Ladislav - Women Are Beginning to Refer to Me as 'Rich'...

[The_Adventurer]

Yeah, your way is called laziness, shortcuts, impatience and immaturity.

Why do you seem so angry and defensive over this subject? You sound like a religious person defending your one true way while all other ways are luck or doomed to failure. I'm saying there are other ways. I'm not asking you to try them. Do what makes you happy.

My first boss made his first million at 18 years old, and his friends and family, being negative, thought he must have done something illegal. One of my last bosses was a multimillionaire at 33 from his video games (I'm sure he was a millionaire years before that but I hadn't met him yet). James O'Barr was tearing up the comic book market with The Crow in his early 30's. Arnold Schwarzenegger, since you mention him, was a millionaire at age thirty. Will Smith did blow all his money when he was in his 20's. He got rich again.

It's not my way. There are many ways. Good ideas have value.

[Contrarian Expatriate]

Do you know how people become Rich and accumulate Wealth? They don't spend their money.

First Rule:
Don't waste money. Don't spend money. Don't give money away.

You don't become Rich by spending money.

That is completely untrue. Those people are not rich. They are thrifty misers who accumulate money they can't enjoy.

Some of the richest people are the biggest free spenders around. They blow money like there's no tomorrow, yet they make money faster than they can spend it. Getting rich is not a result of savings or thrift.

Of course, "rich" means different things to different people. In my book, people who accumulate hundreds of thousands of dollars or even a million over 30 years of hard work and thrift, are not rich. They may have a comfortable retirement, but that is not wealth in any way I can imagine it. Many of the rich people I know make a million or more each year, yet do almost nothing, blow money like it was toilet paper and yet they continue to stay rich and keep making more. That's wealth!

I think you are under the false impression that many people labor under. MOST people who BECOME rich do just what Globetrotter described, they live below their means and invest their disposable income. There is a book on the very subject called "The Millionaire Next Door."

Most NBA players are not rich unless they develop the means to earn without working or playing a la Magic Johnson.

[globetrotter]

Why do I debate with such fervor? Because you are misleading in your point to the point of lying.

If everyone could be a talented actor, Lady Gaga, John Cormack or an NBA player and rely upon such talent at a very young age they would. Of course 'ideas have value'. The point is that only very very few people can come up with such ideas. The fact that you seem incapable of stepping back from the people you know and you cannot resist the urge to extrapolate the entire world from the small group you are exposed to is quite telling. I would guess that you are in your 20's, perhaps as old as 34, no older.

I am speaking as someone WITH a god-given talent that I used from 20 to 40. While I did not become 'rich', it is something I can do that 99.999% of people cannot. When people asked me to describe how I did it and I tell them, their eyes glazed over because my advice is useless -- it is an ability that I have that almost all others do not have and telling them how I did it does not and will not help them to replicate it.

This is the same with your acquaintance that began a website who pays someone else to run it, the same for the entertainers you know, the same for John Cormack, the same for other young success stories. They are the exception to even the rest of the rich and successful. Most are not like them at all.

Here are some of the young entertainment success stories and what happened to their money:

-Eddie Money - spent it all twice after 2 comebacks.
-Sam Kinison - died $1 million in debt after selling out stadiums in 1987 and making tens of millions.
-Former NBA player Eddie Curry is broke and massively in debt. He will make $11 m this year. Still not enough. (Many NBA and NFL stars go broke.)
-PayPal founder and Tesla Motors investor Elon Musk is out of cash. He spent $200 million.
-Real Estate Investor and 'Redline' Movie Producer Daniel Sadek crashes $1.5 Enzo Ferrari as movie promo stunt. He later had to sell all of his exotic cars to pay for the ponzi scheme that was his brokerage business. He is currently charge with multiple crimes and is broke.
-Gary Coleman was lower middle class at his death
-Michael Jackson. Spent it all and died a sad and lonely man in massive ($250m to $500m) debt. Only his death pulled his estate into the black with $1B in revenue since then.
-Lindsay Lohan is currently in the process of pissing all her money away
-Megan Fox is self-destructing and will be broke in 3 years if she doesn't get it together

Terrance I could go on but you see my point. All of these people lived to your rules. What's the point of making money if they're not going to spend it on themselves for fun and right now? Why wait 30 years! Right? That is the attitude of a very young person, ages 15 to 34. Live Fast, Die Young! No deferred gratification.

Such an outlook is foolish and immature and it is not applicable to 99.99 % of all people; but most people CAN work hard for 15 to 30 years and sacrifice and accumulate wealth. If you breakdown USA millionaires you will find that most made it the way I describe, not the way you describe. Contractors, Plumbers, Carpenters, PE Geologists, RRE and CRE investors, small businessmen, on and on. Decades of hard work and sacrifice, not instant gratification.

[The_Adventurer]

I think you are under the false impression that many people labor under. MOST people who BECOME rich do just what Globetrotter described, they live below their means and invest their disposable income. There is a book on the very subject called "The Millionaire Next Door."

Oh believe me I knew exactly what book he was coming from the minute I saw his first post. We used to sit and have long discussions about that book. For me it was the most boring, labor intensive thing I could do to make it through that. That was hard work. Not anything I could do to earn money.

On the one hand, it could be said you are correct. The vast majority of people who become "well off", as I could never call that rich, use the technique from "The Millionaire Next Door". I think Forbes Magazine said millionaires are a dime a dozen these days. You know what? If they are happy, more power to them. The few I knew who did or do that, like my brother for example, were not happy. and did not seem to enjoy life at all.

I recommend some different books. Try "The Richest Man in Babylon" or "The Startup Entrepreneur" for beginnings. These show a clearly different path that is just as valid and just as feasible. You don't have to be Tom Cruise or an NBA star to get rich without wasting DECADES of your life.

Also, Some seem to be laboring under the idea that spending money and enjoying life now means losing everything you got. Have you ever really considered how much is really needed to truly enjoy your life? WHen I was at the top of my field in video games, making about $10,000 USD per month, I could have pretty much anything I wanted. I didn't have a ferrari like John Carmack, but my favorite car has always been the Mustang GT.

Don't make the mistake of assuming that one must be blowing everything they have to live now. It doesn't take much. If your income is large, you can have a significant budget for fun and recreation and still put away a ton of money for future investment and growing of wealth.

[The_Adventurer]

Such an outlook is foolish and immature and it is not applicable to 99.99 % of all people; but most people CAN work hard for 15 to 30 years and sacrifice and accumulate wealth. If you breakdown USA millionaires you will find that most made it the way I describe, not the way you describe. Contractors, Plumbers, Carpenters, PE Geologists, RRE and CRE investors, small businessmen, on and on. Decades of hard work and sacrifice, not instant gratification.

You ARE right. More people have done this they way you mention, as laid out in "The Millionaire Next Door" than through my way. Also there's nothing wrong with this method if the person is happy. Still, it's not just actors and sports players who ruin their lives who get really rich without the slow process described in that book.

There are some amazing entrepreneurs who will tell you that you have to take risks to get the big rewards. Like the guy, at least if I am remembering this correctly, who does the Saleen Mustangs. Not a year goes by that he doesn't "bet the entire farm" on some endeavor, with the possibility of losing it all, but the rewards he reaps are far greater than what he could ever achieve playing it safe.

You ARE right in that not everybody can be Lady Gaga, John Carmack or Magic Johnson. But I truly, honestly believe that everyone has something in them they can turn into a great idea or great business. Everyone has some talent they can use, possibly in a unique way, to lead to wealth. Great ideas aren't just movie scripts, songs and video games. I knew a guy who laid concrete or asphalt, and knew the business backwards and forwards. He created a concrete (or asphalt) website and tons of business flocked to it. He got rich. Who would have ever thought such a thing was possible?

Also, what about outside of strong economies like the U.S. or England? People with good ideas are making fortunes in China and India right now. A technique like "The Millionaire NExt Door" doesn't seem like it would be anywhere near as effective in those economies. What do you guys think?

And one more thing you're right about, as far as Gary Coleman or Eddie Money etc. I also made quite a lot on money in my video games days and blew it. I want to be clear that I am not recommending people do that. I did so because I am full of great ideas and will get rich again. But blowing it all and not spending at all are two extremes. Anyone can find a balance. The book "The Richest Man in Babylon" has a great system. A percentage of income for investment, a percent for debt repayment, a percent for bills, and even a percent for fun and recreation. No one has to sacrifice their best years on the chance that they will still be around to enjoy their million when they're old.

And yes. I also know a guy, my friend's uncle, who died with $2 million in cash and assets he never got to enjoy, and with no one to pass it onto, because he sacrificed everything to build that small fortune.