I read this artical this morning off of yahoo's home page. It was written by Ben stein. Read the artical then read the comments from other people who read this artical. It is too funny. I must agree with the first comment made.
Ben Stein How Not to Ruin Your Life
To Get Rich, Just Follow the Instructions
by Ben Stein
My little brain simply can't stop putting things into categories and seeking to find the patterns in life. One of the many patterns I've noticed is that some people in the United States are much richer than others. We have a nation filled with opportunity: free education, easy investing, and cheap interest rates. And yet there's stunning financial inequality.
Disparity by the Numbers According to my wonderful pal, Phil DeMuth, the top 1 percent of all wealth-holders in the U.S. own about 44 percent of the financial assets of the country, mostly in stocks and bonds. The top 10 percent own about 80 percent of the financial assets of the nation.
The top one-tenth of 1 percent of earners in the nation earn about as much as the bottom 40 percent. That is, about 130,000 high-income Americans earn as much as the bottom 120 million Americans combined. To me, this is stunning -- almost frightening. But the real question it poses is, how did the ones at the top get there? Obviously, some do it through inheritance, and some have spectacular athletic or musical abilities. But what about the others? How did they get to the pinnacle of wealth?
Think First, Get Rich Later I'll to offer some homely speculation. First, as the genius financial planner Ray Lucia would say, the first step is to have a plan to save. Without equilibrating assets and liabilities by accumulating lots of stocks, REITs, and cash, you won't get there
But I'm looking for something more basic here. How do you get the income to start saving meaningful sums?
Here's a clue: think. In 1996, when I started shooting "Win Ben Stein's Money," I was assigned a bodyguard named Yaniv. He was a former Israeli soldier, and as tough as old boots. We worked together happily for about 900 shows, and then we worked on "Star Search" together, after which we went our separate ways. Occasionally, Yaniv would help me set up electronics equipment. He always did a great job because he read the instructions and then followed them.
Up the Ladder Not long ago, I bought some new stereo equipment for my house and I called Yaniv to come over to install it. He showed up in an immense truck and told me what he'd been doing for the past few years. He'd become a construction foreman on a jobsite building condos. He was so good at reading instructions that he became a contractor. He was so good at that, investors hired him to build still bigger buildings and paid him a good chunk of the profits.
Now he's building large developments and gets an even bigger share of the startlingly large profits. If a unit costs $300,000 to build, it's not unusual for it to sell for $600,000 to $800,000. Of course, you have to factor in the cost of the land, permits and legal issues, advertising, and the time value of money. But all in all, the profits are consistently immense. Yaniv, a 32-year-old who still gets a thrill out of his Ford truck, is well on his way to being in the top 1 percent and, after that, the top one-tenth of 1 percent. Outstanding in Your Field How did he do it? He reads instructions. Yaniv reads building plans very carefully, then he reads permit applications carefully, and soon a building is done. Beyond that, he reads life's instructions carefully, too. People make a lot of money building condos in Los Angeles even in an economic slowdown, so Yaniv entered a field that leads to making money. If he'd continued on as a bodyguard he would've had fun, but he never would've gotten rich. And here his experience proves the great advice of Warren E. Buffett: It's better to be medium-good in a great field than great in a medium field. There are some fields where a lot of money can be made, and real estate development is one of them. Law is another one, at private firms. Medicine -- if you're a surgeon -- is another, and finance is the highest-paid one. Starting a restaurant isn't a moneymaking field. Teaching and writing, except in the rarest of cases, aren't either. Acting is almost never highly paid, and police work never is highly paid.
Making the Choice for Wealth Please notice a pattern: the most interesting and psychologically rewarding work is rarely the best-paid. So choices must be made. If your goal is to be in that top 1 percent of wealth-holders, you have to do what Yaniv did. Follow the instructions to where the money is, and to where it isn't. There's nothing -- absolutely nothing -- about people who have money that's better than people who don't. But if you want it anyway, simply follow the instructions as to where to find it. It's not that complicated.
________________________________________________________
here is the peoples comments. They gave the artical rating from 1 being not very good through 5 being the greatest artical.
--------------- ----- --------------- ---- --------------- ---- -------------- ----
shelly c - Wednesday, February 21, 2007, 10:44AM ET
Overall: 1/5
Hmmm, I can't believe it. I could have been rich this whole time if i just would have read the instructions when installing my new DVD player. LOL What the heck is this guy talking about. Where is the instructions to starting a multi million dollar company, i'll read it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overall: 1/5
I believe Mr. Stein missed the point. Reading instructions did not get Yaniv started in a new successfull career -- it was his TALENT for a particular skill, in this case interpreting instructions, and the MOTIVATION to get there. Mr. Stein states that the most interesting and rewarding work is rarely lucrative. I disagree. If you don't find your work interesting, financial success is more unlikely. Talent is cheap. We all have talent. Finding the best way to use that talent is rare. Whether you are a stock broker or a teacher, I believe the combination of skill, passion, motivation and talent can lead to great wealth. Of course, it's up to each of us to create our own definition of what it means to be "rich." Simply following the instructionss may not be it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
sabledracena21 - Wednesday, February 21, 2007, 11:00AM ET
Overall: 5/5
I think that it is the surest, easiest and most simple way to get rich. That is of course, once we start believing in ourselves. All one has to do is follow instructions, that simple.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Patrick11385 - Wednesday, February 21, 2007, 10:59AM ET
Overall: 5/5
In a recent interview with rapper, actor, and producer Will Smith, Will talks about his commitment to seeing patterns in life, a trait passed down from his military-trained father. In this interview he discusses the genesis for the movie Independence Day. "My business partner and I came to Hollywood to be stars. We wanted to make a blockbuster movie. So we looked for patterns. We observed that of the top ten movies of all time, ten were special effects or animation. And nine were special effects or animation with creatures. And eight were special effects or animation with creatures and a love story. So we came up with the idea to do Independence Day." Call the patterns, or call them instructions. Just follow them.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rob Smith - Wednesday, February 21, 2007, 10:59AM ET
Overall: 5/5
As someone else put it, it just states the obvious. We all grow up in a society with free schools, easy access to higher and specialty education, and the ability to make a better life for ourselves and the vast majority of people choose to not put in the effort. Mr Stein admits that there are many cases (such as athletes or musicians) where only people who are born with the ability can take advantage of it, but even then, the only reason those people become rich is that 50 miliion people making $20k a year or less are still willing to spend $15 on a brittany spears cd or $250 for a replica basketball jersey. Most rich people are rich because they are smart with their money and they take advantage of the opportunities around them. There is nothing wrong with going into a field knowing that you want to help people and that you won't make a lot of money (ie teacher or social worker), but the vast majority of lower-income people in the US are there because they chose not to take advantage of the situations around them.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overall: 1/5
Simple instructions for getting rich. 1) take out an add in a national news paper that says "How to Make Easy Money Instructions" send $1.00 for your copy" 2) Write on a piece of paper "INSTRUCTIONS FOR MAKING EASY MONEY" take out an ad in a national news paper.... 3) watch the money roll in. Just as stupid as Ben Stein's article - at least mine will get you some cash.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/yourlife/24513?count=30&start=126#dtk-cmtscnt
link to original artical
No comments:
Post a Comment