Get Rich Quick

We all want to, and most of us are willing to work hard to get there, but we don’t know how. We are all equal, and yet some have the financial means to do whatever they want on this bouncing ball while we are stuck making bread in our full-time jobs. Stuck in the rat race. The grind. Bill Gates had a wonderful vision about personal computers. Warren Buffet had an excellent philosophy about long-term stock investing. Alex Rodriguez did it by belting 600+ home runs in Major League Baseball, although there is some speculation that he may have had help.

Assuming the vast majority of us don’t have the natural talent or brilliant foresight into the future, we’re stuck in the grind. What if that’s not enough for some of us? We’re all equal, and especially in the good old USA, we are free to work, and be rewarded for that work. The harder you work; theoretically the more you should be paid. Is that how we get rich? Work our tails off our whole life and retire at 65 with a retirement package that will keep you comfortable to the end of your days? It is a possibility, but it is a little sad thinking you’ll be working until you are well over the hill!

To get rich quick. I was on the phone a few nights ago with a real estate investing company where they promised me just this. It would take a lot of hard work, and also a lot of risk. They only chose 4% of inquiries to become success stories. The ones you see on television at 2-3 in the morning. The motivators that get us thinking, we too, could live the high life. I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to have been chosen! I listened to his sales pitch, and I bought into it initially. In six months I could make $50,000? “Why am I waiting,” he asked. Boy I don’t know why I would wait to make $50,000 in six months! I just need the tools and that’s what they offered. My chance to get rich; just filthy rich!

They started asking about my credit card limits, any assets I had that could be borrowed from and saying the key was “OPM” (other people’s money). How rude I thought! The OPM they were talking about to me was MY MONEY! Now I’m an opportunist, and if the right business idea came my way I would jump on it, and as a side note, I would really enjoy accounting for it also. But the longer I stayed on the phone with this salesman, the more I realized that getting rich quick the way he was talking about is maxing out all of my credit cards to start flipping houses. Sounds like a great idea, especially in this seller’s market!

This isn’t the first get rich quick scheme I almost tangled myself into. I’ve mentioned the financial services company where I worked on pure commissions. Come to find out the company was a MLM (multi-level marketing) company, or a pyramid scheme when you boil it down really. While not illegal, there are certainly arguments out there about the ethics behind such a thing! Anyways, from my experiences attempting to get rich quick, I’ve found the best way to get rich quick is to do one simple thing. And that is to save as much as you can, as early as you can. While you save it, invest your money and let it start working for you. Einstein said the most powerful tool in the universe was compound interest. Take that Newton and your “gravity!” It won’t guarantee quick wealth, nor even tease you with it really, but especially if you manage the risk you take on, I assure you it will work!

You must now be thinking “manage my risk? Who the hell is this guy and what is this garbage he is talking about managing risk?” There is a tradeoff in the marketplace and think of a marketplace very loosely: anywhere that there is buying and selling going on. The tradeoff is risk vs. return. If you want to get rich quick, you have to think of the opposite side as well. The allure of fast wealth is married to the inverse; vast debt and potential bankruptcy. The chance to double your money comes with the risk of losing it all.

Now if you have a skill, a product, or an idea that you see value in, that is another story. Find an accountant or a lawyer and get your idea out there. Make a business and be your own boss. This country needs jobs, and jobs are created through innovative thinking and entrepreneurship from fine folks such as you! Instead of buying into get rich schemes where you have to follow the lead, be a leader yourself and start that company you’ve always thought of. It won’t be quick, and it won’t be easy, but if you want to build that empire, build it yourself!

For those of us who don’t have that drive, there’s a great thing called stocks, where we can own a small piece of another’s grand idea. If you buy enough of them you have yourself a portfolio, and that portfolio has a measurement called Beta. Beta is a measure of risks! They pay financial analysts to look at the companies, their performance and their expectations, and come back with a risk level. Beta is what they call it in the stock market, but in the game of life Beta is nothing more than a measure of risk. How great is that? For a very small percentage of your savings, someone will manage your risk for you, giving you the greatest opportunity to build wealth, while minimizing the risks associated with it.

I am planning a wedding for next fall, and the $50,000 the company dangled in front of me could have been nice, and could have made for one hell of a wedding. I started thinking about the risk, and the prospect of filing for bankruptcy with a wedding looming was a scary thought; I declined their fool-proof path to financial freedom. I’m in the process with two business partners of making our own LLC anyways, and even though I don’t see $50,000 coming from it in the first six months, I think whatever does come from it will be much more predictable and much less risky. The route that we are taking is the best realistic shot we have of getting rich quick, and we’re doing it on our own terms. And if that doesn’t work I’ll have to pick up the pen and write the next big thing to hit the radio waves… Or get back in touch with my glory days; get back in shape, and give baseball another try!

Kevin