

How the Rich Are Getting Richer - chriscampbell
http://www.quicksprout.com/2013/04/08/how-the-rich-are-getting-richer

======
lutusp
This author needs remedial English training.

"Some people 'claim' to live in a state with no income tax, but they aren’t
really living _their_ [sic]."

"What they’ll do is buy a home in Las Vegas, switch out their driver licenses
to a Nevada one and claim that they are living _their_ [sic]."

At first I didn't believe it, but this author actually doesn't know about the
word "there".

"So if you bought an apartment complex for 1 million bucks, you can _right
off_ $25,641 every year from your taxes."

"Right off"? Really?

This kind of prose typically comes from someone who only hears words spoken
and never reads the writing of others. I call it "homonymitis".

The article also misses the basic reason why the rich become richer over time
-- compound interest, which disproportionately benefits people who already
have money:

<http://arachnoid.com/wrong/index.html#Economics>

------
chrisbennet
"If this doesn’t seem like a big deal to you, just imagine pushing $1,000,000
into your life insurance company. And then they take that million and invest
it in a hedge fund that is producing 20% returns per year." (Table of 10 years
of gains.)

Do hedge funds really return 20%? For 10 years?

~~~
chollida1
A few do, RenCap is a good example, though good luck getting your money into
them.

Most don't, Most measure themselves against an index and then mark their P/L
accordingly, ie if your index is the Nasdaq and you return -10% in 2001 then
you did really well, you just didn't get a bonus:)

------
chriscampbell
does anyone use any of these strategies? how difficult is it to start an
insurance company?

~~~
lutusp
> does anyone use any of these strategies?

Yes, but they don't really work. The article was written by someone who isn't
in a position to know this.

> how difficult is it to start an insurance company?

The real question is how difficult it would be to make that strategy produce
any tax benefit. And the answer is "very difficult".

