So I’m looking into the whole “frugal” lifestyle now that I’m unemployed. On Sunday I bought the newspaper and browsed through all the coupons to “save” a whole bunch of money when I went grocery shopping. As I flipped through the 30 or so pages of the coupon booklets I found ONE single coupon I could use.
Most of the coupons were for pet food (I have no pets), junk food (I don’t buy junk food), credit card fliers, variety of deodorizing products or plugins and other items I have little or no use for as an unemployed person.
So perhaps I missed something but I thought clipping coupons was suppose to save a great deal of money? How? Is there a secret stash of coupons that I’m missing? I would have been better off spending the hour I used up looking at the coupons in detail doing something else like reading the new Project Management Standard v4 book that just came out a month ago.
The single coupon I cut was for $1.00 off of two boxes of Post cereal. The cereal in question was indeed junk food but my kids really like it so I bought it anyway. Oh well, I guess I’ll take that $1 and buy a lottery ticket with it.
I wrote this series exactly a year ago and I continue to observe people still use these excuses although I must say that with Barak Obama becoming the Democratic Presidential nominee and Hillary Clinton coming close, I’m not hearing excuse #6 that often these days.
The most often heard excuse I’ve heard over the years for peers not getting rich can be encompassed with just two words, “I’m Afraid.” It’s fairly simple and straight forward and I can say I’ve seen this over and over with peers in my personal life and currently in the at large PF Blog world recently.
There are so many people that won’t touch credit card arbitrage because they deem it too “risky.” Come on guys, how “risky” can something be when you borrow money and stick it in a high yield account and pay it back slowly? This isn’t rocket science it’s an opportunity to earn money.
Then a ton of people won’t ever learn to invest in anything other than mutual funds because they consider everything else too “risky” or too “difficult” to learn. I’ve had several people tell me that they consider ETF Covered Call writing too exotic. Good grief, it’s the most conservative trading methodologies with regards to options and people consider it too risky.
It all boils down to the fear factor and herd mentality. To quote a great thinker, , “Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd.”
Over the years, I’ve tried to help many people advance in their careers by mentoring and offering advice; I’ve tried to teach people how to yet often, the advice is disregarded because of fear and herd mentality. If the herd isn’t doing it then it must not be effective or probably too risky.
I hope you enjoyed reading the top 10 excuses I’ve heard over the past decade as to why people I know aren’t getting rich. I’ll leave you with one last quote; It was Marie Curie that said, “Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.”
Don’t you think it’s time you began to understand how I’m getting rich slick with ETF Covered Calls? I’ve made over $10,000 with the so far and I’m on my way to making another $10,000 this year. I hope you’ll conquer your fear and check it out.
The second most often heard excuse I’ve heard over the past decade as to why my friends, peers and others aren’t getting rich is, “I don’t have the time or money to do x.”
X represents many different things. For some, X means finishing a college degree plan, for others X means completing that certification to advance a career, for yet others X may be starting a business.
It doesn’t matter what X is though because the critical component of the excuse that they don’t have the time or money to do it.
Although it’s the second most often heard excuse, second only to #1, it is, in my opinion, the weakest of all the excuses.
Not having the money is a fairly poor excuse because there are a near infinite ways of getting money to do x.
If you want to finish that college degree, student loans, government grants, and other programs exist for you to be able to do it.
If you want to start a business, the government has plenty of small business loan programs to help you get started.
If you want to complete specialized certification, credit cards, loans, company sponsorship or other programs exist for you to complete that certification.
If it’s a question of time, then there are a variety of places to look to find the time to get things done. Most of the people that complain to me that they don’t have time to do anything fell into three categories: TV Couch Potatoes that spent 30+ hours/week watching TV shows and could recount every prime time program for that week easily; Sport fanatics that spend their free time playing volleyball, football, softball, basketball, and other sport activities for 30+ hours/week and finally the party goers who spend their time partying, going to clubs, bars, dancing trying to “hook up” with people for a “fun” time.
Do you fall into one of these three groups? There are others which I didn’t include such as the family engulfed types who spend a great deal of their time with kids activities: sports, boy scouts, swimming, piano, etc. but it doesn’t really matter.
The issue at hand is that these people have made a decision that their PRIORITIES are elsewhere; they are NOT FOCUSED on doing the things that will get them rich. It’s not a right/wrong choice; it is simply a choice that has been made that will not lead them to the wealth they want.
Personally, I am focused on getting rich via a two-pronged approach: Get Rich Slow with traditional investment methodologies and Get Rich Quick with more aggressive strategies. The net result is to Get Rich Slick. It won’t take you a but a few moments of your time to check out to find out how I’m getting rich slick. Stop making excuses and take a peek, you won’t need too much time or money to stop by….
Next week I’ll give you the number #1 excuse I’ve heard over the years. Be sure to click back to see it here next Friday!
Last week I wrote the fourth most often heard excuse for not getting rich was “it’s too complicated to run a business” and this provides a great lead in to the third most often heard excuse I’ve heard why my peers aren’t getting rich. The third excuse is best described as a sentiment that “government” interferes too much in the affairs of a person trying to conduct business. What is government interference? Taxation, Regulatory Compliance, Ordinances, and various other laws or requirements for a particular business.
While I wrote last week that starting a business was as easy as filing a form with a state agency, running a business can get complicated when dealing with the government but there are plenty of ways of dealing with the issues.
A relative who used to run a restaurant complained once to me that the city was making his employees go to a health safety education class before he could officially hire them and put them to work. Of course, he was required to pay their salary during the training and had to pay for the class as well. This “bureaucracy” seemed to have bothered him a great deal but in the end it probably provided some benefit to his business in that his customers were likely kept from getting sick because of better food handling training.
I recently wrote about a friend who’s getting dinged for government required “equality” for health insurance premiums and he also had griped about having to file quarterly sales tax reports with the state.
Of course I know others who ended up owing the IRS a ton of cash and when unable to pay, had various property seized to settle the debt.
What really irks me however are the people that don’t even want to ATTEMPT to start a business because of what they’ve seen happen to others: IRS seizures, Fines for non-compliance w/ ordinances, etcetera and the perception that it’s impossible to start a business because of government rules or laws. It’s NOT that bad people! And if you properly plan for the beginning (e.g. expenses, taxes, government requirements) then you’ll have absolutely no problem.
Speaking of government regulations, every third Friday of the month is Options Expiry and on Monday I’ll update you on how my Power Funds account and Mini-Funds Account have fared over the past 6 months using my ETF Covered Call Strategy. You can read the update on Monday or visit to see it in action.
We’re closing in on the top 2 excuses I’ve heard over the years from peers and family as to why they’re not getting rich and I hope you’ll click in to read them. Here’s a sneak peak to #2, “I don’t have the time or money to do X“
Over the years, I’ve worked with some bloody brilliant people. Some so brilliant that I felt they had a potential million dollar idea on their hands. I once worked on a project with a person who had two great ideas for writing books and starting an “organic” business. I won’t detail either here because he may some day do it but when I asked him why he hadn’t moved forward he said something familiar, “It’s too complicated to run a business.”
This is the fourth most often heard excuse as to why some of my peers, associates, friends and family aren’t getting rich. Some people are justifiable in their stance since I’ve heard some fairly exotic business ideas in my time such as starting an elephant ride park but for the most part, most business ideas wouldn’t take more than a piece of paper to get started.
The most often cited concern I hear with regards to starting a business are the legal and personnel requirements. Too many people think you need a team of lawyers, accountants, finance pros, bankers, advertisers, and other professionals to start a business.
In the US and most states, all you need to do to start an “official” business is fill out a piece of paper filed with a state agency and perhaps one for a federal tax id, but the second is often optional.
If you’re planning on starting an elephant ride park though, you may need a lawyer or two and some insurance brokers to limit your liability and to get some disclaimers going but it wouldn’t be too difficult to do.
It’s not complicated to run a business and it’s not complicated to check out this weeks ETF Covered Calls over at . It’s a little business idea that I have under development that illustrates my path and transactions toward Getting Rich Slick. I hope you’ll check it out, all you have to do is click the link!
The fifth most often heard excuse as to why a colleague or friend isn’t getting rich is the old, “I didn’t graduate from Ivy League School.”
I say old because at one point in the history of the US, university access was strictly limited to an elite few. The term itself refers to seven of eight universities that were founded during America’s colonial period but chartered before the American Revolution. I believe this saying originated from the distant past of America’s history.
These schools are privately funded for the most part so they’re typically expensive to attend without government subsidy for the un-wealthy.
With all the prestige of these schools, you’d expect every graduate to become a millionaire, extremely successful or somewhat high on the top wealthy people in the world list but all too often the university you graduate or don’t graduate from means very little. Passion, determination, hard work, dedication, and a little luck are often all you really need to become rich and successful.
Unfortunately, too many people think that an Ivy League degree means instant success and all an Ivy League degree does these days is open a door to a hiring manager or executive’s desk for a job interview.
I’ve had the fortune of working with Ivy League graduates vs. your typical state school graduates and although there are a few nuances, there’s really on difference between the two.
What are the nuances? Ivy League graduates tend to be more “politically refined” whereas a state school graduate will be more “straightforwardly honest.” An Ivy League graduate is almost always adverse to any type of physical labor or work whereas a State School graduate will usually do whatever is asked to get the job done even if it means getting a little dirty.
I could write a whole book about my experiences with both groups but that’s far beyond the scope of this post! The important thing to note is that education whether earned from years of work or years of academic study coupled with determination, passion, hard work, dedication and a little luck will make you successful where ever you go.
Speaking of education, passion, dedication and hard work, check out this weeks ETF Covered Calls over at to check out how I educate others on how to earn some extra cash in order to Get Rich Slick.
Click here next Friday to read the number 5 most often heard excuse why my peers aren’t getting rich, “It’s too complicated to run a business.“
The sixth most often excuse I’ve heard over my professional lifetime as to why a person wasn’t getting rich was the age old “I’m a victim of discrimination” gambit. I’ve had women tell me that they weren’t getting ahead because they’re women and quickly go for the grab bag round of sub-excuses:
I have to take care of my kids
I have to take care of my [insert relative here]
My husband doesn’t do X for me
Oddly enough, however, I’ve heard nearly the exact same excuses from MEN as to why they aren’t getting rich:
I need to spend more time with my kids.
I need to spend more time with my [insert relative here]
My wife needs help with all the time and is holding me back.
There are plenty more excuses from the grab bag but I think you get the point.
Women always seem to think than men have it easier because they think men get more respect or are taken more seriously than women are in the work place.
Men seem to think women have it easier because of so many affirmative action laws, harassment protection, generous leave/time off, etc.
The other aspect of the excuses are related to race, ethnicity, religion or [insert what makes you different from any one else].
I won’t deny that different cultures, sects and subgroups don’t have varying philosophies, attitudes, work ethics or perceptions but there really isn’t a vast conspiracy to subjugate any particular group. At the end of the day, if you start off with a negative attitude, you’ll perceive the world in a negative way.
Globalization arrived over 20 years ago and it’s impossible to discriminate against any particular group these days. If anything, a person that speaks a single language or that can only interact with a single culture, race, or ethnic group is at a serious DISADVANTAGE in the global marketplace.
Perhaps I’ve been fortunate in my career that I’ve worked and traveled all over the world to understand and work with different people, cultures, ethnicities, and religions that it never really phased me the way it seems to bother so many others but at the end of the day it’s not really an excuse for not getting rich.
Let’s take a look at a few billionaires:
Bill Gates (American)
Carlos Slim (Lebanese/Mexican)
Oprah Winfry (American/Woman)
Maria Aramburuzabala (Mexican/Woman)
Terry Gou (Taiwan)
Richard Li (Hong Kong)
Guy Laliberte (Canadian)
Mukesh Ambani (India)
Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud (Saudi Arabia)
The names list just a few, you can get a complete list of the top 20 . Many nationalities, ethnicities seemed to be covered and if some mass conspiracy existed the names on the list would be radically different wouldn’t they?
Speaking of conspiracies, I’m conspiring to get rich slick using a two pronged patent pending method: Get Rich Slow using traditional methods of wealth building: savings, 401k, Roth, Real Estate and a second method: Get Rich Quick using more aggressive methods of building wealth: real estate speculation, options & currency hedging and my favorite . Stop making excuses and click on over to learn how I’m Getting Rich Slick.
Web-in next week to here excuse #5 – I didn’t graduate from Ivy League School.
The seventh most often excuse I’ve heard from someone as to why they aren’t getting rich is that he or she didn’t have “great” or “perfect” parents. I’m not sure what “great” or “perfect” parents meant because I never pried too deeply into it but the complaints seem centered around money or the purchase of various material items.
“If only my parents had sent me to Harvard I could be rich right now” or “If my parents had bought me nicer clothes, car, , I’d have better self-esteem and I’d be on my way to being rich” are just a few of the sample discussions about building wealth that I’ve had with people over the years.
I won’t disregard that having highly educated parents does help tremendously during elementary, secondary and high school upbringing and it is more likely that these kids will go on to college and end up with higher paying jobs than the children of less educated parents but it’s also important to remember that almost every opportunity is provided to ALL kids as long as they work hard. Federal Grants, State Grants, Student Loans, and College Work Study are just a few of the programs out there to help people get started and succeed in life.
How do I know about all these programs? I used every one of the programs listed above and I also had parents that didn’t complete college much less even complete high school. So not having the “perfect” or “wealthiest” parents doesn’t mean you won’t get rich, it just means that it’ll be more challenging to get there. We all love a great challenge don’t we?
Speaking of challenges, I’m going to issue everyone one! Stop by and check out so you can sneak a peak at one of my favorite tools for getting rich slick. It’s called the ETF-Cashinator™ and it cranks out the highest yield returns for ETF covered calls in a 30, 60 and 90 day window for me day in and day out. So far, I’ve made $8,000 via ETF Covered Calls in a little over a year and it’s getting me rich slick!
Stop by next week to read about excuse #6 for not getting rich, “I wasn’t born the right gender or the right skin color.“
