these invisible money messages? What about growing up at home?

Most people absorb their money beliefs from their parents. 

What would it be like to grow up in a house where you heard, over and over again:

“We can’t afford that”

Or...

As kids, we absorb these messages as TRUTH — truths that can run so deep that, after a while, we don’t even question them.

I want to hear from you: What are some invisible money messages you absorbed as a kid?

Please reply to this email (I read every one) and tell me 3 money messages you learned.

P.S. I'll share some of my own in tomorrow’s email!