how much money do you need

LOL. great statement. thread shutdown

 

an article that is pretty cool

7 Millionaire Myths
by Claire Bradley
Sunday, August 15, 2010

We all have are preconceptions about millionaires: they're tax evaders who just inherited their money from rich Aunt Flo, and they hang around the golf course all day with their snobby, elitist friends. So what's the average millionaire really like? Here are seven millionaire myths, and the real facts about the ones who seem to have it all.





1. Millionaires Don't Pay Their Taxes
Fact: It is estimated that millionaires, those in the top 1% of earners, pay about 40 percent of all taxes. Current tax regulation shifts may change these numbers to make this even larger than that -- so think twice before accusing the millionaires in America of not paying taxes.

2. Millionaires Just Inherited Their Money
According to Thomas J. Stanley's book, "The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy," only 20% of millionaires inherited their riches. The other 80% are what you'd call nouveau riche: first-generation millionaires who earned their cash on their own. Many millionaires simply worked, saved, and lived within their means to generate their wealth -- think accountants and managers: regular people going to work every day. Most millionaires didn't get their riches overnight when a rich relative died -- they worked for the money.

3. Millionaires Feel Rich
From the outside looking in, you would think that millionaires feel rich and secure, but that's not so. Most millionaires worry about retirement, their kids' college fund and the mortgage just like the rest of us. Those worries are greatest among new millionaires, the people who just recently acquired their wealth.

4. Millionaires Have High-Paying Jobs
It certainly doesn't hurt to be gainfully employed, but half of all millionaires are self-employed or own a business. It does help to have a college degree, as about 80 percent are college graduates, though only 18% have master's degrees.

5. Millionaires All Drive Fancy Cars
You can get that idea of the rich guy in a fancy German car out of your head when you think of a millionaire: They actually drive a Ford, with the carmaker topping the millionaire preferred car list at 9.4 percent. Cadillacs run second on the millionaires' favorite car list, and Lincolns third according to onmoneymaking.com.

Car payments are an investment with little return, which is why someone looking to grow wealth avoids high-priced vehicles in favor of a more economical set of wheels.

6. Millionaires Hang Around the Golf Course All Day
Those millionaires are all retired, with nothing else to do but hang around the golf course, right? Wrong. Only 20 percent of millionaires are retirees, with a full 80 percent still going to work. It's not as glamorous or fun, but millionaires go to work just like you do; it's how the money gets in the bank.

7. Millionaires Are Elitists
We've already established that most millionaires earned their money and not inherited it, still go to work, drive a Ford, and worry about their kids' college expenses. Sounds a lot like the rest of America, right? Millionaires come in all shapes and sizes -- some may be elitists, but most are just regular Joes who successfully managed their money.

The Bottom Line
Maybe you see a pattern here: Today's millionaires are people who live within their means, budget and spend wisely, and focus on financial independence first. These are habits that take discipline, but ones we can all adopt to begin growing wealth. If these facts prove anything, it's that every one of us can strive to become a millionaire -- you can start by driving your old car with pride.

 

1) They don't pay taxes, look up Tax Cheat in the Dictionary and you'll see a picture of Scrooge Mcduck. They hide their money anywhere its secretive (Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and Switzerland) or with lax regulation (Caribbean and South Pacific).

2) Most do work for their money. New Rich come from young nations or young economies like Russia and the US.

3) These concerned are usually because their wealth is attached to the gouging of the public because most people get rich these days by providing a service, seldom with a new product. Even then with new products they aren't being made in the US, they are being made with sweat shop labor.

4) College Degrees are needed only because the days of Andrew Carnage working his way up a company to start his own company with the contacts gained from his previous employer are largely gone. The average worker has more than 4-5 jobs over his lifetime.

5) Sort-of, having worked in industries that expose you to rich people I can tell you its likely split down the middle. Its age related in most cases. If your young (under 30) you're likely want to buy either really expensive fast cars or many vehicles in general or "toys" as many of them call it. The mean that ends up with them buying mostly domestic cars is after experiencing the upkeep on these things. A brake job on high end cars can run as much as $1,500 just for the parts! Contrast this with your typical Pep Boys shopper that screaming about his $39.99 brake inspection ballooning to $150.

Buying American cars are cheaper buy, cheaper to maintain and usually just as fast/nice as expensive German or Japanese cars. Confirmed Bachelors are another story however. Without a wife and children to support, it becomes a challenge on what to spend your money on. There was a guy on the MBZ forums and confirmed by local members that owned about 20 cars. From his daily driver which was a SLK AMG (2009) to a Lamborghini, a Porsche, a Ferrari, even a EVO VIII and assorted Classic American Muscle Cars. There was another guy down in Texas with the same sort of garage, I believe 6 bays total and all had lifts so he could park all his cars under one roof.

Finally buying certain cars can be an investment. Jay Leno's cars are actually mostly stock, save for a few of them. They are investments. A 65' Mustang GT Convert in showroom condition can sell for 6 or 7 times its original MSRP ($40-50K). Ultra Rare Ferrari's are investments costing deep into the 6 digit range.

So its not always a zero-sum lost and those that don't like cars especially those in "Fly Over Land" go to the local Caddy Dealer can get a Escalate, just watch one of those "I Won The Lottery" shows they have on TLC from time to time, most are VERY recent (2010).

6) Only a few take up Golf, the biggest gains in the industry have come from the everyday Joe picking up a set of golf clubs. In fact I have my homies golf clubs in the garage from the closed storage unit, want them?

7) Most Millionaires are not elitist. Many are involved at the grassroots level of politics where, shop at Target/Wal-Mart (to take advantage of their buying power), live in nice areas and not always gated communities. Beverly Hills is a perfect example. Get off the main drag (Wilshire) and go down some of the side streets, the homes are usually 1,200-1800 square feet and were built in the 1940's or even older. Median Home prices however start in the $700k range...

 

for most of the stuff you stated we can probably have a wonderful debate but one would definietly have to do an extensive investigation. I am reading , I put it down and will have to return to it, the millionaire next door and I have read that some of the things in the article hold true. again I have to do the investigation myself but we can take their words for it . as far as using the car as an investment is really bad. It would be 1 in 100,000 or more for a car to appreciate. this hold true with any and every financial person. a car usually loses about 30% of its value once purshased and driven off the lot and if it was put up for sale the next day. in a book freak economics they stated it loses its value basically due to perception.

as for as the new products statement .... you will not get an arguement out of me on that one. It is a shame that we are going toward a service producing country. that sucks. at ther same time it should be a big indicator that the citzens of the US must have a degree.

 

The Russian millionaires and billionaires stole. Mostly they were bureaucrats who were in charge of mines and property once owned by the Communists. Also,some were gangsters which means Russian wealth is borne out of blood.

 

Rags to riches story John Paul Dejoria of John paul mitchell

Take John Paul Dejoria, co-founder and CEO of John Paul Mitchell Systems, for example. Dejoria twice found himself homeless. (He was also voted by his high school as the one who would be "Least Likely to Succeed".) Dejoria finally pulled himself out of homelessness only to have his products land in almost every top hair salon in the world.

After Larry Ellison dropped out of college, the future Oracle co-founder and CEO was told by his adoptive father that he would never amount to anything.

John Paul Dejoria is every budding entrepreneur's dream. His hair care company John Paul Mitchell Systems began as a $700 startup from loans.

According to Entrepreneur, he started his first job at the age of nine when Dejoria, his mom, and his brother would wake up at 4 a.m. everyday to fold and deliver newspapers.

But at one point his mom could not support him anymore, and he was sent to a foster home. He was homeless twice before making his fortune, including when he was 22, working jobs from being a janitor to driving a tow truck.

His second bout of homelessness came as a single father. His wife left him and his son and took half of his savings.

Dejoria was left to take care of his 2-year-old son on his own and was so poor he resorted to exchanging soda bottles for change. The turning point came when he got a job working as a salesperson at Redken hair company and was influenced to start a hair company with his friend Paul Mitchell. He is now worth $4 billion.

 

These days what type of wealth isn't fam? If its not sweat shop labor its massacring people for luxury items like diamonds and minerals to make cell phones.

 

I started out being disgusted by the ridiculous, class warfare propaganda in the quote, how it misrepresents obvious truths to make people feel like the rich are "just like other Americans", how it's designed to pacify people in the midst of great economic turmoil caused and perpetrated and maintained by the rich upon the middle & lower classes...


... but then I noticed a line at the beginning that I'd missed, and now I'm giggling at the grossness:

So...what, "blood money" then?

lol, ew.

Srsly, what happened to the copy editor with that one?

 

these are just a few success stories, out of the millions of other situations where people don't get anywhere. This is why we have so much homelessness and poverty. Dreams are good, but that better not be what you're hoping on.

 

Cosign sir. Truth is most people will not reach a status beyond the one they were born into.

 

im just saying...for every person that's 'made it big,' there's probably a good hundred thousand that hasn't. Look at me....i spent damn near 500 dollars on lottery and i'm still broke

 

LOL. My fanancial planner told me to tell you to keep playing you will hit in your next life.

 

If you have 500 dollars of desposable income to spend on lotto tickets you're far from broke my friend.

 

http://www.cracked.com/article_17061_5-things-you-think-will-make-you-happy-but-wont.html

 

Give the man a break, he's just an E whore with the dream of getting off his E corner.
If picking/scratching Lottery tickets between punters helps him, let him have it.

 

most I won was like 30 bucks, but that was with a combination of a 20 dollar winning + a few lesser winnings from cheapo scratch offs. If I hit it big, id have reason to get me a license, as I would buy me a vintage mustang.

 

aww silky silky now

 

That shit is so Dukes of Hazard to me lol.
Nice pick though. I'm more of a 70-72 Shelby man myself. The same car in Bullet and Gone in 60 seconds. Keep pimpin you'll get there kid.

 

:smt045 I'd take Eleanor.

 

God she was sexy