Re: the key to hard work! (archive)

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When you work as an employee of a company, you get paid a fixed amount for your labor. That wage is definitely less than what you are producing/contributing (or they'd fire you). The key is not to lose the upside productivity of your own work as we see in many of the posts ie. work for yourself, stock options which attempt to align your accomplishment with your income.

What I'm saying is put all your eggs in one basket -- you!! It's risky and some people aren't cut out for it, but if you believe in yourself and have a plan/vision/discipline you will succeed. And you'll find yourself giving your all when it's all on the line, which may impact your personal life eg. wife, car you drive. But it will pay off take my word for it. I took a big chance out of school by striking out on my own and building my own business, but found myself in 7 figures before 30 (with wife by the way). Anyway, the point is YOU have got to own the value you create, not someone else.

First of all the million dollar mind says that you shouldn't buy an expensive car if you want to build assets greater than a million. Most of us who own expensive cars don't need to build our assets to a million, because we've already gotten there (at least most of us).

I would never buy a car like an M5 or the such if it puts you into debt and keeps you from buying an important asset like house, or retirement investments. I can afford an M5 now, but I'm 43 and worked very hard to get into this position. My retirement is set, my homes have small mortgages, and events like the recent Nasdaq and Dow drops have not affected my portfolio in a way that causes me to rethink what I purchase in the way of cars.

I once bought a Porsche, because I thought I had enough income to support it. Unfortunately, my career took a bit of a downturn, and it was financially damaging to me to have that lease. I did not buy my first luxury BMW (a 740i) when I had a big bunch of money in the bank.

As for how I got here. Hard work. A good industry. Numerous risks. International experience. And then I joined a start-up with tons of stock options.

Others do it in slightly different ways, but I think hard work is the common thread.

Thanks for the input. Hard work does sounds like a common thread. However, I do know people who work hard, but they aren't in the same bracket as most people (I assume) on this board. I guess it's how you focus your hard work - obviously no matter how hard you work at a fast food place joint, there will always be a ceiling montaryly . However, if you work at a small business as a owner, the ceiling is almost limitless.

I guess in general, what I was trying to get at was how people (m5 owners)felt about accumulating wealth - most of them, i think would say "save and invest; buy the accord now, and the bimmer will come later".

I'm not really under that mantra right now. I'm more under the "let's see if I can find a big score somewhere" - I want to start a business and screw saving and investing; 100% focus on business and ways that will improve my chances of it succeeding. In any case, thanks for the advice. I will start investing, and such in ernest when I turn 30.

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