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10 Things Millionaires Won't Tell You

smartmoney.com

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Re: 10 Things Millionaires Won't Tell You

#4
it's impossible to be happy if you're always comparing yourself to others. there will always be someone smarter, better looking, richer, and with a bigger ____ than you :p True happiness is contentment, contentment comes from financial security. I laugh at those millionaires who, as the article said, are squeaking by on 400k a year. The biggest key to financial security isn't making more money. It's reducing your living expenses. If you're making 90k a year but socking away half of that, you're buying a year of retirement for every year you work. (assuming your investments only keep you even with inflation and dont make you any additional money).

also: one of the best pieces of advice in the article is always have a mortgage. as soon as you finish paying off your first house it's time to make a down payment on a new one and rent it out to pay for the mortgage. assets>cash, plus it's tax advantaged.

Re: 10 Things Millionaires Won't Tell You

#5
You may think I'm rich, but I don't.

How very very true that is. I have friends that make less than half what I do. Once upon a time, I would have thought that my current income would mean I'd "made it". But somehow, here I am, still occasionally concerned about being overdrawn, still trying to be frugal, still feeling like I don't make enough to do all the things I want to do. By world standards, I was fantastically wealthy when I was peddling vacuums.

Some things are more a function of the human condition than anything else. People in San Diego complain about the weather.

Re: 10 Things Millionaires Won't Tell You

#6
This is really about how to get upper-middle class wealth. The psychology of these millionaires is very different from the mentality of big startup founders -- sure, half run businesses, but these are lifestyle-type companies with no ability to scale.

Re: 10 Things Millionaires Won't Tell You

#7
When people start affording more with larger incomes, their assets turn into overhead that must be managed. It's a cliche, but the TCO of most things is more than their face value. On the other hand of that, there is an amount of dollars one can earn to build a framework and make their money be self-supporting. I.e. the returns on investment covers taxes and expenses and actually has non-negative growth.

While I agree that contentment is /a/ key to happiness, it won't exactly motivate you to strive for things completely out of reach. Just the chase of your goals can result in happiness.

Re: 10 Things Millionaires Won't Tell You

#8
post #6

This is really about how to get upper-middle class wealth. The psychology of these millionaires is very different from the mentality of big startup founders -- sure, half run businesses, but these are lifestyle-type companies with no ability to scale.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_middle_class#Income

10 Million households have $1 million+. There are an estimated 111,162,259 households in the US...

This is upper class wealth...just not completely elite levels of wealth. I think the point of the article is that people with upper class levels of wealth tend to have upper-middle class lifestyles.

Re: 10 Things Millionaires Won't Tell You

#9
post #6

This is really about how to get upper-middle class wealth. The psychology of these millionaires is very different from the mentality of big startup founders -- sure, half run businesses, but these are lifestyle-type companies with no ability to scale.

Just because a business isn't suited for investment by VCs doesn't mean it's not a great investment for its owners nor that they necessarily possess lesser business ability or some kind of inferior mentality.

Re: 10 Things Millionaires Won't Tell You

#10

it's impossible to be happy if you're always comparing yourself to others. there will always be someone smarter, better looking, richer, and with a bigger ____ than you :p True happiness is contentment, contentment comes from financial security. I laugh at those millionaires who, as the article said, are squeaking by on 400k a year. The biggest key to financial security isn't making more money. It's reducing your liv…

Because real estate always goes up? The "houses are the greatest investment ever" myth is amazingly persistent.
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