Lately I’ve been reading a bunch of books that say having a job is the slowest way to get wealthy. The authors say having a job is only one step up from being a slave, although they reluctantly concede that a job is better than starving to death and being given daily whippings by overseers — but not by much.
They haven’t had a job in years. Why, the mere idea of physical labor makes them faint. They say they make their money now by helping other people free themselves from the burden of jobs. They’re always careful to tell you that they used their ideas to free themselves and aren’t just living on selling books to gullible people, which is what a reasonable person might suppose. No, they have multiple streams of income.
Multiple streams of income? You know, income from their rent houses, income from their stocks and bonds, income from their multi-level marketing programs, and, let’s not forget, that helpful monthly dividend from the trust fund left to them by their rich aunt.
These multiple streams of income allow them to dispense with having anything as endlessly mundane as a job. They say they want everyone to have that freedom, but I doubt that. Where would they get their gardeners, cooks, maids, and other useful low income folks?
My favorite author is David Bach because he is so relentlessly upbeat. I imagine he makes people tired by his endless energy. He shouts all the time. He wants YOU to be RICH and he wants YOU to START NOW! NOW!!! DO YOU HEAR THAT?! NOW!!!
Here are some of his book titles: Start late, Finish Rich; Smart Couples Finish Rich; Smart Women Finish Rich; The Automatic Millionaire; and so on. David thinks EVERYONE should be rich when they die. And David actually gives excellent advice that – barring an asteroid from space or Congress fixing it so that our taxes actually exceed our income – will make you a millionaire.
Here, I will save you the cost of a few books and present David's secret here: Invest money monthly in a compound interest account when you are young, and when you are ready to retire, more than million dollars will be there waiting for you. (By that time, though, milk will cost $123 a gallon and gasoline will be approximately $345.67 per pint. A million won’t go as far as you think.)
However, since David didn’t start writing his books until a few years ago, his advice isn’t helpful to me unless I can greatly increase my monthly investment. We’re talking organ selling amounts. I have all my organs, and I intend to keep them. I’m funny that way. But ... do you have any spares I could have?
Copyright 2009 by Stephen B. Bagley. All rights reserved.
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1 comment:
Yes, the secret for most people would be to invest the maximum allowed by law each month from the time you're 18 until 21. Then let it compound until you retire. If you can keep adding, that's fine.
Unfortunately, most people in that age group are blowing every cent they have on basics like housing, food, transportation, and iTunes songs. Oh, and getting blasted out of their minds at every opportunity.
By the time you figure out you've blown it, you're in your late twenties (if you're lucky enough to figure it out that soon) and in debt beyond your eyeballs.
If we could figure out how to avoid those pitfalls, we'd all be RICH, RICH, RICH.
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