Finance, Forex and Investments

Are we living a rat race?

First off, I'm not sure about the life you guys live, but I will tell you, in a nutshell, about the things I have come across so far. It seems as though we're all running around racing to live an "ideal life". Let me elaborate. Right now, I'm a high school student, and I feel my life is not really going anywhere. Everywhere I come across pressure to do well in school and get into a good college. My GPA for the honors curriculum is around 3.84, so I'm not whining because I'm stupid. I just don't find school that useful, or at least the majority of what we learn is crap. This is a good example of the 80/20 rule, 20 percent of what I learn will actually be utilized in the "real world", while the rest is just a waste of my time. Back to the topic, everyone around me is pressuring me to get a good SAT score and get into an Ivy League school. I see everyone rushing to get good grades and have an adequate amount of extracurriculars so they will be accepted to a good college. My guidance counselor, parents, relatives, teachers, and society all feel that I should become the epitome of a prospective college student, so they'll always want to push me so I can go to a good college. My family adds even more pressure to this. My dad has even laid out what school I'm going to go to, what I'm going to major in, and what my job will be. I just hate it! It just gets annoying when my dad tells everyone where I'm going to school for my undergrad and master's. He also tells me that after college, I'm supposed to go work for some corporation before I decide to open my own investment/hedge fund, and somehow become a billionaire while doing all of this. When I tell my dad I want to become an entrepreneur, he tells me to become a stock broker. Even though I know he has the best interests in mind, I do not want to follow this road. For example, I'm not a very good trader. I've lost around 11,000 dollars over the course of a few months in this economic downturn. It would really suck if I have to go and possibly lose other people's money. Don't get me wrong, I have found what is best for me. I am an excellent investor, in fact most of my stock picks could have been profitable if I had kept them for a couple more months, but I'm a horrible trader. That's where I lost most of my money. Anyways, over the course of these months, I have found sitting and looking at a computer is quite tedious and boring. Probably the thing that irritates me the most is that my dad has already engraved in his mind of what I'm supposed to do. Furthermore, my parents have already put a damper on my personal life. Due to Indian culture and society, I'm not supposed to have a girlfriend or even date. They have already decided that they are going to pick my wife out, which can be ONLY indian, and they suggested that I get married when I'm 25 years old. I have no intentions to get married when I'm 25 or not be able to love someone because of the color of their skin (My parents keep telling me that if I marry a Caucasian woman, she will divorce me and take my money. Until now, that was the only argument that can be plausible). When I decided to ask why I have to do what society expects of me, my family tells me that I have to do as I'm told. Some of my family members told me that having a girlfriend is "nasty" and they keep asking me about what other indians will think of me if they find out that I had a girlfriend. They all act like it's the end of the world if I decide to march to the beat of my own drummer. I'm a teenager, and I just want to have fun, but my family thinks that living a teenager lifestyle (dating and relationships) is almost satanic. They feel as though I'm going to embarrass the family if I start dating (The Indian culture puts emphasis on society rather than the individual, so you have to do what society want you to do, and not what you want to do) On another note, when I told my dad I won't be ready to settle down until I'm around 35, he said you have to settle down quickly so you can have children. I'm mean, seriously, I'm only 15 and he already telling stuff I don't want or need to hear. To put everything shortly, my family wants me to go to a good college, get a good job, get married, have children, take care of my parents, retire, and die. To me this is really sad, as I'm already feeling that I'm part of the rat race we're all supposed to run in. I want to be able to go to a college and pick a major where I'll be happy, have a girlfriend and marry whoever and whenever I want, and follow my dreams. I want to open a music record label, start a college, and also open an automobile company. There are people that say that this is very impractical and tell me to become a doctor or an engineer, and make a "practical" living for the rest of my life, but my determination and drive will never let me fall short of my dreams. I'm determined to become financially independent and not work for anyone except myself. My overall goal is to

Public Comments

1. You parent's only have your best interests at heart!...but I can understand how they come across as controlling. You sound like a very smart kid so I think it will all work out in the end. Just be grateful your parents arent deadbeat junkies. I have Indian friends and their parents sound the same too...I think it's something to do with Indian Culture because your parents have come from a very poor country and they dont want you to go thru that!