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The fact is, not everyone can be rich. Even if everyone worked their asses off, worked just as smart (requiring innate intelligence, mind you), and had the most positive attitude ever, there's still no getting around the fact that the pie is finite, and life is a zero-sum game.
That's a typical wage earner mindset. The pie (the size of our economy) grows more years than it shrinks. However, you have to move beyond the wage earner mindset. You MUST save/invest a significant portion of your salary if you want to be financially comfortable or rich. I earn a modest salary and live in a high cost area...yet I save just over 1/3 of my gross salary (a below average income for my area). It can be done....but you have to want to do it.
People with your attitude either don't believe it's possible or don't really want to--or both.
Last edited by mysticaltyger; 05-25-2016 at 09:14 PM..
Well, first of all, three million Dollars is no longer a lot of money. Someone with that kind of money is not particularly special. In economic terms, such people are MIDDLE CLASS. They possess a MODERATE amount of wealth. And, perhaps more important, I would imagine that most of the interviewed individuals were people with three or four million. So, most of the interviewees were probably middle class..
Statistically, the percentage of people with $3 million in assets is pretty small...well under 10%...So while certainly not the elite, they really can't be considered "middle class" in a pure economic sense.
The net worth of a typical 65 year old is somewhere around 200K or 250K and that includes the value of their home...so your argument just doesn't wash.
I get it you've got way more than $3m...but that warps your perspective. Everyone seems poor or middle class to you. No matter where you are on the economic ladder, there's a strong bias to compare oneself to those with even more and to ignore those with less. Practically everyone does this.
That's a typical wage earner mindset. The pie (the size of our economy) grows more years than it shrinks. However, you have to move beyond the wage earner mindset.
Refer to my post on the last page.
It doesn't matter if the pie grows if you don't get a slice.
I have worked since I was 18, graduated summa *** laude from college, never did any drugs, not even marijuana in my life. I don't know how they're defining "strict" but my parents ran a fairly tight ship. Pretty much straight and narrow all the way.
And Dean Kamen invented and made his device in the outer space vacuum I presume? Dean Kamen didnt rely on the faceless mass of the indentured servants forced to sell their arses no matter what they think about relative contributions of Mr. Deans' genius? Free people having the right and the means to exist have way too much ego to work for somebody who thinks he's 20,000 more valuable. Of course, you are an exception, you would love that. It takes coercion and dispossession to build a master-slave pyramid trumping people' ego for 1:20,000 exchange ratio to happen. Free sane people just dont do that.
"Master-slave pyramid" LOL! You are just full of ... gems like that today.
It doesn't matter if the pie grows if you don't get a slice.
As I pointed out, you were simply wrong. Unless you don't earn anything, you have a slice. Yes, some people are never going to be capable of supporting themselves in even very Spartan living conditions....but that's simply not the case for most people.
As others have pointed out...following the basic rules take you pretty far such as:
--No kids out of wedlock or divorce.
--Taking school seriously (but not making it the be-all end all of everything)
--Having good social skills (important in intimate relationships as well as potential work connections
--Living a modest material lifestyle, living on less than you earn...and not treating saving as an afterthought...but really prioritizing it.
--Having few or no vices that take you down (overeating, drugs, alcohol, gambling etc.).
People who do all of the above usually do pretty well. No, you don't get super rich doing the above, but it leads to financial security, and possibly lower end wealth ($1-$3 million).
Well, first of all, three million Dollars is no longer a lot of money. Someone with that kind of money is not particularly special. In economic terms, such people are MIDDLE CLASS. They possess a MODERATE amount of wealth. And, perhaps more important, I would imagine that most of the interviewed individuals were people with three or four million. So, most of the interviewees were probably middle class.
maximum wage in the nba for rookies is 4.3 million a year (it actually feels good to know that me and anthony davis have something in common; we are both middle class).
Last edited by stanley-88888888; 05-25-2016 at 10:21 PM..
As I pointed out, you were simply wrong. Unless you don't earn anything, you have a slice. Yes, some people are never going to be capable of supporting themselves in even very Spartan living conditions....but that's simply not the case for most people.
As others have pointed out...following the basic rules take you pretty far such as:
--No kids out of wedlock or divorce.
--Taking school seriously (but not making it the be-all end all of everything)
--Having good social skills (important in intimate relationships as well as potential work connections
--Living a modest material lifestyle, living on less than you earn...and not treating saving as an afterthought...but really prioritizing it.
--Having few or no vices that take you down (overeating, drugs, alcohol, gambling etc.).
People who do all of the above usually do pretty well. No, you don't get super rich doing the above, but it leads to financial security, and possibly lower end wealth ($1-$3 million).
All agreed.
Although I think that is about to change in the coming decades. Automation and whatnot. We're not there yet. But that's a discussion for a different thread.
I think my point still stands about the "growing of the pie" in certain areas (the non-basics) not necessarily translating to a better salary:COL, as they do not produce any more land, and rent is usually the largest number in COL. Do you see where I'm coming from? It's kind of hard to explain, I'm not exactly clear on what I'm trying to say.
As I pointed out, you were simply wrong. Unless you don't earn anything, you have a slice. Yes, some people are never going to be capable of supporting themselves in even very Spartan living conditions....but that's simply not the case for most people.
As others have pointed out...following the basic rules take you pretty far such as:
--No kids out of wedlock or divorce.
--Taking school seriously (but not making it the be-all end all of everything)
--Having good social skills (important in intimate relationships as well as potential work connections
--Living a modest material lifestyle, living on less than you earn...and not treating saving as an afterthought...but really prioritizing it.
--Having few or no vices that take you down (overeating, drugs, alcohol, gambling etc.).
People who do all of the above usually do pretty well. No, you don't get super rich doing the above, but it leads to financial security, and possibly lower end wealth ($1-$3 million).
The basic rules will keep you in the black. Which is good. They will not make you rich or ever close to it.
Even if you do all that, $1 million would be in the high range. At age 65 a $1M net worth puts you in the top 20%. 4 out of 5 people won't make it.
I'd also wager that most people with net worth figures in that range live in a high CoL area and have benefited from property value increases. Most normal jobs will simply not pay enough to amass that kind of wealth.
My back of the napkin calculations show that you'd need to save an average of 10% a year off a 70,000/yr salary over 35 years and get a 7% ROI per year to reach $1,000,000. The 10% per year is doable, the $70K average over 35 years and the 7% average ROI is not so easy. You'd have to have strong appreciation on the house to reach it for most people.
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