Don't Become Like Me (Except This Way)
I must appear a very shallow person with my constant talk about financial conquests, toys and possessions.
And Sunday's post on my Platinum Visa card upgrade (http://honest-lotto.blogspot.com/2008/11/i-cut-up-my-gold-visa-card.html) must have seemed like a custard pie in the face of those people who are struggling to get through Xmas on a limited wage - or none at all.
Sincerely - don't become like me... it's not a nice sight.
Because if you become like me, you will become obsessed with winning.
- You will lie awake night after night, plotting and scheming... figuring out how to get your next millions.
- You will pore avidly over statistics and charts, working out your plan to dominate the lottery.
- You will be objectionable to talk to because you only have one line of conversation - money.
Now let me tell you a secret...
You need to be this way to win at anything. Nothing ever falls into your lap.
History shows us that only a driven, passionate, questing kind of person will ever make it to the top. Wherever that is.
And it's common knowledge that because of the massive effort and single mindedness they need to succeed, people who are trying to make money may even be socially inept - a bit doozy. A bit like the attractive guy or gurl who floats easily through life succeeding with their looks, but who fail to develop their personality.
So if you exhibit all these tendencies, don't despair. Keep persevering. You WILL succeed soon.
So, for what?
A few million? That'll soon run out, I can tell you. Doesn't go far these days.
But if you're like me and many other winners, we still want these vast prizes for another purpose.
Simply, to help others.
Here's an example...
I attended a real estate course about a year ago. The seminar was taken by one man, a committed Christian. This man had accumulated over $20 milllion worth of residential homes, and was making a fair amount of residual cash each week.
Far more than you or I will ever achieve.
Yet there was no mansion for him. No fleet of European exotic autos, no gold-plated taps or rainforest shower heads, no monogrammed luggage sets, or even a time-share jet.
He lives modestly and puts all his spare cash into a Pacific Island community. Every cent of it, I believe. None is spent on him personally. I doubt whether he even knows what a Dualit toaster is (if you don't know, I'll tell you in a minute).
Warren Buffet is another. Despite being the world's wealthiest man, he still lives in a modest home worth less than a milllion, and drives a 8 year-old Lincoln. He certainly wears the same suit twice.
So having wealth is only one part of the quest for living happily.
It is indeed good to try and achieve it through any legal means you prefer. Winning through the lottery it is of course far easier than becoming the chairman of GM, a business baron or a media magnate.
But what you DO with your milllions after you get it is important.
Like most people, although I spend a lot on electronic toys and bling, I also support a number of charities and organizations.
And I'd like to think my financial help is balanced and useful.
So don't be like me in the way I boast and crow about my possessions. I only do that to make you positively unsettled about your place in life, and provoke you to get motivated for something better.
But be like me in the way you distribute your money. Use your wealth in ways that will spread the greatest good with your fortune.
Last Christmas I gave money to several charities who then supplied third world countries with items to help plant crops, build businesses and help families.
I will do the same this year.
It's hugely satisfying to do this. Try it!
Happy Winning!
Ken Silver
PS. By the way, I didn't take up real estate investing. Something about buying houses cheap and having the owners lose their investment is not the way I like to operate... no matter how many clever quick bucks are made.
PPS. The Dualit toaster? It's simply the Rolls Royce of toasters - the best you can get. Yup, I have one.
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