Surest Way to $1M

RunningBum said:
Some people really have no prospects at ever getting to $1M. If you have a limited education and a low income job and no special skills, you may live pretty much month-to-month, and not have any capital to start a business or invest in stocks. These people probably see the lottery as their only chance at $1M, and they may not be wrong.

However, as we all know, that's the worst plan of all. Cutting expenses and putting something away each month to invest or start a business may not get them $1M, but getting halfway there or even less will make for a much better retirement, early or not. It's not an all or nothing deal.
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There is always the exception. My Father had an Aunt in New York City who copied the 'rich' people she worked for and invested her meager savings in mutual funds. We talking 30's to the 50's. In our family you save before you eat. Social Security plus savings investments allowed her to travel and visit and live a modest but good retirement. When she passed she paid for my Father to take her remains back to Finland and bury them in a family plot. Also left my Father 10-12k? in 1957 $ of mutual funds which he promptly sold and bought a house in the city with sidewalks.

I(age 13) went to the library and found their only book on mutual funds - The Handbook of Mutual Funds or something like that.

heh heh heh - :cool:
 
Independent said:
Suppose that 1/2 the young workers have 4 year college degrees and only half of them are getting the higher salaries they expected.
So that's 1/4 of the population that has comfortably above median incomes due to their degrees.
Then there's another 1/4 that get above the median without the college degree.

But if "median" means anything, half the workers earn less than that. I'm thinking about those workers.
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Generally people income rises significantly as the age. I forget exact figures but I was surprise how few folks over 45 make below the median income. This makes it much easier to save a higher percent of your income.

Now I agree with you if you never make more than say $12 hour, your chance of saving a million dollars are very slim. Not as bad as hitting the lottery but pretty bad. So maybe the 12% saying playing the lotto are made up of those people stuck in the minimum wages jobs forever.

On the other hand if you have a lifetime of minimum wage jobs you don't need a million bucks to be able to retire.

But at least 1/2 of the population and probably even more could become millionaires if they were good savers, they aren't.
 
I'm informed that I made my millions thanks to the government. :cool:
 
Some are 1/2 millionaires, .....their wives just haven't told them yet. :LOL:
 
marko said:
I'm informed that I made my millions thanks to the government. :cool:
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You were not listening. It was just with some assistance from the government, like the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines, and the fire department, police, roads, sewers, water systems, schools and a few things like that. Other than that and your parents, and maybe your employees if you were a business owner you were on your own.
 
Have met many millionaires in my work. Some had a business, others were high income professionals, ceo's or other high paid employees at mega corps, some real estate, some inherited a lot of money. Typical habits: buying used cars, good clothing that lasted a long time, modest homes, saving and investing, coupon clipping, turning off unused lights, just generally cost and expense control. Classic LBYM.
 
donheff said:
You were not listening. It was just with some assistance from the government, like the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines, and the fire department, police, roads, sewers, water systems, schools and a few things like that. Other than that and your parents, and maybe your employees if you were a business owner you were on your own.
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I know that. I was just being snide. :)
 
donheff said:
You were not listening. It was just with some assistance from the government, like the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines, and the fire department, police, roads, sewers, water systems, schools and a few things like that. Other than that and your parents, and maybe your employees if you were a business owner you were on your own.
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Hmmmmmm..... Don, while I completely agree that we need shared services generally provided by the gov't, it's not like the gov't provides these things as an act of kindness and benevolence. The gov't is simply aggregating resources we provide and executing the services with those resources at our direction.

The human resources involved, with the exception of those impacted by the now defunct military draft, all seem to be well paid and anxious to perform.
 
NW-Bound said:
(snip) Just so single people do not think married guys got it made.
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As for me?

I'm glad what I "have" rather than "what may be" (yes, I love my DW).

As an (old) married guy, I have no regrets - and yes, i've got it made :LOL: ...
 
I don't believe I will ever have to split the $$ either, but many posters here did have to.

In any event, it takes more to feed 2 mouths, so married guys need more than single people anyway.

PS. Come to think of it, I usually eat 2X to 3X what my wife does. She also does not drink, so all the beer and booze are just for me. I guess I have won big too!

PPS. On yet another 2nd thought, love takes two. So, happy married guys should not be complacent either. ;)
 
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youbet said:
Hmmmmmm..... Don, while I completely agree that we need shared services generally provided by the gov't, it's not like the gov't provides these things as an act of kindness and benevolence. The gov't is simply aggregating resources we provide and executing the services with those resources at our direction.
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Isn't that the purpose of government? Not sure why kindness and benevolence even enters into the discussion. Your hmmmm implies that you think I somehow disagree?
 
donheff said:
Isn't that the purpose of government? Not sure why kindness and benevolence even enters into the discussion. Your hmmmm implies that you think I somehow disagree?
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Eh? The purpose of government is to provide the instrumentality through which the economic elite and policy planning networks wield power. The form of government determines the efficiency of the instrumentality.

If standardized road systems, utilities, and protective services such as fire departments suit their needs, then we can have them. Unsuitable or undesirable services that do not meet the policy requirements won't happen, or will be dismantled.


Bottomore, T. (1993). Elites and Society (2nd ed.). London: Routledge

Schwartz, M. (ed.) (1987). The Structure of Power in America: The Corporate Elite as a Ruling Class. New York: Holmes & Meier. ISBN 0-8419-0764-1.

Putnam, Robert D. (1977). "Elite Transformation in Advance Industrial Societies: An Empirical Assessment of the Theory of Technocracy". Comparative Political Studies 10 (3): 383–411
 
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donheff said:
I knew that -- I was too. :)
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Me too. Me too. I actually made it doing nothing - except posting on this forum.

Heh heh heh - unless you call watching Mr Market and tearing dryer sheets in half work. :rolleyes: :dance:

P.S. I liked Bernstein's version/speculation/theories in his The Birth of Plenty.
 
youbet said:
Hmmmmmm..... Don, while I completely agree that we need shared services generally provided by the gov't, it's not like the gov't provides these things as an act of kindness and benevolence. The gov't is simply aggregating resources we provide and executing the services with those resources at our direction.
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If the government is credited for providing services such as roads, etc, thus making the 'winners' winners, isn't it logical to claim that the government is also responsible for the 'losers' to whom the same services have been supplied?
 
Nemo2 said:
If the government is credited for providing services such as roads, etc, thus making the 'winners' winners, isn't it logical to claim that the government is also responsible for the 'losers' to whom the same services have been supplied?
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You mean like railroads?
 
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