July 25th, 2008 — Book Review, Personal Finance, Wealth
Everyone loves a true rags to riches tale, and although we’ve had some with the dot com boom, there were few that echoed the stories of immigrants that moved to the big city with a pocket full of pennies and a dream. We were thrilled to read this book and discover that the American dream is still alive and well, and this modern day rags to riches story was not only heartwarming, but packed full of advice that everyone can take to heart.
The author was twenty two when he decided to live his dream of making a million dollars by the age of 30. This Georgia native packed up what little he had and headed off to New York City to make his fortune. His family was not exactly supportive of his wild ideas, but within a space of six years, they were amazed to find that Corey managed to get the job done.
What we liked best about this story was that Corey didn’t find his wealth by getting lucky, nor did he make tons of money in the tech world. He did it the old fashioned way, and worked the same 9-5 job for that entire six year period. He simply managed his money, found good investments and watched as the balance in the bank grew to seven figures.
You really get the feeling after reading this book that anyone, given the right mindset and drive, can become a millionaire. There are few books that are this inspirational and helpful on the market, and there is a lot that can be learned from this story. The author did a great job of telling his tale, and it feels more like a memoir than a dull tome about personal finance.
However, even though this reads like a heartwarming novel, there is an incredible amount of advice contained in these pages that the reader can put to immediate use. While not all of it may be attainable, such as buying and wearing only one pair of shoes a year, there are some tips that everyone can use.
One of the biggest failings keeping Americans from realizing their dreams of wealth is overspending. You’ll sure be able to look at your budget in a whole new way after reading through Corey’s Cheapskate Strategies. While these can be modified to reduce their overall severity, chances are if you do follow them, you’ll be able to put quite a bit of money aside.
Overall, there are few books that have this much merit in the personal finance genre and we highly recommend this book. While you may not be able to follow all of Corey’s advice, even a small portion of it will help you get on the road to realizing financial security. A big part of Corey’s success is due to the fact that he was willing to sacrifice quite a lot before he was thirty, but now, he’s pretty much set for life. That’s a pretty small trade off in the grand scheme of life.
Related Articles
Related Stores
June 16th, 2008 — Debt, Leverage, Money, Personal Finance, Stocks, Wealth
How many stories have we all heard about the entrepreneur that came to America with five cents and turned it into an empire? It’s stories like this that make us long for a piece of that American dream. We all wish that we could turn our nickels into big money, but most of us don’t know how to do it. The secret is using debt wisely to leverage more income producing streams. No one can turn five cents into five million dollars overnight, but by taking chances and finding ways to use debt smartly, you can become financially independent, just like the entrepreneurs of old.
The thread that binds all of these success stories together is that somewhere along the way, these entrepreneurs had to go into debt to make more money. Unless you’re Rumplestiltskin and know a way to spin straw into gold, you’re going to have to start taking chances. While it’s perfectly acceptable to put money aside every month or even put it into an interest bearing account, you’re going to nickel and dime yourself for years. You might be able to put aside a nice little nest egg, but what if you want to become really wealthy?
In order to accomplish that, you’re going to have to extend what you already have. It’s pretty frustrating to look at your checkbook and see the cold hard truth that your dreams of wealth are not panning out. It’s even tougher to spot a great opportunity, like a hot stock, and not have enough money to take advantage of it. However, there are ways that you can take advantage of that opportunity, even if you don’t have a lot of money in the bank.
Let’s say that you have the chance to purchase some shares right now. You don’t have the money on hand, but instead of giving up, you go to the bank and you get a loan for the money you need. You buy those shares and in five years, they’ve returned 500% of your initial investment. If you hadn’t taken that risk of going into a small amount of debt, you never would have been able to reap those rewards. Instead, you’d be muttering into your coffee as the news comes in on how well that stock you could have had is doing.
While most of us think of the word debt and blanch, when used properly and managed well, it is the key to becoming wealthy. Do you think billionaires spend their own money when they want to buy a new building? No, that would be silly. They put together a plan and get financing to pay for it. Then, when the rents for the building come in, they pay off that loan and go find another property. That is leveraging debt at its finest. You’ve got to have money to make money and unless you’ve already got it, you’re going to need to go into debt, at least at first, to make those big dreams a reality.
Photo Credits: 1
Related Articles
Related Stores
May 11th, 2008 — Dave Ramsey, Debt, Debt Snowball, Money, Personal Finance, Wealth
I have a passion for personal finance… I can’t get enough… I read about it, I think about it, and now I write about it.
Why does the Internet need another personal finance blog?
All personal finance blogs that I have read vilify debt, demonize it even… While such a stance is important for those unfortunate individuals laden with debt without the cash flow to pay it off, in my opinion, the propagation of this ”truth” is the single biggest travesty to occur to the middle and lower classes since the time of feudalism. What ever happened to the American Dream? It is being buried in the avalanche of the debt snowball.
The American Dream isn’t about scrimping and saving every penny like a frugal miser to pay your debt (unless it makes you happy.) It is about Life, Love, and the pursuit of happiness.
Life — Enjoyment of and a passion for are my expectations for my experiences…
Love — Money can’t buy you love. But having money will give you the free time to purse love and romance and passion… See Life.
Pursuit of Happiness — See Life and Love.
I’ll be the first to admit that I am an American consumer. I have a house, a vacation house, 2 nice cars, a boat, a gym membership, I graduated from a first tier Ivy League institution, I belong to a secret society, I belong to one of the most exclusive country clubs, and hopefully one day at least partial ownership of a personal jet (dare I even dream my very own island?). That I have used other peoples money for leverage in my pursuit of happiness does not make me a bad person.
To me the American Dream is all about leverage. Money, income, cash flow, interpersonal connections, and even debt are but resources to be leveraged to create monetary wealth. Monetary wealth brings freedom of time and freedom of movement.
In the end, even the wealth is a resource to be leveraged. One personal finance writer I happen to agree with is LazyMan… He often talks about multiple income streams and alternative income. Not only should you diversify your assets, but you also need to diversify your income. The classic networth equation is that net worth equals assets plus income minus expenses. I actually think that balanced and diversified wealth comes from a 5 part equation, networth equals appreciable assets plus income producing assets plus income producing debt plus asset producing debt minus cost of living minus debt maintenance.
The nuance of this equation is that if one is taking on debt to maintain a cost of living then one is clearly living outside of their means… For these individuals and families, Dave Ramsey and the debt snowball might be important… If on the other hand you are producing long term net worth gains with your debt then you are living the American Dream.
Ask yourself did the Rockefellers or Carnegie or JP Morgan or Vanderbilt or the Kennedys or the Donald achieve wealth without debt?
Which brings me to the travesty of the debt snowball. I mentioned above your cost of living must be below your income, but there are two ways to achieve balance. Cost reduction and the Debt Snowball is clearly one path, but that path also has a limited ability to produce wealth. The way to wealth is through increasing your income, not limiting your expenses. The path to stability is diversification of your income, not eating only Top Ramen. The way to get Rich is to leverage Credit Debt and Loans to build a diversified portfolio of income producing assets, not slave away paying interest on your groceries to a large conglomerate bank.
Good luck on your personal journey and I hope you enjoy my blog.
Related Articles
Related Stores
