Comments on: Book Review: Portfolios of the Poor: How the World’s Poor Live on $2 a Day http://www.ericjohnolson.com/blog/2009/09/08/book-review-portfolios-of-the-poor-how-the-worlds-poor-live-on-2-a-day/ Thinking about Business Development Tue, 09 Mar 2010 03:21:11 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Stuart Rutherford on Microfinance (via David Roodman) at Olsonomics :: Thoughts on Business Development, Partnerships and Co-Innovation by Eric Olson http://www.ericjohnolson.com/blog/2009/09/08/book-review-portfolios-of-the-poor-how-the-worlds-poor-live-on-2-a-day/comment-page-1/#comment-291713 Stuart Rutherford on Microfinance (via David Roodman) at Olsonomics :: Thoughts on Business Development, Partnerships and Co-Innovation by Eric Olson Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:23:08 +0000 http://www.ericjohnolson.com/blog/?p=963#comment-291713 [...] key insights is timely considering the increased scrutiny on microfinance lately. (See my posts on Portfolios of the Poor and on some recent studies from MIT for more information on the [...] [...] key insights is timely considering the increased scrutiny on microfinance lately. (See my posts on Portfolios of the Poor and on some recent studies from MIT for more information on the [...]

]]> By: Insurance for the Poor: Why it is a tough sell at Olson’s Observations http://www.ericjohnolson.com/blog/2009/09/08/book-review-portfolios-of-the-poor-how-the-worlds-poor-live-on-2-a-day/comment-page-1/#comment-283429 Insurance for the Poor: Why it is a tough sell at Olson’s Observations Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:25:42 +0000 http://www.ericjohnolson.com/blog/?p=963#comment-283429 [...] Time.com recently posted an interesting article on insurance for people in the developing world – a.k.a. microinsurance – and why it has been hard to get any meaningful penetration. You might be wondering why gaining traction with an insurance product designed for the world’s poor has been hard. “Why wouldn’t the poor want an insurance product that meets their needs and is financially attainable? Their lives are very risky so it would make a lot of sense for them to insure themselves.” Well, it turns out that, once again, what may work in the first world doesn’t always work the same way in the third world (we learned this from Portfolios of the Poor). [...] [...] Time.com recently posted an interesting article on insurance for people in the developing world – a.k.a. microinsurance – and why it has been hard to get any meaningful penetration. You might be wondering why gaining traction with an insurance product designed for the world’s poor has been hard. “Why wouldn’t the poor want an insurance product that meets their needs and is financially attainable? Their lives are very risky so it would make a lot of sense for them to insure themselves.” Well, it turns out that, once again, what may work in the first world doesn’t always work the same way in the third world (we learned this from Portfolios of the Poor). [...]

]]> By: Steve Miller http://www.ericjohnolson.com/blog/2009/09/08/book-review-portfolios-of-the-poor-how-the-worlds-poor-live-on-2-a-day/comment-page-1/#comment-282868 Steve Miller Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:42:29 +0000 http://www.ericjohnolson.com/blog/?p=963#comment-282868 Eric, Thanks for the informative review! I, too, harbored the misconception that the poor live hand to mouth. But it makes sense, when you think of farming communities in Burkina Faso - you've got to have saved up enough money to plant crops for the next season. I think too that we have a lot to learn from those who grew up in poverty. My grandmom, now 103, grew up with very little and married a man of small means. She scrimped on their food fund, collecting money in a cookie jar so that she could pay for piano lessons for my mom. She still had no money after grandad died, but she continued her frugal lifestyle and saved a small fortune from grandad's retirement income and wise investments. J. Steve Miller Author of Enjoy Your Money! How to Make It, Save It, Invest It and Give It http://www.amazon.com/Enjoy-Your-Money-Make-Invest/dp/098187567X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237211789&sr=8-2 Eric,

Thanks for the informative review! I, too, harbored the misconception that the poor live hand to mouth. But it makes sense, when you think of farming communities in Burkina Faso – you’ve got to have saved up enough money to plant crops for the next season.

I think too that we have a lot to learn from those who grew up in poverty. My grandmom, now 103, grew up with very little and married a man of small means. She scrimped on their food fund, collecting money in a cookie jar so that she could pay for piano lessons for my mom.

She still had no money after grandad died, but she continued her frugal lifestyle and saved a small fortune from grandad’s retirement income and wise investments.

J. Steve Miller
Author of Enjoy Your Money! How to Make It, Save It, Invest It and Give It
http://www.amazon.com/Enjoy-Your-Money-Make-Invest/dp/098187567X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237211789&sr=8-2

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