Millionaires

BrokenArrows

TheDoc wrote: »

Not important who said it, it's just the truth.

Once you reach a certain level of income a world of tools and functions become available that are tailored to make you more money, because you are then making the companies,organisations and people who operate these tools, more money.

Thats exactly right. It takes money to make money.

Even given the **** interest rates we have today with a million in cash you can easily make 15k a year alone with some government bonds.

One of the other things is that once you are not a PAYE employee anymore you have the options to "manage" your taxes in a way the we cannot.

FizzleSticks

This post has been deleted.

PolaroidPizza

If you have a public pension of more than 24k then thats the equivalent of a million euro put into a private pension. Congratulations

Ragnar Lothbrok wrote: »

That's great news! I'm leaving work right now to go down and buy a new yacht

Well the actual value of 1 million of contemporary currency units is obviously not what it once was. To be a millionaire in 1960 would have probably carried as much prestige as being worth 100 million now, and was probably harder to bring about. Also, the main unit of currency in 1960 was kind of still the shilling rather than the pound at that stage I believe? Even the difference between being a millionaire in 1995 and 2005 was very different - it always strikes me when Fr Ted sees that Fr.Jack left £500,000 in his will and faints - when I was younger that seemed like an unrealistically large sum but nowadays even if it was 1 million it wouldn't seem that extraordinary!

Joe prim

Ragnar Lothbrok wrote: »

That's great news! I'm leaving work right now to go down and buy a new yacht

At least wait until after the tea-break!:)

Andy From Sligo

The Backwards Man wrote: »

Every single person in this thread is richer than 90% of the world's population. Put that in your pipe and whinge on it.

hello Bono

Andy From Sligo

FURET wrote: »

This reeks of envy. If I gave you 2M euro would you take it? Or would you rather stay as you are so that your kids can "live in the real world".

had a long thought about it (about 5 seconds), and I will take it - when and where do we meet - cheers!

Andy From Sligo

valoren wrote: »

Millionaires.

Imagine a husband and wife, with a baby on the way, who, 40 years ago, at age 30 came into a small inheritance of $2500.
They decided to invest this along with an additional $2500 of their own savings.

They like the look of Coca Cola. It's been around for 90 years they reckon and has a straightforward, understandable business, they sold soft drinks.
So they invested the 5k at $82.25 per share for 60 shares in the company in October 1976.
They received a small dividend every 3 months but it was so small that they kept it aside.
Eventually it became a bit larger and on the advice of a business friend, they instructed the stockbroker to re-invest the dividend instead.
The dividend would be more shares, which themselves provided a dividend. Money making money.

Feeling a bit more confident, the husband decides to invest his yearly savings into other enterprises.
With a banking background, with a firm grasp on the industry, through the 80s/90s/00s, he dollar cost averages his savings over time into Enron, WorldCom and Lehman Brothers although he also invests in Royal Dutch Shell, Johnson & Johnson and Colgate Toothpaste as well along the way.
With the coke investment chugging along, he wants to 'diversify'. These investments begin making great returns, so he decides to focus on other industries and plans to let them compound, just like Coke.

Today, 40 years later, they are retired.
They never touched the investment and went about living their lives, while saving and investing.
Not through several market panics where the share price crashed, oil crises, global terrorism, gulf wars, booms and busts.

They would now hold 18,680 shares in Coca Cola through stock splits and reinvested dividends. The value of the shares would be $778,436.
Their dividends will amount to gross $6538. More than they invested initially way back when. Every 3 months.
The yearly dividend will be $26,152.

As they have cleared their mortgage on their modest 3 bed semi, they figure that they are millionaires.
And you wouldn't think it to look at them. No Mercs or Rolex watches or status symbols. They can well afford them but it's not their thing.
Note: The Enron, WorldCom and Lehman Brothers investments are worth $0. The annual dividend will be $0.

With the additional savings and profitable investments they made through their lives they don't worry about money.
They have told their daughter that the shares will be her's when they pass away.
She is shrewd enough to understand that selling the shares will incur taxes etc.
The Coke dividend alone would currently pay for her mortgage and her monthly expenses.

She knows that she may invest herself in her generations WorldComs but she knows that Coke is the golden goose and it will never be touched as the board of directors raise the cash dividend modestly every year.
That snowball will be allowed to roll down the hill, reinvested for more shares and more and more dividends.

She figures that when she herself passes away her own children's money worries will be non-existent, and their children etc etc.
Intergenerational wealth which began with a modest investment way back in 1976.

nope u lost me after the "They like the look of Coca Cola.." bit from then on

FURET

Some people aren't millionaires, because they're dumb.

ohnonotgmail

FURET wrote: »

Some people aren't millionaires, because they're dumb.

Is that you Donald?

Andy From Sligo

Ush1 wrote: »

People talk about kids of rich people being in better positions because they have their parents money.

I think it's not poverty in a financial sense that keeps poor people down, it's a poverty of the mind. A poverty of ideas and motivation.

You don't know what's possible or attainable unless you're inspired/mentored.

I think the government should be doing assessments and mentoring on the unemployed rather than just chucking welfare and forcing people to get jobs (maybe some that they are not one iota interested in or wrong for the job)

I would say most people have interests and ambitions inside them and I think if they arent doing it already, Intreo or whatever they are called these days should be 'interviewing' the unemployed and getting to find out what it is they are interested in and see if there is a possibility they can mentor them and bring out more of the 'experience' out of the people and enhance it and basically instead of saying 'we want to get you off the dole and in work' try and put them in a job that is more attuned and suits the candidate rather than tell them to get any old job.

If I was un-employed and a builders job came up and the Dole office said we are cutting your dole because you didnt take up that job is that fair?

I would be absolutely useless at building, I am not interested in it, I dont feel i am experienced , I wouldnt like it and because I am not interested in it it would feel like I am forced to do it and you would get bad results so if I was unemployed and they said, "here is some building work and you are capable of doing it" - I would be rubbish and most probably get sacked after a very short time.

But the key is to find something you are really interested in and that the pay is a bonus! - then if your doing something you like then maybe you could work your way up to being a millionaire

Walter H Price

My unlce is a multi-millionaire , he was born in america to an illegal irish immigrant mother and an American father who came from a dirt poor southern family. His dad was in the army and they traveled around allot as kids due to his dads different postings in the US an overseas, So never got regular schooling. His da ended up in Vietnam through most of the 70's and my Unlce and his mother and siblings lived here with her sister in samll crowded councill house in inchicore, he dropped out of school here due to being bullied and having difficulty catching up with the curriculum (he only started here at intercert)

went bak to american on his own and worked in a fastfood restruatne and slept on his grannys couch to get his SAT's ... He was due to go on the be a realtor before his dad came back from vietnam injured and an alcholic so he was unable to work , my uncle returned to ireland and worked in the same fastfood outlet to support his mum dad and 3 yongerbrothers.

He rose through the ranks eventualy became a senior executive in his late 30's and a frachisee at 46 , he now owns 6 of the largest of thees fast food outlets in Dublin ... he worked bloody hard for it and to be honest has been a major inspiration to me my whole adult life , i dont think he should be judged or begrudged his success.

My parents on a financially lesser scale also have done exceptionally well both coming from finglas and ballymun in the 70's & 80's to both being seinor figures is state and semi state bodies with great salaries... because of their success i had a more comfortable upbringing but have failed to achieve by 26 anywhere close to what any of the 3 of them had by my age ... its not all about a silverspoon its 100% about personal drive , ambition , intelligence and a bit of luck and those who achieve should rightly be lauded not begrudged as is so often the case in Ireland in particular , it really does just come across as sad and petty

Ush1

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

I think the government should be doing assessments and mentoring on the unemployed rather than just chucking welfare and forcing people to get jobs (maybe some that they are not one iota interested in or wrong for the job)

I would say most people have interests and ambitions inside them and I think if they arent doing it already, Intreo or whatever they are called these days should be 'interviewing' the unemployed and getting to find out what it is they are interested in and see if there is a possibility they can mentor them and bring out more of the 'experience' out of the people and enhance it and basically instead of saying 'we want to get you off the dole and in work' try and put them in a job that is more attuned and suits the candidate rather than tell them to get any old job.

If I was un-employed and a builders job came up and the Dole office said we are cutting your dole because you didnt take up that job is that fair?

I would be absolutely useless at building, I am not interested in it, I dont feel i am experienced , I wouldnt like it and because I am not interested in it it would feel like I am forced to do it and you would get bad results so if I was unemployed and they said, "here is some building work and you are capable of doing it" - I would be rubbish and most probably get sacked after a very short time.

But the key is to find something you are really interested in and that the pay is a bonus! - then if your doing something you like then maybe you could work your way up to being a millionaire

Well the government might have these things already in place, I'm not sure I've never been unemployed but they certainly do have schemes for people starting their own businesses.

I wasn't really even talking about the unemployed specificially to be honest, lots of poor people who work and think minimum wage for a job they hate is their lot in life.

Ragnar Lothbrok

PolaroidPizza wrote: »

If you have a public pension of more than 24k then thats the equivalent of a million euro put into a private pension. Congratulations

You do realise that we have a large amount of money taken directly from our wages to fund our pensions? And the Pension Levy?

Don't get me wrong, I realise that we get a decent enough pension and I'm grateful for that - but it hardly makes me a millionaire does it?

SEPT 23 1989

Ragnar Lothbrok wrote: »

You do realise that we have a large amount of money taken directly from our wages to fund our pensions? And the Pension Levy?

Don't get me wrong, I realise that we get a decent enough pension and I'm grateful for that - but it hardly makes me a millionaire does it?

would a person funding a private pension get the same return?

Claw Hammer

Ragnar Lothbrok wrote: »

You do realise that we have a large amount of money taken directly from our wages to fund our pensions? And the Pension Levy?

Don't get me wrong, I realise that we get a decent enough pension and I'm grateful for that - but it hardly makes me a millionaire does it?

The money taken from your salary is nowhere near enough to fund your poension. In any case it just means that the payments to you are reduced.There is no pension fund for public service pensions. Many public servants are far better off in retirement than when they were were when supposedly working.

Ragnar Lothbrok

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

would a person funding a private pension get the same return?

No idea. To be brutally honest, I don't really care either. Sorry if that's a bit blunt, but it's my own future I'm concerned about, not anyone else's.

I'm not arguing about the point that I might get a decent pension when I retire (remember: nothing is guaranteed). My problem with your initial statement is that you said public servants are millionaires due to their pension entitlements. It just seemed like a pointless, ridiculous dig at civil/public servants. I'm not a millionaire and never will be, unless I win the lotto.

littelady

Worried about kids of millionaires that they are spoilt what about kids who are state funded by living with long lifers on the dole what morals, life lessons will they have.

Ragnar Lothbrok

Claw Hammer wrote: »

The money taken from your salary is nowhere near enough to fund your poension. In any case it just means that the payments to you are reduced.There is no pension fund for public service pensions. Many public servants are far better off in retirement than when they were were when supposedly working.

I understand you're maybe annoyed that we get a good pension. What should I do when I retire? Refuse it on the grounds that it's too much?

I don't understand how I'll be better off when I retire.

If the public service pension is so great, why didn't you join the public service when you left school?

kumate_champ07

Grayson wrote: »

I'm 41 and skint. I have two degrees, a masters and a HDip.

I'm well below the poverty line. I have no savings because I've spent every penny on education. I have loans because I got loans for education.

I did all my degrees and masters in full time education whilst working full time in a junior level corporate position. I worked my ass off in that job as did all my coworkers. Being rich or well off isn't just a matter of working hard. You need to have a break. You need to have someone help you.

People who do well tend to think that they did it all themselves. It's very rarely that way. They've all had parents/family/supervisors/mentors who looked out for them.

And money isn't everything but it helps. It would mean that I wasn't at the mercy of a landlord. It would mean that I could afford to have any type of social life. It would mean that I wouldn't have to worry about old age.

People need to realise that people who earn less than them aren't lazy, they aren't stupid and they aren't lacking ambition. They work just as hard, are just as smart and want to progress just as much as everyone else. They just weren't lucky enough to get the same breaks.

Arts?

did you go to college because you wanted to be rich/a millionaire?

PolaroidPizza

I tried the public service for 6 months after college. I got told off for working too hard and a life of boredom at work didnt appeal to me.
My point is.... Your pension (if its 24k+) is worth a million euros. Hence you're a millionaire.

Ragnar Lothbrok wrote: »

I understand you're maybe annoyed that we get a good pension. What should I do when I retire? Refuse it on the grounds that it's too much?

I don't understand how I'll be better off when I retire.

If the public service pension is so great, why didn't you join the public service when you left school?

endacl

PolaroidPizza wrote: »

I tried the public service for 6 months after college. I got told off for working too hard and a life of boredom at work didnt appeal to me.
My point is.... Your pension (if its 24k+) is worth a million euros. Hence you're a millionaire.

Not if you're single, and die a week after retirement.

I'd be keener on judging people on who they are than their financial status, and that goes both ways.

Most people are decent, regardless of their bank balance.

Ragnar Lothbrok

PolaroidPizza wrote: »

I tried the public service for 6 months after college. I got told off for working too hard and a life of boredom at work didnt appeal to me.
My point is.... Your pension (if its 24k+) is worth a million euros. Hence you're a millionaire.

"Told off" for working too hard? I don't believe that for a second. Then again, I can't disprove it, so I can't call you a liar.

Some jobs in the public/civil service may be boring. I suspect many jobs in private industry are equally boring. What are you doing for a living right now - stunt double for famous actors, test pilot for jet fighters, Premier League footballer?

And once again, I have to say that no matter what my pension may or may not be worth in the future I just do not understand how you come up with the magical figure of 1 million. It just doesn't make sense. I don't have a million now, I'll never have a million.

Squall Leonhart

Ragnar Lothbrok wrote: »

"Told off" for working too hard? I don't believe that for a second. Then again, I can't disprove it, so I can't call you a liar.

Some jobs in the public/civil service may be boring. I suspect many jobs in private industry are equally boring. What are you doing for a living right now - stunt double for famous actors, test pilot for jet fighters, Premier League footballer?

And once again, I have to say that no matter what my pension may or may not be worth in the future I just do not understand how you come up with the magical figure of 1 million. It just doesn't make sense. I don't have a million now, I'll never have a million.

Agreed, by same token the average worker is a millionaire, their cumulative gross over 40 years will exceed the million mark. Obviously it'd be nonsense to call the average worker a millionaire because of this.

I have to state though, my financial ignorance is woeful, I made a right eejit of myself in another thread, so, eh. Yeah...

runnerholic

On the public service pension issue. I'm a public servant and my pension would cost over 1 million to buy in the private sector. However, I do contribute significantly towards it (although not as much as it would cost to buy) and serve the state for a working lifetime. I have no entitlement to the old age state pension which is available to all private sector workers and has a value of 1/2 million Euro. Private sector workers only have to contribute a small prsi deduction to get this pension. Their contribution towards this pension is much smaller pro rata than what public servants contribute to their pension. This prsi deduction also covers some medical expenses and access to job seeker allowance in case of unemployment. Many private sector workers also have an occupational pension scheme on top of the state pension with their employers matching their contributions.

Andy From Sligo

often wonder how I would deal with a sum of money such as a million quid - now I am not looking for sympathy or anything like that just in case anyone is wondering but for 51 years of my life I have never been what you might call in the monetary department - I havent lived a paupers life though or been homeless and I have always had food .. but I mean I have had the hand me down clothes as I have grown up, even in freezing winter I was scolded by parents if I put heater on, I have had a brand new car once in my lifetime... but that was on HP and after a while I had to get rid, had sleepness nights over outstanding bills and debts and what the future holds ... many things which hundreds/thousands have had through a lifetime so I am no different there.

But i think to myself what/how do people like me cope if they suddenly won the lotto or come into a huge sum of money that they have never had before in their life. What do you do, I would say it might tip some people over the edge, make thenm go a bit loopy, because not use to that kind of money/lifestyles.

i know you'd obligatory do the holidays, buy cars, a house , give up work and all the things you wanted to do but never had the money to do it, but what about someone like me that if the mrs buys something, or a big bill comes in or we go out to dinner or get a chinese take-away and I go "how much!!" (I mean it doesnt even have to be extravagent but when you are always thinking about paying the next leccy bill or the car has to be repaired your always watching the money) well do you eventually get out of that? - I could just still see myself still worrying about how much something costs even with millions in the bank because it must of become a habit after doing it over a large number of years, surely not overnight you get out of that?

I could still just see myself still shopping in charity shops and getting secondhand bits an pieces and all that and still cringing at the price of some stuff even though the other half of me would know that I have money in the bank. - I bet its weird for someone like me to adjust. I suppose anyone who has had a very comfortable life even if they have never been a millionaire would find it a lot easier to adjust if they just became one.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

That sounds like a horrible way to live to be honest. Not being able to enjoy the moment because you're anticipating a bill coming in.

endacl

Squall Leonhart wrote: »

I have to state though, my financial ignorance is woeful, I made a right eejit of myself in another thread, so, eh. Yeah...

Stop that. Immediately. What if word got out that somebody on the internet admitted the possibility that they may have been wrong? The whole feckin' thing would implode. And then where would we be? Having face to face conversations with other 'reasonable human beings'! That's where! We'd have to deal with nuance and shades of grey and all that other shyte. I'm not having it. You're going straight on my ignore list until the mods get around to banning you.

:mad:

Andy From Sligo

LexieOnRale wrote:

That sounds like a horrible way to live to be honest. Not being able to enjoy the moment because you're anticipating a bill coming in.

It's amazing how you can juggle some bills through out months or cut down on shopping when your forced to, my Mrs is excellent at it , I just know if it was me doing it we would have electric cut off or be homeless cause I have been and always will be useless with money. Still have a happy enough life but I'm just glad we don't have any vices like smoking or going out drinking, well to be honest on our budget we just wouldn't be able to do it if we wanted to. naw bills to be paid and food have to come first, got to get priorities right.

Claw Hammer

R wrote:

I understand you're maybe annoyed that we get a good pension. What should I do when I retire? Refuse it on the grounds that it's too much?

I don't understand how I'll be better off when I retire.

If the public service pension is so great, why didn't you join the public service when you left school?

I didn't say I was annoyed that you get a good pension. I am just pointing out that it is a good pension. I did join the public service when I left school.
What is depressing is that a public servant doesn't realise how good the pension is and doesn't see how they wil be better off when they retire. It is a pity that some reasonable level of numeracy is not a requirement for the public service.

housetypeb

[QUOTE Clawhammer =...I did join the public service when I left school.

What is depressing is that a public servant doesn't realise how good the pension is and doesn't see HOW THEY WILL BE BETTER OFF when they retire. It is a pity that some reasonable level of numeracy is not a requirement for the public service.[/QUOTE]

Well, could you explain how he's going to be better off when he retires? Instead of just repeating it, without explaining what you mean.

Ragnar Lothbrok

Claw Hammer wrote: »

I didn't say I was annoyed that you get a good pension. I am just pointing out that it is a good pension. I did join the public service when I left school.
What is depressing is that a public servant doesn't realise how good the pension is and doesn't see how they wil be better off when they retire. It is a pity that some reasonable level of numeracy is not a requirement for the public service.

I know we get a relatively good pension when we retire. That doesn't mean I'll be better off than I am now, does it? My pension will be considerably less than my current salary.

A reasonable level of numeracy is a minimum requirement for entry to the public service. I may be wrong here, but I'm fairly sure a pass at Leaving Cert maths (or equivalent) is necessary.

I'm always annoyed when non-public servants complain about the pension we will get. If the pension is so great, why did you leave the public service? I presume there were other benefits to your chosen career at that time. So you had a choice, stay with the public service and collect a handy pension, or leave the public service and take the benefits that were presumably offered to you at that time.

You chose your path; I chose mine. I'm happy with the choice I made, and I certainly don't begrudge any benefits given to workers in the private sector.

fussyonion

I know two millionaires.

One is a building contractor who works his ar*e off every day of the week and has done since he was a kid.
This fella is a grafter and has earned every cent of his money.

The other is one of the bus driver who won the Lotto syndicate a few months back.

Really decent fella, mid-fifties, who still drinks in the local pub and is very down to Earth. Never boasts or makes it known he won the Lotto.
Chats to everyone.

His wife was saying the only thing he's bought for himself is a 2015 car and they went to Benidorm for a week.
Fair play to them.

I don't begrudge people who have money if luck has fallen on them, such as winning the Lotto, or they've worked their ar*es off to achieve it.

Ragnar Lothbrok

I've never known a millionaire. I suppose I move in the wrong circles

I'm always a bit envious when I see massive houses in lovely settings that obviously belong to millionaires (or at least wealthy people), but there's no knowing what happens in any of those houses. They could be very unhappy places.

I'm happy with my life, although I would love to be a millionaire all the same.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

PowerToWait

If you're over 35 and Irish, and you don't know at least one millionaire, you need to get out more.

I know maybe 6. Couple of them my own age, silver spoon types, very wealthy. Another inherited, never needs to work. A few who are a generation ahead and have a fair old bit, between farms of land and the rest.

Being a millionaire these days isn't really all that. Could happen to any of us.

Grayson

PowerToWait wrote: »

Being a millionaire these days isn't really all that. Could happen to any of us.

That's the thing. I have an aunt who's a millionaire. All she did was buy a house in Clontarf in the 60's. By 2008 it was worth just shy of a million.

Andy From Sligo

PowerToWait wrote: »

If you're over 35 and Irish, and you don't know at least one millionaire, you need to get out more.

I know maybe 6. Couple of them my own age, silver spoon types, very wealthy. Another inherited, never needs to work. A few who are a generation ahead and have a fair old bit, between farms of land and the rest.

Being a millionaire these days isn't really all that. Could happen to any of us.

... but very rarely does

Andy From Sligo

i've seen a Millionaire ... on TV though, that Major Ingram on who wants to be a millionaire .. but it turns out he cheated anyways

Talking of who wants to be a Millionaire , did Ireland have its own version of it? - I think they did didn't they? - just trying to think who hosted it

Holograph

PowerToWait wrote: »

If you're over 35 and Irish, and you don't know at least one millionaire, you need to get out more.

I know maybe 6. Couple of them my own age, silver spoon types, very wealthy. Another inherited, never needs to work. A few who are a generation ahead and have a fair old bit, between farms of land and the rest.

Being a millionaire these days isn't really all that. Could happen to any of us.

Dunno that it could happen to any of us. There are bound to be certain skills/personality traits necessary, and there are only so many opportunities (non criminal ones anyway) to accumulate that amount of money.

I know two men who might be millionaires - not all are going to advertise it I guess. Neither are overtly flash but you would know, based on their properties and cars, that they have a lot of money. One partially got it handed to him - family business, but he still got his degree in the relevant field, and he still works extremely hard.

The other had an advantage too, coming from a well known and respected family (they owned the local shop) which helped him to embark on the career path that he ultimately became so successful in (not taking over the family shop). But after that, it was certainly down to his hard work and business acumen, and branching out into other areas. The man barely does anything besides work though.

Both guys are utterly lovely in a non professional setting but meant to be very tough to work for - one is supposed to be a bit of an arsehole in the workplace. I would believe it though - I think someone would have to be quite ruthless to generate that kind of revenue, and not everyone is predisposed to being that way.

Ragnar Lothbrok

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

i've seen a Millionaire ... on TV though, that Major Ingram on who wants to be a millionaire .. but it turns out he cheated anyways

Talking of who wants to be a Millionaire , did Ireland have its own version of it? - I think they did didn't they? - just trying to think who hosted it

Wasn't it Gaybo? *shudder*

Ragnar Lothbrok

Grayson wrote: »

That's the thing. I have an aunt who's a millionaire. All she did was buy a house in Clontarf in the 60's. By 2008 it was worth just shy of a million.

But I don't really see that as being the same as someone who has a million plus in ready cash. Her house might be worth a million, but she may still be unable to pay her bills, go on foreign holidays, or even treat her favourite nephew Grayson to a fancy present or two at Christmas

mariaalice

I don't know anyone who started with nothing and have become wealthy, however I do know wealthy people who who started out in a very good positions in life and have now become very wealthy and it not always money they started out with, it could be the family they have or the family contacts they have or an accident of the property market has made them wealthy or they were wealthy to begin with and are now very wealthy. There are a lots of wealthy small builders and developers or those who own butchers shop, commercial property ect.

Geuze

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

What do you think of millionaires/billionaires?

There is a woman living on the road from Sligo to Rosses Point worth 100m+ in wealth.

Ragnar Lothbrok

Geuze wrote: »

There is a woman living on the road from Sligo to Rosses Point worth 100m+ in wealth.

Is she married?

Geuze

Ragnar Lothbrok wrote: »

Is she married?

Yes.

Ragnar Lothbrok

Geuze wrote: »

Yes.

valoren

Ragnar Lothbrok wrote: »

But I don't really see that as being the same as someone who has a million plus in ready cash. Her house might be worth a million, but she may still be unable to pay her bills, go on foreign holidays, or even treat her favourite nephew Grayson to a fancy present or two at Christmas

That's an example of the prison of the mind referred to earlier.

She has what an accountant would label an Asset.
But a true asset would be generating cash which this million euro home isn't generating. It's nice to tell yourself that you have a million euro home, but that's not how a truly wealthy person would see it. They wouldn't care about that. From what I can tell any wealthy person I've known simple doesn't give a crap about status symbols, keeping up with the Jonses. A million euro home that is costing them money would be a liability in their eyes. An example of what Texan's call having a "Big Hat but No Cattle".

They would care about living on easy street where possible.

If she wanted to generate assets then she should leverage the asset by downsizing if she wished and moved to a house worth half that.

She then has half a million euro to invest in income producing assets.
If she knew her budget amount i.e. what her esb, broadband, weekly shop amounts etc are then she should be focusing on getting that income generated from the assets to match that amount if possible. She would then be on easy street.

That's assuming that she is perfectly happy where she is living obviously and is not worrying about bills and doesn't see the need for any of that.

jmayo

Grayson wrote: »

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I did all my degrees and masters in full time education whilst working full time in a junior level corporate position. I worked my ass off in that job as did all my coworkers. Being rich or well off isn't just a matter of working hard. You need to have a break. You need to have someone help you.
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People need to realise that people who earn less than them aren't lazy, they aren't stupid and they aren't lacking ambition. They work just as hard, are just as smart and want to progress just as much as everyone else. They just weren't lucky enough to get the same breaks.

Exactly this.
I hate the shyte trotted out by some pretty rich people about how hard they worked which implies that anyone that is poor or not well off are lazy and haven't worked hard.

Many people work hard long hours, but they may not have quiet the business acumen, the backing necessary and yes the luck to succeed and become wealthy.

If you look at a fair few huge success stories, there is almost always a lucky break somewhere along the way.
What if IBM had done a deal with Digital Research to license a version of CP/M operating system rather than getting Microsoft to build Ms-DOS ?
What if Steve Jobs had never visited Xerox PARC to see that there was huge merit in the Macintosh project and that GUI was the way to go ?
What if Mark Zuckerberg had never met the Winklevoss brothers ?
What if the recording engineer had never rang Richard Branson to tell him about Mike Oldfield and what if an existing record company had signed him ?

Yes these guys might have been successful because they were really smart and business savvy, and in case of Jobs had unbelievable vision, but would they have ended up billionaries running/owning companies worth billions.

Now I am not saying every success story is down to luck, there needs to be hard graft and risk taking smart leaders as well to succeed.

metaoblivia wrote: »

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Many of our clients had the good fortune to be on the ground floor of what are now huge, global companies. Some were actual founders, but some weren't - they just took a chance on a start-up and it worked out for them in a big way...

I have known a fair few people who got jobs in the early days of the likes of Microsoft in Ireland and shares have made them rich.
This happened to lesser extent with the likes of Irish IPOs in case of Iona, Trintech, Baltimore, etc and share options made them a fair few quid.
It is sometimes just being in the right place and backing the right horse.

As for what type of people millionaires are?
Well like everything you have nice ones and assh*les.