Norway is good example how to manage wealth

[Lucius]

I have always heard great things about Norway, which seems like a great place. I remember it being on top of the Charts. People are happy and have made a lot of progress in terms of economics. Reading everything posted here makes it seem like a great place, and I hope every country can follow suit.

Things are great if you look only from a financial perspective, but people who fantasize about Norway as some kind of promised land should know that it is a specific society that is not easy to get into, with a climate that drives many foreigners out of the country within 1-2 years. For a long time, Norway was on the list of countries with a high rate of suicides, which many associated with a high rate of depression due to very long polar winters when there is actually no sun, but the polar night lasts.

Financially, the country is doing well thanks to its natural resources, low corruption rate and apparently honest and capable politicians - but there are few countries in the world where politicians work for the people and not for their personal interests. Norway is one of the exceptions, but life in that country is far from perfect. For those who are interested in more ->

The Downsides of Living in Norway

[LoyceV]

Things are great if you look only from a financial perspective, but people who fantasize about Norway as some kind of promised land should know that it is a specific society that is not easy to get into

That's what makes Norway so great: they look after their own interests. Norway's sovereign wealth fund is not meant for immigrants, it's meant for Norwegian citizens.

And there is of course living in Svalbard, where you don't need a Visa, but you'll have to leave once you run out of money. I must say I like the concept.

[Yaunfitda]

Another countries should make also the funds and get the people to manage wealth of others who knows how to make money from money to manage wealth of the people.

Norway is an interesting case study. They don't have that much going on but what they do have going on. Their leaderships have manage it superbly and they always their people first compared to many countries who either spend lavishly or all lost due to corruption. However, I'm a bit surprised they didn't lower their tax rate gradually since it's so high. Despite this, I would say that Norway won the oil lottery. I wish my country, Nigeria will learn a lesson here. Our politicians are so corrupt that even the oil revenue put into government treasuries is stolen by government officials. That leads to the underdevelopment as you rightly mentioned in your video.

Yeah, I think this was the case for them, during world war, or after, post-war and the political changes that was sweeping Europe that time, Norway stood it's ground and the people running the government really knows what to do.

And so they become totally independent and they have a lot of policies that prioritized their people so that their economy will keep going. And with that, they totally re-created everything and in the last 50 years, they really make a big changes and now becoming one of the wealthiest or at least many people wanted to live their because it's rich country and also very quiet.

[bitgolden]

Norway is an interesting case study. They don't have that much going on but what they do have going on. Their leaderships have manage it superbly and they always their people first compared to many countries who either spend lavishly or all lost due to corruption. However, I'm a bit surprised they didn't lower their tax rate gradually since it's so high. Despite this, I would say that Norway won the oil lottery. I wish my country, Nigeria will learn a lesson here. Our politicians are so corrupt that even the oil revenue put into government treasuries is stolen by government officials. That leads to the underdevelopment as you rightly mentioned in your video.

Yeah, I think this was the case for them, during world war, or after, post-war and the political changes that was sweeping Europe that time, Norway stood it's ground and the people running the government really knows what to do.

And so they become totally independent and they have a lot of policies that prioritized their people so that their economy will keep going. And with that, they totally re-created everything and in the last 50 years, they really make a big changes and now becoming one of the wealthiest or at least many people wanted to live their because it's rich country and also very quiet.

Also they actually did elected people who would do the best help for the government, and not the most popular person who says what they want to hear. That is the type of situation politics in everywhere else, in fact in most cases people are voting for people they dislike, because other side have people they hate, so it's clear that Norway and many other Scandinavian countries are shown as good examples of why they are run very well, its because if you are just a popular moron who lies all the way to election, people will just not vote for you.

Many politicians who are presidents right now, would not go beyond 1-5% range in Norway, because Norway only cares about development and actual action. Many people in politics grow from smaller positions, and do something good with their small position to get to a higher position, if they suck and corrupt then they don't win anymore.

If you keep that simple fact in mind, then you are going to end up with something quite good, and get a greater result in the end. I believe that Norway has done that, they realized that if they do the right thing and just run the nation good and well, they can keep their job and even improve, so politicians try to help as much as they can.

[Lucius]

Things are great if you look only from a financial perspective, but people who fantasize about Norway as some kind of promised land should know that it is a specific society that is not easy to get into

That's what makes Norway so great: they look after their own interests. Norway's sovereign wealth fund is not meant for immigrants, it's meant for Norwegian citizens.

Their voters have already refused to be part of the EU twice in the referendum, and research from a few years ago shows that over 70% of people in that country are still against it. When you look at what is happening in Sweden, it is clear that the Norwegians made the right move - they are not members of the EU, so they do not have to fulfill anything that is against their national interests, and at the same time they are members of the EEA (European Economic Area).

And there is of course living in Svalbard, where you don't need a Visa, but you'll have to leave once you run out of money. I must say I like the concept.

I didn't know about the concept, but it makes sense if things are set up that way - I guess it makes sure people behave responsibly. I did a little research about Svalbard (I haven't watched the video yet - it doesn't work on Tor), but as far as I can see, the polar night lasts for 4 months, children can't be born there, the mothers go to Norway, there are also no cemeteries - and it's forbidden to keep cats. Longyearbyen as the capital has about 2000 inhabitants, and they say that there are about 3000 polar bears on the island - not for those who don't like wildlife

[dezoel]

Things are great if you look only from a financial perspective, but people who fantasize about Norway as some kind of promised land should know that it is a specific society that is not easy to get into, with a climate that drives many foreigners out of the country within 1-2 years. For a long time, Norway was on the list of countries with a high rate of suicides, which many associated with a high rate of depression due to very long polar winters when there is actually no sun, but the polar night lasts.

Financially, the country is doing well thanks to its natural resources, low corruption rate and apparently honest and capable politicians - but there are few countries in the world where politicians work for the people and not for their personal interests. Norway is one of the exceptions, but life in that country is far from perfect. For those who are interested in more ->

The Downsides of Living in Norway

Nobody is saying Norway is a dreamland to live and be a citizen, would be better than 99% of the world that is for sure, but nobody is saying lets leave our nations and go to Norway, not that they would accept all of us, but if they said "here come to Norway and we will give you job and house" 100% wouldn't go, many would, but not ALL would, there will still be some people who will not, and after 10 years, even some of the ones who went would be back in their nation.

The point of this discussion is that they do know how to handle all of this, they are aware of how to handle money and that part is true. Norway has no corrupt officials, well even if they do have some small corruption it is not big enough that we know about it, while we know about it in every other nation.

And they constantly invest into their future and keep a decent life, which means that the part we are promoting here is the part about managing money, and they are good at it. You can argue about many things, you can constantly think about everything you want to think about them, there are many things they might be doing wrong, MANY things, we wouldn't know. The only thing we are saying they are good at, is managing money, and that stands true.

[DrBeer]

Norway is a great example of how you can live a quality life and have savings for the FUTURE !
Instead of plundering, hiding in corruption schemes, spending on war or terror, Norway has chosen the path of development instead of degradation. Norway is also an excellent example that natural resources can be used for the benefit of the entire population, not a bunch of kleptomaniacs in power.

Proper management of income, reasonable spending, investments - Norway gives a perfect example of reasonable use of money that is obtained at the expense of resources

[iBaba]

Countries can learn a lot from Norway.
And anyone can see that noreway leaders are smart and really have financial knowledge and with wall street mindset.
Norway's Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) was set up to ensure the sustainable use of revenues from the oil and gas sector. All surplus revenue from oil production in the country is transferred to the Fund, and invested in equities, fixed income, real estate, and renewable energy infrastructure.
It's a power of Community and collected Capital to make each share holder of this beneficial.

Another countries should make also the funds and get the people to manage wealth of others who knows how to make money from money to manage wealth of the people.

This is what it means to manage public funds. To put together the assets of people and invest it into something that will make it beneficial and sustainable for the country and it's people like the equities, real estate and renewable energy. This shows a massive level of transparency in the system if really these funds are properly channels for the course in which they're allocated for.

I would love to see Nigeria adopt this style of leadership in financial management. According to the details in Wikipedia, Norway is just a rank ahead of Nigeria in terms of its oil production capacity, yet they have abundant oil to save in their purse for other investments. While Nigeria also boasts of having enough oil and gas to supply its citizens, we can't tell where the monies go into due to lack of financial transparency and poor economic management.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

Another countries should make also the funds and get the people to manage wealth of others who knows how to make money from money to manage wealth of the people.

I have always heard good things about Norway and how living their is a dreamland, but every country can't just copy them as there are things that made this possible for Norway and it seems others repliers have already listed them, like the low rate of corruption, size of the country and other factors that I don't have to mention. Other countries don't have those advantages so if they were to follow the same steps of Norway, the funds might be embezzled.

I can't imagine my country Nigeria doing the same. Nobody will support them because we have seen this scene play out before of the governments saying they're doing something similar for the progress of the nation but it turnout that they shared the money within each other. There's a lot of ways to manage the wealth of a country but first those to be incharge has to be credible before handling such power. My country's economy being as bad as it is right now is because of poor management of the reserved funds the country had from crude oil sales.

[LoyceV]

I can't imagine my country Nigeria doing the same.

That's an interesting example: Nigeria has 5 times more oil and 2.5 times more natural gas reserves than Norway (I just Googled the numbers). But while the population of Norway went up from 3.5 to 5.5 million since 1960, the population of Nigeria went up from 45 to 220 million and the graph is still growing exponentially. Exponential growth can't be sustained on a finite planet, so step one would be to stop increasing in numbers.

[stompix]

Exponential growth can't be sustained on a finite planet, so step one would be to stop increasing in numbers.

And that won't happen because poverty and poverty can't end while the population grows exponentially in a poor country, basically a poverty trap situation. I think a lot of countries are just in a situation of no return, some tar pit situation where everything you do things will get worse. And btw, this forum might be one of the safe places where to say things like that, but do post this on x or Reddit about some countries that need to deal with population growth, and let's see the reactions! If you will get away just with a nazi label it will be a win.

And there is of course living in Svalbard, where you don't need a Visa, but you'll have to leave once you run out of money. I must say I like the concept.

Why in the name of god would you do that?
Just go to Alaska or if you're only interested in remote things join a research team in Antarctica.

[indah rezqi]

Norway is a great example of how you can live a quality life and have savings for the FUTURE !
Instead of plundering, hiding in corruption schemes, spending on war or terror, Norway has chosen the path of development instead of degradation. Norway is also an excellent example that natural resources can be used for the benefit of the entire population, not a bunch of kleptomaniacs in power.

Proper management of income, reasonable spending, investments - Norway gives a perfect example of reasonable use of money that is obtained at the expense of resources

That's right, Norway is a very ideal example as a country, they are very lucky because they have an honest and good government. There are quite a lot of countries in the world that have abundant natural resources, not only oil and gas, but have failed to build a sustainable welfare system for their people. When government officials do a lot of corruption, collusion and nepotism, it is very difficult for a country to emulate Norway, it is just a daydream. Another disease that makes it difficult for a country to develop is the behavior of capital owners, where they act so capitalist in every sector. The key to Norway success in managing its natural resources, then utilizing them in other sectors lies in legal certainty, where strict and firm law enforcement has ultimately made Norway a just country for its citizens.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

Exponential growth can't be sustained on a finite planet, so step one would be to stop increasing in numbers.

Yeah like that is ever going to stop in the country, polygamy is a norm and the giving birth of many children is seen as a flex in the country. Children are seen as investments in this parts (although the educated new couples are adjusting to fewer children).
That population you're seeing isn't even correct, we're far more than that in the country and this has affected the jobs and general lifestyle of the citizens. But again what we have in the country should have been sufficient to take care of the population to some extent but because of the bad governance, there's nothing to write home about. Everything boils down to poor management of the natural resources in the country.

[LoyceV]

And that won't happen because poverty and poverty can't end while the population grows exponentially in a poor country, basically a poverty trap situation.

That's why China had it's one-child-policy. The population didn't stop growing, but the growth slowed down.

I think a lot of countries are just in a situation of no return, some tar pit situation where everything you do things will get worse.

One way or another, exponential growth will end eventually. It's basic biology: given enough food and no natural enemies, any population keeps growing. Until something limits it.

And btw, this forum might be one of the safe places where to say things like that, but do post this on x or Reddit about some countries that need to deal with population growth, and let's see the reactions! If you will get away just with a nazi label it will be a win.

I don't really care about the opinion of people who can't handle facts

And there is of course living in Svalbard, where you don't need a Visa, but you'll have to leave once you run out of money. I must say I like the concept.

Why in the name of god would you do that?
Just go to Alaska or if you're only interested in remote things join a research team in Antarctica.

I made the imporant part bold. I can't do that in Alaska. I'd love to see this concept in more places. Isn't that (more or less) what Bitcoin homesteading is about?

Yeah like that is ever going to stop in the country, polygamy is a norm and the giving birth of many children is seen as a flex in the country.

I never understood how "having many children" is a flex. Or proof of your manhood. Any idiot can make children, taking care of them is what counts.

the educated new couples are adjusting to fewer children

It's the same here: the higher the education, the less children people get. It's the story of Idiocracy, a comedy from 2006 that's now said to be a documentary.

because of the bad governance, there's nothing to write home about. Everything boils down to poor management of the natural resources in the country.

That's something the people have to realize, create and fight for by themselves. That takes time.

[tygeade]

Norway is a great example of how you can live a quality life and have savings for the FUTURE !
Instead of plundering, hiding in corruption schemes, spending on war or terror, Norway has chosen the path of development instead of degradation. Norway is also an excellent example that natural resources can be used for the benefit of the entire population, not a bunch of kleptomaniacs in power.

Proper management of income, reasonable spending, investments - Norway gives a perfect example of reasonable use of money that is obtained at the expense of resources

To be fair, it's also about improvement of today, and if you are good today then you will spend for the future. Imagine this, you have a person who doesn't have a home, just a few clothing and they are not fitting properly, hungry nearing starvation, and haven't showered in a long time and you give that person 1000 dollars, how quickly would they spend it? I can tell you that they will spend it very quickly, even if they try to save it as long as possible, they will not be able to put it in a bank or something, they will eat, they will get a decent clothing that fits, they will shave, they will shower, these are all human needs.

However, lets assume you have someone who makes a million dollars a year, you give them a thousand dollars instead, how quickly will they spend it? Probably never, just put it next to other pile of money to be richer in the future. Norway is like that rich person, they already have huge amount of money so they just put their income next to their other pile and that's how they improve their life.

[DrBeer]

Norway is a great example of how you can live a quality life and have savings for the FUTURE !
Instead of plundering, hiding in corruption schemes, spending on war or terror, Norway has chosen the path of development instead of degradation. Norway is also an excellent example that natural resources can be used for the benefit of the entire population, not a bunch of kleptomaniacs in power.

Proper management of income, reasonable spending, investments - Norway gives a perfect example of reasonable use of money that is obtained at the expense of resources

That's right, Norway is a very ideal example as a country, they are very lucky because they have an honest and good government. There are quite a lot of countries in the world that have abundant natural resources, not only oil and gas, but have failed to build a sustainable welfare system for their people. When government officials do a lot of corruption, collusion and nepotism, it is very difficult for a country to emulate Norway, it is just a daydream. Another disease that makes it difficult for a country to develop is the behavior of capital owners, where they act so capitalist in every sector. The key to Norway success in managing its natural resources, then utilizing them in other sectors lies in legal certainty, where strict and firm law enforcement has ultimately made Norway a just country for its citizens.

Thanks for the reply, but it begs the question - if Norway has a “good government”, what misfortune befalls other countries that have natural resources ? Who gave them “bad government” ? I don't take into account the countries with monarchy, there the power is inherited and there is no escape from it, but.... There are very few monarchies, but there are many countries with resources but not very smart government ! What “went wrong” in these countries ? Who chose this “bad government” ?

[DrBeer]

Norway is a great example of how you can live a quality life and have savings for the FUTURE !
Instead of plundering, hiding in corruption schemes, spending on war or terror, Norway has chosen the path of development instead of degradation. Norway is also an excellent example that natural resources can be used for the benefit of the entire population, not a bunch of kleptomaniacs in power.

Proper management of income, reasonable spending, investments - Norway gives a perfect example of reasonable use of money that is obtained at the expense of resources

To be fair, it's also about improvement of today, and if you are good today then you will spend for the future. Imagine this, you have a person who doesn't have a home, just a few clothing and they are not fitting properly, hungry nearing starvation, and haven't showered in a long time and you give that person 1000 dollars, how quickly would they spend it? I can tell you that they will spend it very quickly, even if they try to save it as long as possible, they will not be able to put it in a bank or something, they will eat, they will get a decent clothing that fits, they will shave, they will shower, these are all human needs.

However, lets assume you have someone who makes a million dollars a year, you give them a thousand dollars instead, how quickly will they spend it? Probably never, just put it next to other pile of money to be richer in the future. Norway is like that rich person, they already have huge amount of money so they just put their income next to their other pile and that's how they improve their life.

There is a nuance here - if a person lives only to satisfy his present problems, he will always remain in them. A very simple explanation (figures and other things are given just for simple perception) - if a person's problem of the next day is solved for 10 dollars, he has 3 options of development of events:
1. Earn 5 dollars, and amplify the problem
2. Earn 10 dollars and solve the problem tomorrow, but the day after tomorrow again have a problem for 10 dollars
3. Make an effort, and the next 3 days earn 15 dollars ! This is the right way. But it is also the most difficult. That's why not everyone chooses it.