Millionaires in the making-CNN

I was looking around the CNN financial pages and came across this very cool feature they have been running. It looks at folks with the millionaire mind, notes their net-worth and debts and discusses what they do that leads to their success. As I read through the articles it sounds like there are a lot of shared values and mindsets. You hear things about simplicity even though they are worth tons. They sort of sound like variations on a theme but are all unique.

What do you guys and gals think?

Couple 1

Couple 2

Couple 3

Couple 4

BTW if anyone else know sof a feature like this that profiles couples and how wealth is accumulated, please post links because I find it enjoyable reading.

Nick

Well I would think that 25 years from now they wouldn't be a millionaire in the making any more. By they they would probably be a millionaire. Kinda loses the point of the title then right?

Future wealth isn't a fait accompli, but the alternative to trying with some proven strategies is what? Piss in the wind and see if your shins stink?

The financial failure and financial mediocrity doesn't get tallied up? Couldn't it be that knowlege and application aren't the same thing? Plenty of people can claim to know how to get rich, but they don't really know how or they don't have the desire to truly lay it on the line and risk failure to become a success.

How many Monday morning quarterbacks know what plays the coach and players should have called and run? It takes a lot more than an opinion to become well off. These folks have put the principles in which they believe into action. Other may talk the talk, but not walk the walk. It doesn't mean they are "losers" as you claim, but it doesn't mean they will be guaranteed success either.

As for whether a business can be successful or not. It really isn't that hard to be successful in business. There are just plenty of folks who commit halfway to things. We watch plenty of folks who are immigrants come in and begin running a business with lot of success. Likewise success can simply be learning from failure. There are successful business people who have had several failures. However they learned from them and become successful business people. So don't just ask the successful, ask those who failed and then succeeded.

As for luck being for losers. Haven't you ever met someone who managed the same amount of success even when the settings and variables have changed? It is easiest to spot this in say sports, but it is true in business and other aspects of life. I'm not found of sports analogies but look at Bill Parcells for example. He has turned his team into a contender whereever he has coached. What he doesn't isn't the luck of the draw. It is true for finances as well.

Nick

What you show is just that you don't have to be the best and the brightest to become financially well off. Instead of complaining about it you should be thankful since it still means you have a financial shot.

Success doesn't mean you have to be the brightest. Application is very different from knowlege at times. Plenty of people know for example that you have to (simplistically) basically eat less and do more to become fit and maintain your weight. However very few people seem to apply it.

Nick

You missed my sarcasm. I said you should be greatful that you don't have to be the brightest because it still gives you a shot.



Nick

Pick your nose instead of picking and whining about everyones posts. Then get a life.

Nick

Sufficient commitment is the trait to which I would assign the most value. I have met very few persistent people in my life. Even when seeking wealth most people seem to do nothing but ride fads be it a stock or whatever. There are different ways to achieve success in everything, but likely there are some core values related to almost all of them.


Bad luck? You make your luck in this world. Sure someone could fail against all odds, repeatedly, for their entire lives. But if you never gained any success from all those failures did you really learn and apply any new knowledge?

Failure brings with it the opportunity to grow and learn so that you don't repeat the process. If you just go on repeating the failing process, then you didn't really learn anything by failing.


Sure those factors (luck and who you know) can figure into success in some areas. I would say this is especially true in entertainment type fields where in actuality someone isn't necessarily a better singer, better looking or a better actor, dancer, etc. than someone else. It literally comes down to a lottery there. However I wasn't posting examples of that nature. I wasn't saying "Gee that Britney Spears is just such a better singer and so much more driven than anyone else."

That would be nonsense. If any industry relies on "luck" on top of talent it would be entertainment.


I do believe you can learn something from those who have ultimately failed. However I haven't encountered examples of where someone did everything right and then just ended up as failures. Since you claim these stories are ignored why don't you post some or link to some.


Let me give you a hypothetical and then prove a point in reality with it. Oh sorry....

There are coaches who have never produced winning teams. Likewise your odds would have to be even worse than you claim because someone would be much less likely to hire someone who has failed repeatedly everywhere they went. You give everyone even odds regardless of success or failure. That isn't the case in real life where success and failure both have costs that are not equivalent.

Take the sports team examples since we are on that. Teams that do badly get to draft first. It is hoped that since they get first choice of talent they will improve. However there are teams that no matter how many first choice draft picks they have had, players they have traded for, etc. Well above the odds of luck, then end up on the losing end.

There are values and work that lead to results, not just the luck of the draw. Perhaps there were 4 other Michael Jordans who blew out there knees for example and couldn't play NBA basketball. However their drive and competitiveness if applied outside of basketball could have led to success in other fields.


I don't think it ignores failures. I think it is just realized that you must persist even in the face of failure.

I don't think the negative side necessarily thinks others are not as smart or not hard working. However those traits alone don't create wealth and success. One of the smartest guys I know never went anywhere in a job. He had a desire to be right so often, he would pick fights with all his co-workers until he was fired at job after job. He had enough college credits for probably about 3 degrees yet was working at CompUSA for minimum wage and arguing with people about what photo printer they should buy like their lives depended on it.

I have always liked this quote by Calvin Coolidge. It sums up what I think well.

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

Nick

Well you know when you insult someone, you have to consider whether they will understand it. Hence 5th grade level for you is about right.

Someone needs to put me in my place, and I suppose that someone is you. I'll tell you what giant. I'll give you the world's biggest apology if you can find anywhere on this forum where I have posted my net worth. It isn't here because I haven't bragged about it. I have mentioned items relating to personal finances, and I have even mentioned in threads that people DON'T have to disclose personal financial information to discuss finances. What is humorous is I have disclosed financial information in manner much like yourself with just inferrential information. You have drawn the conclusions from that information and declared it crude to talk about it. So go dig out that bragging giant, until then how do you know how much cash I do or do not have to be smart with?

Then you get into household income. You boast that yours is multiples of mine yet not generated by you. We would then have to assume you have a spouse bringing home wads of cash while you work at a library. You declare that money is not all that important. I think that is sort of the point of my posts idiot boy. I do what I do on a teacher's salary. Do you think teachers have some incredible love of money? However people often make it an OR question. I can do what I want OR I can have lots of money. It doesn't have to be that way. You don't have to sell yourself out, never see your children, and slave away for ungodly hours in order to acquire a high net worth.

I post articles that reflect that not because I wish to boast about what I make or own, but because I get tired of teaching the children of parents who have two new car payments, a jumbo mortgage, a home equity line of credit to pay off their previous credit card purchases and a whole new round of credit card bill rung up. They do all this and then send their children off to school when they are sick because no one can stay home. They have busy weekends yet no time to help with homework. Exotic vacations yet can't read with their children at bedtime or talk with them at mealtimes.

Amazingly enough they think they have secured a financial future for their children when in reality they have squandered their child's education and their own earnings.

The families I posted do not necessarily have huge incomes. That is part of why I posted them.(3 or the 4 were under $100,000) If anything I don't consider income to an indicator of net worth. Income is like a snapshot when life is a movie. Do you think if I only treasured income or even money I would let my wife stay home and cut our income(from jobs) in half?

I post about finances because to do a lot with a little, you have to make fewer financial mistakes. We would not be buying a couple houses a year if we were buying brand new SUV's with DVD's on one salary that happens to be a teacher's salary.

Lastly you constantly complain about my posts and yet you ALWAY reply to them. The board even has an ignore feature. You don't even have to see them let along read them and reply to them. Please stop complaining about the pain of my posts that you inflict on yourself. People will think you a masochist.

Nick

Why is it not right as long as you are not exploiting people? The couples I posted did not appear to be making their money at the loss or harm of someone else.

Likewise even if it may not end up sufficient, someone is more likely to build an acquire wealth if they say, put money into their retirement accounts as opposed to say, spending more than they earn.

Nick

I would bet that we have a few millionaires on these forums. At a minimum we have a few folks will likely be millionaires someday.

Just makes sure that if those few happen to be giant or shetline they give all their money to you since it was nothing but blind luck or oppression of others that got them there.

Nick

Naw Doc, I was just having some fun. I said that if the millionaires on the board happened to become giant and shetline, (as opposed to you I and others) that they should give away all their money since their views, to varying degrees, attributed it to pretty much luck of the draw.

The only assumptions I make about you being French is that you could pick a better wine than I could at dinner.

Nick

I found an ad in the local free ad newspaper. I assumed a property for free as a result. The property soon badly flipped in price however. (It was worth less than the mortgage) It did so almost -$40,000. As a result I couldn't sell it and had to rent it out when I wanted to move. So out of desperation, before giving it to the bank, I bought a book on landlording. About 5 years later, and a total of eight years after I bought it, I sold it for $15,000 profit.

So I guess that would be luck by some definition.\

Nick

Things aren't always complex, especially making money. Perhaps the love of a woman is a complex issue, but adding value to something or getting a return from an investment really isn't that hard. Most people just don't get themselves into a position where they can even experiment and find out what sort of financial plans work for them.

Think of it like fitness. There lots of contention about how much of what to eat, how much cardio vs how much lifting, etc. What is fitness vs. premature wear on joints, etc. It is a pretty complex issue when you think about it. However that really only becomes true if you are the one reading about it on the couch. Getting the feedback from your own body helps you to distill that complexity down to what works for you pretty quickly.


Don't forget the apartment building.

Landlording is pretty easy actually. I tell people that the biggest mistake people make with rentals is calling it property management. The property doesn't do anything. It is the people. Rentals are people management.

Being a teacher, I have just a little experience with people management. My houses don't require lots of work at all. I will admit they do when I first purchase them but then I make quite a bit of money in terms of equity for that week or so's work. My rents are deposited electronically. The bills are paid via the internet. I take about 2 calls a month on my cell phone. The renters all sign minimum one year leases and often renew for another year.

Rentals are passive income. If I had to do work to get it, I wouldn't be interested in it since I already have a job.

The studying... I read several books about fixing homes and managing rentals. I would put the total number of books at about seven and their total value at about $150.

As for not having much money, I see you couldn't find anywhere where I had "bragged" about my net worth. I suppose you enjoy claiming I am "poor" in an attempt to get my to declare what it must be. I'll give you a hint at it since a friend on these board told me it is rude to talk hard numbers. Let's just say I am worth more than any of the people in those articles I posted. So now perhaps you won't feel so bad as I slave away twice a month on my cell phone.


So I won't deal with them then. I don't mind that I guessed wrong at your background. I assure you it was no more of a bad guess than what you took at mine. If you don't know where to start, then don't. No one has said you have to share anything or even post anything.

If you care to share then that is up to you. I have personally thought of forming an AI/AO investing club because I have wanted to get into stocks and have never owned any. If you are trading in futures, shorting stocks or some other issues I haven't dealt with then I'll be happy to listen and learn. Likewise if you want some info a what's a cosmetic fixer versus a condemnable money pit, I'm your man.


Perhaps what you deal with is complex. Mine is quite simple. All people need a place to live. I provide them at slightly above fair market rents but with some nice extra amenities. Likewise real estate is limited. They can make more cars, more computers, and even build more houses, but they can't make more land. Likewise a few simple things can make people especially happy enough to pay a clear premium above the sum of the parts. Apple is a great example of this but in housing it can be things like ceiling fans, crown molding, updated flooring, clean, warm, white paint, etc.

For example in Real Estate they tease that the three most important factors in buying a house are location, location, and location. The locations in which I buy my homes are upper middle class and up. The neighbors actually thank me when I remove the eye sore it was from the neighborhood. I give them my cell phone number and THEY manage the homes for me since I promise them a good tenant. THEY will let me know if someone is throwing a party, not keeping up the lawn, etc.

However since I select good tenants they don't have to deal with even issues of that nature. Better yet I let them pick their neighbor by giving me referrals. It is far to simple and easy.

Pretty homes, good neighbors, good locations, simple stuff.

Sort of like taking a $.05 potato and making it a $1.29 bag of potato chips or french fries. (People should think about that when they consider why every restaurant lets you "supersize" your fries and drink. It is where they make the most money) It is like taking some water and adding some sugar, etc to it and calling it Coke.


Sounds like good advice and I think the couples I posted and myself follow it. I'm a teacher who happens to enjoy real estate and benefit from that. I get to spend time with other people's kids and my own pretty much all day every day. I only work 176 days a year and we enjoy traveling the rest of the time.

Honestly giant, do you think they articles I posted are that different from you advocated right there? From what I saw, most of them weren't in some rat race. They seemded to have their priorities pretty straight. I could see your point if I were posting about some internet IPO millionaire of something of that nature flashing some bling, bling and chasing after all the wrong things. I could understand it if I posted articles about folks who had a lot of material possessions, high paying jobs, but no investments or net worth. However I thought what I posted is right up the alley you just advocated.

Nick

Shet,

I think we are going to have to agree to disagree on this one. I thought my posts were long. Also the way you reply makes it really hard to quote from ya.

I doubt I could change your worldview via a post in these forums. Your view is yours and you are welcome to it. Mine matches my experiences. Likewise chance can perhaps end a hard sought opportunity, but there is no opportunity if there is no effort. I could die or be mauled in a car accident tomorrow. That doesn't mean I'm going to stop striving today or that my successes were not earned.

Nick