Comments on: Review: The Courage To Be Rich http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/ Financial talk for the rest of us Sat, 16 Feb 2013 01:14:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Katie K http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-95304 Katie K Sat, 27 Oct 2007 15:06:12 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-95304 The problem I have with Suze Orman is that she advocates that you do things with your finances that she is unwilling do with hers. I don’t trust advice from people who won’t practise what they preach. Her personal investments are conservative to the extreme (mostly municipal bonds) but she suggests people take risks.

]]> By: kitty http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-75590 kitty Sun, 23 Sep 2007 00:32:31 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-75590 Minimum wage, if I remember correctly you had a liberal arts major with minor in CS. You could a) try finding a grad school with good assistantship program that has a Master’s/CS program for students without BS/CS. UIUC (it was called M.C.S. as opposed to M.S in C.S) and Princeton used to have them. b) if your grades are not that high and you cannot get accepted to such a program or get assistantship, you could learn some new technologies via self-study. Pick what you like and learn it – e.g. web design, web programming, database admiinistration, whatever is closer to what you remember. There are lots of free tutorials on the web, just look for it. Once you learned it, pass exams and get certified. If you are certified you may be able to get a job even without experience. If you don’t think you can do it, maybe you could learn some practical skills, like plumbing or auto repair (not sure how one goes about it). Even house cleaning pays more than minimum wage.

Tom, I am older – 40s and I am comfortable, but when I was young it was a bit more difficult. When I transferred from Dutchess cty to Westchester cty in the 80s, I couldn’t afford anything here, not even with the generous moving and living package I got from my company. I drove 65 miles one way to work for two years until the prices came down to more affordable level. Then I bought a one bedroom condo that I rented out when I upgraded in mid-90s. Easiest money I’ve ever made. So, maybe if you wait or look at condos, the history will repeat itself? I just don’t see how people looking for their first home can buy anything here. Houses in other areas are cheaper than one bedroom condos here.

]]> By: Minimum Wage http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-75495 Minimum Wage Sat, 22 Sep 2007 20:00:57 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-75495 I have seriously considered moving to another country, but nobody will let you in unless you have a certain amount of assets or a certain amount of regular income (like retirees getting Social Security). Since I have no assets and would have to work, NOBODY wants me because they don’t want foreigners competing with their own workers.

]]> By: Mariette http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-75459 Mariette Sat, 22 Sep 2007 17:59:30 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-75459 Minimum Wage – you could try developing a marketable skill.

]]> By: tom http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-75457 tom Sat, 22 Sep 2007 17:58:14 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-75457 Sorry for the spelling. I stink at typing.

]]> By: tom http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-75456 tom Sat, 22 Sep 2007 17:57:11 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-75456 Kitty Yeah I know. Its hard when businesses dont want to pay the money to be able to afford living in this area. then they complain they cant find good employees. well if you are saying the salary is 40k when other palces in the country are hiring for the same job at 60k yes you will have a hard time finding employees.

On long island its even hard to be comfortable.

]]> By: kitty http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-75392 kitty Sat, 22 Sep 2007 15:45:16 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-75392 MossySF, you are right. I haven’t thought of that. Mexico is just a little bit to the South. I could probably be considered there rich now. At least I know there is some advantage in my learning Spanish.

]]> By: MossySF http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-75298 MossySF Sat, 22 Sep 2007 09:57:28 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-75298 Easy way to become seriously rich — save a little and move to the developing country. Suddenly all the luxuries of the rich are available to you — maids, servants, butlers, private chefs, chauffeurs. You won’t get the recognition of the rich but that wasn’t your goal anyways, right?

]]> By: kitty http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-75196 kitty Sat, 22 Sep 2007 04:27:06 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-75196 Tom at 12:38 – we are almost neighbors. I live in Westchester, where all you could get for 400K is a two bedroom 2.5 bath townhouse condo without a garage (like mine, but I bought it during the 90s), lower taxes though. There are places here where taxes are as high. Have you thought of just waiting for prices to come down a bit and save money in the meantime? Real estate doesn’t always go up. The prices dropped so much in the 90s, it took many years for them to get back to late 80s levels.

I don’t have any inside knowledge or expertise, this is just a guess. But a few weeks ago, on her show, Suze Orman said about the same thing – we haven’t seen the bottom yet. You can just watch the prices and wait. Also maybe look around other areas.

I agree with you that to get seriously rich you need to open a successful business or win a lottery or guess the right stock. But you can still save enough to be comfortable.

]]> By: Minimum Wage http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-75155 Minimum Wage Sat, 22 Sep 2007 02:20:23 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-75155 No, almost all my income goes to keep others happy and off my back. (Landlord, utility providers, creditors – after these three, there’s not much left.) I don’t have a life.

]]> By: !wanda http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-75154 !wanda Sat, 22 Sep 2007 02:18:33 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-75154 @Minimum Wage: I’ve been reading your comments. You don’t sound like you have no skills. For one, you can spell and use grammar better than most people in the United States.

I get the sense that because of your debt load, you’ve already cut back on spending as much as you can, and it’s risky for you to try to change your situation because you can’t afford to quit your job. I’m not sure what you can do. Can you go bankrupt, just to give yourself some breathing room? Can you try to get promoted at your current job? Can you pick up small jobs, just for the money? There must be something you can do. After all, you aren’t in jail or on the streets.

]]> By: trb http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-75150 trb Sat, 22 Sep 2007 02:14:24 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-75150 tom and minimum wage, I think you guys didn’t get to the end of the review. Here it is again – “The closing of the book ties it all together: richness has nothing whatsoever to do with the amount of money you have, but the uses you put it toward. Do you use money to enable yourself to live a fuller life and to spread that fullness to others? If so, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a billionaire or you make minimum wage – you’re rich.”
That last bit was just for you, minimum wage – you spend an awful lot of time complaining on blogs, maybe you’d be better off reading about how to be content. Live as well as you can, and feel rich in your freedom to choose.

]]> By: Minimum Wage http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-75122 Minimum Wage Sat, 22 Sep 2007 01:31:14 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-75122 I have no marketable skills, no money, and no available credit. I do not have a pile of “stuff” to sell. I have a pretty good understanding of how bad my financial position is: excluding street people, bums, inmates, and children, I am probably in the bottom one percent of Americans financially.

Not sure what I can do about it.

]]> By: laura k http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-75014 laura k Fri, 21 Sep 2007 20:33:52 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-75014 I haven’t read the book, but I’m not sure I agree with the description of how to find a home to buy. I only _need_ a studio apartment/condo, but I bought a 2-bedroom because I figured I’d have an easier time reselling it. (I hope I will not be there forever, and don’t have the constitution to be a landlord.)

@tom – In Boston they also measure lot size in sq. ft. I laugh when people talk about acreage — yeah, right!

]]> By: Anna http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-74980 Anna Fri, 21 Sep 2007 19:35:08 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-74980 I think Steve has a valid point, and that’s probably how it works for most people, but that’s not neccessarily true for everyone.

In my case, the dramatic change came after reading an MSN article about the fact that most Americans don’t even know how much debt they have. I didn’t know how much I had, so I added everything up and it scared the crap out of me.

Like Steve said, most people probably don’t make dramatic changes this way, but I wouldn’t want that stop someone from reading the book if they can’t get over feeling anxious or worried about thier finances. It’s possible that something in this book could be the wake up call they need, or at least lead to it.

]]> By: Steve W http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-74971 Steve W Fri, 21 Sep 2007 19:16:56 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-74971 I think the book’s thesis is spot-on, but conversely, I don’t think most people are going to read the book and have a “Paul on the road to Damascus” conversion and suddenly become different.

In general, most people only make dramatic changes in response to dramatic experiences, and reading a self-help book is not dramatic. Getting a divorce or bottoming-out financially is dramatic, and events of those magnitudes are what propels the kinds of change that lead people to radically alter the way they think and behave.

]]> By: tom http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-74945 tom Fri, 21 Sep 2007 18:38:25 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-74945 Most people get rich by either opening up a succesfull business, Parents, or lottery.

Its hard to get rich by investing or saving up.

Especially if you live somewhere where cost of living is huge. I live on long island and a 3 bedroom house with 1 bath on 40×100 property is $400,000 and taxes are $8000 that would be a lot of payments and you would have to save tons of money to be rich on top of that.

]]> By: Kenny http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-74923 Kenny Fri, 21 Sep 2007 16:54:02 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/09/21/review-the-courage-to-be-rich/#comment-74923 Trent is a better resource than suze orman.

Way better.

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