Understanding Contract Rates

Understanding Contract Rates. Why, How, When and Your Safety.

Post From TNT By MacJedi

The Question was asked: Do you know where I could find more information about what a contract rate is and how to negotiate with contract rates? Thanks!

I will give you the run down on that in the short version.   The US, China and Iraq have worked together to form kind of an alliance which deals with oil futures. 

This means that instead of Iraq having to foot the bill for all the money that will be exchanged, they will get the US and China to payout the money for the revalued currency as China seems to have most of the money in the world and the US just creates money out of thin air anyway. 

So how are all the people going to get paid when the big fat bill comes in for this high value payout for currency that used to be next to worthless?  Here is where the contract rates come into play...

China is willing to payout on exchanges done through their holding company...  So let's just say for simplicity sake that they would have to payout a total of 10 billion in revalued monetary funds to people bringing in the Iraqi Dinar.  This is done through funds already held by China.

So you, the exchanger get the healthy sum of digital money in your bank account from exchanging your foreign currency...  China paid that to you in exchange for the foreign currency you gave to them.

Now it is China's turn to make a profit on this transaction.  China now holds credits, let's call them units...  One unit for every single Dinar you exchanged to them.  These units will have a value at each intersection of the journey of the transaction until it reaches it's final destination.

First the near worthless currency was acquired at an International money auction more than likely from a US currency dealer.  That dealer in turn sold it to a customer which was more than likely you and other similar people.  At that moment, the dealer made a profit by selling high and buying low.

You now hold the currency in HOPES that it will be announced Internationally that it's value has increased and it is now tradable for a considerable higher rate than you paid.

This is the moment you can make some decisions.  Do I run to the bank and exchange this currency for the International announced value? or do I secure an 800 phone number and attempt to make a contract rate deal?

So first understand what a contract rate deal is.

Here it is in simple terms:

Iraq has lots of oil, China and the US would like lots of oil...  Here is the simple version of what will take place.  The US and China want to get as much foreign currency units as they can get because this deal has offered China and the US upwards of $50 in oil credits per unit for every Dinar presented for exchange credit.

China does not care how much they spend per unit within reason but more so they care about how many oil credits they can collect.

If for every unit, China and the US can secure near $50 worth of oil, they win BIG!  If Iraq does not have to foot the bill for the exchange money and instead all they have to do is provide oil to cover the bill and this can be done over a period of 60 years as this is what is considered oil futures, they will win big also.

When attempting to secure a higher rate than that which will be announced Internationally, your intent will be to connect with those who are offering a higher rate than the International rate.

This will be done through channels which are trained and informed as to the details in bringing you this higher rate.  800 numbers are said to be your connection to such extra ordinary situations.

 Some exchangers will be lucky enough to already know trained wealth managers able to accommodate such transactions.

The basic idea to contract rates is that there is a bit of a competition between China and the US as to how many units can be collected and used towards oil futures.  Over time we observed as China and the US offered more and more to exchangers to gain a loyal exchanger.

At one point the contract rates were said to have gotten as high as near $40 per unit, still leaving the offering countries a $10 per unit profit.

WIth the advent of early exchangers and the political need to limit the amount an exchanger can receive, that contract rate has made dramatic drops in value.  It is hoped that there will still actually be a contract rate left by the time this becomes an International announcement...  So we continue to hope.

The downside of taking the contract rate offered through the private exchange is your loyalty and silence through a signed Non Disclosure Agreement.

The penalties of breaking such an agreement and letting the proverbial "Cat Out Of The Bag" could result in criminal charges and an erasure of any funds received through this exchange event.  Only the secret keepers need apply.

800 numbers are still said to be made available for a contract rate negotiation upon the International announcement of the currency revaluations.  Those numbers will become public in a way determined by the designers of this coming event.

It has also been rumored that the Vietnam Dong may somehow be involved in a similar contract rate.

There is a possibility that he contract rate may have a very short shelf life after the announcement and even possible that by the time this actually does happen that the set pool for contract rates may be close to being exhausted, leaving only the International rates as the only choice for negotiations.

How to negotiate for contract rates if the opportunity does present itself.

Firstly... remember to look the part, act the part of a responsible money handler...  Be respectful.

Secondly...  Ask to see contract rates on bank screens and request the highest possible.

Thirdly...  Be wise and offer a close knit partnership with your exchange officer in making the most of the funds for future gains.

Last but not least.  Hold out at least 50% of your exchange proceeds as you still do not know how your government officials will seek to extract as much as possible through taxation.

Remember, money is an agreed upon value which translates into mass public acceptance...  Money's value comes from human perception which at any one point can change... 

Therefore don't forget the ways in which value can be converted into solid tangible assets which hopefully can stand the test of time better that perceptions can.

DAZ Comments:  IMO IT WILL BE UNLIKELY THAT ANYONE WILL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO REVIEW A CONTRACT RATE PRIOR TO FORMALLY AGREEING UNDER CONTRACT TO NOT DISCLOSE THAT INFORMATION

AND EVEN IF THE CONTRACT RATE OPTION IS NOT CHOSEN THE NDA WOULD THEN HAVE TO REMAIN IN EFFECT AS AGREED.

THE PURPOSE OF THE NDA IS TO PROTECT THAT RATE AND TERMS INFORMATION...SO TO VIEW IT WITHOUT THAT PROTECTION IS UNLIKELY

SO PLUG THAT INTO YOUR THINKING  -  DAZ

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Suze Orman Says These Are The Biggest Money No-Nos

Suze Orman Says These Are The Biggest Money No-Nos
MoneyWise        Esther Trattner   

From the Recaps Archives originally posted on August 6, 2019

Suze Orman Says These Are The Biggest Money No-Nos

Best-selling author, TV host and personal finance guru Suze Orman has been inspiring Americans for decades to make better money moves and avoid serious financial mistakes.

She'll be the first to tell you that what you don't do with your money may be even more important than what you do with it.

Here are 22 major money don’ts — straight from the expert.

 Don't be too quick to buy a home

Invest your extra money to buy your dream home -- when you're ready

Homeownership is part of the American dream — but buying one before you're able can lead to financial disaster.

"Sometimes it makes sense to own a home," Orman tells CNBC.com. "And sometimes, depending on where you live, it makes sense to simply rent."

That's particularly true if you're in an expensive city. Instead of pouring a lot of money into property, Orman says why not invest in the stock market? That way, you can grow your savings — maybe into a down payment on that home of your dreams.

You're new to investing? You might try an automated investment service, which will automatically adjust your portfolio to protect you from market turbulence.

2. Don't lease a car

Financing a car or buying a used car is better than leasing 
In Suze Orman's words, you should "you should never, ever ever ever, lease a car."

If you lease, you'll sink your money into several years' worth of car payments and be empty-handed when the lease term is done.

Financing is a better option, but Orman says if it will take longer than three years to pay off the car, then it’s out of your price range. (You certainly don't want to consider one of today's seven-year car loans.)
 
Buying a used car is another way to go. Models that are just a few years old will have great safety specifications and the same audio-visual tech as a new car, at a fraction of the price.

3. Don't co-sign a loan

When a friend or family member in need asks you to co-sign a loan, Orman says the only correct response is to turn them down.

As she puts it: "Don’t be afraid to say 'no to others and say 'yes' to yourself."

When you co-sign a loan, you become legally responsible for paying back the money. Life is unpredictable, and if anything happens to prevent the borrower from repaying the loan, you’ll be on the hook to make the payments.

Plus, if the borrower is so much as late on a few payments, your credit score can take a hit.

4. Don't take Social Security too soon

Our favorite financial guru advises Americans to avoid early retirement for a very good reason: It's worth it to delay taking Social Security until age 70.

"Every year you wait between your normal retirement age and 70, Social Security will add a guaranteed 8% to your eventual monthly payout," she writes, in AARP The Magazine.

She says delaying Social Security until you reach 70 will give you a monthly benefit more than 75% percent higher than what you'll get if you start at 62.

"Living well into your 80s and beyond is no longer some rare event," Orman says — and you want to make sure your resources will last as long as you do. 5. Don't sell stocks when markets are bad

When stocks are hurtling lower, investors tend to drop investments fast. This is a bad idea, says Orman.

Instead of dumping stock, she advises that you just keep investing the same amount of money each month, regardless of what the market is doing. Using this strategy, a bad month for the market becomes a good month to invest.

"I wish for 2008 again," she tells Yahoo Finance, referring to the year of the big market meltdown. "That’s when the fortune was made. That’s when you could buy stocks for pennies on the dollar."

If you train yourself to hold on tight through market dips, you’ll continue to build a solid portfolio with long-term earning potential.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/suze-orman-says-biggest-money-142928266.html

Alice Walton Quotes About Success and Work

Alice Walton Quotes About Success and Work

By Emmy Wallin

Alice Walton is an heiress to the fortune of Walmart Inc. As of 2019, Walton had a net worth of $42.5 billion, making her the 18th richest person in the world.

Check out our list of wise Alice Walton quotes that all business people can read and learn from.

32 Alice Walton Quotes

1. ” Expenses should never exceed one percent of our purchases.” – Alice Walton

2 .”To succeed in this world, you have to change all the time.” – Alice Walton

3 .”High expectations are the key to everything.” – Alice Walton

4 .”Do it. Try it. Fix it.” – Alice Walton

5 .”Most everything I’ve done I’ve copied from somebody else.” – Alice Walton

6. “I was asked what I thought about the recession. I thought about it and decided not to take part.” – Alice Walton

7. ”When all else fails, put on a costume and sing a silly song.” – Alice Walton

8 .”Take the best out of everything and adapt it to your needs.” – Alice Walton

9. ”Control your expenses better than your competition. This is where you can always find a competitive advantage.” – Alice   Walton

10 ″Leaders must always put their people before themselves. If you do that, your business will take care of itself.” – Alice Walton

11 . ”Commit to your business. Believe in it more than anybody else.” – Alice Walton

12. “Individuals don’t win in business, teams do.” – Alice Walton

13 .” Appreciate everything your associates do for the business.” – Alice Walton

14. ”If you want a successful business, your people must feel that you are working for them – not that they are working for you.” – Alice Walton

15 .”You can make a lot of mistakes and still recover if you run an efficient operation. Or you can be brilliant and still go out of business if you’re too inefficient.” – Alice Walton

16 .”There’s a lot more business out there in small-town America than I ever dreamed of.” – Alice Walton

17 .”I not only knew I wanted to go into retailing, but I also knew I wanted to go into business for myself.” – Alice Walton

18 .”Lose your smile and lose your customers.” – Alice Walton

19 .”If you don’t listen to your customers, someone else will.” – Alice Walton

20 .”There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.” – Alice Walton

21 .”If one of our customers comes into the store without a smile, I’ll give them one of mine.” – Alice Walton

22 .”Exceed your customer’s expectations. If you do, they’ll come back over and over. Give them what they want – and a little more.” – Alice Walton

23 .”The way management treats their associates is exactly how the associates will then treat the customers.” – Alice Walton

24 .”The key to success is to get out into the store and listen to what the associates have to say. It’s terribly important for everyone to get involved. Our best ideas come from clerks and stockboys.” – Alice Walton

25. ”I had confidence that as long as we did our work well and were good to our customers, there would be no limit to us.” – Alice Walton

26 .”The secret of successful retailing is to give your customers what they want.” – Alice Walton

27 .”Job security lasts only as long as the customer is satisfied. Nobody owes anybody else living.” – Alice Walton

28 .”Focus on something the customer wants, and then deliver it.” – Alice Walton

29 .”Each Wal-Mart store should reflect the values of its customers and support the vision they hold for their community.

There is only one boss. The customer…” – Alice Walton

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://wealthygorilla.com/alice-walton-quotes/

​What is Financial Literacy?

​What is Financial Literacy?

Posted in Dinar Recaps Archives on 7/27/2019

What is Financial Literacy?
By JJ

Do you feel like you are financially literate?

Do you know what financial literacy is?

If not, that’s okay.

The goal of this post is to help you to understand what financial literacy is and why you should care about it.

Let’s break it down.

Let’s start with the word literacy. When someone is ‘literate’ it means they have the knowledge and skills that are necessary to read and write.

When someone is ‘financially literate’ it means they have the knowledge and skills that are necessary to make well informed decisions about their personal finances.

A Definition Of Financial Literacy

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and it’s International Network on Financial Education (INFE) define financial literacy as:

“A combination of awareness, knowledge, skill, attitude and behaviour necessary to make sound financial decisions and ultimately achieve individual financial wellbeing.”

People who are financially literate are able to effectively do things such as:
Make a budget
Save money (for a car, house, retirement etc.)
Pay off (or avoid) student loans
Use a credit card
Achieve financial stability
Etc….

People who lack financial literacy often find themselves in the following situations:
Unable to make a budget
Unable to save money
Unable to pay off their student loans
Drowning in credit card debt
Living pay check to pay check
Etc….

You get the picture.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

http://thefinancialgraduate.com/what-is-financial-literacy/

​3 Pieces of Financial Advice for Beginners By JJ

​3 Pieces of Financial Advice for Beginners
By JJ      

I have always been good with my money.

I’m not trying to brag, it’s just the truth.

While some people get a high off of shopping, I get my kicks watching my investment accounts grow.

I’ve always had an interest in personal finance however, it’s only been over the last year and a half that I have completely buried myself in financial books, podcasts and blog posts trying to absorb as much financial advice as possible.

Last year I had my first child, my little boy!

While parenting is a 24/7 job the first 6 months mainly involve holding a baby, changing a baby and feeding a baby. There is a lot of mental downtime.

This gives you hours to listen to podcasts of your choice. I will say, reading a book or anything that involves physical holding something, in addition to your baby, is a bit more challenging. Audio learning all the way.
 
Anyways, I want to thank my maternity leave for giving me the opportunity, and the time, to really dig into the topic of personal finance and educate myself.

Like I said, I thought I was good with money. I thought I was doing all of the right things. I started saving early, I started investing in mutual funds early with my parents financial advisor.

When there was the odd conversation about money with my friends I felt like I had it more together then they did because I had a fancy financial advisor. I thought I was super on tops of things because I met with him, in person, annually.

Oh, so naive!

Financial literacy is so important

You don't know what you don't know 

Financial literacy is empowering.

If you instantly want to feel better about your financial situation then I suggest you educate yourself on the topic.

No, a financial education will not change your bank account balance or reduce your debt burden overnight but, it can act as a starting point.

You need to understand what you are doing before you can do it. You need to know what a budget is and the steps for creating one before you can start budgeting.

 To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
3 Pieces of Financial Advice for Beginners - The Financial Graduate

100-Year-Old Advice For Entrepreneurs Today

From the Recaps Archives posted on 4/27/2019

100-Year-Old Advice For Entrepreneurs Today
By   Christine McAlister

3 lessons from a little-known genius

“Making chalk mark on generator: $1  Knowing where to make mark: $9,999.”-Charles Proteus Steinmetz
 
Have you heard the story of the man who identified the cause of Henry Ford’s broken generator and charged him $10,000 — roughly $150,000–200,000 in today’s dollars — for this seemingly simple service?

Charles Steinmetz, circa 1915 (Image courtesy of Wikipedia)

My great-great Uncle Howard worked for Henry Ford and was witness to this event, and my dad got to hear this tale told at every holiday gathering growing up.

Why do I share this legendary lore now? 

I believe Mr. Steinmetz has a lot to teach entrepreneurs today.

Here are my three 100-year-old lessons I think all entrepreneurs today can learn from Mr. Steinmetz.

Lesson #1: Value Your Zone Of Genius

If you’re a service provider, you have probably been guilty of devaluing your work before.

It happens innocently enough. The fact is, when what we do is so easy for us and we get so much joy and energy from doing it, we tend to not place as high of a value on the actual process of completing it — and one way that often shows up is that we have a hard time charging premium prices for it!

“Why tip someone for a job I’m capable of doing myself? I can deliver food. I can drive a taxi. I can, and do, cut my own hair. I did, however, tip my urologist, because… I am unable to pulverize my own kidney stones.” — Dwight Schrute, The Office

Our favorite fictional straight-shooter summarizes this well. Dwight clearly places a higher value on something he himself cannot do. The problem comes when we do not place a higher value on what we do so well, because we forget that it doesn’t come as easily to others.

Have you ever felt or thought something like this?

“I would do it for free; so it feels weird to charge someone for it!”

“Can’t everyone do this? It’s so easy for me!”

When something comes so naturally to us and we love doing it, it DOESN’T mean that everyone can do it; it means that it’s very likely our Zone of Genius, and it is the very thing it would be wise to double-down on offering and charging for.

Have you found yourself saying these same things? How have you overcome them, or how will you begin to shift them now? 

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://medium.com/thrive-global/100-year-old-advice-for-entrepreneurs-today-d8fad36256b1

What Would You Do With a One Million Dollar Windfall?

From the Recaps Archives originally posted on 4/30/2019

What Would You Do With a One Million Dollar Windfall?

Post From  Financial Pilgrimage  April 29, 2019

How many of us have thought to ourselves, “If I only had a million dollars all of my financial troubles would go away…”?

I know I have.

A million dollars is a tricky amount of money to think about. While it can be life changing money, it’s probably not life changing enough to live off for the rest of our lives without some work. 

The reality is that if most people received one million dollars, half of the money would be gone to taxes, a few hundred thousand dollars to paying off debt, and the rest spent on expensive cars, vacations, etc.

I remember being five-years-old and even $5 seemed like one million dollars at the time. As little as $1,000 seemed like a million dollars when I was a teenager. Now that I’m older, one million dollars doesn’t quite seem like one million dollars (if that makes sense).

For the sake of simplicity, we’re going to assume this one million dollar windfall is tax-free. Now the question: What should we do with the money? The easy and boring answer is put the money in a brokerage account, invest it in something safe, and apply the four percent rule.

The four percent rule is a rule of thumb used to determine the amount of funds to withdraw from a retirement account each year, while limiting the chances of running out of money (thanks, investopedia). This would provide you with $40,000 of income per year without lifting a finger.

For the purpose of this article, let’s think through the options a little more. Instead of dropping the money in a low risk index fund, let’s invest in something more interesting such as buy and hold real estate.

Our One Million Dollar Windfall
One Million Dollars Remaining…

First, 10% of the one million dollar windfall would go to charitable causes, so there goes $100,000 right off the top. It’s easy to give away six figures of virtual money, and I hope we’d have the discipline to do the same if this situation ever occurred.

The majority of this money would go to causes and organizations where we already contribute. However, we’d use a good chunk of it to give freely when the occasion called for it.

We could pay for the meal of the table next to us at dinner, buy groceries for the family behind us at the store, or make a donation to the gofundme page of someone who is truly in need.

I personally get a lot of satisfaction from helping others and we would have fun with giving away this money. In fact, I think the financial independence community could make a huge impact on the world with a bit more generosity.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://financialpilgrimage.com/if-i-received-a-1-million-dollar-windfall-i-would/

The Velocity of Money by Virginia Gentleman

The Velocity of Money by Virginia Gentleman

From the Recaps Archives posted on 6/1/2019

Re-posted just in case our Exchange Appointments are really close!!!

From Virginia Gentleman VELOCITY OF MONEY

I know I don't have to state the obvious...GO HAVE FUN WITH SOME OF YOUR NEW FOUND WEALTH. However, I would like to pass on some words of wisdom.

As we get ready to punch it in, please remember to act like you've been in the End Zone before. Take a deep breath and exhale slowly as you collect yourself with the full intentions of acting with class and integrity.

Respectful treatment of others will be an inherent responsibility of your new status, as well as respectful treatment of your money and assets. You owe this to yourself, your family, your neighbors, and your heirs.

Don't hoard it, and on the other hand, don't waste it or give it all away. Save, invest, and spend wisely.

One of the single best things you can do with a small portion, and in effect a very small portion, is to be more generous over at least the next 18-24 months (or the longer) spending your money locally. What do I mean? The answer is the ‘VELOCITY OF MONEY’.

The Velocity of Money is a fairly simple financial concept where a ‘community’ can be positively impacted by the way a group of individuals increase the spending of their money in their economy, and in turn, the ripple effect of that spending as it accelerates throughout that same economy.

It can be local, regional, national, and even global. Velocity of money is most effective in a smaller market with the smaller more predictive population of a local economy, and it isn’t just effective, it is fun for the people spending their increased earnings, or in this case, significant returns on an investment. Yep, that is you!

Anyone who has ever lived in a small town or Suburban area where a new large company has come in and opened a large facility and hired a large amount of employees has witnessed this phenomenon.

Money gets pumped in and spending from increased disposable income begins to spread out through the entire community finding its way into the wallets of all the inhabitants.

The goal is to spend your money at local establishments on services, appliances, home improvements, food, entertainment, and such.

More precisely on things like tipping an extra 5-15 percent, using a valet to park at the local steakhouse (tipping extra), go hear a local band (put money in the tip jar), buy cheese or pork or beef at a farmers market instead of 2 month old shrink wrapped processed cheese from a Big Box store or grocer, get an extra manicure or haircut (tipping extra!), get your car repaired at the mechanic down that side road instead of Walmart or the Dealer.

Buy those nicer hiking boots ‘Made In America’, get your computer cleaned up by that geek in the shop she set up in the old 7-11 building, buy your lumber from the local milled lumber supplier not the National Chain hardware store, deal with a local community bank or credit union with a substantial portion of your money… you get it now right.

Think about it. You may be spending either the same amount or perhaps an extra 10-20%, and you’re getting the same things… OFTEN WITH THE BONUS OF MUCH HIGHER QUALITY PRODUCTS WHILE GETTING TO KNOW YOUR NEIGHBORS ON MAIN STREET!!!

I personally look forward to trying some of the world’s best Craft Breweries in Richmond (tipping generously) and touring some of Virginia’s wineries (tipping generously)… jealous of you Kentucky folks that can tour the best ‘Bourbon’ distilleries on the planet, or you ‘Whiskey’ lovers in Tennessee just outside of Fayetteville down the Admiral Frank B Kelso highway or those in Nashville who can wander in a restaurant and catch a ‘local’ band like Kenny Chesney, lol. Believe it!

By doing this the dominoes of positive change begin to fall within your local community. The ripple effect is that the waiters, mechanics, manicurists, hairstylists, valet, carpenter, plumber, artisan cheesemaker, farmer, and others in your community begin to make more money.

And what do they do? They go out and spend more, tip more, consume more. Your local tax authority makes more sales tax revenue and spends it on improvements.

I’m in America, but the Velocity of Money is true in Canada, Great Britain, Iraq, Vietnam, or anywhere. And guess what? Since this is fun stuff you’ll be doing while spending your hard earned money, you will also be wearing a BIG smile.

There is nothing more infectious and quick to spread goodwill than passing on your smile accompanied by kind words. So be wise with your prosperity and have some fun …LOCALLY.

Even pay attention to those companies being loyal corporate citizens to us through the new Trump incentives to stay and manufacture here, and be loyal to them.

Not a bad time to avoid items and foods imported from Mexico for example …no Avacados or Corona at my Superbowl party this year, which is an example of the deceleration of the Velocity of Money.

The fruit you bear will fall from your tree and spread its seeds…

Live and grow in the nine fruits of the Spirit and you will sow the nine fruits…

Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Gentleness, Faithfulness, and Self-Control.

Take care –Virginia Gentleman

10 Ways the Richest Billionaires Stay Rich

10 Ways the Richest Billionaires Stay Rich

Learn how to get rich and stay rich by listening to the experts.

By Autumn Rose

 The richest people in the world climbed to the top of the fiscal food chain with smart investments and dreams of making a meaningful impact on the world. They also had a good deal of business savvy.

 See these inspiring tips from billionaires like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to find out how to get rich — and stay rich.

Bill Gates: Focus on Development

Net Worth: $86.8 billion

 Microsoft founder Bill Gates built a reputation for being not only one of the richest men in the world, but also one of the smartest and most serious thinkers alive today.

It should come as no surprise that Gates became one of the richest people in the world by focusing more on development and innovation than the business side of things.

 In 2014, Gates told Rolling Stone, “You know, development sometimes is viewed as a project in which you give people things and nothing much happens, which is perfectly valid, but if you just focus on that, then you’d also have to say that venture capital is pretty stupid, too. Its hit rate is pathetic. But occasionally, you get successes, you fund a Google or something….”

 Warren Buffett: Think Long Term

Net Worth: $74.8 billion

 Self-made billionaire Warren Buffett believes in using long-term investment strategies. In fact, he accumulated most of his impressive wealth after turning 50 and continues to make smart investments today, pulling off what Forbes called his “biggest-ever deal” in August 2015.

 According to Time, Buffett once said, “Successful investing takes time, discipline and patience. No matter how great the talent or effort, some things just take time: you can’t produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.”

Jeff Bezos: Be a Missionary to Stay Motivated

Net Worth: $77 billion

 Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is a billionaire businessman whose many accomplishments include successfully launching a rocket into sub-orbit with his aerospace company, Blue Origin. In a 2010 interview with Fortune, Bezos revealed that he thinks of business as a mission.

“I strongly believe that missionaries make better products,” he said. “They care more. For a missionary, it’s not just about the business. There has to be a business, and the business has to make sense, but that’s not why you do it. You do it because you have something meaningful that motivates you.”

 Mark Zuckerberg: Think Like a Hacker

Net Worth: $59 billion

 Nineteen-year-old Mark Zuckerberg was a student at Harvard when he founded Facebook back in 2004. Since then, he’s become one of the world’s richest and most successful people.

 Zuckerberg attributes his success to a willingness to take risks and a desire to create something that can change the world. Additionally, he believes in following a business strategy known as “The Hacker Way.”

 In a 2012 letter to potential Facebook investors, he wrote, “The Hacker Way is an approach to building that involves continuous improvement and iteration. Hackers believe that something can always be better, and that nothing is ever complete.”

 Larry Ellison: Be Aggressive With Acquisitions

Net Worth: $54.5 billion

 Larry Ellison started his career building databases for the CIA before founding his own database software company, Oracle, in 1977. Over the years, Ellison has gone from being someone who despised growth acquisitions to someone who uses them to his advantage.

 Ellison’s open-minded acquisition style — which helped Oracle acquire successful companies like PeopleSoft, Eloqua and Siebel — enabled him to turn the organization into a giant worth $168.9 billion. Moreover, Ellison stresses the importance of having cash on hand for the next big acquisition.

 According to Business Insider, in a discussion with Wall Street analysts, he said, “We use our money for a variety of things. We buy back stock, we pay dividends.

We haven’t made any large acquisitions for a while. You know? We’re kind of saving our nickels and dimes. We might do something interesting, one of these days.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.gobankingrates.com/making-money/wealth/ways-richest-billionaires-stay-rich/#0

.What Does Wealth Mean To You?

What Does Wealth Mean To You?

Posted on Dinar Recaps Archives on 8/4/2019

What Does Wealth Mean To You?Post From Money Saved Is Money Earned

As a member of the personal finance blogger community, I’ve been privy to a multitude of differing opinions about a myriad of finance topics.

While most agree with a few broad topics (financial independence is good, for example) you’ll find that there’s a great deal of variance even among those who are financially savvy.

Go beyond personal finance communities and the variance grows even more.

Why is there such a difference?

What Does Wealth Mean To You?

When it comes down to it, I think a lot of this variance is simply a product of the differences in how people value wealth and success.

Although wealth and success are not traditional synonyms, in this case I think they should be because how you define success is also tied to what you consider wealth.

After all, one definition of wealth is an abundance of a resource. That resource could be many different things depending on what you value and what you consider successful.

Let’s delve more into what wealth means to you, why it matters, and how you can use your definitions of wealth and success to live a more fulfilled life.

What Do You Value?

How do you value wealth and success?

The reason for the variance in opinions and decisions in regard to personal finance is because everyone is different when it comes to what they value.

Yes, lack of financial education can lead you down some dark paths and you should try to avoid the debt trap while in pursuit of what you value, but ultimately a large part of our decisions will be driven by what we value.

So, what is it that you value? How do you measure success? What makes you wealthy?

There are a plethora of things you could mention, but most can be summed up in this list:

Income/moneySavings/investmentsTimeFamily/friendsWorkTitlesRecognitionThings/possessionsHealthExperiences

This list is by no means exhaustive or exclusive, and there will likely be quite a bit of overlap between some of these categories.

No matter which of the above items is most important to you, what you value and how you define wealth and success is largely dependent on your background and experiences.

Ask someone if being a millionaire would make them successful and many (perhaps most) would agree. However, ask someone from a different background if being a millionaire would make them successful and they might claim you need a lot more.

As with anything, it’s the differences in background and experience that shape your attitude and understanding of money, wealth, and success.

This is why everyone is a little different when it comes to personal finance and what matters to them. ​

Why Does It Matter?

You may be thinking that the idea of people defining wealth and success differently is an obvious concept.

So why does this matter? Why do you need to understand what wealth and success mean to you?

It matters because your happiness will ultimately be tied to your definition of success and wealth, regardless of what others think or how they behave.

And it isn’t always easy to determine what means the most to you.

Many people go through life with very little insight into their behavior and the motives behind it. They are unable, or unwilling, to take a look in the mirror and to understand why they act the way they do.

​Aside from knowing what you value and why, understanding your behavior and the factors that shape it are really the only way to truly change that behavior if so desired.

Essentially, what we’re talking about is a concept called metacognition, or thinking about your thinking.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.moneysavedmoneyearned.com/what-does-wealth-mean-to-you/

For the Love of Money

For the Love of Money

By Sam Polk, Sunday Review

 In my last year on Wall Street my bonus was $3.6 million — and I was angry because it wasn’t big enough. I was 30 years old, had no children to raise, no debts to pay, no philanthropic goal in mind. I wanted more money for exactly the same reason an alcoholic needs another drink: I was addicted.

 Eight years earlier, I’d walked onto the trading floor at Credit Suisse First Boston to begin my summer internship. I already knew I wanted to be rich, but when I started out I had a different idea about what wealth meant

​I’d come to Wall Street after reading in the book “Liar’s Poker” how Michael Lewis earned a $225,000 bonus after just two years of work on a trading floor.

That seemed like a fortune. Every January and February, I think about that time, because these are the months when bonuses are decided and distributed, when fortunes are made.

​I’d learned about the importance of being rich from my dad. He was a modern-day Willy Loman, a salesman with huge dreams that never seemed to materialize. “Imagine what life will be like,” he’d say, “when I make a million dollars.”

While he dreamed of selling a screenplay, in reality he sold kitchen cabinets. And not that well. We sometimes lived paycheck to paycheck off my mom’s nurse-practitioner salary.

 Dad believed money would solve all his problems. At 22, so did I. When I walked onto that trading floor for the first time and saw the glowing flat-screen TVs, high-tech computer monitors and phone turrets with enough dials, knobs and buttons to make it seem like the ****pit of a fighter plane, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.

It looked as if the traders were playing a video game inside a spaceship; if you won this video game, you became what I most wanted to be — rich.

 IT was a miracle I’d made it to Wall Street at all. While I was competitive and ambitious — a wrestler at Columbia University — I was also a daily drinker and pot smoker and a regular user of cocaine, Ritalin and ecstasy.

 I had a propensity for self-destruction that had resulted in my getting suspended from Columbia for burglary, arrested twice and fired from an Internet company for fistfighting. I learned about rage from my dad, too. I can still see his red, contorted face as he charged toward me.

​I’d lied my way into the C.S.F.B. internship by omitting my transgressions from my résumé and was determined not to blow what seemed a final chance.

 The only thing as important to me as that internship was my girlfriend, a starter on the Columbia volleyball team. But even though I was in love with her, when I got drunk I’d sometimes end up with other women.

 Three weeks into my internship she wisely dumped me. I don’t like who you’ve become, she said. I couldn’t blame her, but I was so devastated that I couldn’t get out of bed. In desperation, I called a counselor whom I had reluctantly seen a few times before and asked for help.

She helped me see that I was using alcohol and drugs to blunt the powerlessness I felt as a kid and suggested I give them up. That began some of the hardest months of my life. Without the alcohol and drugs in my system, I felt like my chest had been cracked open, exposing my heart to air.

The counselor said that my abuse of drugs and alcohol was a symptom of an underlying problem — a “spiritual malady,” she called it. C.S.F.B. didn’t offer me a full-time job, and I returned, distraught, to Columbia for senior year.

 After graduation, I got a job at Bank of America, by the grace of a managing director willing to take a chance on a kid who had called him every day for three weeks. With a year of sobriety under my belt, I was sharp, cleareyed and hard-working.

  At the end of my first year I was thrilled to receive a $40,000 bonus. For the first time in my life, I didn’t have to check my balance before I withdrew money

 But a week later, a trader who was only four years my senior got hired away by C.S.F.B. for $900,000. After my initial envious shock — his haul was 22 times the size of my bonus — I grew excited at how much money was available.

 Over the next few years I worked like a maniac and began to move up the Wall Street ladder. I became a bond and credit default swap trader, one of the more lucrative roles in the business.

 Just four years after I started at Bank of America, Citibank offered me a “1.75 by 2” which means $1.75 million per year for two years, and I used it to get a promotion. I started dating a pretty blonde and rented a loft apartment on Bond Street for $6,000 a month.

 I felt so important. At 25, I could go to any restaurant in Manhattan — Per Se, Le Bernardin — just by picking up the phone and calling one of my brokers, who ingratiate themselves to traders by entertaining with unlimited expense accounts.

I could be second row at the Knicks-Lakers game just by hinting to a broker I might be interested in going. The satisfaction wasn’t just about the money. It was about the power. Because of how smart and successful I was, it was someone else’s job to make me happy.

Still, I was nagged by envy. On a trading desk everyone sits together, from interns to managing directors. When the guy next to you makes $10 million, $1 million or $2 million doesn’t look so sweet. Nonetheless, I was thrilled with my progress.

My counselor didn’t share my elation. She said I might be using money the same way I’d used drugs and alcohol — to make myself feel powerful — and that maybe it would benefit me to stop focusing on accumulating more and instead focus on healing my inner wound. “Inner wound”? I thought that was going a little far and went to work for a hedge fund.

Now, working elbow to elbow with billionaires, I was a giant fireball of greed. I’d think about how my colleagues could buy Micronesia if they wanted to, or become mayor of New York City. They didn’t just have money; they had power — power beyond getting a table at Le Bernardin. Senators came to their offices. They were royalty.

 I wanted a billion dollars. It’s staggering to think that in the course of five years, I’d gone from being thrilled at my first bonus — $40,000 — to being disappointed when, my second year at the hedge fund, I was paid “only” $1.5 million.

​But in the end, it was actually my absurdly wealthy bosses who helped me see the limitations of unlimited wealth. I was in a meeting with one of them, and a few other traders, and they were talking about the new hedge-fund regulations. Most everyone on Wall Street thought they were a bad idea.

“But isn’t it better for the system as a whole?” I asked. The room went quiet, and my boss shot me a withering look. I remember his saying, “I don’t have the brain capacity to think about the system as a whole. All I’m concerned with is how this affects our company.” 

​I felt as if I’d been punched in the gut. He was afraid of losing money, despite all that he had.

 From that moment on, I started to see Wall Street with new eyes. I noticed the vitriol that traders directed at the government for limiting bonuses after the crash. I heard the fury in their voices at the mention of higher taxes. These traders despised anything or anyone that threatened their bonuses.

 Ever see what a drug addict is like when he’s used up his junk? He’ll do anything — walk 20 miles in the snow, rob a grandma — to get a fix. Wall Street was like that.

In the months before bonuses were handed out, the trading floor started to feel like a neighborhood in “The Wire” when the heroin runs out.

I’d always looked enviously at the people who earned more than I did; now, for the first time, I was embarrassed for them, and for me. I made in a single year more than my mom made her whole life.

 I knew that wasn’t fair; that wasn’t right. Yes, I was sharp, good with numbers. I had marketable talents. But in the end I didn’t really do anything. I was a derivatives trader, and it occurred to me the world would hardly change at all if credit derivatives ceased to exist. Not so nurse practitioners. What had seemed normal now seemed deeply distorted.

I had recently finished Taylor Branch’s three-volume series on the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement, and the image of the Freedom Riders stepping out of their bus into an infuriated mob had seared itself into my mind. I’d told myself that if I’d been alive in the ‘60s, I would have been on that bus.

 But I was lying to myself. There were plenty of injustices out there — rampant poverty, swelling prison populations, a sexual-assault epidemic, an obesity crisis. Not only was I not helping to fix any problems in the world, but I was profiting from them.

During the market crash in 2008, I’d made a ton of money by shorting the derivatives of risky companies. As the world crumbled, I profited. I’d seen the crash coming, but instead of trying to help the people it would hurt the most — people who didn’t have a million dollars in the bank — I’d made money off it.

  I don’t like who you’ve become, my girlfriend had said years earlier. She was right then, and she was still right. Only now, I didn’t like who I’d become either.

​Wealth addiction was described by the late sociologist and playwright Philip Slater in a 1980 book, but addiction researchers have paid the concept little attention. Like alcoholics driving drunk, wealth addiction imperils everyone.

Wealth addicts are, more than anybody, specifically responsible for the ever widening rift that is tearing apart our once great country. Wealth addicts are responsible for the vast and toxic disparity between the rich and the poor and the annihilation of the middle class.

 Only a wealth addict would feel justified in receiving $14 million in compensation — including an $8.5 million bonus — as the McDonald’s C.E.O., Don Thompson, did in 2012, while his company then published a brochure for its work force on how to survive on their low wages.

Only a wealth addict would earn hundreds of millions as a hedge-fund manager, and then lobby to maintain a tax loophole that gave him a lower tax rate than his secretary.

Despite my realizations, it was incredibly difficult to leave. I was terrified of running out of money and of forgoing future bonuses. More than anything, I was afraid that five or 10 years down the road, I’d feel like an idiot for walking away from my one chance to be really important.

 To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/19/opinion/sunday/for-the-love-of-money.html?_r=1