[Update: I was prompted to mention my article on money.]
The Millionaire Next Door. I read this book a couple of years ago, very eye opening. Most millionaires don't look like it.
Quote from the article:
"The authors say that one of the most important factors in becoming a millionaire is living beneath your means. Thinking back, I can see that in my own life.
As a former real estate agent, I was used to explaining to people what the largest home they could qualify for was. Most people are barely satisfied with that home."
This ties in nicely with the aforementioned Grand Designs TV series. I have now watched five of the shows. One was a communal project. Two were couple who built quite wonderful homes. Very inspiring.
And two were couples who built wonderful homes which were way, way above their heads financially and otherwise. Those were real cautionary tales.
They started with a mortgage which stretched their means, and then the costs went up and up and up as the house progressed. These people could not talk about anything else but what a nightmare they were living as this went on.
Another quote:
"One of the paradoxes of millionaire status is that those of us who are frugal enough to achieve it are too frugal to enjoy it."
It's funny because it's true.
I am one of those myself, but I still think, when hearing of somebody dying with 20 million in the bank and a 20-year-old car: "what's the point then?" :)
There must be a happy medium.
One of the main things that financial success has gotten me, apart from independence, is freedom from worry about it all the time. But it seems this is a mental thing. Some millionaires worry more than they ever did. And I know people who have traveled with only the shirt on their back, and seemingly not a worry in the world. I'm not there yet.
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By the way, like useit.com, John Reed's site is living proof that fancy web design is not what makes a site successful. His web design would have been considered basic in 1995! :)
Also, he is a real curmudgeon. But he makes some interesting points, like this on self-publishing. (Self-distribution is the most profitable part? Wha?)
16 comments:
It is important to have a strategy.
I am planning to earn some money in stocks, my goal is to earn some 100k Euros or even less, and then settle with what I've got. I do wear old T-shirts, though I could afford better clothing, and a bigger car, but what for?
When I've reached my goal, I will try to spend the money for making an independant living until I die, and I'm also intending to give some of the money to my friends who at the moment are really struggling to make a living.
Their money is very hard-earned with their restaurant, mine is much easier earned, it "only" takes me some knowledge and a lot of patience, but not endless hours spent in the kitchen of a restaurant.
In the end I know what I'm gonna do with the money because I have my strategy and I'll be the happiest person when I've reached my goal, still wearing an old T-shirt, and with a shaggy look. But my soul will be as happy as you could imagine.
Maybe the person who died with 20 million in the bank and a 20-year-old car didn't miss the point.
Maybe what they valued couldn't be bought with money.
I've always been the grasshopper in the family (vice the ant). I think everyone expected me to never amount to much. But I live extremely well, drive expensive cars, live in a McHouse, and buy lots of toys lately.
I want to die owing a million dollars to the bank. Sometimes I've been told I live a charmed life. Maybe I do, but I'm surrounded by family and friends I adore. I also have a wife that is the sweetest, prettiest thing around. And I'm doing the things I want to do to make a living.
There are many ways to getting where you want but for me it was all about doing what I love to do. Braggin'? Maybe. Happy? Yes. Lucky? Who knows.
Maybe what they valued couldn't be bought with money.
True happiness cannot be purchased with money. It brings financial comfort but not happiness. I have money in the bank, two homes, a good job blah, blah, but no one to share it with.
I'm glad I have this living but having a "constant" brings far more riches than mere money.
Things of this world will pass away, but true love will always live on.
And yes, I help those in true need. Thanks for letting me post here.
Where are you Pascal from Lebanon?
I await your response. Please make it "under" a million words ok?
And please, no war stories about the middle east. I care, but like Eolake and Iraq, I'd rather not hear about that. So come here and respond. Thanks.
I do wear old T-shirts, though I could afford better clothing, and a bigger car, but what for?
Me too. There are a lot of things I could buy that I'd gladly give away. The 250 thousand I have in the bank is nice, but it doesn't make me happy.
I've been retired since I was 25. I'm now 40 wondering what to do with my life. I didn't need the colleges the high school grunts said I needed. Common sense can bring about wealth.
Shoot the talcum to me, Malcolm
WTF?
AAh, yes. The happy medium; She sees life through a rose colored crystal ball.
I would like to comment but I am overwhelmed. This post talks about:
1) "The Millionaire Next Door", the book, and the philosophy of living beneath your means.
2) The dilemma of frugality vs. enjoying our savings.
3) Freedom from worry, and how it ultimately has nothing to do with how much, or even whether, we have money.
4) The relationship between 'unstyled' websites and marketing success.
5) Reed's character. Him being a curmudgeon.
6) The profitability of self-publishing, and the role of self-distribution in it.
I find all six topics interesting, and have personal experience in all of them, but, man! I understand you want to slow down a little with your blog, but where it used to be you published five posts/day, now it seems it's one post/day but with five posts worth of topics crammed into it!
I wonder if even commenter extraordinaire, Dr. Pascal, is able to respond. I certainly am at a loss of keystrokes.
I agree with TTL. I enjoyed all the topics of the post and I look forward to more comments on them.
I thought it coincidental you brought up John Reed as I stumbled across him a few weeks ago. I have to agree he does come across as a wee bit grouchy, but I ordered his books, though I am having to do it in a roundabout way since I don't live in the USA.
With money, I'm surprised you didn't mention the article you wrote on money in Domai. I'd provide a link, but I'm at work.(and obviously working hard to be a millionaire;))
I've had some power issues lately, between the rationing and the weather, but no need for everybody to weep over my fate. Really. :-)
Besides, can't I also follow a discussion without having anything special to contribute? It happens once in a while, you know. My million words are currently spread over several other threads. (Just give my generals time to regroup the troops, and you'll see, my armies will crush all my foes, BWAHAHAHAAA!!!)
P.S.: My part of the Middle East is currently quite calm, by local criteriae. Same old crap, same old crap, nothing new worth reporting.
No noos is good noos, and swiftly told.
Kerry Underwear,
To understand what the expression's about, just click on its link. You won't regret it.
Unless you're an anxious insomniac baby doll, that is! :o)
TTL said...
"I wonder if even commenter extraordinaire, Dr. Pascal, is able to respond."
Okay, I may have a little something to comment on this.
My brother, who lives in the US, is certainly not loaded with cash, but he's a wise person. As a result, he lives beneath his financial means, has what is called "good credit", and is making good use of it, meaning only as much as he needs. So he's got little to complain about. :-)
I told him yesterday: "According to my friend Eolake, you're rich."
What's the use of having millions, if you never have enough?
See? I told you I didn't feel the speedy need to overload this thread with my armies of millions of minions of words.
Not while I'm so busy invading the deserted White House from the back door. Ssshhh, don't tell!... ;-)
"Unless you're an anxious insomniac baby doll, that is!"
Haha, yes I'd hate to be a baby in that household!
I put up the link in response to Kerry.
Talking about hyper, you should see "Best in Show". It has the most wonderful super-high-strung couple I've seen.
Eolake disclaimed: "Haha, yes I'd hate to be a baby in that household!"
Well, should I find myself in that situation I would just shoot the talcum as instructed.
Coming back to Reed's article, I find this bit very funny: "Nickerson was the real thing. He never made his living from guruing."
Sure enough. Every noun can be verbed.
You could start a book like that.
I like Reed's no-nonsense approach and independent thinking. Also, there is something addictive in his spartan tight prose sprinkled with funny anecdotes.
And the fact that he refuses to sell his books to you is surrealistically funny and perfectly reasonable at the same time. A marketing trick not even Dalí thought of.
Reed should try his hand at painting.
Not while I'm so busy invading the deserted White House from the back door. Ssshhh, don't tell!... ;-)
Ok agent Pascal, once in, grab the dummie, no not cheney, the other one called dubya and drop kick his ass into the potomic river!
Cut out a picture of a dumbfounded chimp and prop it up behind a desk and they won't miss him for a long long time.
Don't forget his book, My Pet Goat and Stealing Oil through War.
Got it? Cool.
I'm a genius at living below my means. I think extended time as a graduate student is a real boon to anyone who wants to learn to lower their material expectations.
My problem is earning, in the first place. When I say I can live below my means, my "means" are usually below what I should be getting, for someone as talented and bright as myself.
Oh, and about that self-publishing link. The dude says that he is "oblivious" to his own talent as a writer; that he can do it without effort, in the manner that a great discus-thrower would seem effortless to a beginner.
Well, I got news for him. I'm oblivious to his talent as a writer, too. He ain't got none, as far as I can tell.
Self-publishing may allow you to claim, "I'm a published author," or it may even allow you to make a lot of money off your production. But it doesn't mean that your book is any good, even if a jillion people buy it. (I suppose somewhere around a hundred-thousand-google dollars, on the way to half-a-jillion, you start not to care about whether it's any good, as you work out the complicated real estate logistics that will allow you to buy your second Caribbean island, but that's a different issue.)
When I write, I want it to be good. I know that editors at publishing houses, vaguely, in some manner, have a good sense of what "deserves" to be published. I know as well that their desire to publish good literature is mitigated by their need to publish marketable commodities, so it isn't always just a matter of writing well. But at least when the imprimatur is offered by a larger organization than merely myself, a place that has a lot of employees who have some degree of education and expertise in the field, then I start to think maybe I'm doing something well.
Eh, just call me an elitist. I could "self publish" a book of poems tomorrow. That doesn't mean I'm going to be the next Czeslaw Milosz.
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