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Rich! Rich! Rich!
What does it mean to you?
Of course, there’s monetary wealth. But there’s other things you can be rich in. Good health. Friendship. Love. You name it.
In this edition of Weekly Wisdom, we’ll take a look at some great bits of wisdom on monetary wealth–and some of the other types of riches.
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Sit down, folks, I’m going to get all kooky on you.
We’ve talked a lot on this blog about the power of beliefs to influence your trading reality. Greed is a belief and it can certainly affect your trading discipline. Then there’s fear–part of what we called the Lizard Brain.
But could it be a lot deeper than that? Could those beliefs interface with reality itself and actually influence the outcome of your trades?
Whoa!
Hey, if it was just coming from me, I would agree with most of you out there who are thinking that I lost my mind. (And that’s always a fair debate.) But there are a lot of other folks who would back up this idea, including a few noted quantum physicists, who have dealt with the inescapable conclusion of the well-documented observer effect.
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If you ever been stuck in an elevator with someone who is sneezing and sniffling, you know that colds are contagious.
But, what about attitudes?
You’ve probably played on sports teams or worked in companies that had a collective attitude. An attitude–bad or good–seems to be contagious.
Let’s take this one more step. Is wealth contagious? Can you “catch” wealth from the people you associate with?
It seems it could. There are a few ways that wealth is contagious.
Dreams Come True, Internet, Investing, Money, Online Investing AI, Success
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Answers don’t matter.
That seems to be heresy. But hear me out.
The fact is, unless you know the right questions to ask, answers don’t really help you. Knowing what’s wrong and then applying the right solution is the key to problem solving.
Personal finance is no difference.
In this edition, we”ll let some of the best and brightest minds of the blogosphere ask the most important questions.
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Personal finance adherents know about the danger of keeping up with the Joneses. It relates to people competing with each other to have the nicest, newest, biggest, baddest, stuff on the block.
It’s a pretty accurate description.
Ever take a walk around your neighborhood and notice a new car–and, then suddenly, there’s another new one? And another. And another.
This type of financial one-up-manship leads to high debt in the struggle to gain high self-esteem.
But there’s another negative way we handle those damn Joneses. We try to keep the Joneses down.
With St. Patrick’s day just a wee bit away, we wanted to explore ways to live a rich, good life.
The Irish are known for their pluck and–except for the potato famine here and there–their luck.
But I don’t think it’s some smilin’ leprechaun that endowed the people of the Emerald Isle with their ability to be fortunate. It’s really the typical Irish resilient, inquisitive outlook on life that opens up opportunities.
And. you don’t have to be Irish to have good luck. Luck is a matter of being aware of opportunities and seizing them. And both of those skills–awareness and bold action–can be taught, or at least reinforced.
In this edition of Weekly Wisdom, we’ll cover some tips from the blogosphere that will teach you to make your own luck–whether it’s thinking like Albert Einstein or picking stocks.
Here goes:
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The Wealth Singularity is a point when the power of technology has become so massive that wealth and abundance becomes ubiquitous.
The theory is based on the works of leading futurists like Ray Kurzweil and Vernor Vinge, who believe that the exponential growth in computing power will lead to a Singularity. Technology, whether it’s the wheel or the personal computer, also leads to a leap in productivity and the ability to generate wealth.
That Singularity may be closer than you think.
Accelerating Technology, Investing, Money, Online Investing AI
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Conventional wisdom is usually not conventional and not really wise. It’s often an agreed-upon lie, at worst, or an excuse to keep trying to do the same things over and over again.
It’s a mass-thinking rut, often.
You can find examples of conventional wisdom everywhere–at work, at schools, and at the town hall. But, if you really want to see conventional wisdom at work, check out the world of investments and personal finance.
How can you tell when conventional wisdom is at work? When you hear the same debate or argument over and over again, chances are you’ve stumbled on a conventional truth.
Conventional wisdom doesn’t have to be a thought that is believed by all of  the population. Different groups have different conventional truths. Ironically, these bits of conventional wisdom can be exactly opposite of someone else’s conventional truth.
And the other problem with conventional wisdom is it leads to fatalism. You believe the conclusion of a certain “truth” is writ in stone, simply because it’s the conventional truth of so many people.
An open mind is the cure for conventional wisdom.
Here’s one way to exercise that open mind and break through the walls of conventional wisdom.
What you do is to define some challenges that are part of conventional thought–things you hear in the mainstream media, or talk about with your friends. Then, write down some options that will contradict their conclusions, or change the game entirely. Try to make them positive. Here are some of mine:
Business Strategy, Investing, Money, Online Investing AI, Success, US Economy
Home of Grace Groner, secret millionaire
It’s hard to be a buy and hold investor in this economic condition. We’ve seen major companies get bailed out, or evaporate like a pool of water on a hot summer day.
But think what it was like to be a buy-and-holder in 1935, the depths of the Great Depression. That’s when Grace Groner spent $180 on three shares of her employer’s stock. Over the next seven decades, those shares in Abbot Laboratories split many times and she reinvested the dividends, too.
And guess how much she ended up with when she passed away in January?
Picture courtesy monerd@Flickr
Let’s say we build a time machine and set the dial for about ten years in the future.
In this mind experiment, we spot two people–one rich and one poor. We decide to talk to them.
Besides telling us about their families and letting us in on tidbits about the future, the rich gal tells us why she’s rich and the poor guy laments the reasons for his modest state.
It turns out that the rich person is an owner, a creator, a collaborator, and a value creator; her low-earning friend is an employee, a laborer, a soloist and a wage earner.
We decide to ask why. The reasons, it turns out, are technology and attitudes.
Accelerating Technology, Investing, Money, Online Investing AI, Success, US Economy
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The Singularity is Near by Ray Kurzweil is the book that started it all. If you want to know about the future, it is the best book I've found. Absolutely fascinating.
Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. This is one of the most popular personal finance books of all time. A must read for anyone who wants to become financially successful.
The Millionaire's Secrets
is one of my favorite financial books of all time. It's an allegory about a guy who has a terrible job, and how he overcomes challenges to achieve his dreams.
The One Minute Millionaire is a great book about how to become a millionaire. Written by Mark Victor Hansen and Robert G. Allen, this book combines an inspirational story with practical everyday skills.
The Art of Learning is the fascinating story of Josh Waitzkin, the world champion in both chess and Pushing Hands. His style is mesmerizing, and the strategies for learning are priceless.
The Alchemist is one of the best-selling and most inspirational books of all time. Anyone who has ever had a dream in life needs to read it. Perhaps my favorite book of all time.
Love is the Killer App is a powerful, step-by-step book about how to have a wonderful experience and spread love in any working environment. Think the office has to be a source of bad energy? Think again.
The 4-Hour Workweek is a powerful book full of strategies about how to get more done in less time. For anyone who is looking for leverage or wants to achieve success quickly, this book is absolutely invaluable.
