On Monday 17 March 2008, bonneoumauvais wrote:
...
> All the other women in her circle of friends are in this to "become
> rich on their own" to "get that white Mercedes" and a number of other
> "perks" their greedy little eyes light up over when talking about
> this company.
A few points on this:
1) Rich is not what people think it is. It's just as much a hassle to
have to meet with groups of lawyers to work out trusts and asset
protection and to worry about your stocks during a time like now when
they all go down in value as it is to hold a 9-5. Yes, it's nicer to
worry about that than where your next meal is coming from, but that
doesn't mean it's necessarily easy.
2) The old goals of money don't hold well anymore. $1 million invested
so it keeps growing will produce, on average, about 2% in dividends, or
$20,000 a year. Yes, you can get more and you could push for 5% and
live on that, but then you're dealing with income stocks and not growth
stocks and 10 years from now, when the cost of living has gone up,
you'll wish your stocks had been growing because it'll be time to stop
living on them until they grow more. (Yes, you can put it in interest
bearing accounts, but then you have to decide how much goes to growth
and how much goes to expenses, in which case you have the same issue:
if you have enough to live on from $1 million, it's not growing much.)
3) From experience, a white car is harder to keep clean than one of
other colors. I'm going to do my best to make sure I don't drive a
white one again. (On the other hand, if I find a late 1960s Mercedes
280SL on a 113 chassis and it's in great shape and I get a good price
on it, I'd grab it even if it was white!) Also, and this is from
experience as well, I've learned that it's great to drive a Mercedes
convertible (I have a vintage 1985 convertible)
get stuck in the same traffic as the guy in the Mini-Cooper right next
to you and you have to deal with all the same red lights that keep you
from going fast enough to feel the good driving as someone in a beat up
old pickup truck. While some say it's more fun to sit it out in a
Mercedes, if your car is comfy, both are frustrating and boring.
Personally, I think there's something symbolic about having to wait in
the same traffic as someone in a car that's one step away from the
junkyard.
Hal
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