Walk around hoping someone rich will permanently injur you. Sue.
The question about lottery winners vs. self-made millionaires is an interesting one. But a lot depends on what is meant by the term “millionaire.”
If you work from the time you’re 20 years old until your death at age 100, making $12,500 a year, you will have earned one million dollars during your lifetime, but I doubt many people outside the Third World will envy you your immense wealth.
By the same token many people who eventually have a net worth of $1 million lead a very comfortable lifestyle, but I don’t think that for most of their lives they would be what we call a “millionaire.” They will have started out in solidly middle class circumstances, worked hard all their lives to accumulate their wealth, most of which is probably tied up in their homes and/or the assets of a small business, if they own a business. They are wealthy but they are seniors, or very nearly seniors by the time they’re worth a milion, and the habits of a lifetime that have made them wealthy will make them loathe to spend any of that wealthy unnecessarily. They will be tightwads, in short, not the free-spending happy folk we think of when we think of “millionaires.”
Certainly, it will be true of them that when they are young and healthy and could most effectively enjoy being millionaires, they are not millionaires or close to it – their fortunes are at their lowest then. And throughout middle age the demands of living and the long hours needed to succeed will leave them little opportunity to enjoy their wealth even if they were inclined to do so. These people are paper millionaires – successful drones, nothing more. It’s undoubtedly better than being a failed drone, but hardly the life of unfettered freedom and pleasure most associate with the term “millionaire.”
The thing about lottery winners is, they can win the lottery at any age, which means they are able to more effectively enjoy their wealth. Like people who win the lucky sperm lottery (i.e., born rich) they do not have to work for the money. I suspect that lottery millionaires tend more easily to lose their fortunes, and may indeed wind up embittered and unhappy. But I bet they will be better able to enjoy it while they have it, however superficial that enjoyment may be.
As for the odds of becoming a millionaire, I doubt if they are high in either case. I just don’t know if I buy the status of some of our self-made millionaires as being in line with what we think about when we use the term “millionaire.”
Nice to have a little pick-me-up post on a Monday morning. Excuse me while I go kill myself.
It’s always nice to know that something you wrote has really touched someone. 
What is preventing you mastering these skills? Do you not understand properly how to do them (perhaps you should ask for extra instruction). Do you not practice them enough to master them (you should practice more). Work out what is the barrier here for you, and deal with it.
Re your comment earlier
Logically speaking, your investment in your nursing career (if as you say, you don’t think you’ll succeed at) seems less value to your family long term than this option. Why don’t you take a basic job, let her take this course, and then benefit in the longer term?
And as for the comment that you are struggling financially:
**All ** of these are luxuries. ALL OF THEM. If you want to save successfully, avoid the luxuries, at least for a couple of years. These will help you support your wife as above.
Yeah, they may be luxuries in the abstract sense, but if they constitute all the guy is doing over and above bare-bones living, he’s living pretty damn close to the bone. Your post strikes me as typical Doper advice on how to tighten the belt – a little bit of sanctimonious twaddle served up as a form of help.
Play the ball, not the man.
I agree about the luxuries listed above being luxuries. When I had temporarily over-committed myself on rent, I cut out all of that and more. At the grocery store I discovered there is special, extra-cheap margarine wrapped in paper, not boxes, that is cheaper than the regular stuff–that’s how closely I watched groceries.
The biggest saving opportunity I see is the cable – get rid of the premium channels, the basic and the TV itself. It may look like free entertainment, but it is selling you a consumerist lifestyle pretty much every minute you turn it on.
By living on less for a while, there is a good chance you will move ahead and in the future will be able to afford more luxuries.
I keep harping on the Millionaire Next Door books. They give lots of case studies of people who became millionaires from difficult circumstances. One learning disabled guy became a multimillionaire by washing cars, moving up to detailing expensive cars, then investing in apartment complexes. His would be a great case study for you (it’s in The Millionaire Mind).
And to Evil Captor, it may not be glamorous to be 65 and a millionaire, but I’m sure you’d agree it beats the heck out of being 65 and living hand to mouth. FWIW, the Millionaire books do support your position that most most self-made millionaires are not glamorous. They are not driving Ferraris, but more like Ford F150s with high mileage.
The problem with the CRNA schools is that we would have to move to either Pittsburg or Philadelphia, or possibly Houston. Futhermore, I would be the only one working (CRNA school is incredibly intense). With my current skill I cannot earn more than about ten dollars per hour. Not nearly enough to support our family even with a 60 to 80 hour work week. If I could find something even earning 15 (let alone the 22+ I would earn as a nurse) then this would be different.
As to the nursing skills I don’t know them well enough to even practice them. Yes my book has directions and there are videos, but they want them done for checkoff as they were demonstrated in class (they demonstrate them once then give you a week to practice on your own then you must perform their “99 step procedures” in checkoffs or you are out of the program). Also since almost all of the class are skinny, pretty 19 year old females and I am the bald, fat, 35 year old guy it doesn’t help me with having people to practice with. Most people can watch the instructor ONCE and then get the jist. I’m “brain dead” on these types of skills and must watch many times, and then receive “guided instruction” to learn these skills (then I can practice to become proficient). Unfortunately, the system is not set up to accomodate people such as myself. I don’t understand how it is that I can be a virtual 4.0 student scoring A+'s in my anatomy, physiology, and science classes, and still be such a dunce at learning the physical skills. I had the same problem with the Navy’s EOD training (which I barely got through, frankly I probably should not have passed) and even as a Boy Scout many years ago learning the knots at Summer camp was dammed near impossible for me. I’m not kidding is there some type of “brain damage” that spares higher intellectual functions, but makes you a moron at doing catheters or changing a sterile dressing?
One more suggestion, now that you’ve shared what’s holding you back in the nursing skills, and also where you excel. There is demand for people with nursing degrees to work in non-clinical settings. Toll-free help lines, health insurance companies and clinical trials are three examples.
I can definitely relate to the inability you describe to execute physical skills. Even as a kid, I had a hard time learning to tie my shoes. Even now, I seem to be the only adult whose shoes don’t stay tied. (Yay for non-tying shoes…). I do think you should take your strengths and weaknesses into account when you plan a direction for your career. It can make a huge difference. If I can recommend another book, Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham.
The situation you describe seems like the reverse of someone who was good at the physical skills but was dyslexic. For them, the worst thing they could do would be get involved with a bunch of health insurance paperwork, for example. Maybe you should seek it out.
Good luck
Well you need to find a balance. Sure you could never spend a dime and become a millionare. But what’s the point if you are living like a pauper anyway?
I guess I don’t regard living without cable, dining out perhaps once a month instead of twice a week, packing a lunch for work or being careful with groceries etc as living like a pauper. But it’s about what you place value on I guess.
Well, I was trying to point out that giving up one dinner per month out buys you 20 to thirty lottery tickets and at least a CHANCE at a radically better life (in the short term). My point with all of the things that I listed was that any one could be given up to facilitate a lottery ticket purchase. However, even giving ALL OF THEM UP would only create about $200.00 per month in income (also my wife would tell me to GFMS and she would just eat out on her own) $200.00 per month invested might yield $75,000 twenty years from now with a nice rate of return, but wouldn’t offer any real chance for a better life.
Okay with regard to nursing I understand the many directions that I could go with the actual career (many of which involve little or no bedside interaction). However, all of those scenarios involve first passing nursing school, which demands gaining competence at the “bedside” skills. Note that even as a home health aide I find myself doing catheters on a weekly basis. However, I’m not doing them to the “sterile technique” and 99 step process required in nursing school (most hospitals use clean rather than sterile technique for catheters, although I will admit that sterile is optimal). This week I will have checkoff on catheters, changing a sterile dressing, suture/staple removal and donning sterile gloves. Each of these involves a 25 to 80 step process. For most in my class these issues are a small “side bar” compared to the many difficult written tests we face. For me they are a seemingly insurmountable obstacle which only a miracle will facilitate my overcoming.
I’m trying to imagine (or get suggestions) as to how I might at least support my wife through CRNA school in the event I am not successful.
Cite?
With respect, the analogy is silly. For starters, the odds of getting selected in the Running Man lottery would be higher, yes? But assume for argument’s sake the odds of winning a million dollars in the lottery are the same as the odds of getting selected in the Running Man lottery. Of course people are going to pay more attention - they care more about not getting killed than about not winning a million dollars. When the stakes are life and death rather than just money, suddenly more people are paying more attention to the results. So what? Doesn’t make entering the lottery week in, week out, year after year any more sensible when the odds of winning are so insanely low.
Wel, here is a site Google Answers: Lotteries that claims over 1,100 millionaires were created in the United States alone by the lottery in 1996. It also indicates that the National Lottery in the UK creates about 160 millionaires each year. Here’s the thing I doubt that you can find even 500 hundred people in the United States who became millionaires in 1996 by not playing the lottery who even come close to meeting my modest conditions (which basically include 90% of the people that I know here in central Indiana).
a. Are not self employed and are not going to risk becoming that way.
b. Work a “normal” job earning from 15K to about 70K per year.
c. Have only a 4 year degree or have not finished college (and have life circumstances such that they are unlikely to return to school).
d. Will not inherit the money.
e. Became wealthy to the point where they no longer have to work before the age of around sixty five (but preferably much younger in their 20’s, 30’s, 40’s or 50’s).
Again in 1996 over a thousand people (many of whom probably fall into my above catagories) became millionares in just that fashion. If I’m wrong then please explain how are people becoming millionares in their 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s without being self employed and having “normal” type jobs?
Roland, I’ve gone into stores that sell lottery tickets and seen signs that say “$X thousand paid out in lottery winnings from this store.” What I’ve never seen is a sign that says “$X thousand in lottery tickets sold in this store.” I’ve seen a woman who worked for me spend her entire paycheck in lottery tickets and win nothing. You could easily piss away $200 per month on lottery tickets and never have a significant win. It’s not a zero-sum game. Only half of the money going in comes back out in prizes, and it’s heavily skewed toward a very, very few big winners.
I have to agree with whoever first said that a lottery is simply a tax on people who are bad at math.
I’ve never said it was a good bet only that from a statistical standpoint that it may represent the best odds that a lower middle/working class person who is not in business for himself has of becoming wealthy enough to not have to work in their 20’s, 30’s , 40’s and 50’s. That is the life that most people dream off. The real message is that you probably need to start a business if you want to get wealth.
Anyone else disturbed by this?
Oh, honey, there’s so much that bothers me about Roland I don’t know where to begin.
The guy is either :dubious: or a :eek:
Disturbed by what? Technically, I probably shouldn’t be doing catheters as a home health aide. However, I always work under the supervision of LPN’s who are also in the home (who also use clean rather than sterile technique). Furthermore, the family for whom I work pays me DIRECTLY rather than through an agency. They have adopted eight “special needs kids” and three of them are on catheters. Furthermore, clean rather than sterile technique on catheters is the rule in many health care facilities as a matter of policy. Indeed, the mom and dad do catheters (after being shown how by Dr’s/nurses many years ago) on their own kids.
Why not ask direct questions rather than cast oblique aspersions. Your post was not responsive to the OP and should have been in the Pit.