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Bill Gates got to where he is because Gary Kildall spent hundreds and hundreds of hours in computer labs writing the CP/M operating system, which Tim Paterson essentially plagiarized (but made different enough to make QDOS considered a separate product and not CP/M v2.0), which Gates then bought for $50k and renamed MS-DOS, and then convinced IBM to let Microsoft retain the rights to on their PCs
The lesson to be learned from Gates is that if you have $50k saved, and are willing to risk your savings and your ethics (since he knew he was robbing Paterson by dealing with IBM behind his back), and are willing to talk one of the biggest corporations in the world into a retarded error of licensing/copyright, you can become a billionaire. But you gotta have the capital up front....
Your message can be condensed to these 5 words and you've covered 87% of what it takes to get rich....or even to "get ahead" in the corporate world of today.
Your message can be condensed to these 5 words and you've covered 87% of what it takes to get rich....or even to "get ahead" in the corporate world of today.
there's no doubt Gates is a smart fellow, but being a billionaire isn't about being smart. The deal that started the whole Microsoft juggernaut was done in secret for a reason.
If the barrier to home ownership is represented by a real physical barrier, then individual behavior (lack of saving, instant gratification, buying on credit, etc) would be the foundation, the bricks stacked 100 feet high and 20 feet thick, the mortar between all those bricks, and the barbed wire a the top, while taxes would represent the guard patrolling the top of that barrier.
Here's a story about how this works, using two former enlisted men - me, and a buddy of mine.
Me - spent 10 years in the military, got out as an E-6. In that time, I managed to save ~$6k and get my associates degree.
Buddy - served 6 years, got out as an E5. Managed to save (no joke here) $59,000.
Difference? When I was at a bar drinking my savings away, he was in his barracks room drinking water, playing SNES, and SAVING MONEY. He made less income for fewer years and saved enough to put a proper 20% down payment on a $300,000 home. Knew a few guys like that actually, but I knew a LOT more who were with me at the bar.
It isn't evil corporations nor the government driving our lack of saving and creating wealth, it's ourselves. Sure, income stagnation and taxes don't help, but the reason I don't save the $20k per year that I could EASILY, is because my wife and I do not like saying no to ourselves. Period.
Yes, I think most forms of taxation are tyranny. Yes, I think the government does make it tougher. But my lack of a savings account is mostly my fault, not anyone else's. Anyone intellectually honest will arrive at the same conclusion. People dedicated to remaining slaves to their own gluttony will blame everyone else.
This is true. People always think that the answer is more money but don't realize that it is also important to know how to handle the money that get. When I made 3 times as much as min wage I really wanted to buy a house but still couldn't afford it. At first I resigned to the fact that I couldn't but after awhile instead of blaming everyone else I took a look at what "I" was doing wrong. That was a turning point for me. I changed my stupid ways, learned, and now I am an owner of a house that is almost paid off.
This is true. People always think that the answer is more money but don't realize that it is also important to know how to handle the money that get. When I made 3 times as much as min wage I really wanted to buy a house but still couldn't afford it. At first I resigned to the fact that I couldn't but after awhile instead of blaming everyone else I took a look at what "I" was doing wrong. That was a turning point for me. I changed my stupid ways, learned, and now I am an ow/hr,ner of a house that is almost paid off.
For people earning $8/hr, the answer usually is more money, because in most North American markets, frugality won't get them into home ownership.
For people earning $8/hr, the answer usually is more money, because in most North American markets, frugality won't get them into home ownership.
freemkt, you've been crying the blues about not being able to buy a home for along time now. I've been where you are at and I can sympathize, kind of. But if I kept crying the blues like you I would still be in the same place just like you. It was my fault, no one else's. My first step toward being able to buy a house is to realize it was up to me, not someone else.
No matter how much you make if you don't understand personal finance and know how to handle your money it won't do any good. I know someone who makes $300k a year and they were turned down by the bank when they went for a mortgage.
Someone earning $8 an hour is either a teenager at their first job or an adult who has probably never once said no to themselves on anything. And someone making $8 an hour is not SUPPOSED TO BE a homeowner. Everyone has the right to be ABLE to own those things they either create or trade that which they own for. But nobody simply has the right to have house. Put simply - if a house costs X dollars and you have X dollars, you have the right to trade X dollars for the house. That doesn't mean you're bron with the right to X dollars. X dollars must be earned.
If you make substantially less than what X can afford, then you cannot afford X. This doesn't mean you never can, just that your current earning potential is not realized enough to afford things that other, more self-actualized folks can afford. But me being able to afford a thing doesn't confer a right to anyone else to afford it as well.
??? Millions of American adults earn $8/hr and say no to themselves every day; one in four jobs today pay no more than $10 per hour. I have never earned as much as $9 per hour and I say no to myself all the time; I rent a freaking ROOM and don't have a car or TV.
Why is someone making $8 an hour able to pay rent (operating cost of housing plus landlord orofit) yet not be able to afford to buy the same housing? Owning is cheaper than renting in at least 48 of the 50 largest US housing markets, yet renters can't afford to own homes???
And there are plenty of people who can't afford a 3BR house on a quarter acre, but they CAN afford a 400-sf house on a 2,500-sf piece of land. Government is usually the only thing stopping these people from buying and owning homes. These people CAN afford X, but government prohibits the sale of X - this clearly is the fault of government and not of the person earning $8 per hour.
For people earning $8/hr, the answer usually is more money, because in most North American markets, frugality won't get them into home ownership.
As I said, you've been complaining about this for along time. I know we've been through this before.
So what have you done differently? What did you change? It's also 5 years into Obama's administration and as you can see he can not will you a home. He can not legislate you more money. It's time for you to realize that, stop waiting and do something to help yourself.
For people earning $8/hr, the answer usually is more money, because in most North American markets, frugality won't get them into home ownership.
Honestly home ownership is overrated.
You can't escape property taxes which is constantly going up even when the value of your home goes down.
Home owners is going up as well even as your home depreciates.
Even with no mortgage you could be paying out more than rent with just prop taxes and home owners insurance. And that doesn't take into account any maintenance.
I think my next place is going to be a duplex down by the coast.
Live in one side and rent out the other to snowbirds and that passive income will pay the RE bills for me.
I think a single family house has seen it's heyday as far as the American dream.
Might be good for families who could actually stay put for 20 years but those days are long gone.
I think my next place is going to be a duplex down by the coast.
Live in one side and rent out the other to snowbirds and that passive income will pay the RE bills for me.
I like that idea!
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