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Autism and wealth

Geordie

Geordie

Geordie
I think with wealth, autistic people can do a lot more things.

With money, people with ASD can have the financial freedom to pursue their dreams, as much or as little as they want. In this way, they will experience less disappointment than other less well-off autistic people.


But we know too much of a good thing may not be good...

So do you think wealth can help or harm autistic people?
 
I think that many autistic people would benefit from having a little wealth. Money is power, like it or not. I have had several dreams and plans derailed for lack of money, so I have strong feelings about it.

Lately I have been hearing an ad on the radio that was put out by three key figures in the American Civil Rights Movement. The ad talks about how "we" (African-Americans) have succeeded in getting civil rights, "but what we never learned is money, where to get it, how to use it, how to save it." It then gives a telephone number and a website on where to get this information. I have been thinking of contacting them because this is something EVERYONE needs to know, and the people who need this information the most are often the ones who never get it.

I've been looking at houses and talking to banks and believe me, it is quite interesting to see the actual house of cards that the US economy is built on in action. It seems banks have learned absolutely nothing from the financial crash of 2008. I had one person confidently assure me that I could get a loan for five times my annual income. I said to him, are you on drugs? The sad thing is, they would have loaned me that money. They don't care. Another thing is that the economy in the US (I don't know about other countries) is based on phantom wealth. That is they don't take into consideration what you actually take home in pay (net) but your pay before all the taxes and benefits have been taken out (gross). I could go on but the point is financial education is very important because there are all kinds of people out there who think nothing of taking advantage of you.
 
Spinning Compass said:
I've been looking at houses and talking to banks and believe me, it is quite interesting to see the actual house of cards that the US economy is built on in action. It seems banks have learned absolutely nothing from the financial crash of 2008. I had one person confidently assure me that I could get a loan for five times my annual income. I said to him, are you on drugs? The sad thing is, they would have loaned me that money. They don't care. Another thing is that the economy in the US (I don't know about other countries) is based on phantom wealth. That is they don't take into consideration what you actually take home in pay (net) but your pay before all the taxes and benefits have been taken out (gross). I could go on but the point is financial education is very important because there are all kinds of people out there who think nothing of taking advantage of you.
Click to expand...

Maybe another area where the world could use a little bit more of that aspie sense of honesty and fair play? I'm currently reading a book that came out a few months ago called Business for Aspies that has a part in which the author speculates that if a few more aspies had been working at Enron, their disinclination to play the "go along to get along" game might have averted (or at least limited) that disaster.

If someone hasn't written it already, we could probably use a good book on financial literacy for aspies. Regardless of their intelligence level, that's something that might be a somewhat difficult area for some aspies due to the issues that aspies often have with "executive function" (in other words, top-level management of mental processes).
 
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fyi, I am currently studying finance, and I am looking for opportunities to help whenever I have them.

It's hard with executive function issues, but hey, we have other strengths.
 
I have very little desire for anything, except for my love of beef jerky and sugar-free red bull. So personally, I'd posit that my health is inversely proportional to my wealth.

In fact, there's probably a magical salary point at which my blood would turn completely crystalline from the excess sodium!
 
Wealth is always good, overabundance is not. Especially so with HFAs, my first plan of action would be to indulge in my interests and 'upgrade' (don't think I need to explain that). I would then probably think about being a full time student - no need for a job to finance anything anymore right?

Discipline is needed with wealth and TBH I'm sort of lacking in that area. A bit of wealth is fine by my standards, but I can make do without it as well. I'm not planning to be the next millionaire, but oh the things I could do...
 
Urgh yes, if I'm a multi-millionaire with net assets over 15, 20 million US$, I'd continue my studies but follow up with studies in Communications in another Uni. (Am currently doing Accounting) And I'll buy a condominium unit down the road and live there.
 
Wealth is always a good thing to have.....but that I think whether it's "good" or "bad" depends on the person who owns it and whether he/she uses it well.

Just like practically every good thing, wealth can be abused. You can mismanage it, like Spinning Compass and IcontainMultitudes said. And like what Jesus said, money by itself isn't bad, but love of money (ie greed) is bad. You can see lots of both around today. Corruption, cheating, and a lot of bad things happen just for the sake of getting more money.

Personally for me, being somewhere in the spectrum has made managing my spending habits or what little "wealth" I have easier. I'm less affected by the need to keep up appearances, have little interest in many mainstream stuff, plus my hobby doesn't take up much money either so my spending is already considerably less than many of my peers who earn the same. I'm thankful for not having everything because it has trained me to decide what is important (differentiating between need and want) and make the most of what resources I have instead of just thinking of buying more and more stuff.

(I know money is an issue for many Aspies here who either got retrenched recently or were unable to find work, so at least I'm thankful I have a job at the moment.)
 
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