On the other hand, if you don’t save, you are much more likely to remain in your current economic situation…[/quote]
It’s about smart saving. If you just save and stick your money away, inflation will outpace the interest you are earning on your money.
Saving, then using that savings wisely to invest, etc, is the key.
One of the biggest conflicts in listed companies is the conflict between shareholders and management. Shareholders understand that management is not working for them, but for management. It’s a natural conflict really, and its not all downside- a good manager whilst working for himself does so to the mutual benefit of his/her organization.
My point here being that corporate executive managers are always working for themselves.
The Average American Millionaire:
Here are some facts that may change the way you think, give you pause for thought, and make DB’s points poignant:
“More than 80% are ordinary people who have accumulated their wealth in one generation. They did it slowly, steadily, without signing a multimillion-dollar contract with the Yankees…”
Fewer than 20% inherited more than 10% of their wealth, and more than half never received a penny of inheritance.
They “wear inexpensive suits and drive American-made cars. Only a minority… drive the current-model-year automobile.”
About half have lived in their current home for 20 years or more.
80% are college grads, and 38% have advanced degrees.
20% are retired. Of those still working, about two-thirds are self-employed – mostly entrepreneurs, but also self-employed professionals, such as doctors and accountants.
On average, they invest nearly 20% of their household realized income each year.
The key here is that most millionaires live well below their means. Their median income is $131,000.
Fox’s post was pretty fascinating so I went searching for some more info on the stats given. They are from a book called “The Millionaire Next Door” and the summary is an extract of the Motley Fool article Want to Be a Millionaire? The Fool is an excellent investment site, and I’m surprised I never came across this article before, because it has some excellent insight if you want to improve your lot.
Jlick,
That’s right. That book has some great tips on plodding your way to being a millionaire.
And what good is being a millionaire, with your money invested safely?
Buy a house in the USA, and put the change from $1million into government bonds. What income can you look forward to? Peanuts, that’s what. Good enought for monkeys, but not rich by any means.
Put the money into the stock market, and hope it rises. You could lose a big chunk overnight though, and if you’re drawing an income from it too the drain might prevent your asset base from recovering. A million isn’t anywhere near enough to retire early on.
And in any case, I would get bored with nothing to do. No matter how much money I had I would still have some project that needed some of my time. Unless I had gazillions in the bank (and maybe even then) I would still want to protect, and improve on, what I had. I may not be motivated by the desire to be more rich by then, but there would still be investments to manage according to what I consider important.
Just
Acting
Porn
Absolutely
Naked
Yes, there is a future for healthy young men.
Find a niche that needs to be filled.
What a crass way of putting it. Servicing rich old widows isn’t as easy as it looks, you know.
What a crass way of putting it. Servicing rich old widows isn’t as easy as it looks, you know.[/quote]
Got any tips??
[quote=“Fox”]One of the biggest conflicts in listed companies is the conflict between shareholders and management. Shareholders understand that management is not working for them, but for management. It’s a natural conflict really, and its not all downside- a good manager whilst working for himself does so to the mutual benefit of his/her organization.
My point here being that corporate executive managers are always working for themselves.
The key here is that most millionaires live well below their means. Their median income is $131,000.[/quote]
Some interesting stats Fox.
Re: Executive managers working for themselves. We are ALL working for ourselves, whatever our job & whatever our level. With stock awards & stock options ,most senior managers are shareholders as well as employees. The more senior the position the greater proportion of total income is based on the stock performance. Hence they have a strong incentive to make the stock perform well & there is no conflict between working for yourself & working for the company . While this can be abused in most cases it is not.
Agree with the point on living within your means, I would never argue for living beyond your means. Money/ wealth is there to give you choices in my opinion. You dont need to spend it on lavish living, but there is something nice about feeling that you could live lavishly if you wanted to . ie You live the way you do through choice not because you cant afford to live any other way.
Now that everyone who knows what they’re talking about has had their say I figured it’s time for me to weigh in. My business plan for getting rich quick:
Sub-lease a little rock of an island from some poor country in Asia and start my own country. It would be named the Republic of Bouillabaisse (R.O.B.)
It’s main industry would be offering to recognize Taiwan in exchange for yearly cash payments. Half of the yearly ‘income’ would go to the country which actually owned the rock in exchange for allowing us to ‘secede’ and start our own country. That would get them around having any trouble with mainland China.
“Hey, it’s their country. We can’t stop them from recognizing whomever they want.”
The other two important industries would be banking and business incorporation.
Citizenship would be limited to about forty people with critical skills in high demand in the Republic of Bouillabaisse such as accountants, tax and corporate lawyers, ‘personal assistants’, ‘customs agents’ . . .
Sorry, don’t think we’ll be needing any English teachers.
Our national anthem would be Bubba Swank’s hiphop classic 'Show Me de Mo-nay!"
I’m looking for any kinks in de plan so if you see any let me know.
[quote=“spook”]Now that everyone who knows what they’re talking about has had their say I figured it’s time for me to weigh in. My business plan for getting rich quick:
Sub-lease a little rock of an island from some poor country in Asia and start my own country. It would be named the Republic of Bouillabaisse (R.O.B.)
It’s main industry would be offering to recognize Taiwan in exchange for yearly cash payments. Half of the yearly ‘income’ would go to the country which actually owned the rock in exchange for allowing us to ‘secede’ and start our own country. That would get them around having any trouble with mainland China.
“Hey, it’s their country. We can’t stop them from recognizing whomever they want.”
The other two important industries would be banking and business incorporation.
Citizenship would be limited to about forty people with critical skills in high demand in the Republic of Bouillabaisse such as accountants, tax and corporate lawyers, ‘personal assistants’, ‘customs agents’ . . .
Sorry, don’t think we’ll be needing any English teachers.
Our national anthem would be Bubba Swank’s hiphop classic 'Show Me de Mo-nay!"
I’m looking for any kinks in de plan so if you see any let me know.[/quote]
Not only that but I would legalize gambling, prostitution and murder
Yes, bring your wife or husband there if you want them knocked off.
In addition I would acquire nuclear weapons, and not just act like I have them. That way I would never get invaded
[quote=“TNT”][quote=“spook”]
I’m looking for any kinks in de plan so if you see any let me know.[/quote]
Not only that but I would legalize gambling, prostitution and murder
Yes, bring your wife or husband there if you want them knocked off.
In addition I would acquire nuclear weapons, and not just act like I have them. That way I would never get invaded[/quote]
This is a pretty sound plan . One additional suggestion re: the nuclear program. Offer to get rid of the program for a large up front payment from the US. Take the money then of course dont stop the program . This will probably work 2 or 3 times before they wise up. I think it would provide a nice additional income stream in the first couple of years of your project.
The constitution of the Republic of Bouillabaisse would be:
1.) No one can touch the person or property of any citizen of the Republic of Bouillabaisse without their fully informed permission.
2.) The one exception to this is 5% of all corporate and personal income will be paid to the lawfully elected government of the R.O.B. as taxation for the general welfare.
3.) The total tax burden of any sort on the R.O.B. can never exceed 5% unless every citizen (100%) agrees to a cap increase.
4.) The government of the R.O.B. will consist of a manager, assistant manager and any support staff they deem necessary. The managers will be elected by majority vote. Managers can be hired and fired at will by a simple majority vote.
If you think about it then, Article 1 makes just about everything legal: prostitution, gambling etc. (except murder for hire). You can do anything you want on the R.O.B. so long as it’s between consenting adults.
The nuke thing: that’s probably harder said than done. From what I understand, the black market in klystrons has pretty well dried up in recent years. Plus, the U.S. has gotten so trigger happy that some B1 bomber on its way from its base in Missouri to Afghanistan would probably make a quick detour to drop a bomb on us and we’d end up a big hole in the ocean.
It used to be a pretty good money-making scheme to declare war on the U.S. and then surrender before things got nasty and petition for some kind of Marshall Plan. Since the budget has gotten so tight in Washington though I’d say the current default policy it just to bomb the hell out of adversaries instead and then promise to put things back together but never come up with any actual money.
I’d say a much better plan for generating an additional revenue stream is to try to enlist in the war on terror. We could declare ourselves under attack by Al Queda and plant stories in the media about major battle being fought on the distand island of R.O.B. between the valiant terrorist-hating citizens there and thousands of attacking Al Quedians.
We’d declare victory and then apply for post-terrorist-trauma reconstruction aid from the U.S.
I am concered by the over emphasis on democracy in your latest proposal. Remember this is a get rich quick scheme. What if the “people”
decide to vote you out of office ? & then vote to change the constitution, it could all go pear shaped very quickly.
I think a more business like approach to the administration would be more appropriate. Successful businesses never run as democracies.
I would recommend a dictatorship or benevolent dictatorship if it makes you feel better.
Ah, I forgot to tell you about the ‘electoral college’ part. Never fear, investors, this won’t be a true democracy. If the board of directors doesn’t like who gets elected, we just invoke the ‘electoral college’ clause and nullify the vote.
We’re not dummies.
The key is to make everyone think the R.O.B. is a democracy so they’re compliant and they work harder.
…on a lighter note: should you plan to make money by exporting to the EU, this link might be of interest
Sorry, no get-rich-fast scheme but some basics on how to do exports.
Good luck,
YI-DE 
If your future self comes to you witha get-rich scheme, do it–dont worry about creating a time travel paradox that will tear the fabric of reality. But dont bother creating the time machine later, either. You wont be helping yourself, but rather a parallel-universe counterpart of yourself.
I remember when I went to b-school, a lot of people thought like this. (Getting rich, not time travel.) Oh, wed wear suits and create resumes and apply for jobs that would carry us ever-farther into the culture of people who read Forbes, though for many of us riches turned out to be elusive. A lot of them did okay, though only a few will ever be invited to the Bilderburgers.
What I failed to ask back then was, why did I think I wanted this? I would have sold my soul to Satan to get a fancy respectable job like Damien Thorne or the guy from Noble House(oops, already sold it in high school to become a rock star like Ozzy), but in view of the fragility of human existence, we really need to ask, is this what we want? Is money really worth more than love–than our relationships with particular people, romantic and otherwise, as opposed to relationships of convenience that may be freely discarded? Think carefully. And what about doing what you love? Doing something that makes the world better? Making your life have meaning (whatever this may mean for you)? Not to say you shouldnt have a go at riches, but think about what its really worth.
[quote=“spook”]
The nuke thing: that’s probably harder said than done. From what I understand, the black market in klystrons has pretty well dried up in recent years. Plus, the U.S. has gotten so trigger happy that some B1 bomber on its way from its base in Missouri to Afghanistan would probably make a quick detour to drop a bomb on us and we’d end up a big hole in the ocean.[/quote]
No! Follow Pakistans example - all you need are a few scientists with the requisite skills … with a history of getting “sudden payments” - through the liberal banking laws of course…
Did I ever tell you I’m a fully qualified nuclear physicist who has " a certain moral flexibility " … currently looking to relocate to a favourable tax environment…
And for all you guys talking about creating your own country, its been done–okay, a number of times for real, but there are several plans kind of like this floating around. Some virtual, some real-ish, some still in the planning stage. (or is that scheming?) Some in order to commit crimes (one had a central bank that printed its own bank checks), some in order to avoid regulation (some pirate radio station broadcasting to the UK), some for idealistic (and usually crazy) reasons involving Atlantis or the unity of humanity. One Swedish teenager declared his bedroom to be an independent country, and the Swedish government has not yet objected…
Im afraid that not very many people are likely to trust you with their money, unless you send a lot of spam e-mail. If you want to make money, dont start your own country–start your own religion. Here are an ideal set of religious commandments:
I can heal your diseases. I am not claiming to heal your diseases, but I really can. So give me your money.
Jesus is coming soon. Give me your money.
I am Jesus. Give me your money.
God or Buddha can make you rich, if you will only give me your money.
God or Buddha will make you powerful, or popular, or whatever, if…you know.
Didnt work? Patience, you didnt have enough faith. Give me even more money.
No money? Are you beautiful? Then sleep with me, and save me the money I would have spent on hookers. Ugly girls or men can I dont know, clean my toilets or something.
Do not eat the flesh of the chicken. (Because no other religion has that one.)
World peace would be great. If other people ask, this is our main teaching. Actually, we arent really a religion actually, more like a spiritual community. Or a science!
All religions are good and beautiful, unless they compete with mine, in which case they are unspeakably evil and to be shunned.
Sad thing is, this sort of thing works pretty well.
(Sorry, Im stuck in an airport terminal with no apostrophes on the keyboards!)