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This hasn't been a very inspiring thread like I was expecting (although I did learn a lot about the NFL and China ). Maybe we need to lower the threshold to 1/2 million? If so, you can add me to the list. I reached $500,000 in savings at 39 years old, 2 years ago. (Since then, I've watched it drop to $325,000 before rebounding.) I never made more than $60,000/year and have averaged $33,200/year (pre-tax) since graduating from college. It only includes about $12,000 of inheritance.
It can be done, but you have to put effort into it. You have to live well within your means. I try to save 1/2 of my take home pay. The earlier you start saving, the better. I lived at home with my parents for 6 years after graduating from college. Although I never made more than $20,000/year while living there, I was able to save a large portion of it. Didn't have to worry about my social life while living with my parents 'cause I didn't have one (I was always working at a very un-financially-rewarding job. Some of us pick the wrong careers! ).
I've maxed out my 401k (when I had jobs where it was available) and IRA. I invest in mutual funds and not directly in stocks. Almost all my investments are in stock funds. The only strategy I use is that I put my money in money market mutual funds until the market takes a downturn, then I wait about a month and start transferring those funds into stock mutual funds. This makes a big difference. I don't believe in Dollar Cost Averaging (investing the same amount every month)(except for my 401k). "Buy Low, Sell High" is the way to go, but I do it over the long term (years) and do not follow the market closely.
I could write a book about frugal living, yet I consider myself to have a very comfortable standard of daily living.
Stay married to the same person your whole life,have a relevant job,max out your tax deferred/exempt contributions,LIVE WITHIN YOUR MEANS,keep your personal demons in check,and your hobbies within reason.You will become financially secure by your late 40's.
Yep and let's hope you don't die by then from a heart attack.
I am a very responsible person, but it makes me sad to see many people so focused on money and they never stop to ask if they married the right person or are really enjoying their lives.
There is a reason so many people over the course of time value youth-it is one thing money cannot buy. Enjoy your life. I am not saying you cannot be responsible, but stop and look around once in a while.
most problems in life are not related to money.. they are related to lack of money.... your financial plans and goals are just another aspect of the things that determine how your overall quality of life and what you do in life consists of and are not a substitute for the other things that make up a good life like your health and family life .they go along with it.
its one big ball of wax and folks only start pulling out the pieces individually when they failed at one part of it. then they will put more importance on the areas they didnt fail at but for my life they are all important pieces .. lack of money issues have destroyed more marriages then anything else most likely.
my wife and i havent had 1 money issue fight ever... why? because thru our planning,investing and good luck that aspect of our lives is right on track...its just not an issue and so we can concentrate more on the other areas of our lives to make life with each other and the kids more fullfilling.
lack of money hostilities in life have a way of poking its head up in all other areas in most lives. that fight with your spouse is never about you left the cap off the toothpaste again. there are other issues usually that bring that up and dollars to donuts ill bet most of the time its lack of money aguments that bring up hostilities into other areas.
fact is money by itself may not bring true happiness but being poor will certainly bring a whole lot of misery.
Last edited by mathjak107; 10-02-2010 at 04:34 AM..
Every millionaire I've met has told me the first $1 million is always the hardest. It's true, the more money you have, the easier it is to make it. HOWEVER, you could be given $1 million and easily lose it from bad investments because you don't have the discipline people who made it from scratch do. Everyone needs to go through the arduous process of obtaining the first million because you will end up making mistakes and you need to learn from them. Many people cannot make the first million, in that case they shouldn't feel bad for themselves because if they were given $1 million, they would end up losing anyways.
Yeah, right. 20 years old. Even a decent college degree takes 21 years of age and 85K of salary drilling rigs?
They probably plant poppy too beside the oil fields LMAO
Please. I'm not buying it. People claim all kinds of things online. I can claim I make 200K, but you definitely don't know until I show you my pay stubs, do you?
Whats not to buy? $85k for a oil rig worker sound about right to me. There are many blue collar jobs that pay six figures, but they are hard physical work and not everyone can do them.
whether your better with money earning it initially or getting it handed to you is about a coin toss in accuracy... i know sooooooo many folks who inheirited large somes of money or businesses and did just fabulous growing that money...
we inheirited a real estate holding company, we did very well with growing it, it made no difference if we were the founder or fell into it by luck..
folks are either good with money or they arent. dosnt matter how the money came to them. even the company i work for was a small little motor repair shop . it was passed on to my boss and he grew it into an empire in our industry.
on the other hand i have watched so many people accumulate large sums of dough and then loose it all including the company i worked for previously.. i dont believe there is much of a connection as to who does better or worse.
You will find that many people who have achieved some degree of wealth do really not like to talk about it. I doubt if 1 in 10 millionaires would answer the OP question. There is simply no upside to other people knowing what you have, and some potential downside. A more informative post would be about the different methods people have used to make money.
its funny you said that.. a few years ago money magazine wanted to do a story on marilyn and i ...they wanted to pit us and our planning against their team of pros and what they would do differently.
well needless to say we had reservations about pulling down our financial pants for 8 million people to see.
then we thought about it rationally .
were we living a lie and leading a life style that was not in line with our worth and we didnt want anyone to know? no
were we in debt up to our eyeballs? no
were we proud of what we did ? yes
were long lost relatives coming out of the woodwork for loans? no
would charities hound us? maybe
to tell you the truth we couldnt think of one reason not to do the article ,all the hush hush we are taught about our financial lives suddenly had no merit.
soooooo we did the article, and not 1 charity call from it either. we went on to do other articles for fidelity's investment magazine .
its more a big to do about nothing if your honest about your financial lives.
i mean folks tell total strangers on the internet about their affairs but heaven forbid someone knows your finances.... its just silly
its funny you said that.. a few years ago money magazine wanted to do a story on marilyn and i ...they wanted to pit us and our planning against their team of pros and what they would do differently.
well needless to say we had reservations about pulling down our financial pants for 8 million people to see.
then we thought about it rationally .
were we living a lie and leading a life style that was not in line with our worth and we didnt want anyone to know? no
were we in debt up to our eyeballs? no
were we proud of what we did ? yes
were long lost relatives coming out of the woodwork for loans? no
would charities hound us? maybe
to tell you the truth we couldnt think of one reason not to do the article ,all the hush hush we are taught about our financial lives suddenly had no merit.
soooooo we did the article, and not 1 charity call from it either. we went on to do other articles for fidelity's investment magazine .
its more a big to do about nothing if your honest about your financial lives.
i mean folks tell total strangers on the internet about their affairs but heaven forbid someone knows your finances.... its just silly
This says it all...
Quote:
mathjack107 "we inheirited a real estate holding company, we did very well with growing it, it made no difference if we were the founder or fell into it by luck"..
Just curious.... did you inherit from your side or your wifes side.
my side i did on my own, i was an investor long before i met my wife, this is a recent 2nd marriage, the first million i did. my wifes family were builders so she inheirited her side but it was nothing like it turned into after we got it.
Last edited by mathjak107; 10-03-2010 at 11:38 AM..
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). Maybe we need to lower the threshold to 1/2 million?
If so, you can add me to the list. I reached $500,000 in savings at 39 years old, 2 years ago. (Since then, I've watched it drop to $325,000 before rebounding.) I never made more than $60,000/year and have averaged $33,200/year (pre-tax) since graduating from college. It only includes about $12,000 of inheritance.
Some of us pick the wrong careers! 
).
