Dumb Luck Research Paper

Growing up I was not taught the value of hard work. I thought dumb luck and chance were all you could rely on to make ends meet. My parents inherited their livelihood and lived like it was guaranteed. This worked for them until my grandmother cut my father off. Attempting to maintain their standard of living without an income quickly led to bankruptcy, which led to divorce. My mother received full custody of my two sisters and myself, and we ceased all contact with my father’s side of the family.
Without my father’s income, my mother worked various jobs to differing degrees of success, but as soon as things began to go well she would leave her job to follow some get-rich-quick scheme she concocted. Without a steady income, she would not pay the electricity for months, and we would live without it for weeks. She would not pay the garbage service, and the city would refuse to take our …show more content…
I excelled in classes I was interested in but would just hope for the best and assume I would get by in the others. Often I was enrolled in multiple honors courses and remedial courses simultaneously. I wasn’t concerned, however; college already seemed off the table due to financial considerations. Although it didn’t work for my sisters, this approach worked for me. It seemed that dumb luck and chance managed to get me through high school.
After graduation, I had no understanding of how personal finances worked and wound up immersed in credit card debt, which brought back memories of my parent’s bankruptcy. Relying on dumb luck and chance to make it wasn’t going to be enough; I was going to have to work if I didn’t want my adult life to mirror my childhood. I managed to get hired at Starbucks. The possibilities that came with the job seemed endless. With a steady income, I paid off my debt. I also had access to insurance and other benefits. I had already surpassed my family in terms of achievement, but I knew that I could do