The World’s Top Billionaires 2012 [Wow! Scary Stuff!]
0I’m now understanding why the term “Stealth Wealth” exists. “Stealth Wealth” is based on the idea that poor people will kill and eat you if they know you are rich (from http://wikiality.wikia.com/Stealth_Wealth). I was reading some of the comments at: http://money.msn.com/investing/the-worlds-top-billionaires-2012 and I must say, it was some scary stuff. It’s no wonder why some of the billionaires give money to both political parties. I would… It shows that you’re “for” both sides. It’s that, or face the wrath of a bunch of people who hate people with money.
In all honesty, that’s the reason for this blog – simply to show my progress from a negative net worth to a positive net worth and hopefully into the billionaire category. I believe anybody can do it. Most have some innate intelligence, which is one of the main requirements and the other is (I would describe as) DYNAMIC ADAPTIVE HARD WORK. Essentially HARD WORK, but diverting that HARD WORK whenever there’s a failure, toward an adapted action that should hypothetically result in success. From there, simply repeat, and repeat, and repeat, and repeat, and repeat, and repeat, and repeat… And eventually, you’ll reach the desired destination.
Anyway, that’s just me though… There’s more, but I’ll have to come back to it.
Mr. Eric Lefkofsky And Mr. Brad Keywell
0So I met these guys today… You may or may not know who they are. However, you may have heard of Groupon. These guys are the founders of Groupon (the world’s fastest growing company in history) [as of the writing of this].
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
0Well, it’s that time of year again. Here’s to a happy, healthy, wonderful, and wealthy new year to everyone! Best wishes!
Mr. Joe And Mrs. Rika Mansueto
0So… I crossed off one of the things from my bucket list today.
Meet A Billionaire
I have to tell you, I was NERVOUS AS HECK. However, it was a HUGE thing for me.
POSITIVE NET WORTH!!!
0Well… Today is THEE day… I checked my accounts and I have a Net Worth of more than ZERO. Very exciting! See the graph below:
You’ll notice a small “blip” in the graph, there was a small issue with logging into one of my retirement accounts. It has been resolved. Anyway, I’m finally in the green!!! In other news, I’ve recently accepted a job with the University of Chicago which gives me a salary increase of about 25%. I’m still planning on breaking out on my own, but I’m not quite sure when. I’ve looked into MBA classes (at Chicago Booth School of Business). Just last night I took a class with Craig Wortmann who was recently in Inc. Magazine as having one of “The 10 Best Entrepreneurship Courses of 2011“ which was very interesting. I’ve had other classes where the professors (literally) wrote their own textbooks, but not classes where the professors were featured in magazines. Anyway, I’m still trying to figure out which avenue I’m going to pursue. Who knows, but financially, I feel much better.
WOW! Breakthrough!
0WOW!!! So, today was a HUGE day for me. Over the course of the last 9-10 months, I have increased my Net Worth by almost $50,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I CANNOT EXPRESS HOW MUCH THAT MEANS TO ME!!! I’m afraid to tell any of my peers (thus, the point of this blog) because they may start to take it personally (there’s so much negativity in the world). Even according to Felix Dennis, (if I remember correctly) you spend most of your time trying to hold onto the money you earned (especially once your peers find out how much money you have). Besides, in some of the books I’ve read, there was talk of “Stealth Wealth“. Which is basically where nobody really knows how much money you are worth. Not that I’m very wealthy. After all, in the grand scheme of things, $50,000 is not that much. However, this is definitely still the beginning for me and even on my small scale, $50,0000 is A LOT of money. My Net Worth is still around -$1,000 but from almost -$48,000 9-10 months ago, I don’t think that’s too bad.
The next post will probably be me FINALLY HAVING A POSITIVE NET WORTH! Anyway, here are the graphs (below, from Yodlee.com).
And… The last 12 months…
And the Year-To-Date…
By the way, I finished “88: The Narrow Road” (By: Felix Dennis) as well. Yet again, another interesting set of words. A blazingly fast read (way faster than “How To Get Rich”). For the most part, many of the same concepts, but virtually no anecdotal evidence whatsoever.
Finished “How To Get Rich” (By: Felix Dennis)
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Well, since there was not real easy way to listen to Felix Dennis’ book, I had to manually read it. It’s not too bad of a read. I finished it in about a week. I really NEVER read and that’s the honest truth. However, I felt that this book has some information in it that I thought I would need in order to move forward. Sure enough, it did. There was one point where I read something that put me in shock! I was actually trembling, and got really cold. He refers to it as 1500 words. If I remember it correctly, it starts at around page 250. It was quite eerie, but very very very powerful at the same time. Either way, it was a great read.
On the other hand, I’m sort of burning out from working so hard, but I’m sure it will all pay off eventually. I looked at the sky and noticed it looked pretty (see the image). Other than that, working on quite a few different endeavors that so far, seem to be working. Anyway, this was just a quick note, nothing large. Enjoy!
Another Book Done…
0Well… I’ve finished another book… This one (The Top 10 Distinctions Between Millionaires and the Middle Class [By: Keith Cameron Smith]) was pretty good. It’s short enough to finish relatively quickly. Personally, I feel like I can’t really stand reading, but when the information seems to be something that I’m interested in, it really doesn’t “feel” like reading. Anyway, I usually lean toward the audio book versions of most books anyway. This way, I can do something else (walking, etc.) while “reading” the book. It seems much more efficient, at least to me it does.
On another subject, my Net Worth has taken a huge hit. It turns out, I was entering certain information on Yodlee.com incorrectly. It was about a $2000 – $3000 discrepancy. Either way, I’m still in the RED. Hopefully, my tax refund will make up for it. We’ll see though.
Anyway, here’s another look at an updated Net Worth chart (Yodlee.com)…
And here’s the last 12 months…
If you look, you’ll see that there are a few changes. The gauge for the assets (in blue), now displays $80,000. This is a significant improvement from the graph from 07-28-2010 where it displayed $60,000. Exciting stuff!
Poor People Have Big TVs, Rich People Have Big Libraries
0I came across this just now and wanted to post it on here. Once again it brings the power of your thinking to the forefront.
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Have you made up your mind that you are ready to move into the field where the big earners play? You’re tired of low-income wages. You’re tired of barely getting by. You’re sick to the teeth of scrimping and never having enough. You are desperate for things to not just be better, but to be really great!
If that describes you, there are some questions you will need to face squarely and answer honestly.
1. If you want to become a millionaire (that’s fairly wealthy, wouldn’t you say), how do millionaires act?
2. If you want to become a big earner, how do big earners think?
3. If you want to be rich, what is it that differentiates the rich from the poor? Most people answer these questions something like this:
- Millionaires live in big houses and buy luxury cars.
- Big earners think about how much money they have to spend and where they’re going on their next cruise.
- Rich are different from poor because they have more money.
Wrong, wrong and wrong!
You Will Never Join the Rich if You Never Know the Rich
Let’s take this questioning a step further. If you wanted to be a corporate executive, wouldn’t you need to know what corporate executives do and what it is that works best for them? If you wanted to be a sky diver, wouldn’t it be in your best interest to find out what successful sky divers do and what works for them? If you wanted to ski double-black diamond slopes, will you just head for the slopes one day and jump in with the veterans? Am I making my point?
If you want to be wealthy (rich) doesn’t it stand to reason that you would learn how wealthy people think? And learn how they are different? To believe you become truly wealthy just because you gain a ton money; is similar to thinking you are an expert sky diver just because you know how to strap on a parachute. There’s so much more to it!
This article is much too confined to do justice to such as study as this, but let’s make a brief, general overview. Hopefully it will create a desire in you to learn more. Just for clarification: we are referring to the rich as those who are wealthy inwardly as well as outwardly. If they lost everything tomorrow, they would have the wherewithal to build it all over again, because it isn’t the money, but their mindset.
Let’s begin by taking the cue from our title: Wealthy people invest in self-improvement of mind and spirit. Poor people invest in things like big-screen TVs.See how it works? Here are a few more.
- Wealthy people are willing to take calculated risks. Poor people want a guarantee (i.e. steady paycheck). They feel that the whole world is out to get them.
- Wealthy people step out of the pack; they are not afraid to work independently. Poor people have a herd mentality; they watch a lot of TV and let the world do their thinking for them.
- Wealthy people are solutions-minded; problems are just an annoying bump in the road. Poor people crash at the first sign of a problem – they were sure it wouldn’t work all along. The problem proved them right!
- Wealthy people are big thinkers; they aren’t afraid of a few extra zeroes in their income level. Poor people think small – after all, it’s safer that way.
- Wealthy people make quick decisions; they are always moving forward. Poor people procrastinate, and then procrastinate some more. They are waiting for the “just right” time to get onto that road to success. If these concepts and this way of looking at life are new to you, it’s time for you to get busy! Stop wasting time. As business philosopher Jim Rohn says: “We all have two choices: We can make a living or we can design a life.”
It’s pretty obvious that wealthy, successful people have chosen the latter. Which will you choose?
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By: Rob Walcher (From: Here)
More Books “Read”…
0Just to add to the list of books I’ve read:
How To Argue And Win Every Time
By: Gerry Spence
How To Win Friends & Influence People
By: Dale Carnegie
Emotional Intelligence
By: Daniel Goleman, Ph.D.






