Because unless you're about to retire, you can't look at freak recessions that put you back 3 years and decide that stocks are just bad. Looking over the the long term, stocks are going to go up... in spite of the ups and downs in the middle years.
It's funny to hear people mention Chic Fil A - most of those are extremely profitable, but I hear the franchise fee is even more than McDs. if you can afford a CFA, you aren't reading this thread wondering how to get rich. Franchises are definitely a moderately safe way to create wealth. Two potential issues on that path are: 1. You probably need $100k to get started, and at least one member of your family to work in the store to save on costs. Franchises have a wide range of start-up costs, but remember to leave some money for bad times to lower your risk. 2. It's really hard to forecast how Obamacare and other legislation will impact small businesses. We are really in uncharted waters with a meddlesome govt here, and that kind of risk is a nightmare when it's your money on the line. 3. Your success will depend largely on location, assuming that you have decent mgmt skills. Personally I chose rental properties as I am very risk-averse and can lower risk by buying cheap property with cash and the number of variables I need to understand are much lower. It's been a successful effort so far, but we just spent three months rehabbing a house and finding the correct properties is a lot of work as well. One of my tenants last year caused me no end of stress, even calling me AND hanging up on me while I was on vacation. (she was crazy and is gone now) I can save enough to buy and rehab one house per year right now because I have a low cost of living and a good job at big oil. My dream is to make enough money to where we can have the work hired out and have a mgmt company run the properties. Both of those would cut into my rate of return.
I believe what people meant by "then everyone would do it" - Is I DO think many people can accept WORKING HARD. And if it EXISTED that ALL it TAKES is "working hard" to get rich, yes I'd say that itd be at least 33% more rich people. Though, in the REAL world terms, yes THERE IS some actual DIVISION been 'good job' and doing HARDER SH** to get rich. You yourself is probably an example. I do think many people are able to simply JUST "work hard" to get what YOU CURRENTLY have. But the ROAD to TRUE riches just IS that tough for ONLY the Darwinian "STRONGEST". That said, I AGREE with that assessment. That in the END, most people are just SCARED and INDECISIVE, and too CONTENT to CHANGE to a more RIGID foundation. Too scared of taking that road. I've known a couple guys who've made LOTS of money (in real estate) and they ARE NOT BOOK SMART guys at all. They'd even be considered low IQ. But they just developed A DISCIPLINE in HOW they do things. A way thats NATURAL to them, but would SCARE MOST people away. (Myself included, especially after that real estate bubble burst HARD years back) Though I'm not into finances, I'm starting to get that "Get Rich or Die Trying" itch in me more and more. Maybe in a year or too I'll toss my hat in this right. Good luck to you
That's not true. The franchise fee is 5k. Chic Fil A then puts the money up to build the store, equipment etc and then rent it out to you as their royalty. All franchisees are essentially in a partnership with the franchisor. Profits are split, but not sure of the percentages. They don't allow franchisees to be involved in any other businesses, and I believe the limit is 2 stores per franchisee, if not 1. It's a great model for people who don't have the capital and are fine with that arrangement. You won't join the top percentage of this country, but you will get paid handsomely for basically being a general manager.
'Hard' work, to me, is backbreaking, and more importantly, time-consuming labor. I try to work smart instead and leverage the knowledge and experience of others instead of trying to reinvent the wheel. If I can fine-tune the wheel while I'm at it, I will. And I believe that creating and accumulating wealth is a skill, and once you start down a path, the 'work' gets easier with experience. This is interesting. Sounds like a low barrier to entry. 500k is an arbitrary number. Why stop at 500k? I may look at 10m a year and say, yeah, this is where I want to be. But if the money is just growing, again, why stop?
Of course, your chance of being selected is slim to none. They get tons of applications each year and only grant a select few. Chick Fil A makes all the decisions, including location...you're right to characterize it as being a general manager. Not a bad gig if you get chosen. Just extremely difficult to be chosen.
While hard work is a given, you need way more than that. Who you know is even more important than what you know. I can't emphasize this enough. Timing and knowing when to make a move is insanely important. When do you make a hard push into a client? How long do you wait for a client? When do you cut losses with a client? When do you fire a client? When do you make a push into a new technology? How much time do you spend on a partner? How much do you concede to a partner for the relationship's greater good? A lot of those decisions take balls. You better have some. No matter what aspect of your business that you are dealing with, you have to be comfortable enough to live with the decisions you make as well as having a short memory. I think of it like a baseball season. It's a long season so you can't get too up when you are winning and you can't get too down when you are losing. Just don't keep swinging at that breaking pitch in the dirt. Xero, I have no idea what an MBA will do for anyone as I only have a high school diploma. I've gotten to where I am through hard work and learning from mistakes. Sometimes I think that it would have been easier had I had formal training but I feel that there are times where I excel because I do not have any preconceived ideas. I have definitely learned that just because a book says something doesn't make it right or best.
Some insight on Chick Fil A franchising: http://franchises.businessmart.com/how-much-does-a-chick-fil-a-franchise-cost.php
Hard work doesnt necessarily mean working long hours and breaking your back with labor. Going into work and dealing with all the different types of stress...that's hard work. It's not easy waking up when you've started a business and you've run out of working capital and have no idea how you're going to pay your staff or pay rent when you have very little in the bank. Hard work is dealing with the stresses of employees not getting along. Hard work is showing up and having an employee quit without warning...and figuring out how to quickly replace someone who has had 10 years of experience. Hard work is dealing with customers that are pissed. The list goes on and on. Each individual issue might not be a big deal...but when you add them all up and combine them, you have to deal with ton of headaches until you can get the business up to the point where everything is running smooth. I consider that hard work...because there are a ton of variables that are out of your control, and instead of focusing on your own tasks, you're constantly forced to put out other fires. That's why I think only a small percentage of people are cut out for hard work. If all it took was to work long hours, then yeah, most people would do it....but hard work is much more than that.
is it evil to look forward to a market crash when you're sitting on a pile of cash waiting to jump in?
That Chic-Fil-E franchising is awesome. Why not throw your hat into the arena? That place is always packed. Again, awesome info. It's why I started this thread. I understand a lot of what you're saying, although I will temper that statement with saying that I'm always a student. Without rambling on, I'll say that I do have contacts & mentorship available and I do have experience in sales & interpersonal interaction...I'm not coming to the table empty-handed.
Not at all. That's what you're supposed to do, no? "Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful" - Warren Buffett
Your posts in this thread regarding what you want to achieve versus how you expect to achieve it, is semi-fantasy. You say you first need to earn a large sum of money fairly quickly as seed money to make investments to accumulate even more wealth. The 2nd part of your plan is sound, as long as you are making more good investments than bad ones. The problem lies in the first part of your plan. The first million is always the hardest. Whatever you are going to do to get that large sum of money is going to be extremely time-consuming. It doesn't have to necessarily be physical and hard labor, but it will take significant sacrifice. If starting a business is a means to get that money, great, but I don't think you are fully grasping what is involved in running a successful operation. You can partner up with people and use their knowledge and resources to build a company, but you will pay for that in equity and/or salary. You can't have it all.
From someone who helped start a resturaunt I'd advise you to avoid the restaurant business if you want to live to see 50
You can also do stuff that will save from household utilities such as the water bill (as odd as it sounds, with a port-a-potty if you live in a single unit), the energy bill (do activities AWAY from the house all day), watch less or no TV, light more candles instead of turning on lights, and cook big meals as opposed to cooking every day, etc...), you or your kids cut your own grass or pay a neighborhood kid on the cheap, cut your own hair, make your own household cleaners, etc... If you're crafty enough, you can add hundreds/thousands to your budget by cutting back on a few things.
hey guys sorry I just stumbled upon this thread during one of my weekly searches for my name in posts. I wouldn't ordinarily click on a thread like this because 1) why would I and 2) why the hell would I care about any of your opinions on this topic POORS, AS YOU WERE. TALK AMONGST YOURSELVES
Well i guess it worked out for ya if you can get a helicopter now lol. Congrats if you got to that point
