millionaire

Best Money Tips: How to Live Like a Millionaire for a Day

Amy Lu — Mon, 10 Jul 2017 08:30:17 +0000

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup! Today we found articles on ways to live like a millionaire for a day, how to survive long flights, and side hustles you can do with your partner.

Best Money Tips: Do These Things in Your 30s to Be a Millionaire By 40

Amy Lu — Thu, 13 Oct 2016 10:00:10 +0000

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup! Today we found articles on things to do in your 30s to be a millionaire by 40, ways to make your produce last longer, and cheap and easy Halloween costumes for kids and adults.

6 Celebrities With Shockingly Low Net Worths

Mikey Rox — Tue, 19 Jul 2016 10:30:06 +0000

Being rich and famous isn't all it's cracked up to be. Just ask the famous people who made it big, and then squandered their riches to earn the dubious distinction of being celebs who have struggled financially. (See also: The 5 Most Money-Savvy Rap Stars)

1. Mike Tyson

The former heavyweight champion of the world (and sometimes ear biter) was once worth about $300 million at the height of his career, according to Celebrity Networth. A series of unfortunate events beginning in the late 1980s — including a divorce from actress Robin Givens, giving his longtime trainer Kevin Rooney the boot, and going to prison for an alleged rape — contributed to his fortune's decline, which today is estimated at around $3 million.

2. Lindsay Lohan

Lindsay Lohan's career took off after Mean Girls debuted in 2004, but it wasn't long after that personal and professional troubles began to chip away at her budding bank account. Her hard-partying ways and unreliable reputation led to a decline in mainstream acting roles. In 2012, the IRS had seized control of the scarlet-haired star's funds to pay off over $200,000 in back taxes. In 2013, Lohan did a series of interviews for Oprah that reportedly netted her a cool $2 million, but most of the money was earmarked for taxes, rehab fees, and further IRS debts, leaving her with a paltry $500,000 today.

3. Chris Tucker

Talk about money mismanagement. Chris Tucker, who everybody knows as Jackie Chan's high-pitched, fast-talking sidekick in the Rush Hour movies, was paid $20 million for the first sequel in that series, and then negotiated a $40 million two-movie contract with New Line Cinema. But despite such robust paydays, Tucker is currently $11.5 million in the negative as a result of foreclosed homes and several years of back taxes, according to The Motley Fool. The still-viable actor hopes to get out of the red in another Friday sequel alongside Ice Cube soon.

4. Teresa Giudice

If you're a fan of guilty-pleasure reality TV, then you might know table-flipping Teresa Giudice from Bravo's The Real Housewives of New Jersey (RHONJ). The recently released jailbird, who enjoyed a lavish lifestyle with her husband Joe Giudice and their four children, filed for bankruptcy in 2011, claiming to be more than $11 million in debt. In 2013, the couple was indicted on 39 counts of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, bank fraud, wire fraud, bankruptcy fraud, and making false statements on loan applications. Teresa returned for the seventh season of RHONJ following her release from prison.

5. Pamela Anderson

While $5 million isn't anything to balk at, you'd think that Pamela Anderson, one of the most popular Playboy Playmates to ever grace the publication's pages, would have stashed away a heftier rainy-day fund. Even today, the former Baywatch star is still considered a pop-culture icon.

6. Gary Busey

Eccentric actor Gary Busey, known for films like The Buddy Holly Story and Point Break, devolved into a reality-show staple in the 2000s, appearing on such illustrious programs as Celebrity Apprentice and Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. In 2012, he filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, stating that he had less than $50,000 in real assets while owing up to a million dollars to various creditors.

Any other celebs with surprisingly low net worths? Share with us!

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This article is from Mikey Rox of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Best Money Tips: Ways to Become a Millionaire Next Door

Amy Lu — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 09:30:27 +0000

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup! Today we found helpful articles on how to become a millionaire next door, simple ways to show you care, and bathroom upgrades that won’t break your budget.

Best Money Tips: Quick and Easy Tips to Become a Millionaire

Amy Lu — Thu, 09 Jul 2015 19:00:09 +0000

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup! Today we found some great articles on quick and easy tips that’ll make you a millionaire, small changes for a happier you, and health risks to watch out for this summer.

Best Money Tips: How to Think Like a Millionaire

Amy Lu — Wed, 29 Apr 2015 19:00:20 +0000

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup! Today we found some great articles on how to think like a millionaire, tips to grow the best organic garden, and money-saving ways to use cornstarch.

Best Money Tips: Simple Ways to Become a Millionaire

Amy Lu — Fri, 13 Feb 2015 20:00:08 +0000

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup! Today we found some great articles on simple ways to become a millionaire, cool ways to use coconut oil, and what to expect for this year's Presidents' Day sales.

Best Money Tips: Become A Millionaire By Age 30

Ashley Jacobs — Thu, 10 Jul 2014 19:00:06 +0000

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup! Today we found some awesome articles on becoming a millionaire by age 30, being frugal when your significant other isn't, and the best and worst places to make a living.

A Million Bucks By 30: A Book Review

Linsey Knerl — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 04:13:16 +0000

I recently had the chance to read A Million Bucks by 30: How to Overcome a Crap Job, Stingy Parents, and a Useless Degree to Become a Millionaire Before (or after) Turning Thirty. I have to hand it to Alan Cory. He is like so many guys I know. Saddled with a crappy job, no trust-fund, a degree that didn't deliver, Mr. Corey decided early on to be the master of his own destiny. With colorful language, a clear-cut style, and the kind of honesty that you'd come to expect from a high-school buddy, Alan tells his story of “making it” to financial freedom in the same way you would talk with coworkers over a beer.

Alan starts early. The most brutal truth in this book (if there has to be one) is that it is best to begin your path to millionaire status as soon as you can. Mr. Corey stepped out into the big, big world a bit better off than many I know. A college scholarship and a savings habit born while in the 6^th grade gave Alan the pocket change and zero debt liability that would put you at an advantage many don't have.

Alan is focused. Once it occurs to him that being a millionaire is his #1 goal, he never, ever forgets it. Chanting the “I'm going to be a millionaire” mantra at every bus stop and checkout line, Corey believes he will succeed. Nothing else is as important.

Alan is cheap. This is what makes for entertaining reading. Forget frugal, Alan is a straight-up cheap arse. But to tell him this would surely only make him grin – he is good at spending little to nothing on everything: dates, food, clothing, and vacations. A source of pride and a way to a better life, Mr. Corey knows that the sacrifice is great but the end will most certainly justify the means.

Alan is connected. At a few points in the book, Alan is obviously cash-strapped (although doing quite well with his equity.) He is somehow able to gain the trust of some friends and family and raise thousands upon thousands of dollars in investments for his real estate venture. This is key to his success.

Alan is lucky. There. I said it. Luck, timing, and the market play a huge role in hitting the million mark. Flipping properties the way Mr. Corey did was characteristic of his abilities, but also of the real estate landscape at the time.

Is it possible to follow Alan Corey's formula for success? Maybe if he had one. Alan's book is less of a “get-rich plan” and more of a “works for me” biography. And while I will have to disagree with some of the ethics regarding a few of Mr. Corey's cheapo tactics, he has the right idea.

Is it a worthwhile read? Sure. Whether you want to be entertained or just need a little inspiration for the long haul, Alan gains your trust early on and holds nothing back. If he's learned it, he'll share it. And while the most financially-savvy professionals might find the book “sophomoric,” there's more than a few unique money-saving tips that would more than pay for the price of the book. ( I found myself underlining a few passages and wondering why I didn't think of it.) If you don't share Alan's timing, focus, luck or networking skills, it's doubtful that you'll succeed in as short a time as he did. (In fact, his story shows just how difficult it is to get to a million these days.) But it can be done.

This article is from Linsey Knerl of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

If you're so smart, why aren't you rich?

Philip Brewer — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 19:01:50 +0000

You don't hear it much any more, but for a long time, "If you're so smart, why aren't you rich" was a pretty effective line for the average Joe when dealing with somebody who was smarter than him. The expression has kind of fallen out of fashion lately. Nowadays, there are too many rich smart people.

The line worked because, for most of history, being smart wasn't really a big advantage in becoming rich. Aside from things like inheriting/marrying wealth, or winning the lottery, there are basically two paths to wealth:

Option #1 is the "millionaire next door" way to wealth: live below your means, save and invest, and let compound interest and the natural growth in the markets work its magic. If you do this--and you live long enough--you'll eventually be wealthy.

Option #2 is to be an entrepreneur: find some need, and then create a product or service that can satisfy it at a profit. Unlike living frugally and saving, this is not a sure way to wealth. Many new businesses go broke. Many of the rest muddle along making less money than the owner could have made working a regular job. But lots of entrepreneurs make good profits and a few become wealthy.

The downside to option #1 has always been that it took too long. Unless you lived very frugally indeed, it could take 30 or 40 years to turn an ordinary salary into real wealth. (Even then, success depends on living long enough--and if bad luck or bad choices pushed your income down, your expenses up, or weighed on your investment returns, "long enough" could turn out to be longer than you've got.)

So, for most of history, option #2 has always been the way to go if you wanted to be wealthy. But being an entrepreneur took a certain set of personality traits--a set that notably doesn't include being smart, but includes things like a tolerance for risk, a burning desire for wealth, a thick skin, and a willingness to put running the business ahead of other interests (like hobbies, friends, and family).

Over the past generation, the "knowledge economy" has made intelligence a bigger advantage than it used to be. Besides the dotcom boom (which made it possible for people with only a modest entrepreneurial bent to get rich following option #2), it's been possible over the past couple of decades to accelerate option #1 as well: an ordinary smart person, working at an ordinary good-paying job, has been able to support a family at an ordinary middle-class standard of living, and have enough of a surplus for saving and investing to become modestly wealthy in a decade or two. (Of course, lots of smart people failed to do so, but that's just because smart people are as prone as dumb people to suffer from the natural human inclination to let the cost of living rise to whatever one's income will support.)

Smart people of the world: This is your shining hour. There's no telling how long just being smart will translate into the kind of income advantage smart people have enjoyed these past couple of decades. This is very much a "get while the getting is good" kind of situation. Don't miss it.

This article is from Philip Brewer of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

How the rich stay rich; a lesson in lateral thinking

Paul Michael — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 18:04:03 +0000

A friend recently told me the story of how a millionaire thinks. Not every millionaire of course, just one in particular. It's ingenius, as you will discover. But it really made me ponder about the decisions I make every day, and if I could make better ones just be exercising that underused part of my anatomy - my brain.

The story goes something like this, and forgive me if I paraphrase but my memory is far from photographic.

The millionaire's loan...

Our millionaire, let's call him Anton, walks into a popular bank in the middle of New York City and requests to speak to a loan officer. He doesn't alert the staff to his immense riches, he simply says he's going away on business for a few weeks, to another country, and needs to borrow a small sum of money - $5000. Banks being banks they immediately asked for security on the loan, after all they're not just going to let anyone walk away with a big wad of cash.

Anton then points out of the window to the shiny new Ferrari parked right in front of the bank. He took the title, paperwork and keys out of his pocket and slapped them down on the counter like a man on a mission. The staff went to work checking out the validity of his ownership and sure enough, everything checked out. And of course, which bank is going to turn down a quarter of a million dollars in collateral for a measly $5000 loan? This was a no-brainer (an ironic turn of phrase as you'll soon discover).

Anton left the bank with his $5000 and the bank employee took Anton's keys and drove the brand new Ferrari down into the bank's underground garage. He assured Anton that it would be perfectly safe down there. Anton then left the bank and caught his flight to his faraway land, I think it was China.

Anyway, two weeks go by and sure enough the bank opens Monday morning to see Anton stroll in and slap the $5000 he had borrowed back on the counter, plus the interest which was around $15. The loan officer asked that the car be brought round to the front of the bank and then asked Anton a question. "Our bank prides itself in details and customer service" he said "and while you were away we did a background check, it's routine, and discovered you are actually one of the wealthiest men in America. Why on earth would you need to borrow $5000, it just doesn't make sense."

Anton smiled, picked up the keys from the counter and said "Can you tell me another way I could have parked my new Ferrari in the middle of New York for two weeks, for just $15, and still expect it to be in mint condition when I get back?" With that, Anton walked out of the door and the loan officer smiled a bigger smile.

My first reaction to this was "cheapskate." But then I realized this man probably made his fortune by thinking in this way; by seeing a saving opportunity around every corner. Sure, he could have stashed his Ferrari in a high-quality garage for hundreds of dollars but his mind refused to accept that scenario. There was a cheaper way, just as safe, and he probably got a buzz out of finding a new way to buck the system.

So, with this in mind, I ask all of you to think about ingenius ways that you can get exactly the same service or product for less in the coming weeks. I would love to know your stories, and I know they will help us all look at our world in a different way. The bottom line...the rich stay rich by thinking laterally. You can do it, too. We all can.

This article is from Paul Michael of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

MegaMillions - Mo' Money Mo' Problems?

Andrea Karim — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 18:19:40 +0000

Last night's MegaMillions drawing was for $370 million dollars. They say that money doesn't buy happiness, but I've got enough happiness right now. So I could totally use $370 million for, say, shoes.

Did I say 'shoes'? I meant 'for smart investing'. In shoes.

I know, I know. It's not what you earn, it's what you save. But earning a little more can't hurt, can it? Now, I don't buy lottery tickets. My sister does occasionally, but our parents view the entire process with a certain amount of distrust, so I've never gotten into it. Also, I've always viewed lotteries as a tax that feeds unfairly upon people who are struggling financially. This may be annecdotal, but I've never seen anyone who appears to be well-off buying a lottery ticket.

However, something about the recent MegaMillions drawing made me wonder if perhaps I'm being too harsh on the lottery system. After all, who doesn't want a chance at a piece of $370 million dollars?

And come to think of it, can't being insanely rich take away problems that plague so many of us, thus reducing stress and contributing to happiness? According to Money Magazine, more money can make a difference, especially in reducing stress, but only up to a certain point.

Money magazine columnist Jean Chatsky polled 1,500 people for her book You Don't Have to Be Rich and found that more money makes people significantly happier only if their family income's below $30,000, but by $50,000, money makes no difference.

But isn't the winning alone enough to totally revamp your mental outlook? Researchers at Emory University studied how the brain reacts to receiving money randomly and receiving money in exchange for work performed on a computer, and found that satisfaction is higher when money is received for work.

In the Emory study, published Thursday in the journal Neuron, volunteers played a computer game in which they had to push a button every time a triangle appeared. The 16 volunteers played while their brains were scanned by a magnetic resonance imaging machine, or MRI. The researchers found that some reward centers of the brain were activated whenever a volunteer received money. However, the striatum was activated only when volunteers worked for their reward.

Sure, I can understand that, but the researchers weren't randomly giving the subject millions of dollars. Surely people must be happier when they receive millions of dollars?

[O]ther studies have shown “there’s substantial evidence that people who win the lottery are not happier a year after they win the lottery. It’s also fairly clear from the psychological literature that people get a great deal of satisfaction out of the work they do.”

The BBC reported mixed feeling on the matter, pointing out that among lottery winners in the UK, those that are dissatisfied with their lives prior to winning are rarely helped by the earnings in any substantial way. But then again, most people who win are buoyed in some small psychological way, even if the winnings are only a few thousand pounds.

"Lots of people would like to think that there are a lot of miserable millionaires out there, but even quite small windfalls show up in our statistics on psychological wellbeing. Large sums are better than small sums."

It's worth noting that in the UK, anyone who wins more than 550,000 pounds gets automatic access to investment advisors.

Brad Duke won the Powerball jackpot in 2005 and has since parlayed his winnings into investments that have made him even richer. Duke has invested in new businesses and earned a good chunk of change in the process. Duke seems to be an example of someone who was pretty happy with his life beforehand, and he certainly isn't turning me off of the idea of the lottery with his attitude. Ask if he is happier since his win, Duke replied:

Absolutely. When it comes down to it, I get to do the things professionally that I've always wanted to do. I get to invent a piece of equipment that I've always been thinking about doing. I get to give back to some people that have given to me over years.

Ah, so the road to financial happiness is paved with investment wisdom and hard work. I'm hoping the MegaMillions winners are able to use the windfall to increase their happiness rather than exacerbate any current miseries.

How about you guys? Do you buy lottery tickets? Just for fun?

This article is from Andrea Karim of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

millionaire

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6 Celebrities With Shockingly Low Net Worths

1. Mike Tyson

2. Lindsay Lohan

3. Chris Tucker

4. Teresa Giudice

5. Pamela Anderson

6. Gary Busey

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If you're so smart, why aren't you rich?

How the rich stay rich; a lesson in lateral thinking

MegaMillions - Mo' Money Mo' Problems?