Investment Manager Explains Why 99.5% Of Americans Can Never Win

[ABikerSailor]

And it's impossible for them to make a little extra money right?

That's your problem. You'll look for any excuse why your failures are someone else's fault.

$100 extra dollars a week can be earned by anyone if they want to. They just don't want to.

Really? 100 extra dollars a week can be earned by anyone if they want to?

Tell that to an E-1 through E-5 person living on what the government pays them while they're in in the military.

Sorry, but an E-1 through E-4 doesn't have the required amount of money to do what you say, look up the pay charts for the military and tell me they have 400 bucks to invest. Most of them are living paycheck to paycheck unless they have second jobs (which have to be approved by their command) or rich families helping them out.

As a matter of fact, most E-5's don't have that kind of money to invest, because they're looking at taking care of their families.

Sorry, but you right wing idiots keep saying that everyone can do it, without looking at what we pay the military (which a lot of you right wing idiots say they support), even when it is mathematically impossible.

As an E-6, I made around 3,000 dollars per month, and still had a family to support on that. Can I invest 400 bucks (your 100 dollars per week) per month to do that and still have a decent place to live as well as food on the table and clothes on my families back?

So then have your wife earn the extra hundred dollars. I knew a couple who both worked had 2 kids and lived off of one salary of 40K and saved every dime of the second income. They both retired at 50.

Tell me what was your car payment, your cable bill, etc. I guarantee you that I could have found extra money for you to save.

It can be done people just don't want to do it.

You all can find a thousand reasons why you can't do something and not one that you can.

That's the problem.

Okay...............have the wife earn the extra 100 dollars per week, sounds feasible.

At least.................until you figure in the costs of child care and gas that she has to pay to make that extra money.

Do you really understand what the costs of a tank of gas are? More importantly, do you realize what the costs of child care are for a family of 4?

A lot of people choose to have single incomes because it's cheaper than what it costs for a babysitter for the week.

 

[orogenicman]

And it's impossible for them to make a little extra money right?

That's your problem. You'll look for any excuse why your failures are someone else's fault.

$100 extra dollars a week can be earned by anyone if they want to. They just don't want to.

Right, so your solution for people who work their arses off with little to show for it is for them to work their arses off even more. Wow, what a brilliant idea, particularly for poor single working mothers with all the time in the world <sarcasm>.

I don't define one 40 hour a week job as working your ass off..

And even a single mother can find a way to make 100 bucks a week.

But you'll always come up with an excuse as to why you or they can't. After all if you actually did something to improve your position then you'd have nothing to complain about then what would you do?

Me or they? This isn't about me, gufus. It is about the working poor, many who do, in fact, work more that 40 hours per week, many who do, in fact, have more than one job, many who do, in fact, work their arses off at low paying jobs in an economy that pretty much is all about low paying jobs. Perhaps it is you who should appreciate what you have, and stop trying to pull the rug out from under those who have so much less. Sometimes I really think that conservatives were born with a selfish gene turned on at full tilt.

 

[orogenicman]

And it's impossible for them to make a little extra money right?

That's your problem. You'll look for any excuse why your failures are someone else's fault.

$100 extra dollars a week can be earned by anyone if they want to. They just don't want to.

Really? 100 extra dollars a week can be earned by anyone if they want to?

Tell that to an E-1 through E-5 person living on what the government pays them while they're in in the military.

Sorry, but an E-1 through E-4 doesn't have the required amount of money to do what you say, look up the pay charts for the military and tell me they have 400 bucks to invest. Most of them are living paycheck to paycheck unless they have second jobs (which have to be approved by their command) or rich families helping them out.

As a matter of fact, most E-5's don't have that kind of money to invest, because they're looking at taking care of their families.

Sorry, but you right wing idiots keep saying that everyone can do it, without looking at what we pay the military (which a lot of you right wing idiots say they support), even when it is mathematically impossible.

As an E-6, I made around 3,000 dollars per month, and still had a family to support on that. Can I invest 400 bucks (your 100 dollars per week) per month to do that and still have a decent place to live as well as food on the table and clothes on my families back?

So then have your wife earn the extra hundred dollars. I knew a couple who both worked had 2 kids and lived off of one salary of 40K and saved every dime of the second income. They both retired at 50.

Tell me what was your car payment, your cable bill, etc. I guarantee you that I could have found extra money for you to save.

It can be done people just don't want to do it.

You all can find a thousand reasons why you can't do something and not one that you can.

That's the problem.

But then, neither one of them were at or below the poverty line, so your example is meaningless.

 

[Spiderman]

Really? 100 extra dollars a week can be earned by anyone if they want to?

Tell that to an E-1 through E-5 person living on what the government pays them while they're in in the military.

Sorry, but an E-1 through E-4 doesn't have the required amount of money to do what you say, look up the pay charts for the military and tell me they have 400 bucks to invest. Most of them are living paycheck to paycheck unless they have second jobs (which have to be approved by their command) or rich families helping them out.

As a matter of fact, most E-5's don't have that kind of money to invest, because they're looking at taking care of their families.

Sorry, but you right wing idiots keep saying that everyone can do it, without looking at what we pay the military (which a lot of you right wing idiots say they support), even when it is mathematically impossible.

As an E-6, I made around 3,000 dollars per month, and still had a family to support on that. Can I invest 400 bucks (your 100 dollars per week) per month to do that and still have a decent place to live as well as food on the table and clothes on my families back?

So then have your wife earn the extra hundred dollars. I knew a couple who both worked had 2 kids and lived off of one salary of 40K and saved every dime of the second income. They both retired at 50.

Tell me what was your car payment, your cable bill, etc. I guarantee you that I could have found extra money for you to save.

It can be done people just don't want to do it.

You all can find a thousand reasons why you can't do something and not one that you can.

That's the problem.

But then, neither one of them were at or below the poverty line, so your example is meaningless.

Have you ever lived below the poverty line?

I have and I could always and I do mean always find a way to earn more money.

 

[Spiderman]

Really? 100 extra dollars a week can be earned by anyone if they want to?

Tell that to an E-1 through E-5 person living on what the government pays them while they're in in the military.

Sorry, but an E-1 through E-4 doesn't have the required amount of money to do what you say, look up the pay charts for the military and tell me they have 400 bucks to invest. Most of them are living paycheck to paycheck unless they have second jobs (which have to be approved by their command) or rich families helping them out.

As a matter of fact, most E-5's don't have that kind of money to invest, because they're looking at taking care of their families.

Sorry, but you right wing idiots keep saying that everyone can do it, without looking at what we pay the military (which a lot of you right wing idiots say they support), even when it is mathematically impossible.

As an E-6, I made around 3,000 dollars per month, and still had a family to support on that. Can I invest 400 bucks (your 100 dollars per week) per month to do that and still have a decent place to live as well as food on the table and clothes on my families back?

So then have your wife earn the extra hundred dollars. I knew a couple who both worked had 2 kids and lived off of one salary of 40K and saved every dime of the second income. They both retired at 50.

Tell me what was your car payment, your cable bill, etc. I guarantee you that I could have found extra money for you to save.

It can be done people just don't want to do it.

You all can find a thousand reasons why you can't do something and not one that you can.

That's the problem.

Okay...............have the wife earn the extra 100 dollars per week, sounds feasible.

At least.................until you figure in the costs of child care and gas that she has to pay to make that extra money.

Do you really understand what the costs of a tank of gas are? More importantly, do you realize what the costs of child care are for a family of 4?

A lot of people choose to have single incomes because it's cheaper than what it costs for a babysitter for the week.

Earning 100 extra a week does not require a babysitter for an entire week.

I'm sure you could have found a sitter for a few nights a week maybe a local kid for a few bucks an hour.

 

[editec]

The picture is clear; entry into the top 0.5% and, particularly, the top 0.1% is usually the result of some association with the financial industry and its creations. I find it questionable as to whether the majority in this group actually adds value or simply diverts value from the US economy and business into its pockets and the pockets of the uber-wealthy who hire them. They are, of course, doing nothing illegal.

Read more: An Investment Manager's View - Business Insider

Yup.

Nailed it.

 

[orogenicman]

So then have your wife earn the extra hundred dollars. I knew a couple who both worked had 2 kids and lived off of one salary of 40K and saved every dime of the second income. They both retired at 50.

Tell me what was your car payment, your cable bill, etc. I guarantee you that I could have found extra money for you to save.

It can be done people just don't want to do it.

You all can find a thousand reasons why you can't do something and not one that you can.

That's the problem.

But then, neither one of them were at or below the poverty line, so your example is meaningless.

Have you ever lived below the poverty line?

I have and I could always and I do mean always find a way to earn more money.

You don't represent every poor person on the planet. You didn't know this? Huh.

Nor is everyone is a hustler like you.

And spiderman, your example is still meaningless.

 

[Spiderman]

But then, neither one of them were at or below the poverty line, so your example is meaningless.

Have you ever lived below the poverty line?

I have and I could always and I do mean always find a way to earn more money.

You don't represent every poor person on the planet. You didn't know this? Huh.

I am no different that anyone else am I? I have 2 arms 2 legs I eat breathe sleep and shit just like everyone else.

The only difference is that I chose to do more.

Nor is everyone is a hustler like you.

Hustler is a derogatory term I prefer go getter.

And spiderman, your example is still meaningless.

Then all examples are meaningless even your examples about the rich.

 

[expat_panama]

...millions simply don't have the money to spare because despite working their arses off, they don't make enough money to think about saving it?

I'm not sure where you are going with this...

Maybe I can help.

You didn't. I'm interested in how it proves or disproves the thread title, that 99.5% of Americans can never win. I don't subscribe to the notion that unless you fall into a half a percent at the top you didn't win, thus lost. I thought that was clear from my posts, sorry.

No need to appologize, it wasn't really a screw-up. Your asking where he's going didn't have anything to do with where he imagined he was going but rather with whether it had any connection to reality.

It doesn't.

People are different and we're not all the same (ok, I know I'm going too slow for you but I'm trying to avoid going too fast for orogenicman). This means that with every 200 people we got 200 different sets of goals and each one is winning at his own goal. Everyone gets to think of the other 99.5% as a bunch of losers.

Maybe what orogenicman wins at is that he can be the biggest professional victim of the group.

 

[orogenicman]

Have you ever lived below the poverty line?

I have and I could always and I do mean always find a way to earn more money.

You don't represent every poor person on the planet. You didn't know this? Huh.

I am no different that anyone else am I? I have 2 arms 2 legs I eat breathe sleep and shit just like everyone else.

If that we true, then there would be no poor.

The only difference is that I chose to do more.

Tell us more about it, mighty mouse.

Nor is everyone is a hustler like you.

Hustler is a derogatory term I prefer go getter.

It fits you.

And spiderman, your example is still meaningless.

Then all examples are meaningless even your examples about the rich.

Not at all.

 

[orogenicman]

Maybe I can help.

You didn't. I'm interested in how it proves or disproves the thread title, that 99.5% of Americans can never win. I don't subscribe to the notion that unless you fall into a half a percent at the top you didn't win, thus lost. I thought that was clear from my posts, sorry.

No need to appologize, it wasn't really a screw-up. Your asking where he's going didn't have anything to do with where he imagined he was going but rather with whether it had any connection to reality.

It doesn't.

People are different and we're not all the same (ok, I know I'm going too slow for you but I'm trying to avoid going too fast for orogenicman). This means that with every 200 people we got 200 different sets of goals and each one is winning at his own goal. Everyone gets to think of the other 99.5% as a bunch of losers.

Maybe what orogenicman wins at is that he can be the biggest professional victim of the group.

If that were the case, I would have already won the biggest victim claim in history. Which would mean that I am richer than anyone else. Since that is not the case, next.

I agree that everyone is different. Moreover, everyone has a different situation. Contrary to popular conservative opinion, in the vast majority of cases, the poor are NOT poor because they choose to be.

 

[Spiderman]

You don't represent every poor person on the planet. You didn't know this? Huh.

I am no different that anyone else am I? I have 2 arms 2 legs I eat breathe sleep and shit just like everyone else.

If that we true, then there would be no poor.



Tell us more about it, mighty mouse.

People are poor because they want to be. They are poor because they believe people like you who tell them they have no choice but to be poor because it's not their own fault.

It fits you.

Yes I am a go getter.

And spiderman, your example is still meaningless.

Then all examples are meaningless even your examples about the rich.

Not at all.

Of course because if your example does not encompass all then it is meaningless just as you say my example is meaningless since it does not apply to all.

 

[Spiderman]

You didn't. I'm interested in how it proves or disproves the thread title, that 99.5% of Americans can never win. I don't subscribe to the notion that unless you fall into a half a percent at the top you didn't win, thus lost. I thought that was clear from my posts, sorry.

No need to appologize, it wasn't really a screw-up. Your asking where he's going didn't have anything to do with where he imagined he was going but rather with whether it had any connection to reality.

It doesn't.

People are different and we're not all the same (ok, I know I'm going too slow for you but I'm trying to avoid going too fast for orogenicman). This means that with every 200 people we got 200 different sets of goals and each one is winning at his own goal. Everyone gets to think of the other 99.5% as a bunch of losers.

Maybe what orogenicman wins at is that he can be the biggest professional victim of the group.

If that were the case, I would have already won the biggest victim claim in history. Which would mean that I am richer than anyone else. Since that is not the case, next.

I agree that everyone is different. Moreover, everyone has a different situation. Contrary to popular conservative opinion, in the vast majority of cases, the poor are NOT poor because they choose to be.

Of course it's a choice.

One can remain poor or one can improve his position.

It really is that simple. Not easy mind you but simple nonetheless.

 

[expat_panama]

...Contrary to popular conservative opinion, in the vast majority of cases, the poor are NOT poor because they choose to be.

lol!!! that's a 'popular conservative opinion' only in the imagination of the extreme loopy looney left. I mean, virtually all conservative groups concur on say, the value of hard work, reverence to a creator, and the goodness of the American republic, but how many conservative groups say that every poor person is that way by choice?

Just the same, there seems to be a popular opinion among the reality challenged left (as apposed to the reasonable left) that contends that the poor are those who've lost some kind of competition with the rich --another way of saying the poor are a bunch of losers. Maybe we can get together on this and examine this one reality that surrounds us both even while we may see it differently. So what are we talking about here; when we talk about 'rich and poor', are we talking about what, money?

 

[Freemason9]

It's the classic false dichotomy.

You are either poor or vastly wealthy all the gradations in between don't matter to those who constantly whine about "the rich"

I do not aspire to the lifestyle mentioned in the article. I don't want a yacht or an opulent home or a new Lambo in the garage.

Here's a some simple math for you people who say you can't achieve financial freedom.

If you save 100 a week for 45 years with an average return of 7% you'll retire with 1.5 million dollars.

1.5 million dollars safely invested at a 5% return could pay you 5000 a month and in 30 years you'd have a million dollars more than you started with.

That's my definition of winning.

But people will come up with every excuse in the book why they can't save that money.

Oh, you mean like the fact that millions simply don't have the money to spare because despite working their arses off, they don't make enough money to think about saving it?

And it's impossible for them to make a little extra money right?

That's your problem. You'll look for any excuse why your failures are someone else's fault.

$100 extra dollars a week can be earned by anyone if they want to. They just don't want to.

There are a few problems with your reasoning:

1. Although saving $100 per week may seem possible by today's standards (although far from easy), you need to look at the conditions of 45 years ago if you have a $1.5 million goal. And I can tell you that $100 per month 45 years ago was a mortgage payment for some people. You're not considering the impact of time on money value.
   
2. If you take that much money out of economic circulation and place it in savings, there would be a severely negative impact on the economy as consumer spending would plummet.
   
3. Such fiscal austerity, in most cases, would mean that you would have to forego childbearing. Raising children is the single most substantial spending driver most people would ever experience; good luck having a future economy with no children to replenish the labor force.

 

[Freemason9]

No need to appologize, it wasn't really a screw-up. Your asking where he's going didn't have anything to do with where he imagined he was going but rather with whether it had any connection to reality.

It doesn't.

People are different and we're not all the same (ok, I know I'm going too slow for you but I'm trying to avoid going too fast for orogenicman). This means that with every 200 people we got 200 different sets of goals and each one is winning at his own goal. Everyone gets to think of the other 99.5% as a bunch of losers.

Maybe what orogenicman wins at is that he can be the biggest professional victim of the group.

If that were the case, I would have already won the biggest victim claim in history. Which would mean that I am richer than anyone else. Since that is not the case, next.

I agree that everyone is different. Moreover, everyone has a different situation. Contrary to popular conservative opinion, in the vast majority of cases, the poor are NOT poor because they choose to be.

Of course it's a choice.

One can remain poor or one can improve his position.

It really is that simple. Not easy mind you but simple nonetheless.

Have you ever taken graduate-level economics classes? The truth about "success" has very little to do with purely hard work--many people work very, very hard. Wealth almost always is the result of (1) inheritance of land, property, position, or cash; (2) a very fortunate set of available "contacts"'; (3) purely unrepeatable and unpredictable luck; and/or (3) crime.

 

[orogenicman]

If that were the case, I would have already won the biggest victim claim in history. Which would mean that I am richer than anyone else. Since that is not the case, next.

I agree that everyone is different. Moreover, everyone has a different situation. Contrary to popular conservative opinion, in the vast majority of cases, the poor are NOT poor because they choose to be.

Of course it's a choice.

One can remain poor or one can improve his position.

It really is that simple. Not easy mind you but simple nonetheless.

Have you ever taken graduate-level economics classes? The truth about "success" has very little to do with purely hard work--many people work very, very hard. Wealth almost always is the result of (1) inheritance of land, property, position, or cash; (2) a very fortunate set of available "contacts"'; (3) purely unrepeatable and unpredictable luck; and/or (3) crime.

Exactly. They are still trying to convince us that Paris Hilton works harder than this guy:

 

[Spiderman]

Oh, you mean like the fact that millions simply don't have the money to spare because despite working their arses off, they don't make enough money to think about saving it?

And it's impossible for them to make a little extra money right?

That's your problem. You'll look for any excuse why your failures are someone else's fault.

$100 extra dollars a week can be earned by anyone if they want to. They just don't want to.

There are a few problems with your reasoning:


Although saving $100 per week may seem possible by today's standards (although far from easy), you need to look at the conditions of 45 years ago if you have a $1.5 million goal. And I can tell you that $100 per month 45 years ago was a mortgage payment for some people. You're not considering the impact of time on money value.

Obviously 45 years ago you could have saved less. But since we cannot save in the past but only in the present I don't see your point. Moving forward as one makes more one can save more as the value of the dollar diminishes

If you take that much money out of economic circulation and place it in savings, there would be a severely negative impact on the economy as consumer spending would plummet.

Invested money is not removed from the economy. If you buy stocks what do you think the company selling the stock does with the money?

Such fiscal austerity, in most cases, would mean that you would have to forego childbearing. Raising children is the single most substantial spending driver most people would ever experience; good luck having a future economy with no children to replenish the labor force.

Saving 400 a month means you can't have kids? You can't be serious. Here's a thought put off having kids until you are in the financial position to afford them.

And here's some food for thought

How a Family of Four Manages to Live Well on Just $14,000 Per Year - Yahoo Finance

Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: America's Cheapest Family Gets You Right on the Money: Your Guide to Living Better, Spending Less, and Cashing in on Your Dreams

If they can do it why can't anyone else?

 

[Spiderman]

If that were the case, I would have already won the biggest victim claim in history. Which would mean that I am richer than anyone else. Since that is not the case, next.

I agree that everyone is different. Moreover, everyone has a different situation. Contrary to popular conservative opinion, in the vast majority of cases, the poor are NOT poor because they choose to be.

Of course it's a choice.

One can remain poor or one can improve his position.

It really is that simple. Not easy mind you but simple nonetheless.

Have you ever taken graduate-level economics classes? The truth about "success" has very little to do with purely hard work--many people work very, very hard. Wealth almost always is the result of (1) inheritance of land, property, position, or cash; (2) a very fortunate set of available "contacts"'; (3) purely unrepeatable and unpredictable luck; and/or (3) crime.

Define wealth. Are you using some arbitrary net worth number like the 10 million in the article?

I didn't inherit anything, I didn't know any powerful influential people, I didn't win the lottery or steal from anyone.

I never graduated HS never went to college yet I am now 42, don't have to work ever again if I don't want to and my income will go up over the next 5 years without doing anything.

Am I wealthy? I don't know. I do know that what you do with your money is actually more important than how much you make and if you need to make more you can.

 

[orogenicman]

You should make a movie and call it "how to be dirt poor and love every minute of it". You people are in such denial over so many issues that it simply takes my breath away.