If, economist and author, Ben Stein can be taken seriously, he has some sound advice to share about getting rich. Some excerpts:
The top 1 percent (of all wealth-holders in the U.S.) own about 44 percent of the financial assets of the nation. The top 10 percent own about 80 percent of the financial assets.
But the real question it poses is, how did the ones at the top get there? Obviously, some do it through inheritance, and some have spectacular athletic or musical abilities. But what about the others? How did they get to the pinnacle of wealth?
First, as the genius financial planner Ray Lucia would say, the first step is to have a plan to save. Without equilibrating assets and liabilities by accumulating lots of stocks, REITs, and cash, you won’t get there.
But … how do you get the income to start saving meaningful sums?
… experience proves the great advice of Warren Buffett: It’s better to be medium-good in a great field than great in a medium field. There are some fields where a lot of money can be made.
…the most interesting and psychologically rewarding work is rarely the best-paid. So choices must be made.
If your goal is to be in that top 1 percent of wealth-holders, you have to … follow the instructions to where the money is, and to where it isn’t.
My question is what do you do when you don’t have any instructions to read? Just kidding. Instructions are mere directions – course of life, line of thought, area of work etc. – which we’ll have to gauge, and choose, on our own eventually.