Not everyone can be rich but at most, you don't retire broke. I really found this hilarious video on Youtube. It made me laugh harder than viewing a comedy movie. There are so many animations used and it's becoming ridiculous. I wrote about financial gurus who have claims that are too good to be true. In the world of investment, if the claim's too good to be true then you ought to reject it outright. It's like how cryptocurrency billionaires may just be paid to promote a scam after all. They might just be out there in some vicious networking scheme where scammers join in to scam others.
This reminds me of childhood stupidity. I guess it's very easy to fall for unbelievable stories as a child. I remembered how a classmate of mine (who now has a good career) once stupidly said, "So and so is richer because he has more nice stuff." Thankfully, his thinking patterns changed. Such wasn't the case with another person (with the name first name) who bragged he was rich because he had a lot of nice stuff. I remembered feeling poor because my parents didn't give me everything the cooler kids had. I felt outclassed and kept falling into fits of rage.
In the social media age, it's very easy to make up a story, right? I usually keep my Instagram private. I still like to use Instagram. Sadly, some people want to make it look like their lives are so much better than they are. It's very easy to set up a fake identity these days. It's very easy to say, "Oh I got so rich! Take a look at the photos!" Some pictures are easily edited. Photo edits can be easy to spot. What can't be so easy to spot is when a person starts becoming that irritating and very arrogant fake influencer.
I guess they never outgrew the bragging stage as a child. It's very easy to brag you live in a palace as a child. It's very easy to make up toys that never exist. I can rant on and on about how, we, as children lied over and over, just for fun. Sadly, some adults do the same thing and then hypocritically punish their children for lying to them. These days, you can get a lot of fake millionaires. It already almost reminds me of that Cebuano sitcom called Milyonaryong Mini or Fake Millionnaire.
I'll give an example of a stupid stunt I could do. I remembered I had a classmate who bragged he had PHP one million last Christmas and that his uncle was a co-owner of Duty-Free. However, it was far from the truth. Today, I could really start lying that I own Museo Sugbo which I don't own. I could go there, take pictures, have myself pictured, and say that it was all funded by me. Maybe, people who hardly know me can say, "Oh look! He's so rich!" I could then take a picture of somebody's Mercedes and say it's mine. I could then take a picture of somebody's building and say it's mine. It's very easy to pull that stunt to look believable, right?
I could remember lectures from some people on how someone's wealth isn't determined by their lifestyle but by how much money they saved and earned. I could have a lot of expensive stuff and be buried in debt. There's even the saying don't buy an expensive bag with no money in it. Buy a cheap bag and have a lot of money in it. Some people may have luxurious lifestyles but they're practically buried in debt. Someone I know who lived a luxurious lifestyle got abandoned by potential partners. Some people who are poor remain poor because they just want to impress others.
What can happen is that the fake millionaire can get exposed sooner or later. The fake millionaire got fired from the job for claiming they owned their workplace. People who invested in this fake millionaire are soon bound to want their money back. People who claim to have gotten rich so fast may have very little money in reality. They may start hosting seminars but the only money they got was through scamming others. They can even get defensive or make up fanciful stories if I demand for evidence of their so-called wealth.
Then I realized that real life must be silent. I should keep quiet about how much money I really have. Right now, I'm not exactly comfortably retired. I wish schools taught us how to invest. It's a good thing though that I'm invested and still investing. I should be quiet regardless of how much money I have. I have no intention to retire comfortably but I have no intention to be broke either.