"It seems almost a right of passage with many Internet entrepreneurs to buy a really expensive car. Why? Why? Why? If I really wanted to spend that kind of cash on myself, I would get a full-time personal chef."
Because a personal chef doesn't show how wealthy you are every time you go anywhere. It only has that effect among the people who know you have one, and anyone who knows you that well already knows.
It's all about conspicuous consumption. I think this trend is on the way out (at least temporarily) though.
> Because a personal chef doesn't show how wealthy you are every time you go anywhere.
I personally know a guy who consciously wanted to flaunt his (newfound) wealth. He bought a Ferrari. He was unhappy to find that he was always having to park it when he went out..leading to no one he was around really knowing he had it at all. He was thoroughly teased for being frustrated by this.
It's being replaced by different spending patterns. It's a cycle, and I don't expect it to go away permanently by any means. But it's now sort of frowned upon by educated elites, whereas spending the same amount of money on an imported marble shower is en vogue.
Basic lesson for anyone: if you get money, and you're not used to having money, put it in a cash saving account for a while and get used to it. Afterwards learn about investments and slowly start putting your money to work for you. Use what you need to become financially independent (eg paying off old loans, buying a decent car), but don't squander it.
Then you're golden and once you're debt free you'll realise money isn't everything and you can enjoy being frugal and saving money towards your kids, charity, etc, and not stuff.
Thanks for all the positive discussion. :-) Point 2 and other posts I've made talk about what happened. More importantly, I lost the momentum, which should have carried me to much greater wealth.
With the lessons learned, being poor is only a temporary state that will be in the past soon enough. This makes me feel just fine about writing all the details of what I did right and wrong for those who are interested. It will just take time.
Shafqat, I'm all over the web! I'm surprised you couldn't find me. Not to mention the links on my blog. :-)
If you could somehow take away all the contacts and experience they gained the first time round, it might get harder.
I doubt it.
Reread his very first sentence:
"I think one of the biggest things holding people back from getting rich is the belief that it is possible."
The key word being "belief". Most of it really is in your head. This is even more important than contacts or experience.
Personally, I don't worry much about money. Not because I have so much. But because however much I need, if I don't have it, I know that I can go out and make it. I think that was the major point of his article.
Most teenagers and college students believe that they're going to get rich. It's just that sometime in their 20s and early 30s, they stop believing that.
I think the big difference is that people who get rich and then lose it don't question their belief that it's possible.
Especially liked the one about experience being better than stuff.
Took me a while to get that one, and I'm still working on it. Our society keeps reinforcing that you need more and more stuff, but in reality, it's the experiences you have that make the big difference.
Doesn't have to be one single thing. It's easy to fall into an expensive lifestyle without really even noticing how much you're spending. You start eating out more at nicer places, You start flying business or first class. You get cabs more. You buy tickets to events that you might want to go to but then don't (e.g. you are buying the option to go if you feel like it on the day). You upgrade/replace your phone, your computer, your TV more often. It all adds up then you look back and think wow. :-/
