Happy belated birthday Kim!  You having a hard time dealing with being older?  Oh wait, you already answered that.  Never mind
8:32:30 AM  #  

"Step to me you get burned like toast!"

 

8:24:42 AM  #  

Alright Zane, let's take Bonzo, you're $10 million monkey and compare them to Abe, our $20,000/year McDonald's worker.  At the end of his work year, Abe typically has only $1000 in disposable income...if that.  He decides the best use of his money is to buy an X-box, or a new TV and while away his hours playing games or watching "Joe Millionaire".  He probably has some credit card debt (let's say $6000, which I think I read somewhere is the national average)...at the end of 5 years Abe has no money saved up and typically owes more as he gets further and further behind.  So the annualized return on his $1000 disposable income stream is less than zero, and is probably closer to -12% if he never pays off his credit cards and just keeps it at that $6000 level.  By using your own metric, which is Return on Equity, Bozo's "standard" 10-12% far outstrips Abe's negative Return on Equity, therefore Bozo has a better sense of business savvy than most lower classes as well.

Which brings us to the difference between your school of thought and mine, I think you have to have money, and know how to use it successfully to be skilled in business.  And the acquisition of money and the acquisition of skill are two different things.  Most "Bozos" who inherit money don't keep it locked up in a tight little trust fund.  They spend it, which is why most millionaire families have lost all their wealth within 3 generations (that's from "The Millionaire Next Door" btw, an interesting book if you haven't read it).  The fact is, few people rich or poor know how to handle money.  Most lottery winners are returned to their original income level and savings level within 5 years of winning the lottery.  5 years!

The fact is, anyone can participate in the open investment markets, regardless of their income level.  Hell, at $8-15 trade commission levels, there is absolutely no excuse.  And an index fund can get you your annualized returns of 10-12% (just not in the next few years, probably).  So if you're not involved and you're leaking money like a sieve, that has nothing to do with your class status, just your ignorance.  I think the real difference between the rich and the poor is they have access to people who know how to handle money, so they learn something about it.  But it's not like the information is kept in a secret lock box that all the rich get access to on their 16th birthday.

8:13:44 AM  #