What is Digg?104 Comments
- tinyt42, on 10/10/2007, -0/+55I'm working on my second million. My first one didn't go so well.
- PrestonM, on 10/10/2007, -2/+421 million is still a lot of money. At a modest 4.5% interest it will yield 45K a year. The majority of this country live on a lot less than that.
- joemofo214, on 10/10/2007, -3/+34tell that to people living paycheck to paycheck
- DCGaymer, on 10/10/2007, -5/+36I prefer to use THE SECRET. *cough* scam *cough*
- ButterBuddha, on 10/10/2007, -1/+32The secret is...make your own currency...My pink paper clip is now worth $12 million US dollars
- pogfreak, on 10/10/2007, -2/+30... who are buying ipod's and 24" rims....
- tastypickles, on 10/10/2007, -1/+26My first million was the easiest.
Yes, I practice positive thinking. - xjscrf291, on 10/10/2007, -2/+23Spending and saving wisely is downright UN-American!!
- Bricks, on 10/10/2007, -2/+19When 11.2% returns come from helping facilitate the growth of McDonalds, count me out. Capitalism allows for freedom, and I support this deeply. But when money is the only motivation for the choices one makes with that freedom, humanity is easily trivialized along the way. I do my damndest not to invest my money somewhere that I wouldn't spend it as a consumer. Every dollar is still a vote, via investment or purchase.
- llbbl, on 10/10/2007, -0/+15Hey I got two of those! !!!!!
- AirRaven, on 10/10/2007, -1/+14For those amongst you who don't know what he's on about:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=usbNJMUZSwo - starcrunchfx, on 10/10/2007, -1/+14Visualize your first million
- tuxidomasx, on 10/10/2007, -0/+13dumb dumb
- john2kx, on 10/10/2007, -2/+14Could you spare a million, friend? God bless.
- pongx, on 10/10/2007, -3/+15Saving $100 a month to make a million bux over 20-40 years is a terrible way to go. Especially if the best thing you are doing to save it is to invest in the stock or bond markets. Seriously, who wants to work their butt off for over half their life just to have enough to "retire on"? If you are serious about making a million dollars, start your own business. It doesn't matter what kind of business it is even. If you are any kind of business person at all the ROI will be better, the benefits (writeoffs) are great, and the long-term rewards are much greater than just banking in a 401k and hoping for the best. Most millionaires get there by investing in themselves and their own businesses. If you run out of things in your business to invest in, then start throwing money at stocks and the like, but don't start there. This article is such terrible advice.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+11I invested in US arms; guaranteed to make me rich
- jeffeb3, on 10/10/2007, -3/+13It gets worse when you become rich because you can invest in other things, like ripping off poor people. Luckily, the mortgage business is tanking. That'll teach those rich guys to give money to poor people!
- Twinked, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10People who say 1 millions USD isn't very much anymore. Have no concept of money or it's worth. I could retire very comfortably with 1 million tax free dollars. While paying taxes on my gains from the initial million.
- DolphinGL, on 10/10/2007, -2/+10How hard one works does not always equate to one's earnings. Some people know how to work the system in their favour. They put in minimal effort and reap maximum reward. Others simply don't deal well with the system, no matter how hard they work. I'd have a really hard time explaining to my electrician buddy who works 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, that the reason he isn't rich is because he doesn't work hard.
Your comment displays a seriously lack of critical thinking, and is therefore buried. - torched, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8I really want to see south park take a crack at that one, It would be humor of biblical proportions.
stan:dad why aren't you at work
randy: I don't have to work son, I just need to visualize the checks coming in the mail - dagwood, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7How many people have the acumen to run their own business or even their own financial health for that matter? Yet most everyone I know can sock away a portion of their income and in time make a million dollars. Think of it as the financial equivalent of paint-by-numbers for the average Joe.
- FloppyLlamaDigg, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7I could take that mill off your hands then.
Or better yet, donate it. I'm sure there are quite a few families who could put that chump change to good use. - downat420, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8has or is worth? it is not the same. last i knew he was wondering where all the money people say he had was.
- Harrison88, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7Lies. The first 1 million spam mails I sent out took me just as long as the second :(
- xShad0w, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5if u wanna actually make money, make a billion, a million is a freaking condo in washington dc
- Y0tsuya, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5But he's now in foreclosure. So he never did own the condo. The bank does.
- toast1226, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6It might not be much to live off of, but if you have a job, and a million dollars in the bank, you should be set for life. Plus if you invest wisely, you can easily double it over the course of time.
- Optic7, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6You made several million what while locked in your room? Sperm cells?
- KraftDinner101, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5The real/not printable article is much easier to read: http://www.fool.com/personal-finance/general/2007/07/16/your-first-million-is-the-toughest.aspx
- VeganG, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6Well we have to buy SOMETHING to make up for our ***** poverty-stricken lives.
- lyg82, on 10/10/2007, -6/+10No worries......I will stop by Staples later and get the easy button
- zdiggler, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4I have a customer who is a lottery winner, she got money invested every where she gets about 400K/year after tax of income just sitting at home.
- sbgunn, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4"start your own business. It doesn't matter what kind" Are you kidding me? If you pick, say, a restaurant, half of those fail. The success rates in many industries isn't a lot better. Letting your money work for you is a lot smarter/safer bet then trying to get entrepreneurial from scratch. The average Joe isn't going to make his first million by just hanging a shingle.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Really? My first went pretty well. I can still remember how I lost most of it :)
- bdbr, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4"There are very, very, few self-made millionaires."
Actually most millionaires are self-made. Wikipedia cites a 33% increase in the US in just two years, "fueled largely by the country's real estate boom".
..but it comes from a combination of investing and working in a job with decent pay, not just from "hard work". - MattCruikshank, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4The problem with what you're saying, jamdogg, is that we're talking about the ULTRA rich, the people who live off of the interest of their investments, and don't do real labor themselves. Clearly, that kind of rich can't exist for everyone - nothing would get done.
It could happen that everyone in America doesn't have to work, and lives off of the interest of laborers in other countries, but it's pretty obviously "exploitation" at that point. - endlessoul, on 11/08/2007, -0/+4Zing!
- jamdogg, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3The only thing that would prevent this is a shift in perception. If everyone still saw money as valuable even though everyone had plenty of it then inflation would stay in check. Maybe in a few million years if humans survive long enough to evolve new civilisations.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Several flaws I've found in the article:
1) The article does not include inflation factors. Who knows what the rate of inflation is but everyone sure as hell knows that a million dollars ain't what it used to be. This is because all the stuff we really want (commodities like food, petro, houses) have all gone up as well. A million dollars today won't be the same as a million dollars in 10 years. I would really like to see this analysis but compared to commodities like food, real estate and oil.
2) Taxes - All those, "gains" have to be taxed at capital gains rate unless you have it in some sort of tax sheltered account.
3) Chart assumes that 8-12%/year historical gains are easy to get. They aren't. A lot of people loose money and a lot more are loosing value but don't even realize it!
4) The fact that the government can change the rules at any time. You know all those problems with social security and medicare we are having? Who do you think is going to bail us out on that one? - bdbr, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Anyone who is part of the dot-com era can tell you how easy it is to become a millionaire...and how easy it is to become an ex-millionaire!
- patch6, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3That only works if you coerce people into believing it is worth $12 million. Kind of like how people were coerced into believing that paper money was worth anything beyond the value of paper itself.
- macman2k, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Don't buy a house in todays market.... wait a few years and then buy with cash.
- Y0tsuya, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Except that very act dooms the poor to perpetual poverty.
- qwertydvorak, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2actually, in my city there is a rent and roll place or something like that. they will rent to own giant rims with spinners and such. very sad.
- Lerg, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Let's explore that in a different context. A women marries a man. This man becomes fabulously wealthy after the marriage. In the vast majority of our court system, if a divorce occurs, the woman is entitled to at least half of the assets, and often ongoing payments, all depending on the length of the marriage and such. The rational I have most often heard cited is that the woman provided emotional and practical support to the man, allowing him to be so successful.
So, let's take that mind set to a child. Would it be fair to say that a child born before a family earns large wealth has provided emotional and practical support? Perhaps only child born after the wealth are not entitled to an inheritance.
The argument of "living off the sweat of other people's labor" is certainly a false, emotional-based argument. It gives the impression that other people have no choice but to slave away for another person. When, in reality, that individual, at least in the US, has agreed to work a job for the wage offered. Why must someone give to society? If we punish those who are not giving enough to society, why are we not punishing those who take from society. IE, those living off the government doll. They are adding nothing to society in my view. In fact, they are net negative.
These arguments are not based in a valid philosophy, but pure class envy, with happy little slogans wrapped up around it to make people feel better about it.
The fundamental argument is if society has a right to redistribute wealth. I argue that it should not. I, obviously, am at odds with the vast majority of the users of this web site, and current fiscal policy of the US. - bdbr, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Banks pay less than the rate of inflation, so if you've made your first million dollars, it wouldn't have been from keeping it in the bank!
- zdiggler, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I didn't become make millions on dot.com boom but I did made a lot of money, I got me a brand new car with payment, nice apartment and still have extra money to have fun with, when that ***** busted and got laid off, my severance run out 401k drained, not even McDonald was hiring because other laid offs already working there. Moved back to parents, car got reposed and credit got screwed :*(
- mz00m, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Unfortunately that 4.5% is typically taxable (unless in a ROTH or other tax free vehicle) so instead of 45,000 you're taking home around 30,000.
- steger, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2god bless you for using the print version.
- Corona4456, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2How come no one has mentioned the lottery? :) That's an easy million!
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