Check out this attitude on Yahoo

[Anon3587x]

I rarely read the yahoo news articles, but tonight I decided I would check out this article called "Americas most Affluent Neighbors" . The article is about one of the richest neighbors in the USA, a suburb in Dallas, Texas.

Here is what one disgruntled consumer had to say

"
Dude, don't give me that garbage. You're not looking at the hardest workers of America, you are looking at the LUCKIEST people in America. Have you ever been to a resturant and went in the back? I washed dishes for a summer job with this guy who does is for hours upon hours just to have enough to bearly send his kid through college. THAT'S HARD WORK. His chances, my chances and your chances of getting the kind of money that the "hard working" people of Westlake have is about the same chance as you finding a cherry in the snow. Oh and lets not forget the fact that the wealthy run the government, and do all kinds of things to make it harder for you to "work hard for your money." There's a little something called chance and for something like that, it rarely ever comes.

I'm not saying the wealthy shouldn't be allowed to enjoy any of their money. Like I said before, I would absoultely get a cool car and membership to an awesome golf club if I got rich. But I'm really complaining at the media for "praising" wealth. My point is that instead of praising people for simply being rich, we should praise the people who give back to their community. THAT is a wealthy person to be admired. Do an article about that for a change."

lol, I figured you guys would enjoy this.

 

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[Flatlander]

A lot of people think this way. Best just to nod and smile with the knowledge that you know better.

 

[FDJustin]

Hmmm... I agree with one of his points. Praise people for their deeds, not their status. And the media does tend to glorify peoples wealth, not what made them that way, not what they go through, nothing of the sort. Just that they have money. The more they spend, the more lavish, and the more lucky they were to get it, the more coverage they get. You'll find people that either inherit (and waste) their riches, or who won them in a lottery in mainstream most often...
Edit: And celebrities, but the only thing they'll show them going through is yet another scandal or spending spree anyway.

You can only see something from the angles you're exposed to, and most people are exposed to one of destiny and "These select careers can make you 'rich'. If you can't get them, you're doomed to poverty, or mediocrity."

What's more sad is people who come across proof to the contrary are likely to reject it. Either they desperately cling to their belief, or can't let their pride suffer (It's hard to take back things you told people with conviction!), or whatever.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

But I'm really complaining at the media for "praising" wealth. My point is that instead of praising people for simply being rich, we should praise the people who give back to their community

What a dumb a$$. If someone is worth millions, you can bet you they've impacted more than just the community, but more like the city, state, country, or even the world. People like this are perennial losers and the Grand Marshall of the hater parade.

 

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[Brent Jacoby]

Thanks for the post. Those people really annoy me. I was just looking at the reviews for "How to Get Rich" by Felix Dennis and saw a review from a guy saying:

2.0 out of 5 stars So-So reading about a guy who got reach by being lucky

This book was so-so reading. I never ended it. I got the feeling that author tries to show how smart he is, how his decisions made him rich, but actually he got rich by luck - he was starving businessman until Bruce Lee died. He was lucky enough to have a book finished about Bruce Lee at that time. Sure, it's not enough to be lucky, but I didn't get much inspiration from this book, nor ideas. I'm a businessman too, doing fine, always looking into improving my own business. "Loosing my Virginity" by R. Branson was soo much better book.

Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: How to Get Rich: One of the World's Greatest Entrepreneurs Shares His Secrets

 

[NHS]

Great attitude for an employee. This kind of attitude should be encouraged.

 

[Flatlander]

Great attitude for an employee. This kind of attitude should be encouraged.

Yeah, we need guys like this.

 

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[Bozigian]

We need to get these people, bitchslap them, and show them the fastlane

 

[Forza]

Alert: Heresy below

Does everyone here believe everyone can become rich? Anyone ever wonder why there's always competition? Anyone ever looked at a crowd of a million people and wondered if there's a fastlane opportunity* for every single person times 7,000 (or even just 300)? Does anyone wonder about the actual underlying reasons (beyond all smokescreens) the US, and many developed nations, have such a strong military (brute force) interest in the middle east when they can't really afford to fight? (oil is one of the foundations of modern society. It is also bought with US dollars, ensuring demand for the dollar = no hyperinflation for the US). When there are no real rules, and you can't create wealth to survive, you can always take it with force (just distort the truth if anyone asks).

*A widespread problem plus a great solution

 

[Felix II]

The "luck" involved in getting rich (or being successful) is such an interesting topic.

I think books such as "Outliers" (by Gladwell), "How To Get Rich" (by Dennis), and "Innovation and Entrepreneurship" (by Druker) provide very interesting insights on the subject.


For instance, take Felix Dennis and the "break" he received with Bruce Lee's death. Or his friend who tried as hard as he could but just never made it.

Even somebody like me, who believes hard work and determination trumps all, still believes in luck.

I'm lucky to be born in America where I can make it happen. I'm lucky to have fully use of my body and senses. I'm lucky my parents taught me a good work ethic. I'm lucky I excel at academics.

Take any one of these away and all the hard work in the world might get me nowhere. I've been to too many third world countries and seen too many screwed up people to believe that *ANYONE* can become rich.

So, no matter how hard you've worked to create your wealth, you do have to attribute some to being lucky.


That being said, there are literally hundreds of millions (if not billions) of people who are (or have) been "lucky" enough to achieve great wealth if only they would have put in the blood, sweat, and tears. This is what people (like those leaving the comments) fail to realize.

MJ sums it up best with the process vs. event idea. Nothing irks me more than the people who refuse to see the journey it took to get the wealth. Even if that journey included a number of lucky breaks. A common occurrence seems to be, that if you take enough journeys, you will eventually have the stars and planets align and get that little bit of "luck" you need.

 

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[Kung Fu Steve]

Two types of people in this world... when they walk by that huge mansion on the hill, one says "I'm gonna to BE that person someday!" The other says "I'm gonna GET that person someday!"

 

[biophase]

but actually he got rich by luck - he was starving businessman until Bruce Lee died. He was lucky enough to have a book finished about Bruce Lee at that time.

LOL, I'm sure the person who wrote that review wasn't writing any type of book at that time, he was or would have been picking his a$$. If you look at this one single example, when Bruce Lee died, he was dead to everyone, but only this "lucky" guy happen to be writing a book about him.

 

[Forza]

That being said, there are literally hundreds of millions (if not billions) of people who are (or have) been "lucky" enough to achieve great wealth if only they would have put in the blood, sweat, and tears. This is what people (like those leaving the comments) fail to realize.

1) A great solution to a widespread problem, and people who can pay
2) Top percentile capabilities to beat the competition
3) A lot of persistent hard work

Miss any of the above and your probablity of making multi-millions go down dramatically. However, the relative scarcity of the above factors (which has a lot to do with the lack of the first one) often means that merely adding a lot of persistent hard work would not result in anywhere near even one hundred million people becoming rich over a period of a 40 year working life with our current population of close to 7 billion and our world as it is. If you don't have the capability to beat the competition, you can't win.

Approximate % of people in the US with $1mm+: 1%
Approximate % of people in the world with $1mm+: 0.15%
Approximate % of people in the world with $5mm+: 0.0129%

 

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[Anon3587x]

My attitude has really changed concerning this topic the past few months.

Last year I would of been more liberal, agreed that people with wealth should make at least a small effort to help those who are less fortunate.

Now I'm actually experiencing the struggle it takes in the climb to wealth, and I have a different opinion about the whole ordeal. People with wealth are not obligated to help anyone who sat on their couch while picking their a$$.

 

[Russ H]

We need to get these people, bitchslap them, and show them the fastlane

Not if you want them working for you. :smxB:

-Russ H.

 

[Darkside]

The "luck" involved in getting rich (or being successful) is such an interesting topic.

I think books such as "Outliers" (by Gladwell), "How To Get Rich" (by Dennis), and "Innovation and Entrepreneurship" (by Druker) provide very interesting insights on the subject.


For instance, take Felix Dennis and the "break" he received with Bruce Lee's death. Or his friend who tried as hard as he could but just never made it.

Even somebody like me, who believes hard work and determination trumps all, still believes in luck.

I'm lucky to be born in America where I can make it happen. I'm lucky to have fully use of my body and senses. I'm lucky my parents taught me a good work ethic. I'm lucky I excel at academics.

Take any one of these away and all the hard work in the world might get me nowhere. I've been to too many third world countries and seen too many screwed up people to believe that *ANYONE* can become rich.

So, no matter how hard you've worked to create your wealth, you do have to attribute some to being lucky.


That being said, there are literally hundreds of millions (if not billions) of people who are (or have) been "lucky" enough to achieve great wealth if only they would have put in the blood, sweat, and tears. This is what people (like those leaving the comments) fail to realize.

MJ sums it up best with the process vs. event idea. Nothing irks me more than the people who refuse to see the journey it took to get the wealth. Even if that journey included a number of lucky breaks. A common occurrence seems to be, that if you take enough journeys, you will eventually have the stars and planets align and get that little bit of "luck" you need.

I'm assuming that you've read Felix Dennis' book, "How to Get Rich", so you know the long struggle that he had to endure before he got his break with the Bruce Lee book. It's not like he was living with a slowlane mentality and then one day happened to be writing a book around the same time that Bruce Lee died.

Rather, he tried for many years to become wealthy before he published his line of Bruce Lee books and other products. Also, that was just the start of his journey as an entrepreneur; he made most of his fortune much later on by creating magazines like Maxim and the one relating to computers, but that early success enabled him to have money to use on later ventures.

And, Dennis devotes part of his book to discussing the luck factor. He admits that there was a certain degree of luck involved in his success and that a great deal of that luck had to do with what country and what time he was born in; so that it becomes incredibly harder to succeed if you aren't born in a Western democracy; if you live in a country with an oppressive dictator, you don't have much of a shot of moving up and becoming wealthy.

However, even though he acknowledges that there's luck involved, Dennis also points out that in order to make use of the luck, you have to be actively trying to become wealthy, which is the whole point. Someone who has a slowlane mentality can have all the luck in the world but not take advantage of it because he or she isn't actively trying to become wealthy by starting a business.

Dennis also points out in his book that there are people much smarter than him that he's met in his life who will never be rich because they are too fearful to strike it out on their own; rather they'd prefer to keep their comfy jobs and consistent paychecks.

 

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[FDJustin]

Does everyone here believe everyone can become rich? Anyone ever wonder why there's always competition? Anyone ever looked at a crowd of a million people and wondered if there's a fastlane opportunity* for every single person times 7,000 (or even just 300)?

Actually... I do, yes, of course! Everyone has the opportunity, and that's why people continue to become rich. However, not everyone is willing to go for it. Some of them think they are, and they begin to, but get discouraged, let some event in life stop them, get sued and aren't willing to change their name and move to a new country to start over, whatever. Many of them will never dare to even dream they can change who they are, and where they're destined to go.
Still many others have little to no interest for whatever reason, and for them it doesn't matter.

Because most of them will never even get started in 'going for it', everyone else has a far better chance of succeeding.

This morning I came dangerously close to being one of the people who just don't bother. Woke up after fourteen hours of sleeping. Eyes hurt too much to want to keep them open (even now, an hour later.) Legs are actually sore from laying too long. Completely dazed from weird dreams and... Above all, very tired. After checking my laptop and finding the open goals document, and seeing that I had only done one of my daily-do's, I frowned and flomped back onto my hard mattress. While laying there was quite comfortable, my thoughts sure weren't.

While rummaging around in my head for reasons to have been so weak and tired I caught myself feeling like giving up entirely. While I only have as much opportunity as any arbitrary population sample, this might be my edge:
"I want to give up? Really?" My mental voice asked with disgusted astonishment. "Then I might as well get a job at quickie and content myself to a pointless life."
That mental bitchslap stung enough on it's own, but real pain came from all of the little images, and sensory-deprived concepts of what that future would be.
I'm sure if you saw my face, you would have thought my puppy died.
So instead I took a walk in -16c weather to wake me up, and got some coffee to stay up... Came here while giving the caffeine some time to kick in.

 

[Felix II]

1) A great solution to a widespread problem, and people who can pay
2) Top percentile capabilities to beat the competition
3) A lot of persistent hard work

Miss any of the above and your probablity of making multi-millions go down dramatically. However, the relative scarcity of the above factors (which has a lot to do with the lack of the first one) often means that merely adding a lot of persistent hard work would not result in anywhere near even one hundred million people becoming rich over a period of a 40 year working life with our current population of close to 7 billion and our world as it is. If you don't have the capability to beat the competition, you can't win.

Approximate % of people in the US with $1mm+: 1%
Approximate % of people in the world with $1mm+: 0.15%
Approximate % of people in the world with $5mm+: 0.0129%

Very good points. But wouldn't you agree that even though the opportunities are scarce (relatively speaking) they are really in abundance for the mere fact that very few (relatively speaking) people actually pursue them? And those that do pursue them have a relatively good chance (even 1:1000) of achieving some amount of wealth?

Really if you take the 1% of US people with $1mil (using your numbers), and separate the people who are self-made, how many people in America could have achieved the same had they put in the same effort? Probably millions upon millions.

This is sad to say, but it is a good thing more people don't put in the effort for the exact reasons you stated. After all, there has to be employees.


And, this raises another interesting question (especially for the non-economist like me.) Wouldn't an increase in the amount of rich people increase the number of opportunities for people to become rich? I've never discussed this with like minded people. The people I've always discussed this with have a scarcity mentality with money and truly don't believe there is enough to go around. I would like to hear some thoughts. I believe that there is enough to go around (but I'm a laymen in economics.) If this isn't true, I guess it would raise the barrier and prevent any number of people from getting rich.

 

[Neon]

A rising tide raises all ships.

The idea that only a small percentage of people can become wealthy is based around the idea that there is a finite amount of resources that we all have to fight over. There are still so many opportunities in the world that this is so far from the truth.

Even if we agree that not everyone can become wealthy and have millions, isn't it better to make the attempt?

Wouldn't it be better for the guy who is stuck in a dead-end job working 50
+ hours a week to make 35k to ATTEMPT to come up with a better plan? Even if he is not a millionaire, if he starts his own business and is making 70k a year while gaining more free time then that's a win.

I'm always amazed the way the general public tends to view "hard work" as menial work while those who take risks and work smart are viewed as "lucky".

No one became a millionaire pumping gas. But plenty of people who pumped gas went on to become millionaires because they figured it out.

 

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[Rem]

OK so I finally got around to reading this thread. People need to understand you can't lump all rich people together, just as you can't lump all poor people, or middle class people. In all 3 classes you have hard workers and you have scumbags. Now if we want to start drawing some comparisons fine. Poor people hoard their money. They see a $20 bill on the ground and they pocket it. Do all poor people do this? Most do yes because I know a lot of poor people. "Finders keepers, losers weepers."

Poor people will look for the next hand out. Poor people learn to be good takers. They learn to say thank you for giving me this. Thank you for giving me that. Not all poor people are jerks though. But a common similarity that I have witnessed is that just simply because they are poor they feel as if they "deserve" something.

Rich people provide the programs for the poor people so they can eat, have shelter, and clothing. Are all rich people nice and giving? No, but most have done their due diligence and have learned how to fail many many times. They are not quitters who try once, fail, and go into grudge mode and all of a sudden curse money and those who have it.

Secondly, from the original comment from the 1st post the guy said:

I'm not saying the wealthy shouldn't be allowed to enjoy any of their money. Like I said before, I would absoultely get a cool car and membership to an awesome golf club if I got rich.

This is why this person has no money. He is ready to spend his money before he even has it. Not that you can't have goals but the 2 things he wants are liabilities. He wants a car and a golf club membership. Those who are wealthy are those who think about how to invest their money and not how to spend it.

Ask a person what they would do if they got rich. The person who is doomed or will never get there says something like"

"I would by nice car, a boat, and party every night."

In others word: "I will piss my money away because i have no concept of what money is"

Those who are more likely to succeed and are more apt to hold onto their money answer similarly to this:

"I would put some of my money into some asset here and live off the interest. I would then sink my money into another asset to generate enough cashflow to buy me a boat just off its earnings. The rest of my money I would start up a new another asset goes here so that I can generate more wealth to purchase my nice new corvette and a membership to Skyland Lakes Golf Club..."

 

[Bozigian]

I am getting tired of people who despise the rich. You do not need to be lucky to be rich, you just have to put in the effort.

Take for example Warren Buffet, he went to school just like many other Americans,
he showed interests in saving and making money. He went door to door selling magazines, chewing gum, or Coca cola (How many teenagers will want to do that these days?). While in high school, he delivered newspapers, sold stamps and detailed cars. In his sophmore year of high school,he and his friend bought a pinball machine and owned several machines later.

-------And how many teenagers do you see doing multiple jobs these days? Not many
-------How many teenagers do you see, hanging out with friends and messing with girls? Many of them

Rich people belive they can create their lives, Poor people believe that life happens to them.

Now I do not know about some of the young entrepeuners here on this forum. But I am a college student, and instead of messing with girls and being out all of the day. I sacrifice my whole day reading books about the subject that I want to be fastlane with. Girls will always be everywhere and can come at a later time

People do not want to sacrifice their time, thats why they wont be rich. I am sacrificing my time. I AM SACRIFICING MY TIME NOW, FOR A BETTER TOMORROW WHEN I WILL NOT HAVE TO BE WORRYING ABOUT GETTING A JOB OR BEING RICH, BECAUSE I WILL BE RICH IN THE FUTURE FOR THE SACRIFICES THAT I AM MAKING TODAY.

Rich people are commited to their dreams, while the other people just dream about their dreams

 

[Forza]

Very good points. But wouldn't you agree that even though the opportunities are scarce (relatively speaking) they are really in abundance for the mere fact that very few (relatively speaking) people actually pursue them? And those that do pursue them have a relatively good chance (even 1:1000) of achieving some amount of wealth?

If the odds of becoming a penta-millionaire are 1 in 1000, that would mean there's a fair bit of competition for each opportunity?

This is sad to say, but it is a good thing more people don't put in the effort for the exact reasons you stated. After all, there has to be employees.

It's good for us that more people don't put in the effort. However, if everyone did, I think things would get a whole lot more difficult!

And, this raises another interesting question (especially for the non-economist like me.) Wouldn't an increase in the amount of rich people increase the number of opportunities for people to become rich? I've never discussed this with like minded people. The people I've always discussed this with have a scarcity mentality with money and truly don't believe there is enough to go around. I would like to hear some thoughts. I believe that there is enough to go around (but I'm a laymen in economics.) If this isn't true, I guess it would raise the barrier and prevent any number of people from getting rich.

I guess it depends on whether being rich creates dramatically more problems and consumer demand.

 

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[Bozigian]

I do not know how to word this correctly but here it goes.

Mj, if you are reading this. When people see you and your lamborghini, do people assume or talk to you like if you were a greedy wealthy person?

Because I know you are not greedy, you shared to us the fastlane principles.

I was reading an article on another website about rich and poor people. And so many viewers posted negative comments about rich people and they said how it is chance and inheritance to be rich. Yet, these people are commenting about rich people instead of focusing on themselfs and how they themselves can be rich.

 

[Russ H]

Ask a person what they would do if they got rich.

The person who is doomed or will never get there says something like"

"I would buy nice car, a boat, and party every night."

In other words: "I will piss my money away because i have no concept of what money is"

Legendary-- short, and well said. Rep speed.

:95mph:

-Russ H.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Mj, if you are reading this. When people see you and your Lamborghini, do people assume or talk to you like if you were a greedy wealthy person?

People that talk to me are for the most part, very nice and respectful -- they are fans of the car -- like the scenario played out in my own story/book, the most common question is "What do you do for a living?" -- driving in traffic? That's another story.

 

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[Capital Life]

Wow... It's to bad there are so many people with this outlook. During a conversation (right before it ended) with a customer of mine, she said "The cops are only for the rich. You can't even drink and drive anymore!"
That was one of the jaw dropping lines she gave.

 

[Bozigian]

I do not think I can comprehend what jealous people would say to a person driving a lamborghini on the freeway, let alone to any exotic car owner