So I think a lot about how to solve the root problems that end up spiraling out of control... for example, if minimum wage would increase, does that actually do anything to help people with their bills? Not at all, as we know there will always be managers trying to pay the least possible, even in the realm of impact. (For example, average VC fund where I live in Israel pays their investor relations manager ~$30,000/year...and standard of living is still high, so half your money goes to rent..)
If healthcare is universal, does that solve many problems? In many cases, to a certain degree, but white-collar people can still live stressful lives.
(advanced) Education, ehhh, not a subject to discuss because it's all relative.. what matters most is inspiration and the people you team up with anyways.. (however I do envision everyone being able to pursue advanced degrees in my nearest future)..
So what about housing? Prices still increase, renting/buying, it definitely pushes white-collar people to live stressful lives (from teachers, to startups, to NPOs & sales), or to push them to live in the periphery, so expect 1-2 hour commutes to work, or to move to another city/country all together (if even possible). Let alone, people at the bottom of the pyramid will be stuck at the bottom...
Now there are opportunity zones, which who knows if it will help the people living in them, because as gentrification has happened, it still doesn't really say the investors will actually lower the rents of where the people are living, nor does it really help them improve their situation.. unless the equity was shared a little.. or forget a little, unless it was complete win-win for both parties.
So the solution is rent-to-own (I call it Rent2Deposit2own, R2D2own [just made this up right now]), transferable via a, yes I'm going to say it, blockchain, network. This solution I believe is a universal solution until the time we will have Star Trek-style world peace, with 3d replicating food and growing cleanmeat in every 1/10th building. Why?
On the base level, I have only thought so far as how to help people at the bottom of the pyramid purchase their first home/rent it out and purchase a second.. No longer do you waste half your money on rent, you are investing in it to purchase your future home. It gives you an incentive to repair the place yourself, as you are investing in it, and thus keeping the place looking great. This is stored and added to your record book to be traded in for your future abode. This saves the landlord time, creates more responsibility and entrepreneurship upbringing, as well as making people a little more smart (unless they still outsource the work themselves, was just giving an example for people living at the bottom of the pyramid)
Now, say you get another job in another city, but of course most rent-to-own contracts say you leave the place, you lose the contract. And you can't rent it out, or let a family member live there, etc. This is rectified by being a network of properties that are all abiding by the same rules. An impact investor who purchases several apartment buildings has nothing to lose as their is no locked-in-contract, with them potentially losing money in the long term. Of course if they were a "true" impact investor, they would keep rent low to begin with and just expect 2% returns. But there aren't many of those really out there.
And blockchain because of transparency and immutable ledger... let everyone in the world see what someone is paying for their building, then others can say whether they are being ripped off, or that no billionaire is renting a shack in the desert to their son for so much money, just so they can rip others off on the network, etc.
Now you have spent $40,000 after 6 years, and the apartment you live in to purchase costs $100k, yes you can get a loan.. now, but there's really no rush. Yes no rush to buy a home, because you are investing anyways. No stress here. Or you could do what many investors do and take loans and buy another apartment on the other side of town that costs only $50k, and is in the same network, let it be... who knows...
But with this in mind, I presume people will be saving at least 33% of their long-term income, be less stressed, perhaps have more of a community, and ensure their increased wealth.
Then they can focus on other parts of their life more, like improving their education, their health, get into politics more, volunteer etc.
Looking forward to hear your thoughts.
I think it's kind of ridiculous, goes back to the emotional aspect of philanthropy in people will donate to something that makes them feel good instead of doing the biggest bang with their buck. Like Anand talks about..
Donating to distributing drugs in Africa is one such thing. You could impact invest in an application that sends people in Africa a reminder to take a TB shot, and save millions of lives... but Prevention is exponentially better. Stop donating money sending americans on trips to africa for 'aid', just build better homes and infrastructure there, you solve many problems at once.
But if we can solve poverty in developed countries, there is just so much more money available for them to also become donors as well. Not even discussing 'poverty', lets just imagine if the 80% of people in the US who are living paycheck to paycheck, could loosen the amount of debt they have (which is mostly due to real estate). They wouldn't then all of a sudden take on more debt by buying more assets, they would save up. They would not have to work multiple jobs. They would volunteer, and donate.
Of the 100 million 'near relative poverty' in the US, 43 million are yes below poverty lines.
Just imagine if we had 100 million people now who were making good money, didn't waste half their income on rent, could now also get a better education, learn about causes, and join us in donating (or impact investing) to the best cause around the world, for prevention.
It would be exponential. More so than half the causes here. And it's systematic change that doesn't require a massive shift in politics. There are already opportunity zones, but they are still in the same field of extracting money. They aren't creating wealth for low-medium income populations. This is systematic change that can be done by investing.