Humans are bad at thinking long-term, and those who have had major challenges and setbacks throughout their life are going to view day-to-day living in a much different way than someone with more privileges.

For those who aren't interested in watching the video, you can learn more here: http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2016/10/time-someone-gave-homeless-person-100000-just-see-happen/

Abruptly cut off a rich person from their wealth and assets, and see how well they thrive.

Throw a legacy millionaire on the street in December with no fancy clothes, no stock portfolio, no health insurance, no property, no connections, not even a smartphone. Come back in a year's time and check their progress.

It would be interesting to see if the millionaires regain their status and position.

they filmed a documentary called Trading Places

The two key differences, of course, are that the film is a comedy that we know will include "comeuppance" for the bad guys, and that Winthorpe had a way back into his former life, namely that he has a connection with Valentine who has been installed in that life.

Valentine, upon realizing that he's been used for the amusement of two rich white assholes, is strongly motivated to retaliate, and Winthorpe (similarly motivated) provides the ideal mechanism for revenge.


However, we can look instead to the fate of the Dukes, who at the end of the film are left destitute and homeless, and they remain so for five years until they randomly receive a windfall in the form of a huge handout from Prince Akeem.

and a stable home life growing up would fare okay in the end. They might be pissed off at their sudden circumstances, but they would end up okay because of the life skills they already possess.

The reason I say this is that I work with people in poverty - real poverty - and, God bless them, most of them have very few life skills due to growing up in generational poverty. Can't plan long term, can't delay gratification, feel unempowered, have difficulty keeping appointments, can't make sound monetary decisions. People who are wealthy or even with moderate incomes have learned to negotiate life with better overall skills due to the benefits of their upbringing.

I took a course on generational versus situational poverty, and the difference in outcomes for families and children are sobering.

Please understand I am not in anyway disparaging people in poverty.

Having been homeless, I get this. I get the sub-culture. I get the allure and the confusion of cash money.That being said, When my husband and I met, neither one of us had any experience handling money, both of us coming from extreme poverty and we had both come into a little bit--we got married on it, took our kids to Disneyland etc. Didn't save a penny. Fortunately I was literate, and had got my GED when I was 20-so I able to get an education with help.
That was a long time ago, but it's not something you forget.

Ted was chosen because the filmmaker felt he had been dealt a bad hand. However, according to interviews with Ted prior to giving him the $$, Ted said he kinda liked his life. That he had an attitude of screw it, I can survive on the streets (his own words).

So you are going to give $$ to someone who has admitted to you that they don't feel like they can survive by society's norms and instead prefer just doing what they want when they want to because that is how they live? What do you think would happen?

What would happen if you gave $100k to a woman and her child who have become homeless? Someone who may have known what it was like to have a "normal" life and an incentive to get back to that?

A few people choose to be homeless or at least once they have been homeless for a long enough period of time, find regular society too constrictive for them. (Not saying this is the case for all or even many). There is a difference between chronic homelessness and someone who has just had shit happen - car breaks down, can't afford to repair, misses work, loses job, can't pay rent & gets evicted and now has no where to go.

Ok sorry, I need to step back.

that people are all different and they handle money in different ways. I've known people with plenty of money who didn't know how to handle it. I've seen those with very little money do the same. I'm not exactly sure what accounts for the differences in the way people handle their finances. Sometimes it's lack of education, sometimes not. I think personality must have something to do with it. Maybe it's why so many lottery winners go broke. They are the same people, just with more money.