"Tim May" wrote in message
...
In article , Dan Caster
wrote:

I don't have any doubts. Anyone can become rich in any time period if
they work at it just a little. The Standard and Poors Index 500 has
on the average returned about 10% per year. Some years much more,
some years big losses, but an average of 10% per year compounded. The
problem is most people do not save a percentage of what they earn. It
doesn't even take any skill or luck.

This is mostly the power of compounded interest, as you say. It's often
more than just simple compounding, as it represents ownership in the
future, and thus the amplification of wealth overall.

For some here, it may be too late (too old, too much learned
helplessness). But for any of you reading this who are under the age of
30, get out your calculator and see what the power of compounded
interest is all about.

I covered a lot of these points in a long article entitled "Life
Choices." A lot of people seemed to have liked it.

Survivalism is an important meme, or idea. But some of the most
important parts of survival have to do with finding a solid career, not
getting sucked under by deadweight spouses and friends, saving and
investing, and pursuing work that is both rewarding and enriching.

These are some of the themes covered by some of the writers we often
cite here, folks like Robert Heinlein, Ayn Rand, and others. While they
don't provide recipe books for how to find friends and spouses, what
to do when a job lays you off, and similar "short term, self-help"
advice, the messages are there if one fully absorbs the messages of
achievement, self-reliance, and even "paranoia."

One of my old bosses at Intel, the famous Andy Grove, had a saying
which got a lot of attention, most negative (from the liberal press):
"Only the paranoid survive." This means being paranoid about saving for
a rainy day just as it means buying firearms, just as it means
speculating about the consequences of a comet hitting the earth.

Of course, losing a job is a lot more likely than a comet strike is,
so it makes sense to prepare for this. I did so from my first months at
Intel, building up my store of saved money, what we used to call "
'**** you!' money," for obvious reasons. The people who couldn't escape
the "company store" were the people who have never saved enough of this
" '**** you!' money." Same as with people trapped in their jobs because
they can't afford to break free, or to move from a dying town.

Saving money is even more important that buying firearms. Heresy, to
some, but absolutely true.

--Tim May

Tim,
I was away for a couple of weeks when Gunner had his cardiac event. I read
most of the thread when I returned, and your take on the whole situation
really got me thinking. Along the way I started thinking "This guy didn't
come out of a job shop, he came out of the computer industry. I see from
your post above that I had the right idea.

A lot of what you said I tend to agree with. Lots of people make really bad
choices and the public, meaning all of us, pay for the consequences. Then
you write this post about survivalism and saving for a rainy day. Again you
sounded very plausible. Of course you were working for one of those
companies whose rise was so meteoric that it WAS possible for the workers to
be paid well enough to stash some away for the future.

Then you mentioned Andy Grove and I realized you just don't get it. You see
Andy Grove didn't get where he is today because of all the good choices he
made. He got there along with Bill Gates, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, George
Westinghouse, and a long list of others because of, by your definition, the
BAD choices they made! They all took huge risks that ultimately paid off,
and are lauded as heroes because they won. Along the way though thousands
of others took the same risks, made the same decisions, and by the fickle
finger of fate wound up in the poor house.

So if these great men followed you advice this great country would surely be
a third rate nation. One might even argue that the safety net of public
health and welfare is what enables so many people to hurl themselves against
immovable objects again and again, until some succeed in moving them.

By your standard I too have made very bad choices. I have tried again and
again to start a manufacturing business to produce machines I have invented.
All the machines I have invented actually worked, and have been in
commercial use for 2 to 18 years. I also tried other ways of doing it.
I've tried to have others do the manufacturing, I've tried licensing, I've
tried giving the designs away. Despite the fact that I've gotten help from
numerous experts who all say I've done the right things I have still failed.
Each time some killer asteroid that no business plan could predict has come
along and wiped me out.

Compared to many others in this group I am quite well paid right now. I own
everything I have, no loans of any kind. I have some savings, but far too
little to even think about retiring in another 15 years, at 65. I lost a
hell of a lot of money in my previous ventures. I also worked for nothing
for years at a time, more than once. I got my social security statement
recently, what I eye opener! I hadn't even realized how little I made over
the past 20 years!

My dad had a heart valve replaced recently. He was very lucky, he had good
insurance, and has a nice nest egg put away too. That isn't what makes him
lucky though. While starting his business he had a severe stroke which
ended his career. The only reason he wasn't completely wiped out was
because I was old enough and worked hard enough to keep it going upwards.
The stroke wasn't in his business plan, and no amount of insurance would
have made any difference to the company's survival. It was pure dumb luck
that kept it going. Of course that makes him a lucky guy instead of the
schmuck who made bad choices and wound up on welfare.

What about me? I worry about becoming disabled for even a short time. I'd
be in deep **** in no time at all. I don't have a business of my own that
will continue to pay me if I can't work. What about getting really sick,
and needing hugely expensive treatments? I have often wondered if I'd have
the guts to refuse the really expensive ones and just go quietly. It
certainly would be far better for my family, at least my meager assets would
survive to help the living.

In the end Tim, I decided you are just a piece of **** for attacking Gunner
the way you did.

Gary H. Lucas