How Success Is Measured in America and Assumptions About Wealth

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How Success is measured in America and Assumptions about Wealth

                   Success refers to what human beings have a desire to settle towards. The word success is very powerful and has a very rich meaning. It involves the attainment of goals and other measures of what the modern society deems to be a success. Success can have a lot of emotion to it. It is accompanied by growth, learning and professional development. Americans have developed their own standards on how success can be measured which may not necessarily be comparable to measures used by people elsewhere in the world.

                    A person is deemed successful when they go through the three paths which lead to a happy life. These paths are a good life, the pleasant life, and the meaningful life. A pleasant life involves having unlimited pleasures in life and having the resources to amplify those pleasures. A good life involves re-crafting your friendships, work, leisure, and love life to utilize your strengths to the maximum and spend time in the values you possess to attain a certain balance in your life. On the other hand, a meaningful life entails utilizing your strengths to serve something that is much bigger than yourself (Sachs 65). While in pursuit of happiness you have to make your choices and actions count. You can achieve this easily by making the right decisions for the person you want to become, and the kind of experiences you create in your life. You have to offer your best whenever your best is what is required of you. It may also come down to sharing the exceptional gifts you possess with the world, to be more specific, your world. This will be crucial in overcoming the daily tribulations and trials that you encounter in your life. Another proven way to add meaning to your life is the identification of a good cause that you believe in and stick to it. These three paths that lead to happiness can be used as a measure of success. After all, one can only be truly happy when he is satisfied with what they have achieved in life.

                    The credit card debt is also a major way in which success is measured in America. A lot of finances that families are supposed to be saving or investing to have a decent future end up in the hands of the countless credit card companies. These companies charge absurdly high-interest rates and consequently require the borrowers to pay back over a long period of time. This greatly increases the cost of everything they buy hence they end up failing to make any decent progress. Most Americans end up burdened by their credit cards for the rest of their lives. Data from the Federal Reserve shows that an average American household carries a substantial credit card debt of not less than $15, 000 (Furchtgott-Roth 68). In such regard, a person who carries credit card debts cannot be considered to be successful.  Such people struggle with their finances and cannot be able to afford some of the luxuries and leisure that other people with unlimited finances are able to enjoy. A limited number of people are lucky enough to overcome such debt. Overcoming such debts is only the first step towards financial freedom and success in life.

                 Americans also like to use economic equality as a measure of success. Economic equality happens when there is a fair apportionment of goods and services among the diverse people in an economy (Krugman 585). In most circumstances, economic inequalities have resulted in other people becoming rich and successful while others are left behind. “ Between 1979 and 2006, the top tax rate on earned income was cut in half; the tax rate on capital gains was cut almost as much; the tax rate on corporate profits fell by more than a quarter” (Krugman 595). This means that the lower income earners are taxed more to cover the tax cuts on the rich. This has proven to be a high mountain to climb for lower income earners hence their chances of success become even slimmer. In effect, a fraction of people is considered highly successful while others can barely afford to be financially independent. In places around the world where there is economic equality, the gap between the rich and the poor is minimal. Such countries can be considered successful because its people have equal opportunities. Therefore, economic equality is a measure of success because an economy cannot be considered successful unless all her people are moving in the right financial direction.

                Profitable investment ventures have often been used as a measure of success in America. Such investment ventures are what forms part of the net worth of an individual. The net worth is the complete measure of the wealth of a person. It comprises what you are left with when you use everything you own to pay all of your debts (Sachs 45). It is important to have profitable investments because they contribute to your net worth. Some of the net income from the investments can be used to offset debts. Investments may range from company shares, Personal businesses, real estate ownership, and partnerships. However, sometimes the net worth may vary with income, age and many other factors (Sachs 46). For instance, a negative net worth is not so bad for the young family who has just bought their first house. This is because they have many more years ahead of them that they may utilize to improve their net worth. However, an older family needs a good cushion in investments that exceed the debts by a comfortable margin. When you are able to manage your investments efficiently, in a manner that they are self-sustainable, you may be deemed to be successful in America.

                Additionally, many Americans have often used a good education as a measure of the success of a person. It enables one to think for them-self and communicate in an intelligent manner. Persons without a decent education often have a challenge securing jobs. Their earning potential is also restricted because they find promotions in employment difficult to come by. Education may come through the academic curriculum or be ‘street smart’. Brandon King argues that there are some people who are deemed ‘street smart’ but are poor in school (King 121). Such people usually have a good chance at being successful in life because of their hands-on experience on real life matters. Schools and Colleges have failed to engage these ‘street smarts’ and try to introduce their knowledge into the school curriculum. King goes further to say, “Schools and colleges overlook the intellectual potential of street smarts: the fact that we associate those ‘street smarts’ with anti-intellectual concerns” (King 122). There is no greater education than self-education. It provides a perspective on certain things in our surrounding. It enables us to take a step back and examine our lives, then learn from experience. Therefore, an individual with a good education is considered more likely to be successful because they are able to make better choices in life.