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Harve$t Moon Billionaires Club - Members OnlyPrev TopicNext Topic
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“How you do anything is how you do everything.”United States
Member #76,984
July 10, 2009
10,763 Posts
OnlineOh well ...
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The 10 Commandments of Wealth and Happiness
One of the stupidest expressions ever coined was "The one who dies with the most toys wins." When you're on your death bed, you won't be thinking about the things you had - you'll be thinking about the times you had.
I’m now financially independent. I didn’t get this way overnight, nor did I do it by selling books or advice. I did it the same way you can: one paycheck at a time over many years.
One of my young staffers recently asked if I could condense everything I’ve learned into 10 simple ideas that would serve as a guide to those starting out, starting over, or maybe beginning to realize they’re not where they’d like to be. While certainly a challenge, it’s a worthy one. So here goes: the 10 commandments of achieving financial independence and being happier while you do it …
1. Thou shalt live like you’re going to die tomorrow, but invest like you’re going to live forever.
The ease of making money in stocks, real estate, or other risk-based assets is inversely proportional to your time horizon. In other words, making money over long periods of time is easy – making money overnight is the flip of a coin.
Money is like a tree: Plant it properly, care for it occasionally - but not obsessively - then wait.
Stare at a newly planted tree for 24 hours and you’ll be convinced it’s not growing. Fixate on your investments the same way, and you could miss out on a game-changer.
The biggest winner in my IRA is Apple. I don’t remember exactly when I bought it, but I’m guessing it was in 2002 or 2003. My split adjusted price is around $8/share: As I write this, Apple’s trading at around $300/share, for a gain of 3,800 percent. Had I been listening to CNBC or some other “news” outlet that promotes constant trading, I almost certainly wouldn’t still own it.
Patience is certainly a virtue when it comes to investing. I invested a bunch of money and built my online portfolio when the Dow was hitting generational lows back in spring 2009. I had no idea where the market was going next. I was every bit as scared as the next guy.
But having lived through similar times before – I was a stockbroker during the market crash of 1987 – and since I’m only in my mid-50s, I was confident the economy would rebound sometime before I died. While the stock market has come back quite nicely since then, in many parts of the country, housing prices haven’t. That’s why I’m now looking for real estate investments. Are you?
In short, enjoy your life to the fullest every day – live like you’re going to die tomorrow. But since you’re probably not going to die tomorrow, plant part of your money in quality stocks, real estate or other investments; then hold onto them. Don’t ignore your investments entirely – sometimes fundamental things change indicating it’s time to move on – but don’t act rashly. Patience pays.
2. Thou shalt listen to thine own voice above all others.
My job as a consumer reporter has included listening to countless sad stories about nice people being separated from their money by people who weren’t so nice. While these stories run the gamut from real estate deals to working at home, they all start the same way: with a promise of something that seems too good to be true.
And they all end the same way: It was to good to be true. Just last week, I helped someone who was about to lose money by applying for a government grant.
If someone promises they can make you 3,000 percent in the stock market, they’re either a fool for sharing that information or a liar. Why would you send money to either one? When you hear someone promising a simple solution to a complex problem, stop listening to them and start listening to your own inner voice. You know there’s no pill that’s going to make you skinny. You know the government’s not handing out free money for your small business. You know you can’t buy a house for $300. Stop listening to commercials and start listening to yourself.
3. Thou shalt covet bad economic times.
Wealth is realized when the economy is booming, but that’s not when it’s created. Wealth is created when times are bad, unemployment is high, problems are massive, everybody’s freaking out, and there’s nothing but economic misery on the horizon.
Would you rather buy a house for $400,000, or $200,000? Would you rather invest in stocks when the Dow is at 12,000 or 7,000?
Obviously, nobody wants one in 10 Americans to be out of work. But the cyclical nature of our economy all but assures that this will happen periodically. If you’re one of the 90 percent who still has a job, this is the time you’ve been saving for. Stop listening to all the Chicken Littles in the media: The sky isn’t falling. Get busy – put your cash to work and create some wealth.
4. Thou shalt not work.
MSN Money’s Liz Pulliam Weston wrote a great story called Pretend You Won the Lottery. She asked her Facebook fans to describe what they would do if they won the lottery. From that article:
Most of the responses had a lot in common. People overwhelmingly wanted to:
- Pay off all their debts.
- Help their families.
- Donate more to charity.
- Pursue their passions, including travel.
Note that these goals are largely achievable without winning the lottery. And that was her point: Listing what you’d like to do if money were no object puts you in touch with the way you’d reallylike to spend your life.
My philosophy takes this concept a step further: When it comes to work, you should try to do something that you regard as so fulfilling that you’d do it even if it didn’t pay anything. In other words, the word “work” implies doing something you have to do, not something you want to do. You should never “work.”
I’ve chosen to spend nearly all of my adult life in warm climates – I lived in Arizona for 10 years and have now lived in Fort Lauderdale for nearly that long. Why? Here’s what I’ve always said: “You already spend a third of your life sleeping. Why spend another third of it freezing your tail off?”
No offense to you Northerners. I realize some people enjoy the cold. The point is that if you’re going to spend a huge part of your life working, don’t fill that time with what makes you the most money. Fill it with what makes you the most fulfilled. I made more money in 1990 managing a branch office for a Wall Street investment firm than I will this year. But I feel a lot less slimy (no offense to stockbrokers) and lot more fulfilled. You can’t put a price tag on that.
5. Thou shalt not create debt.
I’m always getting questions about debt. “Should I borrow for this, that, or the other?” “What’s an acceptable debt level?” “Is there such a thing as good debt?”
There’s way too much analysis and mystery around something that isn’t at all mysterious. Paying interest is nothing more than giving someone else your money in exchange for using theirs. Rule of thumb: To have as much money as possible, avoid giving yours to other people.
Don’t ever borrow money because you want something you can’t afford. Borrow money in only two circumstances: when your back is against the wall, or when what you’re buying will increase in value by more than what you’re paying in interest.
Debt also affects you on a level that can’t be defined in dollars. When you owe money, in a very real way you’re a slave to that lender until you pay it back. When you don’t, you’re much more the master of your own destiny.
There are two ways to achieve financial freedom: Have so much money that you can’t possibly spend it all (something exceedingly difficult to do) or don’t owe anybody anything. Granted, since you still have to eat and put a roof over your head, living debt-free doesn’t offer the same level of freedom as having massive money. But living debt-free isn’t a matter of luck or even hard work. It’s a simple choice, available to everyone.
6. Thou shalt be frugal – but not miserly.
The key to accumulating more savings isn’t to spend less – it’s to spend less without sacrificing your quality of life. If going out to dinner with your significant other is something you enjoy, not doing it may create a happier bank balance, but an unhappier you – a trade-off that is neither worthwhile nor sustainable. Eating an appetizer at home, then splitting an entree at the restaurant, however, maintains your quality of life and fattens your bank account.
Finding ways to save is important, but avoiding deprivation is just as important.
Diets suck. Whether they’re food-related or money-related, if they leave you feeling deprived and unhappy, they’re not going to work. But there’s a difference between food diets and dollar diets: It’s hard to lose weight without depriving yourself of the foods you love, but it’s easy to reduce spending without depriving yourself of the things you love.
Cottage cheese isn’t a suitable substitute for steak, but a used car is a perfectly acceptable substitute for a new one. And the list goes on: watching TV online rather than paying for cable, buying generics when they’re just as good as name brands, using house-swapping to get free lodging, downloading books from the library instead of Amazon… No matter what you love, from physical possessions to travel, there are ways to save without reducing your quality of life.
7. Thou shalt not regard possessions in terms of money, but time.
You go to the mall and spend $150 on clothes. But what you spent isn’t just $150. If you earn $150 a day, you just spent a day of your life.
Almost every resource you have, from physical possessions to money, is renewable. The amount of time you have on this planet, however, is finite. Once used, it can never be replaced. So when you spend money – especially if you earned that money by doing something you had to do instead of what you wanted to do – you’re spending your life.
This doesn’t mean you should never spend money. If those clothes are all that important to you, by all means, buy them. But if it’s really not going to make you that much happier, don’t. Think of it this way: If you can live on $150 a day, every time you forgo spending $150, you just get one day closer to financial independence.
8. Thou shalt consider opportunity cost.
This is related to the commandment above. Opportunity cost is an accounting term that describes the cost of missing out on alternative uses for money.
For example, when I said above that not spending $150 on clothes puts you $150 closer to independence, that was a gross understatement. Because when you save $150, investing those savings gives you the opportunity to have more savings. If you’re earning 10 percent, $150 invested for 20 years will ultimately make you $1,000 richer. If you can live on $150 a day, ignoring inflation, you can now retire nearly a week sooner, not just a day.
One of the exercises in my book, Life or Debt, is to go around your house and identify things you bought but probably didn’t want or need. A quick way to do this is to find things you haven’t touched in months. These were probably impulse buys. Add up the cost of these things, multiply them by 7, and you’ll arrive at the amount of money you could have had if you’d invested that money at 10 percent for 20 years rather than wasting it.
And when you do this, consider the stuff in your closet, the stuff in your garage, the rooms of your house that you heat and cool but don’t use, the new cars you’ve bought when used would have worked. The truth is that most of us have already blown the opportunity to achieve financial independence much sooner. Maybe now’s the time to stop.
9. Thou shalt not put off till tomorrow what thou can save today.
Shortly after I began my television career in 1988, I went on set with a pack of smokes, a can of soda, and a candy bar. I explained that these things represented the kind of money most of us throw away every day without thinking about it – at the time, about $5. But compound $5 daily at 10 percent for 30 years, and you’ll end up with about $340,000. That’s why learning to save a few bucks here and there and investing it is so important.
Fortunes are rarely made by investing big bucks, nor are they often made late in life. Wealth most often comes from starting small and early.
In short, there are limited ways to get rich. You can inherit, marry well, build a valuable business, successfully capitalize on exceptional talent, get exceedingly lucky – or spend less than you make and consistently invest your savings over time. Even if you’re on the road to any of the former, why not do the latter?
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s stuff.
If this commandment sounds familiar, that’s because it resembles the Biblical 10th commandment:
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s. (Exodus 20:17)
Envy may not be the root of all evil, but it is the root of much wasted money. As I’m fond of saying, you can either look rich or be rich, but you probably won’t live long enough to accomplish both. I’ve lived both ways, and trust me: Being rich is way better than using debt to look rich.
We’ll all admit when on the verge of making a purchase decision, we’re often thinking of what our friends will say when they see it. Normal human behavior? Sure, but it’s not in your best interest, or theirs. Making your friends feel jealous isn’t nice, and feeling envy for other people’s possessions is silly. Possessions have never made anyone happy, nor will they.
Decide what really makes you happy, then spend – or not – accordingly. When your friends make an impressive addition to their collection of material possessions, be happy for them.
One of the stupidest expressions ever coined was: “The one who dies with the most toys wins.” When you’re on your death bed, you won’t be thinking about the things you had – you’ll be thinking about the times you had.
~~Thanks Stacy Johnson~~
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“How you do anything is how you do everything.”United States
Member #76,984
July 10, 2009
10,763 Posts
OnlineHow a 15-year-old entrepreneur got her product into Nordstrom
Fish Flops founder Madison Robinson meets one of her Nordstrom customersShe launched her business two years ago, but Houston teenager Madison Robinson has yet to face something most new entrepreneurs do: rejection. Every store buyer she has approached has placed an order for her Fish Flops for Kids shoe brand.
Robinson came up with the idea for her sea-creature-adorned flip-flops with battery-operated lights when she was just 8, living at the beach in Galveston Island, Tex. Her dad Dan, a former banker turned t-shirt designer, helped her turn her drawings into a product and get samples made. More than 30 stores placed orders the first time they exhibited at a trade show, so he hired an overseas manufacturer and started shipping in May 2011.
Launched with “friends and family” financing, the enterprise is already profitable, the elder Robinson says. The shoes now sell online, in various retail boutiques, and at 60 Nordstrom stores nationwide for around $20 a pair. They’re also coming soon to FlipFlopShops.com, and Macy’s buyers in New York recently asked Madison to design a line for women. More than 60,000 pairs sold in 2012, making for retail sales of at least $1.2 million. That's not all Fish Flops' income; the Robinsons sell wholesale. But Dan Robinson says it's safe to say that his daughter, who is about to complete 9th grade, has already socked away enough profits to cover her college tuition.
The 15-year-old draws all of her own designs and chooses color combinations digitally, but has also learned how to pack shipments, stock the warehouse, explain her pricing, host a tradeshow booth, and make a sales pitch.
She has also mastered social media marketing: Through Tweeting from @FishFlops she got the young daughter of Entertainment Tonight host Nancy O’Dell to wear the shoes, and captured the attention of HSN fitness personality Tony Little. (Tweeting is also how she got this reporter interested in her story.)
But to get into Nordstrom, Robinson employed an old-fashioned sales technique. “I wrote a letter to the buyers,” she told a Houston Fox reporter. “I didn’t think I would get in, but I did.”
Young entrepreneur Madison Robinson with her Fish Flops
Several ideas that came from the kindness of her heart have also turned out to be savvy business moves. Her offer of free Fish Flops and volunteer work for a charity that supports the children of fallen military heroes led to a major order from the Army’s Post Exchange stores. At the Teen Choice Awards in 2011, she got celebrities to sign 300 pairs of Fish Flops for Texas Children’s Hospital patients. And by donating 10,000 pairs of Fish Flops to a community shoe drive and supporting the Texas Parks & Wildlife’s K-12 State Fish Art Contest she has garnered some good press.
Robinson says she’s learned more than just how to run a business in two years. “When I go shoe shopping now, I look carefully at the quality of the materials.” Fish Flops, she says, are sturdy and made without punch-out holes in the soles so the straps don’t pop out the way they do in generic flip-flops.
The experience has also honed her public speaking skills. All the practice explaining her product at industry expos and making presentations to stone-faced department store buyers, she says, “makes it easier to get up in class and talk.”
She’s also learned patience: The worst part of business, Robinson says, is “waiting for stores to decide” if they want her goods on their shelves. She’s also waiting to spend her profits. “My Dad won’t let me touch the money,” she says. “It’s for college.” For special purchases such as a new iPhone she relies, like normal teenagers do, on cash saved from birthday and holiday gifts.
What’s next for the Fish Flops founder? After summer break she’s looking forward to taking a 10th grade business and finance class. She also plans to study business in college. “Eventually,” she says, “I want to do something by myself.” Meantime, however, Dad says the Fish Flops brand is “just getting started.”
~Thanks, Adrienne Burke!
9-8-7 8-4-4 3-0-1 8-5-2 7-1-4 1-6-0
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“How you do anything is how you do everything.”United States
Member #76,984
July 10, 2009
10,763 Posts
OnlineI will gladly pay you Tuesday for a winning Pick 4 exact number today!
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Quote: Originally posted by Empress-N on Mar 10, 2011
Looking Good, Harve$t Moon!!!
I am looking at a lot of money from this topic.
Fantastic Job!!!!!
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“How you do anything is how you do everything.”United States
Member #76,984
July 10, 2009
10,763 Posts
OnlineHonesty Is the Only Way to Make Real Money
By James Altucher, Author “Choose Yourself”
Honesty is the only way to make money in today's world.
Nobody believes me on this. People laugh at me. "Don't you know anything? Of course dishonest people step on the honest people and have more success."
People want to justify their own failures and use their pretend-goodness to explain why they didn't start Google, or steal $65 billion, or get that last promotion when the backstabbing b***h from aisle 3 got the raise after doing who knows what.
But here's the truth. Dishonesty works… until it doesn't.
Everyone messes up. And when you are dishonest, you are given only one chance and then it's over. You're out of the game – at least until you get your act straight and you have to start from scratch with your tail between your legs.
HONESTY COMPOUNDS.
It compounds exponentially. No matter what happens in your bank account, in your career, in your promotions, in your startups.
Honesty compounds exponentially, not over days or weeks, but years and decades. More people trust your word and spread the news that you are a person to be sought out, sought after, given opportunity, given help, or given money. This is what will build your empire.
I know this through countless failures. The more times I fail but communicate about it, the more times I make no money at all but let someone have ideas for free, the more times I try to "get mine" but only end up getting stabbed by those who think it's okay to be dishonest, the greater the number of seeds I've planted and the more money I'll make in the long run.
Be dishonest once, and all of those seeds will be washed away in a thunderstorm of life-killing proportions. A hurricane of despair that will sweep away all of your opportunities forever.
You are left with a desert and will have to start again.
How you can be more honest in your life…
GIVE CREDIT.
Even if the ideas were all yours. Even if you made nothing on them. Even if they were blatantly stolen. Give credit and move on. Hoarding your ideas for the moment when you can shine, will only leave you by yourself in a dimly lit room with only a mirror to stare at.
BE THE SOURCE.
"But if I give ideas for free, what if they could've made a billion dollars? I always get screwed by my partners." If you are the source of ideas, then you are ALWAYS the source. Forget the losers who steal. Move on.
You become THE fountain of ideas. People come to the fountain and make wishes and throw money in. Don't be a trickle of dirty water. Be the fountain and let people know it by giving away all credit and rewards.
INTRODUCE TWO PEOPLE.
Every day you can think of at least two people to introduce to each other who will help each other. You don't have to be in the middle. "Take me off cc," you should say. Let them help each other. Let them benefit. You don't need to be in the middle and benefit this time. You'll benefit next time. Or the time after that.
TAKE THE BLAME.
"A 'No' uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a 'Yes' merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble." – Gandhi
DON'T LEAD A DOUBLE LIFE.
Everything you do takes up space in your brain. If you live a double life (and you know what I mean if I'm talking to you), then that extra life takes up neurons and synapses working overtime. The brain can't handle it. It starts to degrade instead of grow.
DON'T BE ANGRY.
Anger is a form of dishonesty. Nobody is perfect. It's a lie to expect the people around you to be perfect. Of course, you can't control your anger.
Sometimes it just happens. But note it for what it is, examine it, and try to turn it around, even just a little – in order to learn more about yourself rather than to blame someone else. That's where the honesty will compound.
NO EXCUSES.
When I lost millions of dollars in 2000 to the point of going completely broke and losing my home, it was easy to blame an "Internet bust" and "corrupt CEOs" rather than my own lack of experience in the financial world.
Excuses are easy lies we tell ourselves to cover up our failures. One such excuse is, only dishonest people get ahead. This is also a lie.
MAKE OTHERS LOOK GOOD.
This is more than just giving credit. At heart, everyone wants to be perceived as special. That's because everyone is special but are often never acknowledged that way. Be different. Be aware of the smallest movements around you and acknowledge them. Nobody will forget that.
DON'T GOSSIP.
One time I trashed an entrepreneur I had invested in to another investor. Later that day I was supposed to have dinner with the first entrepreneur. By that time, just four hours later, he had heard I trashed him. He never trusted me again. People always hear. And if they don't hear, they feel, because word gets around. And you can't predict this. And it's another way of living a double life.
DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU ARE GOING TO DO.
Be that guy.
ENHANCE THE LIVES OF OTHERS.
In 1999 some of my employees in my first company left and started a competitor company. Some of my partners were mad. I encouraged the employees. How come? Because nobody needs to be my employee for their entire lives. Always help people grow into their own potential.
I haven't always been honest. I try. And I hope I'm getting better. I try every day to improve and to follow the advice I've just given you. Otherwise I wouldn't have given it. But I've seen it. With people who have been in business for ten, twenty, forty years.
Honesty compounds little by little. And that compounding turns into millions or billions.
The dishonest people disappear. They die. They go to jail. They don't maximize their potential. They run. They are scared.
You will have nobody to run from. Some people will hate you. Some people will doubt your sincerity.
But the people who need someone to call, someone to share with, or someone to give to, these people will know who to call.
They will call you.
Method 1: 2-7-0
Method 2: 5-5-0
Method 3: 3-1-5
Method 4: 3-3-6
Method 5: 0-4-7
Method 6: 4-2-6~
Method 1: 5-8-4-2
Method 2: 8-4-6-8
Method 3: 3-8-8-9
Method 4: 2-9-0-9
Method 5: 9-8-8-6
Method 6: 7-8-3-7Also, watch his videos in the following posts.
Do a YouTube search for his other videos.
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“How you do anything is how you do everything.”United States
Member #76,984
July 10, 2009
10,763 Posts
OnlineChoose Yourself! Talk by the Author: James Altucher
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“How you do anything is how you do everything.”United States
Member #76,984
July 10, 2009
10,763 Posts
OnlineWhy You Shouldn't Buy a Home ... James Altucher
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“How you do anything is how you do everything.”United States
Member #76,984
July 10, 2009
10,763 Posts
OnlineSecrets of Self-Made Millionaires
Why the rich keep getting richer
Thanks ~ DANIEL BORTZ
Do you dream of becoming rich but aren't sure how to make your millions—or better yet, billions? Who better to ask than the rich themselves about how they climbed their way to the top?
Steve Siebold did. He's spent the last 30 years interviewing the world's wealthiest people.
Siebold, author of How Rich People Think, spoke with U.S. News about what the rich have in common, how self-made millionaires attained their wealth, and why now is the best time to strike it rich.
What sparked your fascination with the rich?
I was a broke college student in 1984 and I wanted to be rich. But I didn't feel like I was getting the information I needed from my college business classes. In a lot of the classes, the business professors seemed to put down the rich, and that didn't make sense to me. So I started looking for outside sources until I found a millionaire to interview.
Was he difficult to find?
Yes, because I didn't know any millionaires and I was just a kid. I was probably 19 years old. And I found the rich don't really like to flaunt their wealth. Most of the rich, in my experience, aren't like Donald Trump—they're the polar opposite. They want to be left alone, because as soon as people know they've got a lot of money, people come after them and the media goes after them. They want to be quiet and unexposed.
The deal they made with me was I wouldn't give their name out unless they gave me permission, and very few of them gave me permission.
Have you found any commonalities among the people you've interviewed?
Their personality styles vary: Some are introverts, some are extroverts. But their belief systems around money are the same. That was the one thread that really helped me throughout the process: They all have a really positive relationship with money. They think about money in terms of freedom, as opposed to the negative relationship a lot of people have with money.
The net worth of the richest Americans grew by 13 percent in the past year to $1.7 trillion. Does that surprise you?
No, not at all. If you look at the global equity markets over the last few years, they're up 18 percent. As where the average Americans have their money wrapped up in their home equity and low-interest vehicles, like 401(k)s, the rich have their money in the global equity markets. They've got the money to invest, and it's a good place to be right now. They're also in a nice position because they can afford to lose.
Did self-made millionaires simply work harder than the rest of us to get where they are?
Most people think the rich got lucky. People think their money wasn't earned by hard work and strategic, calculated thinking, which is not the truth for most people. There are crooks in every income category, but in my experience, there's no more on the rich side than the poor side.
But it's interesting how the self-made rich are a really hated group. They're discriminated against, even in the wealthiest country of the world. I think it's really sad. I think we should celebrate these people. There's a tendency to demonize them, which I think is just crazy.
Is there any way that contempt some people have for the rich can change?
I hope so. It's so easy to take a shot on people who are rich. I hope that over time we can change our beliefs in this country, because if we don't lead the way in changing people's beliefs about capitalism and wealth, I think we're really in trouble.
Do rich people feel that resentment to the point where they only want to associate with other rich people?
Absolutely. I call it 'cocooning.' But they don't like to talk about money when they get together. They genuinely like to associate with one another. But many people think it's because the rich think they're better than other people, and it's not—it's because they're discriminated against. I think they just want to be with similar people who won't discriminate against them. They're a minority that people target, which is why they tend to hide out and stick together.
Richard Branson has said that for people to climb to the top, they have to set seemingly unachievable goals for themselves and rise above them. Is he right?
They all seem to do that. They set these huge goals; they want the yachts, they want the vacation homes. One guy told me he was going to take a $400 million company he and his partners were acquiring and sell it for $4 billion. He said they figured on paper they could sell it for $1 billion, but they wanted to sell it for $4 billion because they wanted to stretch themselves.
Guys like Branson set these outrageous goals and they achieve it, so they do it again. Before they make their first $1 million, they may not believe they can make it. But once they overcome that hurdle, it seems to get easier. They get that one big success, which everyone told them they couldn't do, and then they replicate it. They take these nonlinear leaps of success, where they go from $1 million to $10 million to $30 million, and the catalyst is their belief that it's possible. I don't think it's their competence, because a lot of people are competent, but they're confident in themselves.
At some point, they stopped listening to anyone but themselves. They learned to trust themselves so much because of their success.
Why is it your belief that more self-made millionaires will emerge in the next five years than in any other time in history?
There all these new problems with the economic crash, all this uncertainty. Corporate America right now is sitting on $2.5 trillion in cash. The whole economy is only $15 trillion. All of this wealth is out there, but a lot of giant corporations are lost. They're dealing with all these new problems: the economic climate, they don't know where to put their money, there's too much government regulation, and they need people to help them figure it out. So there's room for new people to emerge to help solve those problems.
What's the most important lesson the middle class should take away from the rich?
I would say that having money and making money and being wealthy is a positive thing—there's nothing negative about it. They need to ignore all of these messages and this brainwashing that goes on, like people telling them the love of money is the root of all evil. I think the challenge for the average person is to have a positive outlook on being wealthy.
Quinto
Method 1: 9-2-0-8-4
Method 2: 5-6-0-7-0
Method 3: 2-5-4-3-5
Method 4: 7-1-4-8-5
Method 5: 3-1-0-1-7
Method 6: 5-7-5-5-3 -
“How you do anything is how you do everything.”United States
Member #76,984
July 10, 2009
10,763 Posts
OnlineSpotlight interview: Thomas J. Stanley, Ph.D.
If you want to be rich, you need to stop acting like you have
money in the bank and start living beneath your means.
That's the message in the most recent book from Thomas J. Stanley, author of "The Millionaire Mind" and the "The Millionaire Next Door."
At a glance
Name: Thomas J. Stanley, Ph.D.
Hometown: Atlanta.
Education: Ph.D. in business administration, University of Georgia.
Career highlights:- Best-selling author of "The Millionaire Next Door" and "The Millionaire Mind" plus his most recent book, "Stop Acting Rich ... and Start Living Like a Real Millionaire."
- Author of more than 40 published articles on affluence in America.
- Chairman of the Affluent Market Institute, which develops strategies for marketing to the rich.
- Before researching and writing about America's millionaires, Stanley was a professor of marketing at Georgia State University.
Steiner asked Stanley to explain what's fueling America's hyper-consumptive ways and unquenchable thirst for top-shelf brand vodka -- among other indulgences.
In your book "Stop Acting Rich ... and Start Living like a Real Millionaire," you say that rich people don't necessarily act the way that the rest of us might think they do. In fact, millionaires are more likely to be extremely frugal. Why is that?
There are many factors that explain frugality among the rich.
First, their parents tended to be not only frugal, but well-disciplined. Most millionaires today came from middle-class backgrounds. Their parents were not wealthy, but somewhat comfortable. Millionaires tell me that they never felt embarrassed by where they lived or the type of home they had. To a considerable degree, it is the uniquely American upward socioeconomic mobility that fuels much of the hyper-consuming engine of the market for luxury goods, prestige products, upscale brands, expensive homes and so on.
Beyond income, one's vocation has much to do with accumulating wealth. Educators, engineers, business owners and retail store managers have a tendency to live below their means and to be quite efficient in transforming their income into wealth.
It is the home/neighborhood environment that most explains one's ability to accumulate wealth. It may be useful for people to understand that there are 1,138,070 millionaire households living in homes valued under $300,000. This is far more than the 403,211 who live in homes valued at $1 million or more.
You describe different levels of wealth in the book. There are the glittering rich, the income (statement) affluent and the balance sheet affluent.
The glittering rich make up a small fraction of 1 percent of the household population. They have a minimum annual household income of seven figures and a net worth of eight figures and more. They are extremely wealthy people, and they spend accordingly.
But, as I said in "Stop Acting Rich," no matter what they spend their money on, it is just a fraction of their overall net worth. In other words, even the glittering rich spend below their means. There are no more than 80,000 glittering rich households in a nation of more than 115,000,000 households.
The income statement affluent are those with high incomes and relatively low levels of net worth. They are not very productive in transforming their incomes into wealth. Many of the people in this category are highly compensated physicians, attorneys and executives. Many are driven to hyper-consume by their need to display high social status.
Farmers are found in high concentrations among the segment I refer to as balance sheet affluent. The balance sheet affluent are highly productive at transforming their income into wealth.
Among the most productive of this group are educators, engineers, owners of small businesses, and as mentioned, farmers.
Who is buying most of the top-shelf brand vodkas, extravagant cars and homes and why?
The question of "who" really has two answers.
Status products and homes are more likely purchased by people who have higher incomes. Look at three socioeconomic measures: net worth or wealth, household income and the market value of a home. Which of these variables is best at predicting consumption of the items mentioned? The value of a home ranks first, income ranks second and wealth ranks third.
“America is often referred to as the land of the free. But most people in this country are not really free. They are tied to debt and a treadmill existence.”
Again, while it is true that the people at the upper level of these measures have a higher propensity to consume prestige products, it is not necessarily the most significant market.
For example, most prestige makes of cars -- 86 percent -- are driven by nonmillionaires. Yes, people with very high incomes, high levels of wealth are more likely to drive status automobiles. But in sheer numbers, the largest consumer segment for pricey cars, vodkas and homes is not the millionaire population, it is the aspirationals. These are people who think they are acting rich via their adoption of prestige brands, but in most cases they are only acting like each other.
Why do these people act this way? In large part, they are trying to imitate economically successful people. They take their cues from Hollywood and the advertising industry. The problem is that most aspirationals know few, if any, really wealthy to emulate.
Would they still continue to drive prestige makes of cars if they knew that the No. 1 make of automobile among millionaires is the Toyota? Along these lines, would they still crave living in a $1 million home when they find out that nearly three times more millionaires live in homes valued at under $300,000 than live in those valued at $1 million or more?
Should financial freedom be everyone's ultimate goal, and where does that leave the people whose life goals are simply to have some of the trappings of wealth, such as the nice house in the tony suburb and a European sports car?
America is often referred to as the land of the free. But most people in this country are not really free. They are tied to debt and a treadmill existence in terms of earning a living.
At this moment, our federal government has promised future social benefits in excess of $50 trillion. That figure is approximately the same amount of the total personal wealth held by Americans.
In the future, it is very likely that the government will not be able to provide the promised social benefits to our seniors. The typical household in the United States has a net worth of just over $90,000. That is about the same annual cost of a decent quality nursing home.
Also, if home equity and equity in motor vehicles is netted out of the $90,000, then the typical household's net worth drops down to about $30,000. That is only about 60 percent of the typical household's annual income. Therefore, it should be everyone's goal to provide for their economic future by being fiscally responsible.
Otherwise, what will happen when millions of seniors are no longer able to work and have little or no wealth accumulated? Many of them will become completely dependent upon their adult children or become destitute. The money that they spent on the trappings of wealth yesterday (the house in a tony suburb or a European sports car) will not pay for tomorrow's food, clothing and shelter (possibly a nursing home).
“We encourage our children to major in consumption and minor in frugality!”
How do you recommend that people become prosperous if they would prefer to get off the consumer treadmill?
The simplest way is to live below one's means.
The typical household should be able to put away 5 percent of their annual income while they are in their 30s, 10 percent when they are in their 40s, and 20 percent when they are in their 50s.
This is also related to satisfaction with life overall. There is a highly significant correlation between satisfaction in life and living in a home and neighborhood which are easily affordable.
What is a good rule if you are determined to become wealthy?
The market value of the home you purchase should be less than three times your household's total annual realized income. Also, if you are not yet wealthy, but want to be someday, never purchase a home that requires a mortgage that is more than twice your household's annual realized income.
Do you have a sense that American consumer values are shifting from aspirational luxury purchases that seemed to be heavily marketed in the early 2000's asset bubble days to more frugal ones?
No, I don't think that the values are shifting.
The only reason that people aren't spending as much as they did prior to the current economic meltdown is that they don't have as much money to spend right now. We are a nation of hyper-consumers. We encourage our children to major in consumption and minor in frugality!
The smartest people in the world are in the marketing and advertising industries in this country. How else can you explain that 300 different brands of vodka coexist in our domestic market? In 2009, about 2.3 million American seniors will pass away. What did they do with the more than $2 trillion in income that they earned in their lifetimes?
I estimate that only 2.3 percent will leave behind a gross estate (all assets included) of $1 million or more. What did the other 97.7 percent of the decedents do with all of their income? If they did not save their income, invest it or allocate it to things that appreciate, where did the money go?
Beyond the basic necessities, an awful lot of it was spent on things, many things that now reside in landfills and thrift shops. We are and will continue to be a culture of hyper-consumption.
Method 1: 3-7-8
Method 2: 2-8-8
Method 3: 6-1-7
Method 4: 0-2-3
Method 5: 8-5-1
Method 6: 4-3-4Method 1: 3-9-8-3
Method 2: 6-7-6-6
Method 3: 6-7-9-5
Method 4: 3-3-4-7
Method 5: 1-6-9-6
Method 6: 0-5-2-4 -
Quote: Originally posted by Harve$t Moon on Aug 3, 2013
Spotlight interview: Thomas J. Stanley, Ph.D.
If you want to be rich, you need to stop acting like you have
money in the bank and start living beneath your means.
That's the message in the most recent book from Thomas J. Stanley, author of "The Millionaire Mind" and the "The Millionaire Next Door."
At a glance
Name: Thomas J. Stanley, Ph.D.
Hometown: Atlanta.
Education: Ph.D. in business administration, University of Georgia.
Career highlights:- Best-selling author of "The Millionaire Next Door" and "The Millionaire Mind" plus his most recent book, "Stop Acting Rich ... and Start Living Like a Real Millionaire."
- Author of more than 40 published articles on affluence in America.
- Chairman of the Affluent Market Institute, which develops strategies for marketing to the rich.
- Before researching and writing about America's millionaires, Stanley was a professor of marketing at Georgia State University.
Steiner asked Stanley to explain what's fueling America's hyper-consumptive ways and unquenchable thirst for top-shelf brand vodka -- among other indulgences.
In your book "Stop Acting Rich ... and Start Living like a Real Millionaire," you say that rich people don't necessarily act the way that the rest of us might think they do. In fact, millionaires are more likely to be extremely frugal. Why is that?
There are many factors that explain frugality among the rich.
First, their parents tended to be not only frugal, but well-disciplined. Most millionaires today came from middle-class backgrounds. Their parents were not wealthy, but somewhat comfortable. Millionaires tell me that they never felt embarrassed by where they lived or the type of home they had. To a considerable degree, it is the uniquely American upward socioeconomic mobility that fuels much of the hyper-consuming engine of the market for luxury goods, prestige products, upscale brands, expensive homes and so on.
Beyond income, one's vocation has much to do with accumulating wealth. Educators, engineers, business owners and retail store managers have a tendency to live below their means and to be quite efficient in transforming their income into wealth.
It is the home/neighborhood environment that most explains one's ability to accumulate wealth. It may be useful for people to understand that there are 1,138,070 millionaire households living in homes valued under $300,000. This is far more than the 403,211 who live in homes valued at $1 million or more.
You describe different levels of wealth in the book. There are the glittering rich, the income (statement) affluent and the balance sheet affluent.
The glittering rich make up a small fraction of 1 percent of the household population. They have a minimum annual household income of seven figures and a net worth of eight figures and more. They are extremely wealthy people, and they spend accordingly.
But, as I said in "Stop Acting Rich," no matter what they spend their money on, it is just a fraction of their overall net worth. In other words, even the glittering rich spend below their means. There are no more than 80,000 glittering rich households in a nation of more than 115,000,000 households.
The income statement affluent are those with high incomes and relatively low levels of net worth. They are not very productive in transforming their incomes into wealth. Many of the people in this category are highly compensated physicians, attorneys and executives. Many are driven to hyper-consume by their need to display high social status.
Farmers are found in high concentrations among the segment I refer to as balance sheet affluent. The balance sheet affluent are highly productive at transforming their income into wealth.
Among the most productive of this group are educators, engineers, owners of small businesses, and as mentioned, farmers.
Who is buying most of the top-shelf brand vodkas, extravagant cars and homes and why?
The question of "who" really has two answers.
Status products and homes are more likely purchased by people who have higher incomes. Look at three socioeconomic measures: net worth or wealth, household income and the market value of a home. Which of these variables is best at predicting consumption of the items mentioned? The value of a home ranks first, income ranks second and wealth ranks third.
“America is often referred to as the land of the free. But most people in this country are not really free. They are tied to debt and a treadmill existence.”
Again, while it is true that the people at the upper level of these measures have a higher propensity to consume prestige products, it is not necessarily the most significant market.
For example, most prestige makes of cars -- 86 percent -- are driven by nonmillionaires. Yes, people with very high incomes, high levels of wealth are more likely to drive status automobiles. But in sheer numbers, the largest consumer segment for pricey cars, vodkas and homes is not the millionaire population, it is the aspirationals. These are people who think they are acting rich via their adoption of prestige brands, but in most cases they are only acting like each other.
Why do these people act this way? In large part, they are trying to imitate economically successful people. They take their cues from Hollywood and the advertising industry. The problem is that most aspirationals know few, if any, really wealthy to emulate.
Would they still continue to drive prestige makes of cars if they knew that the No. 1 make of automobile among millionaires is the Toyota? Along these lines, would they still crave living in a $1 million home when they find out that nearly three times more millionaires live in homes valued at under $300,000 than live in those valued at $1 million or more?
Should financial freedom be everyone's ultimate goal, and where does that leave the people whose life goals are simply to have some of the trappings of wealth, such as the nice house in the tony suburb and a European sports car?
America is often referred to as the land of the free. But most people in this country are not really free. They are tied to debt and a treadmill existence in terms of earning a living.
At this moment, our federal government has promised future social benefits in excess of $50 trillion. That figure is approximately the same amount of the total personal wealth held by Americans.
In the future, it is very likely that the government will not be able to provide the promised social benefits to our seniors. The typical household in the United States has a net worth of just over $90,000. That is about the same annual cost of a decent quality nursing home.
Also, if home equity and equity in motor vehicles is netted out of the $90,000, then the typical household's net worth drops down to about $30,000. That is only about 60 percent of the typical household's annual income. Therefore, it should be everyone's goal to provide for their economic future by being fiscally responsible.
Otherwise, what will happen when millions of seniors are no longer able to work and have little or no wealth accumulated? Many of them will become completely dependent upon their adult children or become destitute. The money that they spent on the trappings of wealth yesterday (the house in a tony suburb or a European sports car) will not pay for tomorrow's food, clothing and shelter (possibly a nursing home).
“We encourage our children to major in consumption and minor in frugality!”
How do you recommend that people become prosperous if they would prefer to get off the consumer treadmill?
The simplest way is to live below one's means.
The typical household should be able to put away 5 percent of their annual income while they are in their 30s, 10 percent when they are in their 40s, and 20 percent when they are in their 50s.
This is also related to satisfaction with life overall. There is a highly significant correlation between satisfaction in life and living in a home and neighborhood which are easily affordable.
What is a good rule if you are determined to become wealthy?
The market value of the home you purchase should be less than three times your household's total annual realized income. Also, if you are not yet wealthy, but want to be someday, never purchase a home that requires a mortgage that is more than twice your household's annual realized income.
Do you have a sense that American consumer values are shifting from aspirational luxury purchases that seemed to be heavily marketed in the early 2000's asset bubble days to more frugal ones?
No, I don't think that the values are shifting.
The only reason that people aren't spending as much as they did prior to the current economic meltdown is that they don't have as much money to spend right now. We are a nation of hyper-consumers. We encourage our children to major in consumption and minor in frugality!
The smartest people in the world are in the marketing and advertising industries in this country. How else can you explain that 300 different brands of vodka coexist in our domestic market? In 2009, about 2.3 million American seniors will pass away. What did they do with the more than $2 trillion in income that they earned in their lifetimes?
I estimate that only 2.3 percent will leave behind a gross estate (all assets included) of $1 million or more. What did the other 97.7 percent of the decedents do with all of their income? If they did not save their income, invest it or allocate it to things that appreciate, where did the money go?
Beyond the basic necessities, an awful lot of it was spent on things, many things that now reside in landfills and thrift shops. We are and will continue to be a culture of hyper-consumption.
Method 1: 3-7-8
Method 2: 2-8-8
Method 3: 6-1-7
Method 4: 0-2-3
Method 5: 8-5-1
Method 6: 4-3-4Method 1: 3-9-8-3
Method 2: 6-7-6-6
Method 3: 6-7-9-5
Method 4: 3-3-4-7
Method 5: 1-6-9-6
Method 6: 0-5-2-4Wow nice read Harvest, please continue to post stories like these I love them.
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“How you do anything is how you do everything.”United States
Member #76,984
July 10, 2009
10,763 Posts
OnlineQuote: Originally posted by chrissy16 on Aug 6, 2013
Wow nice read Harvest, please continue to post stories like these I love them.
Hey, chrissy16 !
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“How you do anything is how you do everything.”United States
Member #76,984
July 10, 2009
10,763 Posts
OnlineHow it going?
Are we making money?
Please, give to your charities!
-
“How you do anything is how you do everything.”United States
Member #76,984
July 10, 2009
10,763 Posts
Online
Broke Millionaire Athletes
This runs 1 hour 19 minutes. Worth YOUR time to view!
763 259 014 001 671 393 ~ 9730 1660 0595 1184 5967 7234
115 792 801 450 319 333 ~ 3477 4114 9821 9613 5775 7038
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“How you do anything is how you do everything.”United States
Member #76,984
July 10, 2009
10,763 Posts
OnlineAre you learning from The Have and Have Mores?
The Have and Have Mores
Game: Pick 3
Method 1: 5-9-3
Method 2: 0-9-5
Method 3: 6-3-4
Method 4: 9-6-6
Method 5: 3-7-7
Method 6: 8-3-3Game: Play 4
Method 1: 5-0-8-9
Method 2: 4-1-8-0
Method 3: 3-3-6-6
Method 4: 1-5-2-0
Method 5: 2-1-7-1
Method 6: 6-7-8-2