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After you're a millionaire, will you go broke?

Vigilante

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It would be fascinating to follow the stories of the RIP posters from this thread, including the OP. Some undoubtedly went broke. Some probably made it. Some probably left with their tails between their legs. Some are probably back working for the man.

I'm not going to make this thread gold, but there is certainly some gold worth reading within a few of the posts.

My backstory is a lot like Sue's from this thread. I was a paper multi-millionaire and living like a rockstar before I crashed and burned. The main difference between the first time and the second time... is debt. The first time, thinking the money train would never end, debt never concerned me. The second time, now I realize that debt was the noose around my neck. The executioner may have cut the cord, but the debt was the rope.
 
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AllenCrawley

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It would be fascinating to follow the stories of the RIP posters from this thread, including the OP. Some undoubtedly went broke. Some probably made it. Some probably left with their tails between their legs. Some are probably back working for the man.

I'm not going to make this thread gold, but there is certainly some gold worth reading within a few of the posts.

My backstory is a lot like Sue's from this thread. I was a paper multi-millionaire and living like a rockstar before I crashed and burned. The main difference between the first time and the second time... is debt. The first time, thinking the money train would never end, debt never concerned me. The second time, now I realize that debt was the noose around my neck. The executioner may have cut the cord, but the debt was the rope.
Good lesson. Some peoples wealth are tied to debt so much it's scary.

Thread tagged "Notable".
 

MTF

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Forgot about the "notable" tag, it's definitely more fitting than a gold tag in this case. Thank you, Allen.
 

SteveO

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Good lesson. Some peoples wealth are tied to debt so much it's scary.
You miss out on a lot of acceleration in certain businesses if you don't leverage. There is nothing wrong with managing certain amounts of growth with debt. It can bite but it can also jump you levels ahead!

It is only scary if you are scared.
 
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MJ DeMarco

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You miss out on a lot of acceleration in certain businesses if you don't leverage. There is nothing wrong with managing certain amounts of growth with debt. It can bite but it can also jump you levels ahead!

It is only scary if you are scared.

I think RE is somewhat of an exception because it has tangible value. An apartment building (and its land) will never be worth $0. As long as LTV's are reasonable and not RE bust type levels (1 to 1) people can survive downturns.

Some probably left with their tails between their legs.

But only surely after donating to the child with cancer.

Some are probably back working for the man.

My guess is half, so not too bad a ratio. Patrick P has done real well from what I hear. He had some really great posts around here -- truly miss him.
 
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SteveO

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I think RE is somewhat of an exception because it has tangible value. An apartment building (and its land) will never be worth $0. As long as LTV's are reasonable and not RE bust type levels (1 to 1) people can survive downturns.
Yep. I went bust though and still survived. Reading back through this thread brought back some thoughts and actions that were taken that seemed perfectly logical at the time. It is all a learning process.

There are many capital intensive businesses though. How about a trucking or road construction company, machine shop, auto repair, or airline? Most people or businesses of these types of companies must find capital somewhere. Leverage is one of the options.
 

SteveO

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It would be fascinating to follow the stories of the RIP posters from this thread, including the OP.
Have you been in contact with Russ at all? I just talked to him the other day. He almost went bust during the downturn and needed to restructure his loans to avoid doing so. But he is now killing it!!!
 
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Evil_Jester

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"The road to excess leads to the palace of wisdom."
Once you've had it all then you know what is enough.
 

Evil_Jester

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If you were to become rich overnight with $10 million, would you make any future posts on facebook with your new cars, boats, vacation, mansion, etc? Or would you delete facebook and avoid letting anybody know you are rich? I think getting people's validation may be the biggest influence in your fate.
 

Ecom man

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Lotery winners almost always end up broke. So sad.

Horror stories
Someone who wins the lottery and someone who starts/runs a business to the million dollar mark should be quite different. Many lottery winners are people who aren't so good at math (have you seen those odds). Not being good at math is a good way to go broke quickly.
 

Vigilante

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The-J

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To be honest, I don't care about material things. I mean, I do love exotic cars, but I'm not so passionate about owning one.

I don't think I would go broke by buying things for people or buying things for myself.

What I want to have (for myself)

1) A computer with Internet access (plus a 3 TB HDD)
2) A comfortable couch for me and guests to sit and lounge on
3) A kitchen with an oven, a stove, a fridge, a microwave, a dishwasher and a garbage disposal
4) Running electricity, water, heat and AC
5) A guest bathroom
6) A queen sized bed
7) My own bathroom with a shower
8) A bus pass, a bicycle and a small car like a Toyota that I use only sometimes
9) A girlfriend (got it as of today's posting)
10) A TV to hook up to my computer or to play video games on
11) A gym membership or a place for me to practice martial arts
12) A cell phone (doesn't have to be a smart; if I run into dire straits with money I'm gonna cancel my data plan and get a flip phone that only has texting and calling)
13) The clothes that I already wear in a closet or drawers
14) enough bookshelves to house all my books

To be perfectly honest, that's all I really want for myself. I don't like big houses. I like to travel, but not that often. I like to go out for dinner, but only sometimes. I don't need material things. I don't like getting gifts for Christmas because then I have no idea where to put stuff; I'd rather get, like, money, or go to a party instead. I don't drink expensive alcohol, I don't eat expensive food, I'm not impressed by the expensive things money can buy. When I get my exotic (if I even decide to get one) I'll have it for, like, a year and then auction it off.

Money changes people, but all I want is the freedom of choice, not the things, the babes, or the lavish parties. My dream house would look like my parent's house, to be honest.
I eat expensive food. Some things change over 4.5 years lmao

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
 

MTF

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Did anything else change for you, @The-J? Curious to hear if you still mostly agree with your old post.
 

The-J

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Did anything else change for you, @The-J? Curious to hear if you still mostly agree with your old post.

Hm.

When I wrote this post, I was a completely broke college freshman. Ramen noodles and mac n cheese broke. My income at the time was like $100-200/month from Fiverr gigs, and it pretty much all went to alcohol.

Now, I'm not completely broke but I don't make a lot of money. Bills get paid, and I don't have a job. I live a life, for the most part, free from the burdens of "job work"... but I'm not about to buy a R8. I live cheaply, and honestly?

I don't see that changing.

Some things that have changed:

1) I NEED a smart phone. My phone allows me to work while I chill on vacation (like right now).

2) I still don't have a car, but I don't need one yet. I have a tendency to wait until things become a necessity before I buy.

3) F*ck video games and TV. I still play em from time to time but I don't have any video game systems and I never log into Steam. My only TV subscription is Netflix. I'm of the belief that video games are a trap. I still fall into it, though, and I'm not so ashamed of it.

4) I'll probably not get an exotic because I don't really want one anymore. Instead, I'm going to get a self driving car. Once the Tesla's autopilot gets more sophisticated, I'm on it immediately. (Never say never, though. I'm still young, and mid life crises are real.)

5) Wearing the same clothes that I wore in college... nawww LOL

I'm still very young, though. Things will change. By the time I'm 30, I'll probably want way more.
 
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RhysT1

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Sorry to bump this but just wanted to say, I've just read the whole thread and wanted to thank everyone for there inputs some awesome posts in here.
 

ZF Lee

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I suppose it depends how you got to the millionaire status in the first place.
Did you win the lottery to get the millions? Inherited Grandpa's cash?
Or did you get the big payoff by building a Fastlane?
That would decide whether you will go broke or not later...
 

Jon L

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In the other "The Rich Are Getting Poorer" thread an article stated that John McAfee, the founder of McAfee software allegedly went from $100 million net worth to $4 million. OMG! Exposure to risky assets? Living beyond your means? I'd bet that both played the A and B to equal C.

I'd really like to see what "living beyond your means" looks like with $100M -- I imagine it involves private islands, yachts, jets, and maybe an Argentinian mistress to boot.:smxB:
one of my clients lived next to John McAfee for a while on one of those islands, so yup, pretty much all of the above.
 

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Oh I love this thread!

I used to work at a big accountancy firm when I was 19-21 (got into it because I was running away from my real beliefs and was paying too much attention to the slowlane teachings). A common office argument was what we would all do if we won just £1m. The typical answers were the usual buy a house, a nice car etc.

Everyone looked at me like an alien when I said "retire."

At the time we were all on about £30k. So invested well that mil would earn me £50k without doing anything. At the time £50k would have been enough to buy myself freedom, with 1m still in the bank.

Looking back, I'm not sure I would still give the same answer, but I do find it interesting how different people value money. For me, it's all about the freedom it buys, for others, it's about status, fast cars and big houses.

Different folks, different strokes
 

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