The Secret of Wealth

There is a theory concerning wealth which almost nobody seems to be able to grasp. I am so convinced of my theory that I have kept a scrapbook for more than 25 years on the subject. This mornings paper carries a very large piece of evidence to support my theory.

More than 2 decades ago, a lady friend , said; "IF I WIN THE LOTTERY, I'M GOING TO BUY A BENTLEY (ROLLS ROYCE)! My thoughts were.."shows her shallow thinking..exactly what a person who is used to smoky fords and Chevrolet's needs, a two hundred thousand dollar car"! I'm not picking on her..just using her as a prime example of what a cross-section of America looks like when completely unveiled!

The biggest secret of wealth is: "REAL WEALTH MUST BE EARNED"!
My scrapbook is of people who have won a lottery. Almost 100% of them were soon paupers again, many of them destitute. My first article is of a man in Penn, about 25 years ago who won 60 million. Within 3 years, a tree was growing up through the large house he had bought, from which now the furniture had been repossessed, the home sold for taxes, then tied up in further litigation. His sister had sued him. His brother-in-law had tried to kill him, and a former girlfriend also sued him because he had promised to take care of her. In the article he was trying to sell the remaining lottery payments at a discount in an effort to extract himself from the mess he was in.

This mornings paper, carries a similar article of the richest, single payment lottery at the time, in history. Jack Whittaker of W. Virginia, won $315 million on Christmas Day 2002, and took it in a lump settlement of $113 million. Since then, he has faced his granddaughter's death by drug overdose, been sued for bouncing checks in Atlantic City, ordered to undergo rehab after DUI charges, his business and vehicles have been burglarized, and he has been sued by the father of an 18-year old boy who was found dead in his house. In his latest lawsuit he says that a "Team of crooks" cashed checks in Sept at 12 City National Banks and got all my money", I want to pay but have no money".

Here is the secret of wealth. REAL WEALTH MUST BE EARNED!
Humankind in general has this grand illusion that "Only if I can win the lottery, I can live a life of luxury and happiness for the rest of my life". It just don't work that way. The simple truth is; "IF YOU ARE NOT USED TO, ACCUSTOMED TO, HAVING MONEY AND MANAGING IT, YOU ABSOLUTELY CANNOT, OR WILL NOT, BE ABLE TO DEAL WITH MILLIONS! Every person imagines himself to be the exception, but my theory is that there are no exceptions. We see people win a lottery and hire a limo to go pick up their winnings...THEY ARE STUCK ON STUPID EVEN BEFORE THE COLLECT THE FIRST DOLLAR OF THEIR WINNINGS! If you can pull your head out of the dreamworld for a few moments, I will show you why your dream is impossible!

People must first learn to manage their "working man's" paycheck. You probably say, "There is not enough to manage". Sure there is...to manage it, means that you systematically spend a little less than you make...no matter what the amount is. Never approach it with the idea that you will save any that's left over, because there will never be any left over. Mostly, people want things which they can't have. So when a little extra money comes along...they waste their money on those things, which they likely no longer really want, but it is one of the things which had always been out of reach, so they buy it. That's the stuff Garage Sales are made of. The bottom line is; "You can never be really wealthy because if you don't learn to manage first, your wealth, any amount, will soon be separated from you through your stupidity!" Look at Mr. Whittaker...$113 million...Cash...After Taxes, and he is destitute! He is not the first, nor will he be the last...check it out..history proves it!

Now more of the secret of Wealth. It must be earned the old fashion way. There are not one but two parts to building wealth. Earning money is only the first part. Just as important is "Managing Money". I said to myself in 1984. "I'm tired of being poor...I want to know what it's like to be rich"! We didn't skimp, nor pinch pennies...but simply stopped waste. It took me 5.5 years to put away 100 thousand dollars. Then 3.5 years to put away the second 100 thousand. At some point in time you reach a plateau where it seems that you no longer have to even think about money at all...IT JUST SEEMS TO COME FROM EVERYWHERE..When you can stop worrying about it, you no longer make the stupid mistakes of yesterday year...There's no need to..you simply buy anything you want, but skip the things people buy "TO KEEP UP WITH THE JONSES". I let the Jones's worry about me. Pinch pennies???we have traveled to 58 countries, from Borneo to Switzerland, to the bottoms of both Africa and South America!
And no, I'm not selling anything...I don't want your money because I have enough!

But forget the lottery. It would be of little over-all worth to you unless you first learn to manage what you have. Having said that: "I myself purchase one (1) lottery ticket for each drawing. I purchase for 40 or 50 drawings ahead. To purchase one ticket can be chalked up to entertainment. To buy more than one ticket is is ranked as stupid because now you are investing and it's the worlds worse investment..even worse than that...IT'S REALLY A TAX! I don't need any more money. I buy the ticket because although I have all the money I need, I would like to help a number of others, and that's where it would go, should I hit it.

Wealth is within your reach if you take the right path to it. But forget the lottery, and the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Both are an illusion...EVEN IF YOU WIN...YOU WILL LOSE!