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About ten years ago I was fired from a job and went into a financial tail spin. I was silly and was living on 110% of my paycheck and had no savings and was basically a paycheck away from poverty.
My boss did not like my personality, no matter how hard I tried to work hard and be nice to him. He would trump up all kinds of charges against me and make me look bad. He begged his boss for the authority to fire me. Finally he got desparate and made up some terrible lies and had me fired. He was also able to convince the unemployment office that I was guilty of misconduct and was thus ineligible for unemployment insurance. He would not give a potential new employer a professional reference on me so I could not get a new job for the longest time. I lived on credit cards and loans for the longest time.
Finally I landed on my feet but it took me years to pay off the debts of my long period of unemployment. I cry when I think that I allowed one mean man to have so much power over me, my family and life for years. It encouraged me to look into working for my self and never being held hostage to the actions of one man or women ever again.
I agree. Although this is not my situation. I just had a friend who was improperly dismissed - but the real story behind the scene is that her boss hit on her and she did not respond - but neither did she report it to HR. So he trumped up a bad review because of it.
Luckily it worked out for her - she got a new better paying and closer to her home job. So she did not pursue the matter legally. (women, always report any funny business to HR)
The best way to make a lot of money in a company, is to own the company. Although then the company IS your life... a hard life too. Some people are cut out for it, some are not.
Unless you work at the c-level (CEO, CIO, CFO, etc) of a large company, spend decades "successfully" working your way up through a corporate ladder, work in a high-skilled high-demand profession (lawyer, doctor, dentist, etc), inherit or come into a lot of money unexpectantly, invest income incredibly luckily, become a high-powered entertainer (who can essentially collect $1 or more dollars from everyone entertained), or work for yourself or a family member business owner - you will never become rich.
It is a broad statement, and I generally hate to make them, but it is an absolute reality. Unfortunately most of the boomer generation were sold and have sold to their children a bucket of lies which include contrary ideas.
The lies consist of:
"if you go to school to get your masters or phd you will become financial successful/wealthy no matter what you go into"
and
"if you show loyalty to a company, eventually you will reap great financial rewards"
and
"if you work hard in the business world, you can achieve anything financially"
If there is one piece of wisdom I wish most non-wealthy people understood it is that wealthy people become and remain wealthy through the efforts of others. AND they do so by paying others substantially less than they themselves are paid. With rare exception, a family run business will never raise up an outsider and share the profits they earn. Additionally, most significantly-sized corporations only pay those at the very top (most of whom will have familial or alma mater connections with each other) a significant share of the profits.
Unless you work at the c-level (CEO, CIO, CFO, etc) of a large company, spend decades "successfully" working your way up through a corporate ladder, work in a high-skilled high-demand profession (lawyer, doctor, dentist, etc), inherit or come into a lot of money unexpectantly, invest income incredibly luckily, become a high-powered entertainer (who can essentially collect $1 or more dollars from everyone entertained), or work for yourself or a family member business owner - you will never become rich.
It is a broad statement, and I generally hate to make them, but it is an absolute reality. Unfortunately most of the boomer generation were sold and have sold to their children a bucket of lies which include contrary ideas.
The lies consist of:
"if you go to school to get your masters or phd you will become financial successful/wealthy no matter what you go into"
and
"if you show loyalty to a company, eventually you will reap great financial rewards"
and
"if you work hard in the business world, you can achieve anything financially"
If there is one piece of wisdom I wish most non-wealthy people understood it is that wealthy people become and remain wealthy through the efforts of others. AND they do so by paying others substantially less than they themselves are paid. With rare exception, a family run business will never raise up an outsider and share the profits they earn. Additionally, most corporate run businesses only pay those at the very top (most of whom will have familial or alma mater connections with each other) a significant share of the profits.
This is an interesting post mbuszu. I don't think college is a guarantee to wealth - it will most likely lead one to a middle-class lifestyle (of course, there are exceptions). Every rich person I know is an smart entrepreneur with no degree. OR the person is older, lived below their means most of their lives, saved, invested, and came out millionaires evetually with time - this takes more discipline than most people have.
Unless you work at the c-level (CEO, CIO, CFO, etc) of a large company, spend decades "successfully" working your way up through a corporate ladder, work in a high-skilled high-demand profession (lawyer, doctor, dentist, etc), inherit or come into a lot of money unexpectantly, invest income incredibly luckily, become a high-powered entertainer (who can essentially collect $1 or more dollars from everyone entertained), or work for yourself or a family member business owner - you will never become rich.
It is a broad statement, and I generally hate to make them, but it is an absolute reality. Unfortunately most of the boomer generation were sold and have sold to their children a bucket of lies which include contrary ideas.
The lies consist of:
"if you go to school to get your masters or phd you will become financial successful/wealthy no matter what you go into"
and
"if you show loyalty to a company, eventually you will reap great financial rewards"
and
"if you work hard in the business world, you can achieve anything financially"
If there is one piece of wisdom I wish most non-wealthy people understood it is that wealthy people become and remain wealthy through the efforts of others. AND they do so by paying others substantially less than they themselves are paid. With rare exception, a family run business will never raise up an outsider and share the profits they earn. Additionally, most significantly-sized corporations only pay those at the very top (most of whom will have familial or alma mater connections with each other) a significant share of the profits.
Absolutely correct!!! ... unfortunately....
As the peon worker getting paid a significantly lesser amount than those at the very top for more work, the only possible idea you can hope is financial security. But, that will be brought on by your actions, not theirs.
Taking what income you have, living as simple as possible, and stashing as much away as possible. Living with roommates, not keeping up with the Jones', not paying of massive amounts of credit cards. Simple life, stash it away, and focus on your future welfare. I wish with every once of my body I had saved some of my money back in my big spending years, but at least I've realed myself in and have a stronger objective. Even if it means driving a 16 yr old car (that was paid for with cash), making due with a 20in non-flat panel, plasma, or HD TV, and not spending every last dime of my paychecks from week to week.
What a crying shame saving your pennies and conserving your lifestyle isn't taught well these days.
My employment tail spin started when I accepted a job I had set my career goals on. The second week of the job, my director asked me if I had any tattoos or piercings, what they might be of, and where they were located on my body. Needless to say, he had to ask so I obviously didn't have any visible. Anything not visible was none of his business, had no relation to the job duties, and he was not entitled to that information. This was overheard by a co-worker who then turned it over to the union attorney. Union attorney, who did not represent me as I was not under union protection in my first 30 days of employment, wanted me to testify of the director's misconduct as they had been attempting to nail him on sexual harrassment for a long time. I no longer had a job the next day for reasons fabricated, and I was blacklisted from every other agency in the state that I could get a similar job with, not to mention those that find out about this job (I try to not mention it, but it occasionally shows up on the background check) get a poor reference on me from the director. I hate knowing that man still has my goat to this day, 3 years later.
Unless you work at the c-level (CEO, CIO, CFO, etc) of a large company, spend decades "successfully" working your way up through a corporate ladder, work in a high-skilled high-demand profession (lawyer, doctor, dentist, etc), inherit or come into a lot of money unexpectantly, invest income incredibly luckily, become a high-powered entertainer (who can essentially collect $1 or more dollars from everyone entertained), or work for yourself or a family member business owner - you will never become rich.
It is a broad statement, and I generally hate to make them, but it is an absolute reality. Unfortunately most of the boomer generation were sold and have sold to their children a bucket of lies which include contrary ideas.
The lies consist of:
"if you go to school to get your masters or phd you will become financial successful/wealthy no matter what you go into"
and
"if you show loyalty to a company, eventually you will reap great financial rewards"
and
"if you work hard in the business world, you can achieve anything financially"
If there is one piece of wisdom I wish most non-wealthy people understood it is that wealthy people become and remain wealthy through the efforts of others. AND they do so by paying others substantially less than they themselves are paid. With rare exception, a family run business will never raise up an outsider and share the profits they earn. Additionally, most significantly-sized corporations only pay those at the very top (most of whom will have familial or alma mater connections with each other) a significant share of the profits.
Somewhat accurate...
I guess I'll just add that if you think luck is part of investing, you will never become rich. At best, you'll be terribly mediocre.
The thing most people overlook is whether they're emotionally suited to being self employed. They give lip service to the idea that "it's more work" but most people really have no idea what it is really like until/unless they actually try to do it.
Leaving pure luck aside (which always helps!), it takes a tremendous amount of commitment and sacrifice of both time and money to start and then make a go of one's own business. Statistics show that approximately 50% of all small indepedent businesses (of whatever type) will fail within their first 3 years. That's a BIG percentage, and the reasons for the failures are not confined just to "the person didn't work hard enough" or "the person just got a bunch of unlucky breaks."
From all I have seen (and I know quite a number of people who have gone the self-employment route; some did well and some did not), it's the people who look at self-employment primarily as a route to either (a) more wealth or (b) freedom from the restrictions imposed by a boss or employer/corporation, who end up NOT making a go of it. Why? Because they don't have a realistic idea of what having your own business is like, and how it completely takes over your life until such time (and trust me, it will be a MUCH LONGER time than ANYONE starting out assumes it will be!) as you are far enough along to have overcome all of the early hurdles.
I've worked for others, and I've been self employed. First one, than the other, with a career change literally midstream. I didn't go into business for myself because I had issues with bosses or co-workers or authority or corporate structure; neither did I strike out on my own "to get rich". I did it because I loved what I was doing and was also by that time emotionally and personally suited to taking that step. I was NOT ready for it during my 20s or 30s or even at age 40.
I did well enough to retire in my mid-50s but I don't credit being self-employed for that. I probably would have done the same if I'd kept to my original path of working for others (which began the week after I graduated from highschool; I didn't choose to go to college until age 30).
I guess I'll just add that if you think luck is part of investing, you will never become rich. At best, you'll be terribly mediocre.
I know that with the right tools, knowledge of what to read, and by spending enough time to do the legwork, you can increase odds much more in your favor when it comes to investing in something like the stock market. In fact it is no coincidence that my NYC-based Investment Banker friends are millionaires from their personal investments after only ~7 years in the profession.
I was just calling out that most people are at the mercy of the markets -just because you put money into your 401k fund choices, doesn't mean you'll get wealthy. I also have two friends who because their 401k's and option packages were packed with the right utility company stock for the past 15 years are now millionaires many times over. They have no real investment knowledge - they got lucky.
Of course mileage varies tremendously - and indeed if you really are a successful wall street warrior I would welcome from people like you recommended readings for how to evaluate where to put investment dollars so you don't rely upon being lucky. I know there must be a ton of books published on this topic - but what are one or two title recommendations not for day-trading but for 6mo-1year investment strategies?
[quote=mbuszu;1301590] In fact it is no coincidence that my NYC-based Investment Banker friends are millionaires from their personal investments after only ~7 years in the profession. QUOTE]
Wait a sec...NYC...Investment Bankers...mbuszu, are we friends??? Haha, kidding. But seriously, where do your friends work, I might know them?
It is very difficult for individual investors to make money in the stock market because the system is set-up by/for Wall Street insiders. You have to pay commission whenever you buy or sell and on top of that the specialists and market makers skim a little of your money on orders they execute. And when they want things to go their way, a phone call to the Feds usually do the tricks. This game is rigged.
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