Help me save yahoo finance...

[wildcat]

I think 1-2 should be one book and etc.  Can't give away all of those "secrets" in one book.  C'mon Wab..be a pig, be a pig, be a pig!

edit -

Each step in my plan requires a book and video.

OK that's better

 

[wabmester]

Yea, unfortunately, you lose your best customers before you even get through #1, "Go to college."

Oops, too much work.

Ah, but I nail that demographic with my 10-step plan to Pimpin' and Bling-Bling.

1) Find a crack-smokin' ho....

 

[laurence]

Ah, but I nail that demographic with my 10-step plan to Pimpin' and Bling-Bling.

1) Find a crack-smokin' ho....

2)Slang some rock and blow...

"It's not drug dealing, it's multi-level marketing!"

 

[EricMD]

OK, I've decided to become an investment guru.   Here's my 10-step plan to becoming a wabillionaire by age 40.

1) Go to college.   Learn whatever you want, but take an econ class and an entrepreneurship class if offered.   If you don't have a passion, develop one.

2) As soon as you get out of school, get a job.   Preferably a job with a pension plan.   The value of a pension is often dismissed, but you should estimate its value as 25 times whatever income it provides.   That's a lot.

3) Work for 8-10 years.   Being an employee sucks, but you need to suck whatever you can out of your employment.   Learn what makes the business tick.  Vest in the pension plan if they have one, otherwise job hop to maximize your salary.

4) While you're working, save like mad.   Max out all of your savings plan, and save some more.   LBYM.   Don't worry about where you invest.   The money you save during this period will dwarf your investment returns, but try to keep it simple.

5) OK, now you are 30 years old or so.   You've accumulated a nice nest egg, but you're not rich.   You have lots of business experience, and perhaps a small pension to boot.   You are almost wise.   Time to shift into calculated risk mode.

6) Quit your job.  Start a business.   You have domain knowledge -- use it.   You have a passion -- follow it.    Allocate up to 20% of your own capital to the business and borrow or beg the rest.

7) If the business doesn't take off in 2 years, abort.   Sell it if there are any assets.   And start another one.  Continue this cycle until your either succeed or hit the age 35.

8 ) OK, you are age 35 now.   You are either well on your way to being a wabillionaire, or just have spent up to 50% of your assets as tuition for the school of hard knocks.   If the latter, go back to work and stick with the pension, LBYM, and index investing.   You probably won't be rich by 40, but you'll be better off than most people.

9) If you've made it in your business, time to diversify for some hypergrowth and asset protection.   Buy a duplex or apartment building, live in one unit, and rent out the rest.   If after a while you decide you don't like being a landlord, sell, and buy a single-family property instead.   Let it simmer for 5 years.

10) OK, now you are 40.   You are wise, you have a pension, you own real estate, and you might have a sucessful business.   Keep at it if you want, or start selling off assets, wind things down, and head to Fiji.

excellent wab, are you following your own advice or am i gonna have buy your CD to support your dreams....  all finance guru guys make money selling books and tapes. if i spend $12 on a book and learned 1 or 2 valuable idea. that's worth the money to me. people pay upto $40,000/year for college education and after 4 years  some of them came back home and live with MOM... heck $12 buck is cheap for 1 "good" advice. and eventhough i agree with you that 98% of the guru's talk are trash.

but i do get a lot of free advice from this site. thanks to you all

 

[Nords]

Ah, but I nail that demographic...

This reminds me of Jim Carrey playing a country hick (yeah, there's a stretch) on "In Living Color":

"I'm halfway to being a billionaire on Joe's 'Quick & Easy Two-Step Lottery Plan'-- win a billion dollars and never work again! Why, this morning I done quit my job, and now I cain't wait to win the lottery!!"

 

[HFWR]

Eddie Murphy already did "Be a Ho" (from SNL).

 

[yAyA]

I would buy a book called "Uncle Mickisms" by UM2.  Full of his best posts from the ER homepage.

I missed the Oprah vs. Bach (?) showdown...can someone fill me in?  Who is Bach?

David Bach is great! Besides "Automatic Millionaire" he also wrote "Smart Women Finish Rich" and a few others. I've read both of these and now I'm on my way to FIRE! I find his writing easy to understand and most of all motivational. Really the only difference between people who retire with $$ and those who don't is the way they think. He and Suze Orman just click with me. They have changed my thinking about money. Now, saving for retirement, house, and paying off debt is not a chore and quite fun .

 

[Cut-Throat]

Suze Orman just click with me. They have changed my thinking about money. Now, saving for retirement, house, and paying off debt is not a chore and quite fun .

You know Suze Orman used to be a stockbroker. I'm sure she skimmed made a lot of commissions off the unknownings portfolios.

She had some basic good advice, except advoiding folks like her. When I saw her on TV encouraging people to borrow money for Chevy Trucks the word Whore hypocrite kept popping in my mind.

IMHO she's not as sleazy as Kiosaki (sp), but she's a close second.

 

[laurence]

Wasn't that terrible? Lock and roll, I remember was the phrase. I don't even remember what the deal was, I just remember it was hardly a deal, something like, "if you pay us interest for six years on a bucket of pig iron, we'll let you get a terrible trade in value and start another six years of interest payments all over again!".

 

[Mr._johngalt]

IMHO she's not as sleazy as Kiosaki (sp), but she's a close second.

I agree.  I would add that she is also stupid, except she is making a lot
of money with her particular schtick, so I guess I might be wrong about that.

JG

 

[wabmester]

This crowd watches waaaay too much TV. What, are you retired or something?

 

[yAyA]

LOL

I try not to miss Suze's show. I don't buy any of her products but I love her show. When people ask her about borrow from their 401k to purchase something or pay debt, her reaction is priceless

 

[wabmester]

Eddie Murphy already did "Be a Ho" (from SNL).

I guessed I missed that one.   Maybe I do need to watch more TV.

I Wanna Be a Ho

On a classic skit on NBCs SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Eddie Murphy portrayed Velvet Jones, a supposed educator from the Velvet Jones School of Technology. One of the books (and courses) he offered was how to be a prostitute. His sales pitch said: "Are you a female high school dropout, between the ages of sixteen and twenty-five?...Are you tired of lying around in bed all day with nothing to do? Well. you never need get up again, because in six short weeks I can train you to be high paying ho...Just think-fifteen hundred dollars a week, without even leading the comfort of your own bedroom.. Sound too good to be true? Just send for my new book, "I Wanna Be a Ho."

Velvet Jones follow-up publications included "I Wanna Drive a Pink Cadillac, Wear Diamond Rings and Kick Women in the Butt." (his how to be a Pimp guidebook); The Velvet Jones Harlequin Romance series featuring Velvet Love and Kicked in the Butt by Love ("I knew in an instant that the three dollars I had spent on wine would not go to waste."); and an exciting new videocassette The Exercises of Love marketed with these telling word "Yes, it's all here: the squatting, the thrusting, the grunting and the groaning. Take it from Velvet, these are exercises you will want to watch again and again."

 

[Nords]

She had some basic good advice, except advoiding folks like her. When I saw her on TV encouraging people to borrow money for Chevy Trucks the word Whore hypocrite kept popping in my mind.

With apologies to George Bernard Shaw, we're not arguing about her occupation-- we're just haggling over the price.

 

[maddythebeagle]

I guessed I missed that one.   Maybe I do need to watch more TV.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bitch+slap

no need to holmes slice, look it all up on da internet

 

[just_hatched]

I think $200 for the Cashflow 101 board game is exorbitant. Go to his site richdad.com and see if you think he charges exorbitant prices.

In one of his books, he explains why the intentional high price.

His game is only for the REAL SUCKERS REALLY SERIOUS "want to get mega-rich now" people.

 

[unclemick]

Hmmm

I can think of three - none of whom read 'The Millionire Next Door' - at least I don't think so.

1. Make it through high school - buy a used dump truck - hussle for a while - add a dozer, backhoe and perhaps another dump truck and an equipment garage. Let your wife do paperwork while you use the cell/two way to conduct business - drive the dozer once in a while for fun. BTY - the driveway and rock jetty he put in - show up post Katrina on the satelite photo - he did a good job.

2. Marry a strong woman - who can finish concrete as well as you - work independant - no job too small. Our below the front porch patio - can't tell from the photo.

3. Become a Fireman - run a small shop (over the cell) specializing in 'hot rodding' waveriders and 'other' boats.

Three off the top of my head - could - but probably won't ER.

Heh heh heh

More than one way to skin a cat.

Post Katrina - 1. and 2. above have 'more than enough' work as they used to say down there.

 

[Nords]

In one of his books, he explains why the intentional high price.

His game is only for the REAL SUCKERS REALLY SERIOUS "want to get mega-rich now" people.

I actually played the game a few years ago. It's quite good for teaching people about keeping what you earn, avoiding high fixed expenses, choosing among stocks & real estate & other investments, and handling life's little surprises. ("Congratulations-- triplets!!") And if you get dealt the wrong profession, you have to stick with it for the entire game. Janitors beat the rat race a lot more than brain surgeons.

I think it'd catch on like gangbusters in middle schools. What was frightening was the number of adults playing the game who couldn't (1) evaluate their options and (2) make a freaking decision.

 

[wabmester]

("Congratulations-- triplets!!")

Is there a card that says "Too bad -- you just spent $200 on a board game. The future value of your net worth gets set back by $5000!"

 

[laurence]

This guy learned from the game!:

http://tinyurl.com/c3uum


This is what the cover of my cashflow game would look like:

 

[just_hatched]

And if you get dealt the wrong profession, you have to stick with it for the entire game. Janitors beat the rat race a lot more than brain surgeons.
I think it'd catch on like gangbusters in middle schools.

Maybe there will be a spike in students becoming janitors.

I *knew* I picked the wrong profession! This now confirms it.
Do you think it's ever too late to become a janitor?

So are you saying the brain surgeons didn't understand the concept of LBYM? Or did they get dealt different expenses because of their profession?
In real life, maybe you have more say in your level of expenses.

 

[Nords]

So are you saying the brain surgeons didn't understand the concept of LBYM?  Or did they get dealt different expenses because of their profession?
In real life, maybe you have more say in your level of expenses.

It's a board game, not a sophisticated multi-CPU networked simulator. So the game rules say that your expenses are fixed and that surgeons have high fixed expenses. But it is fun to watch people cheer when they're dealt the janitor card and grumble when they find out that they're a brain surgeon.

I think most brain surgeons have no incentive to learn or practice LBYM. Perhaps it's all those years of penury internship & residency where the only thing keeping them going is the thought of helping patients buying that Beemer. Which is a shame considering that they end up abandoning all the LBYM skills they've picked up.

When spouse and I are debating whether or not to make some hedonistic purchase, I can't help remembering that I lived for months on end in a space that was 6' high, 6' deep, 3' wide, supplemented by a three-stack of 6'x2' "bunk beds", with a storage closet of about 12 cubic feet, and surrounded by stainless-steel decor. The memory might not stop that particular purchase, but it certainly cuts down on the gimmes.

 

[yAyA]

This guy learned from the game!:

http://tinyurl.com/c3uum


This is what the cover of my cashflow game would look like:

I'd buy the game if it had that cover

 

[justin]

When spouse and I are debating whether or not to make some hedonistic purchase, I can't help remembering that I lived for months on end in a space that was 6' high, 6' deep, 3' wide, supplemented by a three-stack of 6'x2' "bunk beds", with a storage closet of about 12 cubic feet, and surrounded by stainless-steel decor. The memory might not stop that particular purchase, but it certainly cuts down on the gimmes.

Either you've served time in prison, or on a submarine. I'm leaning towards submarine, because most prison cells are rather luxurious compared to what you've described.

 

[Nords]

Re: Help me save Business Week

If we haven't beaten this thread to death yet, here's Business Week's 21 Nov "correction" to their 14 Nov "article" (and I use that term loosely) on Abigail's feud with father Ned at Fidelity:

"In fact we relied not on interviews with either Johnson, but rather on prepared statements that Fidelity sent us in answer to our questions.  Edward Johnson said...  Abigail Johnson said... These quotes do not support the conclusion we drew from them.  Further, we should have made clear that they were provided by the company and not the result of interviews.  We regret these errors in judgment and the departure from our jounalistic standards."

"But, boy, did we sell a lot of magazines."  (OK, I added that last quote.)

It reads to me as if BW was soundly spanked by Fidelity, who probably threatened to send them a houseboat with a midget crew if they didn't straighten out their act.

Luckily BW took the initiative to improve their journalism standards by hiring that hard-hitting harbinger of high-quality investigative reporting...

























Maria Bartiromo??!

So in the last couple months my subscription dollars have purchased stories about Fidelity's fabled alcohol-fueled bacchanals & family feuds, Jim Cramer in a truly offensive photo spread, and... the CNBC Money Honey.

Hey, I don't expect BW to aspire to the same journalistic standards (or readability) of The Economist-- but I am looking for a little something above the quality of the National Enquirer. Maybe I just need to look for it somewhere else.