February 5, 2012

How to Marry a Millionaire – An Economic Update on the 1953 Film

How to Marry a Millionaire

In 1953, a great movie starring Lauren Bacall, Bette Grable and Marilyn Monroe was released called How to Marry a Millionaire.  I got curious as to how much money it would take to equal the same net worth today so I did an inflation adjustment because I wanted to know how big their motivation was in the film. Turns out, someone who had $1 million in 1953 would have roughly $8 million today. That kind of asset base should generate cash dividends or interest of $34,000 per month without … [Read more...]

Does Geographic Location Influence Success?

I was speaking to a relative of mine when this person (who shall remain nameless) expressed horror that after living near New York for so long, I would buy a house near my parents in the Midwest.  "I thought you were going places!" they basically decried in exasperation. It was then that I realized how truly stupid most people are when it comes to making money.  They have no idea how capital allocation works.  I started to get irritated and then I realized: If they knew how wrong they … [Read more...]

Response to What Is Probably the Most Ignorant Message I’ve Received In 10 Years of Writing Finance Articles

A reader named Medusa wrote me and, to keep it short, explained that I shouldn't believe people should be rich because the Bible is against rich people, that I was going to die a miserable, lonely old man with no one who loved me because I saved my money instead of spending it, and that after reading a profile I wrote based on Federal Reserve data of the Capitalist Class in the United States, she was starting to consider the possibility that the rich were nothing but oppressors who steal from … [Read more...]

Voltaire the Investor

Bust of Voltaire

How One of History's Greatest Thinkers Amassed a Fortune One of the people upon whom I have based the way I live my life is Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire, or Voltaire for short. Born on November 21st, 1694, he passed away on May 30th, 1778 after a long and extraordinarily successful life pushing for social reform and a more enlightened society, harshly criticizing superstition and slavery.  Besides the fact that we can thank him for heavily influencing the American Revolution and … [Read more...]

The Secret Philosophy of Successful Investing – One of My Best About.com Articles

Investing Philosophy

This is a cross-post of The Secret Philosophy of Successful Investing from About.com, a division of The New York Times because I want to highlight the piece in case any of you missed it and get you to head over to the Investing for Beginners site to check it out! Why?  I've received tons of private messages, emails, and other communications thanking me for writing this specific article, causing this to become, hands down, one of the highest rated pieces of content I've published in the past ten … [Read more...]

The House of Creed Is the Perfect Family Business

Creed Fragrance Counter at Harrods Department Store

This is cross-posted from the Investing for Beginners site at About.com, a division of The New York Times.  I wanted to point it out to the readers here and tell you to head over there and check it out because I had been writing so much about Creed perfume, cologne, and fragrance products the past few days and the Creed business itself.  Many of you read my About site anyway, but I just wanted to make sure you didn't miss it. For the past few days, I've been adding to my collection of … [Read more...]

Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne Certainly Know Their Real Estate

Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne Malbu Beach House Rental

When it comes to real estate, business acumen, and interior decor, Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne have my admiration.  Not only are their properties flawless in appearance, they use them as cash generators. According to one of my favorite blogs, Mr. and Mrs. Osbourne purchased this 4,500 square foot, 5 bedroom, 5 bathroom beachfront property in Malibu, California for $5,100,000 in March of 2003.  Today, they rent it out for several months during the summer at $40,000 per month. This is what … [Read more...]

Mail Bag – How Does Someone Start Creating Passive Income?

Passive Income from Computers Have Changed the World in the Past 20 Years

Among the thousands of emails and messages I receive regularly, I came across one today that was sent to me on May 17th by Cale P. Here is the question that was posed: I'm a pretty talented IT professional with great salary and a standard quality of living. I've known that I won't be in IT for my whole career, at least I hoped. I have a natural ability to invent and I really would love to own private business(es) to see my decisions in a company flourish. However, I'm unsure of how or when … [Read more...]

The 5 Levels of Building Wealth

Scrooge McDuck Carl Barks Money Bin

Early in life, I developed a theory that there were five levels of building wealth that most self-made men (and women) go through to reach financial independence.  It was started by my love for Carl Barks Scrooge McDuck comics.  When I started reading the Federal Reserve reports of consumer wealth, empirical studies, and other sources of data, and discovered that 90% of those in the United States who are millionaires made the money on their own - that is, they did not inherit it - I … [Read more...]

The Importance of Frugality in Building Wealth

Switching to Folgers coffee was an example of frugality.

I was up until 6:30 this morning reading Stop Acting Rich ... By Thomas J. Stanley, Ph.D., the author of the incredibly successful The Millionaire Next Door and The Millionaire Mind.  It's remarkable because so much of what the "average" millionaire did to achieve his or her wealth is exactly, precisely the same things I, and members of my own family, did to become financially independent.  The premise of the book is that most people get in financial trouble trying to emulate the purchasing … [Read more...]