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- Jun 5, 2002
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Sorry for the long post
Here is my proposition:
Those in the know and those that want to know should put together an “investor’s group.”
Over the years, I’ve made some observations regarding money.
Are you broke (I am)? This means:
1) Do you have plenty of money?
2) Will you complain when gasoline costs $5 a gallon (which will be a LOT sooner than you think!)?
3) When you retire, will you have an income string that is TRIPLE your income at the time of retiring? About every ten years, cost of living basically doubles so if your retirement income is “same” as when you retire, in ten years it will only be worth half that value.
4) If you lost your income for one year (fired, quit, or injury), would anything change in your lifestyle?
If you answered “yes” to any of the above, you’re probably as broke as me. Notice I didn’t say I am “poor,” I said “broke” – there’s a HUGE difference. Only 5% of the people are in the “I don’t worry about money category.
I’ve personally known MANY people that don’t worry about any of the above. If money dictates what you do, then you really don’t have enough (sorry, it’s a harsh reality). Take my wife’s grandfather as example one. He was retired, had a huge beautiful house in the country, took trips whenever and wherever he wanted, bought new Cadillacs and Suburbans ALL the time – on his retirement income. He owned a typical business, which was really not more than “self employment” – if he wasn’t there, money wasn’t coming in. It was a successful business but when he gave it to his son (my wife’s dad), the son couldn’t make any money and let the business go. I ask the grandfather one time “how did you make all your money?” He laughed and said “everyone thinks I made my fortune through my pump business.” He said “I made my money through investments.”
There are several VERY successful people from my high school graduating class. One in particular was a close friend during school. He started out after high school as a gypo logger and has developed into one of the largest logging businesses in the state. His father was an Optometrist and lived on top of the hill (VERY beautiful view) in on of the largest homes in the city. My friend didn’t use any of his dad’s money. In fact, until his latter years, wasn’t all that close to his dad.
I spent quite some time with this friend at a recent class reunion. I told him about my wife’s grandfather. He laughed and told me about his dad, and himself. His dad, while being a doctor, wasn’t able to live his lifestyle from doctoring, he made his money from investing! He said that his logging business is doing very well, but his REAL income is coming from investments! His dad put a bundle in Microsoft when it first went on the market! He was going to buy one of the largest homes at a “Street of Dreams” home show (a million+ dollar home) for a “second” home because it was a lot closer in the state to where he was doing a lot of logging.
Over the years, I have “seen opportunities” come and go and never took the initiative or learn how to persue them. Back in the 70’s I remember hearing on the news that the Coffee Growers were going to really have a bad year (due to weather or something like that) for their crop. I thought – I need to buy coffee futures. About 6 months later, coffee prices went THROUGH the roof and have never really declined from that “new” price.
The other opportunity was with gold. It used to be that you could not buy/trade gold. I heard that on the news that they were going to allow gold to be bought and sold. We all know what happened to the price since then!!!
I was talking to someone at work who works with energy commodities. We were talking about oil prices. He said “you know there has been a trend in oil prices for the last several decades that hasn’t changed.” He said that it would be a conflict of interest for him but if he were to invest in oil futures, he’d make a killing. To him this trend is SO OBVIOUS.
We can help each other in this situation! I’ve found that most people are willing to talk about this sort of stuff (not really trying to keep it to themselves). I’m sure there are members on this board that have this same ability – to evaluate and choose investments. I think we (those who are interested in this) can put together an investor group – an information sharing network. There’s strength in masses
Here’s a reality check – do this only if you’re your really willing to know! What’s “YOUR” NET WORTH? This means that if your were to cash out everything, how much would you have. Remember, I’m 52 and I’m WAY BEHIND where I should be. My net worth is only 500,000 to 600,000 at this time – and remember, I’m broke (no money left at the end of the month).
Here is my proposition:
Those in the know and those that want to know should put together an “investor’s group.”
Over the years, I’ve made some observations regarding money.
Are you broke (I am)? This means:
1) Do you have plenty of money?
2) Will you complain when gasoline costs $5 a gallon (which will be a LOT sooner than you think!)?
3) When you retire, will you have an income string that is TRIPLE your income at the time of retiring? About every ten years, cost of living basically doubles so if your retirement income is “same” as when you retire, in ten years it will only be worth half that value.
4) If you lost your income for one year (fired, quit, or injury), would anything change in your lifestyle?
If you answered “yes” to any of the above, you’re probably as broke as me. Notice I didn’t say I am “poor,” I said “broke” – there’s a HUGE difference. Only 5% of the people are in the “I don’t worry about money category.
I’ve personally known MANY people that don’t worry about any of the above. If money dictates what you do, then you really don’t have enough (sorry, it’s a harsh reality). Take my wife’s grandfather as example one. He was retired, had a huge beautiful house in the country, took trips whenever and wherever he wanted, bought new Cadillacs and Suburbans ALL the time – on his retirement income. He owned a typical business, which was really not more than “self employment” – if he wasn’t there, money wasn’t coming in. It was a successful business but when he gave it to his son (my wife’s dad), the son couldn’t make any money and let the business go. I ask the grandfather one time “how did you make all your money?” He laughed and said “everyone thinks I made my fortune through my pump business.” He said “I made my money through investments.”
There are several VERY successful people from my high school graduating class. One in particular was a close friend during school. He started out after high school as a gypo logger and has developed into one of the largest logging businesses in the state. His father was an Optometrist and lived on top of the hill (VERY beautiful view) in on of the largest homes in the city. My friend didn’t use any of his dad’s money. In fact, until his latter years, wasn’t all that close to his dad.
I spent quite some time with this friend at a recent class reunion. I told him about my wife’s grandfather. He laughed and told me about his dad, and himself. His dad, while being a doctor, wasn’t able to live his lifestyle from doctoring, he made his money from investing! He said that his logging business is doing very well, but his REAL income is coming from investments! His dad put a bundle in Microsoft when it first went on the market! He was going to buy one of the largest homes at a “Street of Dreams” home show (a million+ dollar home) for a “second” home because it was a lot closer in the state to where he was doing a lot of logging.
Over the years, I have “seen opportunities” come and go and never took the initiative or learn how to persue them. Back in the 70’s I remember hearing on the news that the Coffee Growers were going to really have a bad year (due to weather or something like that) for their crop. I thought – I need to buy coffee futures. About 6 months later, coffee prices went THROUGH the roof and have never really declined from that “new” price.
The other opportunity was with gold. It used to be that you could not buy/trade gold. I heard that on the news that they were going to allow gold to be bought and sold. We all know what happened to the price since then!!!
I was talking to someone at work who works with energy commodities. We were talking about oil prices. He said “you know there has been a trend in oil prices for the last several decades that hasn’t changed.” He said that it would be a conflict of interest for him but if he were to invest in oil futures, he’d make a killing. To him this trend is SO OBVIOUS.
We can help each other in this situation! I’ve found that most people are willing to talk about this sort of stuff (not really trying to keep it to themselves). I’m sure there are members on this board that have this same ability – to evaluate and choose investments. I think we (those who are interested in this) can put together an investor group – an information sharing network. There’s strength in masses
Here’s a reality check – do this only if you’re your really willing to know! What’s “YOUR” NET WORTH? This means that if your were to cash out everything, how much would you have. Remember, I’m 52 and I’m WAY BEHIND where I should be. My net worth is only 500,000 to 600,000 at this time – and remember, I’m broke (no money left at the end of the month).
