3 ms·

Too true. This is why lottery tickets are called 'poor people savings'. It's especially bad in Mexican communities. I've seen so many buy them, scratch them at

Too true. This is why lottery tickets are called 'poor people savings'. It's especially bad in Mexican communities. I've seen so many buy them, scratch them at the counter, and go back for more. Sometimes they don't even play the 'game' they just scratch the barcode and scan them. No method, just hope. You can see the fever in the eyes sometimes, no different than casino slot pullers, or a drug addict getting a fix. Some of my family members (on the mexican side) spend insane amounts, $20/card and lost constantly. Easily spending thousands but all they seem to remember are the times they won $20-200. I've thought about this a lot, and think a better idea would be for people to pool money together, and using a program to choose several winners a day. once you've won you can't again for X days. once you've paid so much without a win you're guaranteed $x or something. I think it's along the lines of what insurance was supposed to be in theory. Without admin costs and some random people leeching money from the top (C-suites) maybe it'd work better.

lmwnshn 4y ago
I think you're thinking of a ROSCA [0], e.g., from Poor Economics [1], > In Africa, the most popular instruments are rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCAs) - more commonly known as "merry-go-rounds" in English-speaking Africa and as tontines in Francophone countries. ROSCA members meet at regular intervals, and all deposit the same amount of money into a common pot at every meeting. Each time, on a rotating basis, one member gets the whole pot. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotating_savings_and_credit_association https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotating_savings_and_credit_as... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_Economics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_Economics
- effingwewt 4y ago
  Yes! I'm actually pretty stoked to find out it'd been done! It mentions tons of users in Brazil but not really whether it's successful. Maybe something like that truly could be tried here. Of course it mentions trust and social connections being imperative and I feel we now have a glaring lack of those hwre in the US :(
- charlie0 4y ago
  Yeah, it's basically an interest free loan for all participants in it, opportunity cost notwithstanding.

lmwnshn 4y ago

I think you're thinking of a ROSCA [0], e.g., from Poor Economics [1], > In Africa, the most popular instruments are rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCAs) - more commonly known as "merry-go-rounds" in English-speaking Africa and as tontines in Francophone countries. ROSCA members meet at regular intervals, and all deposit the same amount of money into a common pot at every meeting. Each time, on a rotating basis, one member gets the whole pot. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotating_savings_and_credit_association https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotating_savings_and_credit_as... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_Economics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_Economics

effingwewt 4y ago
Yes! I'm actually pretty stoked to find out it'd been done! It mentions tons of users in Brazil but not really whether it's successful. Maybe something like that truly could be tried here. Of course it mentions trust and social connections being imperative and I feel we now have a glaring lack of those hwre in the US :(
charlie0 4y ago
Yeah, it's basically an interest free loan for all participants in it, opportunity cost notwithstanding.