How A Baby-Faced CEO Turned A Farmville Clone Into A Massive Ponzi Scheme
.Fraud on the Farm: How A Baby-Faced CEO Turned A Farmville Clone Into A Massive Ponzi Scheme
By Paul Benjamin Osterlund 20 July 2021 • Turkey
Farm Bank let players make money, while supporting real farms. Then the CEO vanished with $80 million.
Fraud on the Farm: How a baby-faced CEO turned a Farmville clone into a massive Ponzi scheme
On November 21, 2019, 25-year-old Recep Ataş stepped onto a shooting range in the Istanbul suburb of Başakşehir. He fired several rounds at the target, before suddenly aiming the weapon directly against his heart and pulling the trigger. The single shot killed him.
The next day, Ataş’ father told local media that his son was depressed — a large bank loan loomed over him. The money Ataş had borrowed evaporated after he’d invested it in Farm Bank, a smartphone app similar to the once-popular Facebook game Farmville. But unlike Farmville, Farm Bank had a real-world twist.
Fraud on the Farm: How A Baby-Faced CEO Turned A Farmville Clone Into A Massive Ponzi Scheme
By Paul Benjamin Osterlund 20 July 2021 • Turkey
Farm Bank let players make money, while supporting real farms. Then the CEO vanished with $80 million.
Fraud on the Farm: How a baby-faced CEO turned a Farmville clone into a massive Ponzi scheme
On November 21, 2019, 25-year-old Recep Ataş stepped onto a shooting range in the Istanbul suburb of Başakşehir. He fired several rounds at the target, before suddenly aiming the weapon directly against his heart and pulling the trigger. The single shot killed him.
The next day, Ataş’ father told local media that his son was depressed — a large bank loan loomed over him. The money Ataş had borrowed evaporated after he’d invested it in Farm Bank, a smartphone app similar to the once-popular Facebook game Farmville. But unlike Farmville, Farm Bank had a real-world twist.
Launched in 2016, Farm Bank was billed as a way for players to “win as they play, and have fun as they win,” and encouraged them to invest in what they thought was actual livestock and agricultural land. Spurred on by friends and relatives, who claimed to have received returns on their investments, thousands of people rushed to put their money in Farm Bank. In actuality, Farm Bank was a smartphone-based pyramid scheme.
At first, users paid real money for the upkeep of virtual chickens, sheep, bees, and cattle, earning cash back in the game by keeping the animals alive. Players were also given a small cut of the profits for bringing in new players.
Riding high on the good publicity, Farm Bank soon went one step further, launching real-life farms. A local religious leader, a district governor, and a local mayor attended one farm’s opening ceremony in 2017.
The fanfare surrounding these grand openings were little more than PR stunts — the few animals on display weren’t actually being raised with Farm Bank investors’ money — but it all spoke to just how influential the game had become. Advertisements for the game featured stars such as the famous TV actor Mehmet Çevik and depicted expansive farms with actual livestock.
Farm Bank went on to weave a complicated, meta-business model: in 2017, the company began setting up deli franchises across Turkey. Franchisees paid Farm Bank about $30,000 (100,000 lira) to open shops that sold sausage, cheese, butter, honey, and other goods emblazoned with the Farm Bank logo — suggesting that the produce had come from the company’s livestock. It did not.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://restofworld.org/2021/farmbank-turkey-scam-jail-time/
How Long Will The US Dollar’s Dominance Last?
.How Long Will The US Dollar’s Dominance Last?
Notes From The field By Simon Black August 25, 2021 Bahia Beach, Puerto Rico
301 AD was a big year for the Roman Empire.
That was the year that, amid spiraling inflation, Emperor Diocletian issued his Edict on Maximum Prices, essentially fixing prices of just about everything across the Roman Empire.
The price of wheat, a day labor’s wages, a quart of olive oil, transportation rates-- everything was established by the Emperor’s edict, and enforced under penalty of death. Diocletian’s edict infamously didn’t work, and the empire plunged into even more severe inflation.
How Long Will The US Dollar’s Dominance Last?
Notes From The field By Simon Black August 25, 2021 Bahia Beach, Puerto Rico
301 AD was a big year for the Roman Empire.
That was the year that, amid spiraling inflation, Emperor Diocletian issued his Edict on Maximum Prices, essentially fixing prices of just about everything across the Roman Empire.
The price of wheat, a day labor’s wages, a quart of olive oil, transportation rates-- everything was established by the Emperor’s edict, and enforced under penalty of death. Diocletian’s edict infamously didn’t work, and the empire plunged into even more severe inflation.
The other big event of 301 AD was the introduction of the solidus gold coin, roughly 4.5 grams of nearly pure gold.
And while the Romans had a history of debasing their other coins, like the silver denarius and sesterce, the government actually did a pretty good job maintaining the value and purity of the gold solidus.
Even hundreds of years later, after the western empire in Rome had fallen to the barbarians, and imperial power was concentrated in Byzantium, the gold solidus was still approximately as pure as it was in the early 300s.
That’s an extraordinary track record for currency stability. Confidence in the gold solidus was so high, in fact, that various tribes and kingdoms around the world used the coin for trade and savings.
This became a source of pride for the Byzantine Empire; Justinian I, who ruled in the mid 500s, stated that the solidus was “accepted everywhere from end to end of the Earth,” and that it was “admired by all men in all kingdoms, because no kingdom has a currency that can be compared to it.”
It wasn’t until the mid 11th century, more than seven centuries after the introduction of the solidus, that an Emperor began to debase the currency.
Just like Hemingway described going bankrupt, the debasement of the solidus was gradual… then sudden.
Emperor Constantine IX, who ruled from 1042 to 1055, reduced the gold purity down to 87.5%. His successor brought it down to 75%. By the end of the century it had been reduced to just 33%.
The rest of the world took notice. The Byzantine Empire’s political, economic, and military power were waning. And with the rapid debasement of the solidus, international traders looked for other options.
Soon the rising Italian city states, particularly Venice and Florence, began minting their own gold coins; Italy was rapidly becoming the dominant economic power in Europe, so their ducats and florins became widely accepted, essentially replacing Byzantine coins for international trade.
Throughout history, in fact, reserve currencies have routinely changed, just as frequently as power and wealth shift.
For example, the Spanish real de ocho was the dominant reserve currency for hundreds of years, just as the Spanish Empire was the dominant power in the world.
But eventually Spain’s wealth and power waned, and the real de ocho was replaced. The Dutch guilder dominated European trade in the 1600s and 1700s, just as the Netherlands’ wealth and power soared. Yet they were displaced by the British Empire and pound sterling in the 1800s and early 1900s.
Both the United States and the US dollar have held this status for the last 80 years. And at the moment this is still the case.
History, however, is very clear on this point: wealth and power shift. Reserve currencies change. And it would be foolish to assume that this time is different.
Reserve currencies hold their status because the rest of the world has confidence-- confidence in the soundness of the currency, confidence in the power and prestige of the country that issues it.
But let’s be honest: the rest of the world is probably not brimming with confidence in the United States right now.
They’re looking at this shameful, disgraceful catastrophe in Afghanistan and wondering, “Is this seriously the world’s dominant superpower?”
But it’s more than Afghanistan. It’s endless deficits. It’s ridiculous spending initiatives that pay people to stay home and NOT work. It’s rising inflation thanks to the continued erosion of the US dollar.
None of these inspires confidence.
It was nearly 1,000 years ago when foreign traders began looking for new options after they lost confidence in the solidus, and in the Byzantine government.
Today there are already international banks, multinational businesses, and foreign governments that are starting to diversify out of the US dollar.
This is a major change. It’s not something that will happen overnight; like the solidus debasement, it will happen gradually… then suddenly.
There will be small milestones and minor events that take place over a period of many years. A lot of it has already happened.
But the end result will be a sharp decline in the US dollar’s market share of global reserves. And for anyone holding US dollars, that’s going to mean a LOT more inflation.
If you want to learn more about this, I’d encourage you to listen to our Freedom Podcast today; we discuss reserve currencies, the rise of a Chinese alternative, and even potential future conflict with China.
You can download and listen here.
To your freedom and Prosperity,
Simon Black, Founder, SovereignMan.com
The Difference Between Wills And Trusts
.The Difference Between Wills And Trusts—What Parents Need to Know
Hiranmayi Srinivasan Tue, August 24, 2021
Estate planning is a crucial part of mapping out your family's future. While there are many different components of an estate plan, wills and trusts are an important part of assuring how your assets will be distributed after your death—and to whom. "When someone dies without a will, their assets belong to their estate until the probate process is complete," says Carolyn Yun, CPA and CFP at Hollow Brook Wealth Management LLC in New York. "To ensure that a person's final wishes are met, it's important to get a will drafted," she says.
A will basically directs what will happen to your property after you die. "Most wills will appoint an executor, which is the person that handles the administrative duties of settling your estate," says Emily Cisek, co-founder and CEO of The Postage, a full-service digital estate planning platform. "A trust, on the other hand, is a legal entity that is set up to hold assets for someone's benefit," says Cisek.
The Difference Between Wills And Trusts—What Parents Need to Know
Hiranmayi Srinivasan Tue, August 24, 2021
Estate planning is a crucial part of mapping out your family's future. While there are many different components of an estate plan, wills and trusts are an important part of assuring how your assets will be distributed after your death—and to whom. "When someone dies without a will, their assets belong to their estate until the probate process is complete," says Carolyn Yun, CPA and CFP at Hollow Brook Wealth Management LLC in New York. "To ensure that a person's final wishes are met, it's important to get a will drafted," she says.
A will basically directs what will happen to your property after you die. "Most wills will appoint an executor, which is the person that handles the administrative duties of settling your estate," says Emily Cisek, co-founder and CEO of The Postage, a full-service digital estate planning platform. "A trust, on the other hand, is a legal entity that is set up to hold assets for someone's benefit," says Cisek.
It's a good idea to have both. "People should definitely have both documents—in addition to a power of attorney and advanced healthcare directives," says Jala Eaton, a licensed attorney in California and a certified trust and financial advisor. But there are points where the two differ, that are important to be aware of. Here are the main differences between trusts and wills—so you can be better informed while making your plan for the future.
Everyone should have a will—it's a basic estate planning document that is effective after your death.
No matter what, you should have a will. Again, a will is where you can name your beneficiaries (who gets your assets) and is the only document where you can appoint legal guardians for any minor children you have.
While there are different types of wills, a simple will is a list of your assets and possessions and what you want to happen to them. "These are the easiest types of wills to create," says Cisek. Other types of wills include: a testamentary will, where the beneficiaries receive assets after they meet a certain condition, like age or marriage; a joint will for married couples; and living wills, which dictate what you want to happen in your last days, such as with medical care.
While wills are effective after someone's life, a trust can be used during their lifetime. A living or revocable trust allows the trustor to make changes to it, as they are usually the trustee as well. "A revocable trust provides maximum control over assets," says Cisek.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/difference-between-wills-trusts-parents-164059212.html
What Are Financial Milestones and Why Is It Important To Reach Them?
.What Are Financial Milestones and Why Is It Important To Reach Them?
Andrew Lisa Mon, August 23, 2021
No matter your age, you might feel like you’re falling behind financially and missing the mark of where you’re supposed to be at your particular stage of life — but “supposed to be” is different for everyone. The good news is, there are a few universal financial milestones that just about anyone should aim for if they care about funding a full life and an independent retirement. Here are a few of the big ones.
Have an Active Brokerage Account in Your 20s
If you’re young today, congratulations. You’re holding every investor’s greatest weapon — time. The high costs of brokerage accounts used to price regular people out of investing, even when they were in their prime earning years. But today, there aren’t a lot of good excuses not to have money in the stock market — even for 20-somethings.
What Are Financial Milestones and Why Is It Important To Reach Them?
Andrew Lisa Mon, August 23, 2021
No matter your age, you might feel like you’re falling behind financially and missing the mark of where you’re supposed to be at your particular stage of life — but “supposed to be” is different for everyone. The good news is, there are a few universal financial milestones that just about anyone should aim for if they care about funding a full life and an independent retirement. Here are a few of the big ones.
Have an Active Brokerage Account in Your 20s
If you’re young today, congratulations. You’re holding every investor’s greatest weapon — time. The high costs of brokerage accounts used to price regular people out of investing, even when they were in their prime earning years. But today, there aren’t a lot of good excuses not to have money in the stock market — even for 20-somethings.
Free brokerage accounts with no fees, no minimums and no commissions are now the rule, not the exception. If you’re new to the workforce, you probably don’t have much money to spare, but by throwing whatever you can whenever you can at a simple investment like an index-tracking ETF, you can turn a pittance into a plethora. You don’t need a lot of money or investing experience. You have time, the greatest tool of all. Just kick in your spare change and let the years and the power of compounding do the rest.
Be One of Those ‘Well-Qualified Buyers’ You Keep Hearing About in Your 30s
When they rattle off the 0% financing/$0 down offers on the car commercials you see on TV, the small print says that they’re talking only to the most highly qualified buyers. Those are the people with excellent credit, which, according to Experian, means their credit scores all start with the number 8.
The FICO credit scoring system goes up to 850, and those with scores of 800 and above get the lowest rates and the best deals when they take out loans and finance purchases. If you’ve paid your bills on time every time, kept your debt low in relation to your credit, applied for credit sparingly, and avoided legal judgments and bankruptcies for your recent adult life, 800 is within reach by your 30s. If not, now is the time to get started with good financial habits.
Have Three Times Your Salary Saved for Retirement in Your 40s
There is no hard-and-fast rule for how much to save for retirement by each decade of life, but Fidelity’s readiness ladder of progression is one of the most widely cited models in the industry. By age 30, Fidelity suggests having the equivalent of your annual salary saved for retirement. By 40, it becomes three times your annual salary — if you earn $50,000 a year, that’s $150,000 in retirement savings. If you do that, difficult as it may seem, the next step is within reach — six times your annual salary by 50, followed by eight times by 60 and 10 times by 67.
Have Your End-of-Life Affairs in Order in Your 50s
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/financial-milestones-why-important-reach-171850361.html
Classic “Money Rules” Applied to TIME
.Classic “Money Rules” Applied to TIME
FIRE is not a single point in time. It’s a lifestyle. If you follow a basic set of money rules it will lead to a financially successful life.
The same thing can be said about TIME. To me, 5am is not a single point in time, or a number on a clock face. It’s a lifestyle. Similar to FIRE, following a simple set of time rules will lead to a satisfying and life well spent.
I’ve written before about how the Pay Yourself First rule is similar to getting up early each day. (I pay the first few hours of every day to ME, not others – more here). It doesn’t matter if it’s 5am, 6am or 7… Paying yourself first each morning ensures you never lose out on personal time.
Classic “Money Rules” Applied to TIME
FIRE is not a single point in time. It’s a lifestyle. If you follow a basic set of money rules it will lead to a financially successful life.
The same thing can be said about TIME. To me, 5am is not a single point in time, or a number on a clock face. It’s a lifestyle. Similar to FIRE, following a simple set of time rules will lead to a satisfying and life well spent.
I’ve written before about how the Pay Yourself First rule is similar to getting up early each day. (I pay the first few hours of every day to ME, not others – more here). It doesn’t matter if it’s 5am, 6am or 7… Paying yourself first each morning ensures you never lose out on personal time.
So this got me thinking…. What other classic money rules can we apply to TIME?
Applying “Money Rules” to TIME
Money Rule: Equivalent TIME Rule:
Track your spending Track your time
Create a budget → follow it! Create a to-do or goal list → follow it!
Always max out your 401k Always max out your vacation time
Don’t buy shit you don’t need Don’t waste time on dumb stuff
Donate to charity / Tithe Volunteer and give time to others
Diversify, diversify, diversify! Always try new experiences!
Invest early, invest often Don’t wait. Do stuff while you’re young
You can’t predict a market crash, it could be tomorrow. You can’t predict when you’re gonna die, it could be tomorrow!
Tracking Your Time:
Just like your finances… Create a nerdy spreadsheet and track what you do each hour of the day. Start by gathering a full month of data, and tally up the results. If you’ve never done this before, I promise you the results will be sobering!
Next, compare all of your hours spent with your priorities in life.
How much time do you spend driving each week? How much time do you spend watching TV and movies? What about time spent browsing social media?
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
Financial FOMO: What, Why and How To Avoid It.
.Financial FOMO: What, Why and How To Avoid It.
Financial Fear Of Missing Out
What is Financial FOMO?
You’ve probably heard of regular FOMO, which is the fear of missing out. It’s when you worry or have anxiety about missing out on fun and memorable experiences in life. What about Financial FOMO?
Financial FOMO is a little more specific. It’s when you worry about missing out on financial success or profitable events in life. You constantly research ways to make money, save money, and get ahead. You are excited about finances, but this feeling of excitement is matched equally with a feeling of disappointment from “not doing as good as everyone else seems to be doing”.
Personally, I don’t suffer from FOMO, financial or otherwise. I believe FOMO is an unhealthy mindset that makes people their own worst nightmare. Not only is it poisonous to let fear and anxiety occupy your mind, it leads you to do things you usually wouldn’t do.
Financial FOMO: What, Why and How To Avoid It.
Financial Fear Of Missing Out
What is Financial FOMO?
You’ve probably heard of regular FOMO, which is the fear of missing out. It’s when you worry or have anxiety about missing out on fun and memorable experiences in life. What about Financial FOMO?
Financial FOMO is a little more specific. It’s when you worry about missing out on financial success or profitable events in life. You constantly research ways to make money, save money, and get ahead. You are excited about finances, but this feeling of excitement is matched equally with a feeling of disappointment from “not doing as good as everyone else seems to be doing”.
Personally, I don’t suffer from FOMO, financial or otherwise. I believe FOMO is an unhealthy mindset that makes people their own worst nightmare. Not only is it poisonous to let fear and anxiety occupy your mind, it leads you to do things you usually wouldn’t do.
It might sound cool to have Financial FOMO, but it can actually be detrimental to your financial success. It’s the opposite of cool!
Example of Financial FOMO:
A week in the life of Steve…
Monday:
Steve wakes up at 6am and is very motivated. He goes for a morning jog while listening to his favorite podcast, The Entrepreneur Expert McMillions Secret Strategies Show.
The podcast features a guest speaker who built a $200,000/y business buying and selling raw land. He outlines 6 easy-to-follow steps for young and hungry beginners to start their own land flipping business. Truly inspiring content.
Steve is fascinated by what he hears! He gets home from his jog and writes down “land flipping” on his goal board for the year 2020.
Tuesday:
Steve goes out for drinks after work. His buddy, Tom, is at the bar bragging about his latest Bitcoin trade. Tom has been buying small amounts of Bitcoin ever since it was $30 per coin, and holds about $350k worth of Bitcoin today.
Steve feels a little bad that he never bought into Bitcoin back in the day, but Tom assures him he’s not too late to enter the cryptocurrency market. Tom’s advice is, “just throw 1000 bucks into bitcoin every month or so. It’ll be worth millions some day”.
That night Steve goes home and spends 3 hours reading news articles and watching YouTube videos about Bitcoin price predictions. Not ready to commit yet, he goes to bed without purchasing anything.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
Inflation Insurance
.Inflation Insurance
John Lim | Aug 23, 2021
ON AUG. 15, 1971, President Richard Nixon made the weighty decision to end the convertibility of the U.S. dollar into gold. By doing so, he drove a stake through the heart of the gold standard, a monetary system which fixed the worth of a unit of money to a specific amount of physical gold. Before that day, foreign central banks were able to exchange $35 for one ounce of gold from the vaults of the U.S. Federal Reserve.
By closing the so-called gold window half a century ago, Nixon ushered in the current era of fiat money. Fiat currencies—which include all currencies in existence today—aren’t backed by anything tangible. Rather, their value depends entirely upon the collective trust of people making transactions in those currencies. If that confidence evaporates, so does the value of that money.
Inflation Insurance
John Lim | Aug 23, 2021
ON AUG. 15, 1971, President Richard Nixon made the weighty decision to end the convertibility of the U.S. dollar into gold. By doing so, he drove a stake through the heart of the gold standard, a monetary system which fixed the worth of a unit of money to a specific amount of physical gold. Before that day, foreign central banks were able to exchange $35 for one ounce of gold from the vaults of the U.S. Federal Reserve.
By closing the so-called gold window half a century ago, Nixon ushered in the current era of fiat money. Fiat currencies—which include all currencies in existence today—aren’t backed by anything tangible. Rather, their value depends entirely upon the collective trust of people making transactions in those currencies. If that confidence evaporates, so does the value of that money.
What can lead to a loss of confidence in money? In a word, oversupply. Too much of anything can be a bad thing, and so it is with money. Print too much money and you devalue it. When a currency is devalued, inflation results.
Gold is called a precious metal precisely because it’s rare and difficult to mine. Though many have tried, gold cannot be fabricated. Because of this and other unique qualities, the yellow metal has been a store of value for over two millennia.
Gold’s value as an investment is far more controversial. Gold isn’t an investment in the traditional sense because it generates no cash flow. Result? There’s no way to assign an intrinsic value to an ounce of gold. In this regard, gold resembles other commodities. In all likelihood, however, gold will remain a store of value. Those who own gold, as I do, know that currencies have an uncomfortable history of being devalued. In my mind, gold is a form of insurance against this risk.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
How To Claw Back From the Edge of a Financial Cliff
..How To Claw Back From the Edge of a Financial Cliff
Cynthia Measom Fri, August 20, 2021
The pandemic hit many Americans right where it hurts — in their wallets. “Hitting rock bottom financially is something many people fear — and understandably so,” said Kate S. Mielitz, Ph.D., AFC, an assistant professor of family financial planning at Oklahoma State University. “To reach the point that you are struggling each month, maybe to just put food on the table, or you’re squeaking by but barely … or even have no savings, no accessible credit, no one that you can turn to for short-term or long-term assistance … those are all very scary situations.”
The good news is that once you’ve hit rock bottom, the only way to go is up. Here are some proactive steps you can take if you find yourself peering over the edge of a financial cliff and are overwhelmed with debt.
How To Claw Back From the Edge of a Financial Cliff
Cynthia Measom Fri, August 20, 2021
The pandemic hit many Americans right where it hurts — in their wallets. “Hitting rock bottom financially is something many people fear — and understandably so,” said Kate S. Mielitz, Ph.D., AFC, an assistant professor of family financial planning at Oklahoma State University. “To reach the point that you are struggling each month, maybe to just put food on the table, or you’re squeaking by but barely … or even have no savings, no accessible credit, no one that you can turn to for short-term or long-term assistance … those are all very scary situations.”
The good news is that once you’ve hit rock bottom, the only way to go is up. Here are some proactive steps you can take if you find yourself peering over the edge of a financial cliff and are overwhelmed with debt.
Change Your Mindset
“If someone has hit rock bottom financially, the first step is to get into the right mental mindset, said Khari Washington, broker and owner of 1st United Realty & Mortgage. “The stress, shame, and a feeling of defeat can do a lot of damage mentally.”
It’s easy to feel depressed and hopeless if you’re experiencing dire financial trouble. However, it will be more difficult to turn things around if you don’t change your mindset. For example, each time you feel defeated or have a negative thought, get into the habit of telling yourself that what you’re experiencing is a temporary setback, and you will overcome it in time.
Keep your head calm,” said Scott Spivack, marketing director at United Medical Credit. “In the event of a financial disaster, feelings of fear, grief and anger are natural. Well, you need to absorb these emotions and accept the new reality. Negative emotions like grief and fear can dent your ability to think rationally. So, it’s important to eliminate stress and stay calm in these trying situations. With a relaxed brain, you’ll be able to think clearly and make pragmatic decisions.”
Take Stock of Your Financial Situation
Even though it won’t be fun, you need to take the time to really understand where you are financially. “The first thing you need to do is to calmly and meticulously take stock of where your finances are,” said Eden Cheng, co-founder of PeopleFinderFree. “This will help you make a solid financial plan moving forward. This means taking into account any remaining income, your monthly expenses, your debt, and the amount of money you have in your savings.”
Make a Plan
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/claw-back-edge-financial-cliff-155801347.html
Even Richer People
.Even Richer People
Posted August 19, 2021 by Ben Carlson
Working in finance is both a blessing and a curse.
The plus side is the industry pays above-average wages and it’s not back-breaking work. Some people in finance do work ridiculous hours but no one comes home with a sore back or blisters on their hands at the end of the day. 1 It’s also a profession you can perform well into old age.
The downsides are more psychological in nature.
There is a lot of money in the world of finance. You’re typically dealing with clients who have amassed vast sums of money. And there are always going to be peers or colleagues in the industry who make more money than you. If you’re addicted to keeping up with the Joneses, the finance industry can be a toxic working environment. There is an endless stream of people with more resources than you.
Even Richer People
Posted August 19, 2021 by Ben Carlson
Working in finance is both a blessing and a curse.
The plus side is the industry pays above-average wages and it’s not back-breaking work. Some people in finance do work ridiculous hours but no one comes home with a sore back or blisters on their hands at the end of the day. 1 It’s also a profession you can perform well into old age.
The downsides are more psychological in nature.
There is a lot of money in the world of finance. You’re typically dealing with clients who have amassed vast sums of money. And there are always going to be peers or colleagues in the industry who make more money than you. If you’re addicted to keeping up with the Joneses, the finance industry can be a toxic working environment. There is an endless stream of people with more resources than you.
I work in the world of finance so I know plenty of people who make a lot of money (way more money than me).
The problem is many of these people talk incessantly about money because they’re so insecure about it. It’s how they measure their self-worth which is a tough place to be because there is always going to be someone getting richer than you. Often times one of the biggest headaches for rich people is…even richer people.
Vanity Fair had an article recently about rich people in the Hamptons complaining about even richer people encroaching on their turf:
Along with random $50s strewn across the beach have come the ultra-monied themselves, who’ve flooded in in numbers many say they’ve never seen before, leaving even the rich people thinking the rich people are ruining the Hamptons. “There’s so much money now it’s nauseating,” said one woman who bought her house in Amagansett in 1991. “I’m a 1-percenter. But I bear no resemblance to these people.”
“Everyone with money is here,” she said. “If I weren’t here already, I wouldn’t come now. The conspicuous consumption is just gross.” After repeatedly passing by a house that belongs to “one of those hedge fund guys,” and watching him have enormous, fully-grown trees planted day after day, she said she finally stopped to ask the dozen or so workers on site about the cost. “They said they thought $50,000 to $75,000 a day,” she said. “I would suspect it’s closer to $100,000.”
Boo-hoo, am I right?
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2021/08/even-richer-people/
Are You Worth More Than You Earned
.Are You Worth More Than You Earned
Have you ever wonder how much money you earned over the years? I mean, it has to be a sizeable sum if you’ve been working for a while. I was thinking about this and came up with a natural follow-up question. Are we worth more than what we earned? After all, wealth is what you keep, not what you earn. We have been maxing out our 401k and investing for years. Our net worth is much higher than the average US household. However, I don’t know if it is higher than what we earned over the years. Let’s answer that question today.
This answer isn’t that difficult to find out, but you might be disappointed. It is extremely difficult for your net worth to exceed your cumulative earnings, especially when you’re younger. It gets a little easier as you age because of compound interest, but I’m sure only a small percentage of households can achieve this impressive feat. That’s because saving and investing aren’t enough. You need a lot of time and luck as well. It is not impossible, though.
Are You Worth More Than You Earned
Have you ever wonder how much money you earned over the years? I mean, it has to be a sizeable sum if you’ve been working for a while. I was thinking about this and came up with a natural follow-up question. Are we worth more than what we earned? After all, wealth is what you keep, not what you earn. We have been maxing out our 401k and investing for years. Our net worth is much higher than the average US household. However, I don’t know if it is higher than what we earned over the years. Let’s answer that question today.
This answer isn’t that difficult to find out, but you might be disappointed. It is extremely difficult for your net worth to exceed your cumulative earnings, especially when you’re younger. It gets a little easier as you age because of compound interest, but I’m sure only a small percentage of households can achieve this impressive feat. That’s because saving and investing aren’t enough. You need a lot of time and luck as well. It is not impossible, though.
Savings
For most of us regular employees, it is very unlikely to be worth more than we’ve earned. First, taxes take a big bite out of our paychecks. After that, we all have bills to pay. Money gushes out every month to pay for housing, healthcare, transportation, food, clothing, travel, entertainment, techs, and all kinds of stuff. It’s tough to save when you add up all the expenses of the modern lifestyle. In addition, we need to invest those savings. It is mathematically impossible for your net worth to surpass your cumulative earnings if you simply save it. Even if you save 50%, your net worth will only be 50% of what you made. You need to invest and grow those savings to even have a chance.
Generally, financial advisors recommend saving 10-15% of your income for retirement. This might be fine if you plan to retire at 67, but 15% won’t cut it here. Your net worth will never catch up to your total earnings by saving 15%. You’d need to save and invest at a much higher rate to win this one. Let’s look at our household as an example.
Income
First, we’ll look at how much we’ve earned over the years. The easy way to figure this out is to head over to socialsecurity.gov and check your Social Security statement. Here is a graph of our household earned income.
This graph is actually pretty neat to go over. My earnings shot up sharply when I graduated college and started working full time in 1996. It kept rising and peaked at $200k in 2012 when I quit working full time. The zenith was an anomaly because I worked just 6 months and sold a bunch of stock options. Part of the gains was counted as earned income. As expected, my earned income took a sharp dive after I retired from my engineering career. However, I continue to generate some income from blogging after early retirement.
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The Stuff They Don’t Teach You In Books
.The Stuff They Don’t Teach You In Books
Posted July 27, 2021 by Joshua M Brown
Once upon a time, when I knew nothing, I called myself a financial advisor. It’s true, I was giving financial advice. But when I look back to the caliber and quality of that advice from back then to now, it’s astonishing how much I didn’t know.
I was raised in this business to believe that stock and bond and fund selection was the most important aspect of helping investors succeed. We weren’t given a benchmark in terms of what a client succeeding even meant. Was it beating the S&P 500? Looking smarter than the client’s other broker?
Hitting a grand slam in a technology stock? Generating the highest interest and dividend income? I don’t know. The client doesn’t know. “Lets emphasize whichever of these things went well in the next conversation.”
The Stuff They Don’t Teach You In Books
Posted July 27, 2021 by Joshua M Brown
Once upon a time, when I knew nothing, I called myself a financial advisor. It’s true, I was giving financial advice. But when I look back to the caliber and quality of that advice from back then to now, it’s astonishing how much I didn’t know.
I was raised in this business to believe that stock and bond and fund selection was the most important aspect of helping investors succeed. We weren’t given a benchmark in terms of what a client succeeding even meant. Was it beating the S&P 500? Looking smarter than the client’s other broker?
Hitting a grand slam in a technology stock? Generating the highest interest and dividend income? I don’t know. The client doesn’t know. “Lets emphasize whichever of these things went well in the next conversation.”
Twenty years have gone by and now I know a lot. At least compared to the original version of me as a financial advisor. I’ve surrounded myself with Certified Financial Planners. I’ve attended hundreds of industry conferences. I’ve written three books and ten thousand blog posts. I’ve done fifteen hundred hours of financial television. I’ve read a million words on the profession.
I’ve sat in a thousand client meetings. Drank coffee, wine, beer and tequila with hundreds of financial advisors when their guards were down. I’ve been in the green rooms at all the events. I’ve seen the notes from the pre-interviews with producers. The private parties. The dinners (so many dinners).
I’ve met the chief marketing officers and the PR people for every trillion dollar asset manager in America. I’ve been there for the bell ringings, the product pushes, the service launches, the beta tests, the branding exercises.
I know some stuff.
Like finding my way up in the clocktower behind Big Ben, watching the gears turn. Everyone in London can look up and observe time going by from the outside. I can see how the big hand and the little hand got that way from the inside.
And some of the things I’ve come to learn have never been taught in any textbook or on any exam given industry-wide. These unwritten things are the key to everything. I’ll share a few today…
1. Every thousand dollars you help a client save on taxes is the equivalent of earning that client ten thousand dollars in returns, based on how grateful people are. I don’t know why it is that way. There’s something about “I saved you money” that’s ten times more emotionally satisfying than “I made you some money.” Probably because money made in the market usually continues to remain at risk in a portfolio, while money saved on taxes feels more kept and permanent.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://thereformedbroker.com/2021/07/27/the-stuff-they-dont-teach-you-in-books/