10 Things Millionaires Won't Tell You • Hacker News Board

Re: 10 Things Millionaires Won't Tell You

#61

Post by eggnet » Fri, Aug 29, 2008, 9:09 AM UTC

whatusername wrote: post #39

litewulf wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, smartness is a bit more complex. I may be better at skill A, but my friend is way good at B. Thus, he is "smarter".

And thus the problem with IQ tests... Wealth isn't like that though. If I have X Peso's (Or Dollars, etc) and you have X + Y then you are richer (for any positive value of Y). The only 2 limits to comparison that I can see is: * Liquidity - (ie - Bill Gates can't sell all his MSFT stock without the price crashing significantly) * Historical Data - How do BillyG/Buffet/Slim compare to Rockefellar and King Soloman?

Actually it is the same. As you point out, the formula for converting all of the forms of wealth into the same units is subjective. In order to determine the richest person in the world this is just as important as defining the right way to measure the smartest person.

And both equally pointless.

Re: 10 Things Millionaires Won't Tell You

#62

Post by nazgulnarsil » Fri, Aug 29, 2008, 9:25 AM UTC

paul wrote: post #10

nazgulnarsil wrote: post #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 liv…

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

and viewing houses as just another investment is amazingly persistent and is the attitude that got us into our present problem in the first place. a mortgage is building equity in a physical asset, stocks are gambling to try to get 10% returns in paper money.

Re: 10 Things Millionaires Won't Tell You

#63

Post by jauco » Fri, Aug 29, 2008, 10:10 AM UTC

IsaacSchlueter wrote: post #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…

  Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen six, 
  result happiness. 
  Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pound ought and six, 
  result misery.

-- Charles dickens, david copperfield

Re: 10 Things Millionaires Won't Tell You

#64

Post by iamelgringo » Fri, Aug 29, 2008, 11:19 AM UTC

pg wrote: post #44

A lot of this is wrong. For example, no one rich would "leverage their home equity to finance purchases." And though rich people often have assistants, they're not drawn from a special guild of "concierges" with connections for getting restaurant reservations. Nor would anyone rich rent handbags or Ferraris. The parts that aren't false read like a description of someone who made money from e.g. developing shopping ma…

If you've ever spent time in Newport, RI, and seen what the old money in this country drives... it's Honda's and Toyota's. You don't see so many Bentley's, Ferrari's or Bugatti's.

Re: 10 Things Millionaires Won't Tell You

#65

Post by gaius » Fri, Aug 29, 2008, 12:07 PM UTC

JoelSutherland wrote: post #8

ambition wrote: 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.

Upper class is second-generation. To be truly upper class you'd have had to have gone to an elite boarding school, for example, and bonded socially with the rest of the upper class. Self-made people can never be more than upper-middle regardless of how much cash they have.

Re: 10 Things Millionaires Won't Tell You

#66

Post by brentr » Fri, Aug 29, 2008, 12:10 PM UTC

iamelgringo wrote: post #64

pg wrote: post #44

A lot of this is wrong. For example, no one rich would "leverage their home equity to finance purchases." And though rich people often have assistants, they're not drawn from a special guild of "concierges" with connections for getting restaurant reservations. Nor would anyone rich rent handbags or Ferraris. The parts that aren't false read like a description of someone who made money from e.g. developing shopping ma…

If you've ever spent time in Newport, RI, and seen what the old money in this country drives... it's Honda's and Toyota's. You don't see so many Bentley's, Ferrari's or Bugatti's.

I lived in Providence, and this is partially true. Yes, there are many old money that drive cars like this, but if you spend time out in Newport during the summer, you do see many six figure cars.

Re: 10 Things Millionaires Won't Tell You

#67

Post by byrneseyeview » Fri, Aug 29, 2008, 12:40 PM UTC

pg wrote: post #44

A lot of this is wrong. For example, no one rich would "leverage their home equity to finance purchases." And though rich people often have assistants, they're not drawn from a special guild of "concierges" with connections for getting restaurant reservations. Nor would anyone rich rent handbags or Ferraris. The parts that aren't false read like a description of someone who made money from e.g. developing shopping ma…

* For example, no one rich would "leverage their home equity to finance purchases."*

Is this because rich people don't borrow, or have the found a source of income even lower than a subsidized loan with tax advantages? If someone's home is a small fraction of his net worth, taking a mortgage and using it to invest in a business would probably be a sensible arbitrage.

Re: 10 Things Millionaires Won't Tell You

#68

Post by josefresco » Fri, Aug 29, 2008, 1:53 PM UTC

iamelgringo wrote: post #64

pg wrote: post #44

A lot of this is wrong. For example, no one rich would "leverage their home equity to finance purchases." And though rich people often have assistants, they're not drawn from a special guild of "concierges" with connections for getting restaurant reservations. Nor would anyone rich rent handbags or Ferraris. The parts that aren't false read like a description of someone who made money from e.g. developing shopping ma…

If you've ever spent time in Newport, RI, and seen what the old money in this country drives... it's Honda's and Toyota's. You don't see so many Bentley's, Ferrari's or Bugatti's.

Money on the east coast is less concerned with flashy cars. Your more likely to see their money invested quietly in their homes and families.

West coast/the South is all about your image, I saw more 6 figure cars in the poorest sections of Miami than I've seen in the richest places in New England.

Re: 10 Things Millionaires Won't Tell You

#69

Post by pchristensen » Fri, Aug 29, 2008, 2:00 PM UTC

nazgulnarsil wrote: post #46

johnrob wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am also skeptical of the conventional wisdom of home ownership. I think a mortgage is simply a way to force yourself to save money. If people save with the same commitment as mortgage payments, even while paying rent, they should end up doing just fine.

okay, let's compare scenarios. scenario 1 you "save" 2000 a month by spending it on a mortgage scenario 2 you pay 1500 a month for rent and save the other 500. in which scenario do you come out ahead? that 1500 a month is GONE.

If you have a new mortgage, then somewhere between $1000-1800 is spent on interest, NOT saved, and it is GONE (well, it's a little less because of the tax advantage for mortgage interest).

Re: 10 Things Millionaires Won't Tell You

#70

Post by pleasehelp » Fri, Aug 29, 2008, 3:08 PM UTC

pg wrote: post #44

A lot of this is wrong. For example, no one rich would "leverage their home equity to finance purchases." And though rich people often have assistants, they're not drawn from a special guild of "concierges" with connections for getting restaurant reservations. Nor would anyone rich rent handbags or Ferraris. The parts that aren't false read like a description of someone who made money from e.g. developing shopping ma…

> People who get rich from technology are less likely to be B students

Yes, probably D.