You should read "Enough" by John Bogle, founder and former CEO of the Vanguard Group.
Do you really want to be rich?
21–30 of 84 posts
Re: Do you really want to be rich?
#22I disagree. I think that there are not enough categories. For example, I've got a comfortable lifestyle, I earn a decent passive income (~18k a month) and it affords me time to work on the stuff that I want to work on. I'm working on something now because I look at the industry that I'm targeting and I all I see is flaws. The products don't match the consumers wants. I want to fix that and I see a big opportunity eve…
For most people, an 18K monthly income ($216K annualized) that is passive is most definitely considered "being rich".
Re: Do you really want to be rich?
#23[deleted]
Re: Do you really want to be rich?
#24Yikes. If there's anything I've learned, it's to avoid people in the third category at all costs. These are the guys who see every transaction as a zero-sum game, and the people who will stick a knife in you the moment an opportunity presents itself.
Not true. Warren Buffett fits in that category. Many people in that third category care about making money in an abstract sense -- it's a game, but it can be a long-term game. They don't care about the cars or the status symbols. They love building wealth, but not for wealth's sake.
People who don't understand long-term relationships are not actually in the long-term game to make money. Usually they just lack some emotional intelligence. People who 'get it' develop good, long-term business relationships, because they know that to be a successful businessperson and make lots of money you can't just rely on short-term contract-type thinking. You rely on relationships.
Re: Do you really want to be rich?
#25I disagree. I think that there are not enough categories. For example, I've got a comfortable lifestyle, I earn a decent passive income (~18k a month) and it affords me time to work on the stuff that I want to work on. I'm working on something now because I look at the industry that I'm targeting and I all I see is flaws. The products don't match the consumers wants. I want to fix that and I see a big opportunity eve…
For most people, an 18K monthly income ($216K annualized) that is passive is most definitely considered "being rich".
Except that given it could potentially end tomorrow, I am motivated to work on something different.
Sure I have a comfortable position at the moment, but resting on my laurels could be a costly mistake. I am just using this breathing room to work on something that has more potential rather than having to hustle for income... basically forgoing short term gains for long term ones.
Re: Do you really want to be rich?
#26Yes, yes I do, but it is really not for the reasons given. I want to control my own schedule. My brother pointed this one out to me, and it makes perfect sense. Having a lot of money, but being bound to the clock doesn't quite sound as fun.
Re: Do you really want to be rich?
#27This is really saying: "partner with people whose interests are aligned with yours". Doesn't matter whether it's about making money, intellectual development or playing on a sports team. The same principle applies.
Re: Do you really want to be rich?
#28I'm sensing a theme from this blog: admiration of narcissists.
There are successful people I admire and emulate, and they are nothing like the "successful" people heaped praise upon by this blog.
Re: Do you really want to be rich?
#29I really like Max's posts but I wish he would elaborate on the 3 types a little further. It seems hard to pigeon-hole every type of entrepreneur/potential partner within these 3 categories (at least as he has described them).
I think I "get" what he's saying (and I definitely concur on type 1–seen plenty of those in my day) but I think it would benefit from more details/examples.
Re: Do you really want to be rich?
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the advice about Group 2+ would be "don't partner with them either. They've got priorities other than making money, and making money is hard enough you can't do it accidentally."
Not necessarily, a couple of the web's biggest properties came to be from it's founders other priorities. Google (backrub) started as a research project. Craigslist started out as a way for Craig Newmark to not feel so isolated. Wikipedia... the list goes on.
How does Wikipedia relate to this at all? It's a non-profit.