Posted on 08/08/2006 7:11:51 AM PDT by stainlessbanner
Allow me to be politically incorrect: The No. 1 reason people aren't rich is because they're lazy. This is purely my opinion and no one else's, and I have no scientific proof to back it up.
Why the sudden honesty? I'll tell you.
The Best Policy?
One of the things I loved most about the Marine Corps was that I never had to worry about what anyone was thinking. When I was preparing to be an officer, there was no sensitivity training. When superior officers spoke to you, they didn't have to wrap their words in ribbons and bows, and didn't worry about hurting anyone's feelings.
In fact, we often went out of our way to hurt others' feelings just to test their core toughness. (I'd repeat some of the more choice comments I've treasured over the years, but I'm not writing for a military audience.)
When I returned from the war and entered the civilized world of business, I was shocked by the phoniness, the covert hostility (disguised as caring), and the fake smiles that are rampant to this day. It's been over 30 years since I was discharged from the Marines, and I still haven't adjusted.
Today, I'm still hesitant to let my employees know exactly what I'm not satisfied with for fear of being sued, or to compliment a pretty woman for fear of being accused of sexual harassment.
But I'm happy to say that things are changing. We now have reality TV instead of Father Knows Best, a phony show about fake family harmony from my era. Today, commentators like Bill Maher and Jon Stewart rip into politicians under the guise of humor.
We also have Donald Trump, who has millions of people from all over the world tuning in just to hear him say the magic words "you're fired" to an apprentice wannabe. And of course there's Simon Cowell of American Idol, the critic of all critics, whose book of brutally honest dismissals I was recently tempted to buy.
An Honest Assessment
All of this overt honesty, while sometimes contrived, encourages me to be more honest about my favorite subject -- getting rich, and who's most likely to do so.
Most of you who follow my books and this column know how I make my money. First of all, I'm an entrepreneur. I've been starting companies since I was a kid. I never wanted to be an employee -- I always wanted to be in control. I didn't want someone like me telling me what to do. Consequently, I now have companies, agencies, or strategic partners all over the world.
Second, I love real estate. Not only do I think it's the best investment in the world, I can prove it. What other investment is there that has bankers lining up to lend you money? They won't lend you millions of dollars for years at a time to buy stocks, bonds, or mutual funds. And what other investment will your insurance company insure against losses? Surely not mutual funds or a 401(k).
Third, I love commodities like oil and gas. Why do I love them? Because they're in short supply and in great demand. Wars have been fought over oil and gas for years. What do you think the war in Iraq is about?
Finally, I've loved gold and silver for years. Why? Because I don't trust the U.S. government to be good stewards of money. As you may know, the Bush administration has printed more funny money -- over a trillion dollars' worth -- in six years than all past U.S. presidents combined.
Wars have been fought over gold and silver, too. Why do you think the Incas lost their empire to the Spaniards, or the American Indians lost their land to the European settlers? The conquerors may have said that they were acting in the name of God, but remember -- there's only a single letter's difference between "God" and "gold."
No More Political Correctness
The recent outbreak of honesty also inspires me to be more forthcoming in general, and less politically correct. This is the web, after all, where honesty is respected, not suppressed, censored, or forced to be "sensitive" like our old, more traditional forms of media.
You wouldn't be reading Yahoo! Finance if you weren't serious about being rich or becoming rich. So I owe it to you to be more truthful. And I'm not worried about offending the financial losers of the world, because financial losers don't read this column.
So, rather than tell you week after week about real estate, entrepreneurship, gold, silver, oil, and gas, I've decided to occasionally run a less-than-politically-correct column and tell you exactly what I think about the subject of getting rich.
The L Words
It's in this spirit that I opened by saying that lazy people don't get rich. I also said that the difference between "God" and "gold" is a simple "L" -- as in "lazy," or "looting." The conquistadors who looted the Inca Empire in the name of God weren't lazy. They were thugs with guns, but they had ambition.
Another word that begins with "L" is "loser." Over the years, I've met many losers who pray to God to give them gold. They'll never get it that way because, as the Sunday school I went to taught me, God helps those who help themselves. Again, the conquistadors may have been killers and thieves, but at least they knew how to help themselves.
I do, too. As some of you may be aware, I wasn't born rich. And I've written openly about my failures as an entrepreneur and my losses as an investor. I haven't hidden my horror stories. The reason I don't keep them secret is because my failures are the best learning experiences of my life. We learn by making mistakes -- except in school, where we're punished for making mistakes. This may be why most schoolteachers aren't rich.
I'm not recommending that you become an ambitious looter, as Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling were convicted of being. I only want to point out that if you're not a lazy loser, you may find yourself with more gold in your life without having to resort to looting.
well, I sorta agree. I may not want to be rich,but I DO want to be comfortable and to own my own life,instead of my employer pretty much owning those 8 hrs a day.
I'd like to be rich enough to cover those catastrophics that many people are subjected to through their lives, without having to depend on "Govt largesse".
i earn a good income, comparatively speaking, but we get hit with an involved cancer or the house gets flattened by a tornado, we're still sunk.
I also tend to disagree with many on this thread who are trashing the author. Idon't know or care about the author, but in what way is "lazy people dont get rich" a problem statement?
Oh well ... didn't come here to pick afight ;)
Funny, I recall a parable in the Bible about 3 people being given some money. One hid it under a rock, another invested wisely. The "good guy" in the Bible was the one who multiplied his money.
Have you ever just given a car away to someone who needs it?
As a matter of fact, yes. And he did quite well with it. A friend from Switzerland needed to get to Guatemala, so I gave him a car.
Have you ever given something you cherish away to someone that has admired it?
As a matter of fact, yes, a gun to one fellow, and genealogy info to many.
To me, life is giving, not taking, and no amount of tithing can make up for some "business" deals. Sharing is caring and no amount of money can make up for the lives ruined by scare real estate tactics and "creative" financing.
You as many self righteous Bible thumpers who see what everyone else does as somehow "wrong" will never get it just as most democrats wil never "get it".
My friend and his wife who tithe their 10% give more of their time to their church than most ever will. They can afford to as they make good money and don't have to worry about every cent or minute.
You would probably not like them either as they are Mormons and truely live their faith.
The lazy dont get rich ...
except for those who inherit thier wealth, or those who have some windfall fortune, such as an insurace payout, lottery winning or gambling luck. I think you can include dot net stock option babies in there. The percentage that get rich through thier own hard efforts is actually a very small percentage, and they have a name ... entrepenuers.
The hard working get rich ...
This is also false. I have known a lot of very hard working people in my life. Very few of them are rich. The richest friends I have generally fall in the "lucky" category, where they work for a tech company and get premium wages and benefits. They are not any smarter or harder working than other friends I have that do the same thing, they just work for a different company.
Entrepenuers as a rule are not wealthy either. They toil and struggle for years trying to get thier companies off the ground. Thier spouses have to work "real" jobs to support the families thru the hard times. Even with all that, more than 50% fail after less than 5 years. What makes entrepenuers wealthy, is usually a key employee.
When an entrepenuer decides to hire someone who complements them ... if the ent is creative then the key empl is organizational, if the ent is production, the key emp is a sales person ... and if the ent can actually give up some of the authority in the running of the company, then the growth of the company can go from lineal to exponential. It is usually this 2 person combo that makes both of these two fabulously wealthy, and drags a lot of other lucky people along. It was not Bill Gates alone that made Microsoft ... it was Bill Gates and Paul Allen.
Yes, hard work is a requirement - to create new - real - sustainable - wealth, but it is not a guarantor.
Being in the right place at the right time, with the right offer ... creates wealth. Would we even be talking about Bill Gates today if he had blown off the meeting with IBM? Would we be talking about Gary Kildall or Bill Gates if Gary Kildall had NOT blown off the meeting with IBM. Would we know who Steve Jobs or Steve Wozniak are if they had not visited PARC and gotten the rights to use some of thier "useless inventions". This is the really hard part about success. Yeah, you can work hard. You can even work smart. But unless you spend time looking for opportunities, neither working hard OR working smart are going to make you rich.
Opportunists get wealthy. That is why liberals hate the successful. No matter how hard you try, you cannot just create that spark when innovation, inspiration and need meet. Conservatives do it in the real world, and they do it daily ... and that is how a lot of new companies get formed. They find needs, and fill them. Yes, they might innovate a new way to save time, or effort, or money from an old product or method, and there is nothing wrong with that.
The liberals can only offer a pale substitute, and that is when they artifically create the need by spending tax dollars ... and yes, people get rich off of tax dollars, or occasionally from politically inspired grants (see George Soros) but that is how liberals choose to create wealth. They make programs that nobody really wants, but they are still made. Liberals make money off of filling political inspirations ... and that is why Gore so badly wants Global Warming to become accepted ... it would create a boondoggle of wealth for the liberal causes and fund the furtherance of the socialist state for generations.
Yes, for the most part the author is full of crap, but there is a scintillia of truth to what he says ... do not listen to his theology, nor take his point as the end game ... it is simply one facet of a larger truth.
Another moonbat who does not understand wealth creation at all and thinks rich people just got lucky. All efforts to justify your own situation by not admitting the reality of how most people get rich. If you posted your diatribe on DU they would fund you to start your own blog.
Jesus said, "A man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
I consider him a greater thinker than this guy.
He had inherited his companies and wealth from his father. It had NOTHING to do with not being lazy.
Neither do the mentally infirm, so what is your point. Ever see a not so lazy illegal doing backbreaking work 16 hours a day, that got rich?
Henry Ford was asked once; How much money is ebough? His answer, just a little bit more.
E.C. Mulendore a very big rancher and banker in Olahoma, once said about the size of his ranch. All I want is whats mine and what joins mine.
BUMP
"The richest friends I have generally fall in the "lucky" category, ..."
Need some new friends...
The faithful Centurion did not get healed, his lazy servant that stayed home, did however.
No, but the healing was on his behalf... and there's no evidence that the servant was lazy, in fact he was much-loved by the centurion, which suggests that a) he was either a great worker and help to the centurion, or b) he was a dear friend of that centurion, a confidant, if you will.
Another one that you would call lazy, I suppose, would be the story of the man whose daughter died. (She is only sleeping.)
[sarc] Obviously, it was her father who was doing all the work and she was the lazy one. [/sarc]
I think this is the "rich dad, poor dad" dude.
Pretty good book for the first 1/4. Then he start repeating. This is sort of a repeat what he always says.
Then we have Lazurus laying down for a dirt nap.(Hint more sarcasm)
God reveals we all have a gift, just not the same gift. Jesus also said we would always have the poor among us, he did not provide a reason.
Anyone that thinks we are all born equal in ability, have never looked at IQ charts, the bell curve is real, whatever the reason.
Do you really think Einstien just worked really hard to have a genuis IQ? He himself said the his Theory of Relativity came to him in a flash.
I could contrast that with my best friend who is extroverted in the extreme, it seems to me almost like he could walk into a crowded room and walk out with at least three new friends. (A bit of an exaggeration, I know.) On his other hand, he was telling me that he could probably benefit from some quiet, reflective time.
He succeeds breathtakingly at tapping into legitimate disgust with laziness, secularism, and contempt for the military, and quick as a flash he's got his red, white and blue palm in your back-pocket, fishing around for your wallet.
Multi-level marketing? A really smart SNAKE...!
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