These people should be murdered. Just take a look yourself. A while back it was Mr Madoff now it's Mr Stanford. These are the people that are responsible for the economic mess we're in... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7781086.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7895505.stm Sickening to read about this. I'm sure more will surface in the near future ...
I dont think i have the stomach at the moment to read them. I clicked the link and started reading only to become greatly depressed. joke is the buggers responsible will more than likely get a slap on the wrist.
If you are looking to practice your aim (or just get really, really depressed), here's the whole rogue's gallery: Top ten people most responsible for breaking the economy. The real kicker is: none of these people will get prosecuted in any meaningful way, they're all still multi-millionaires and in a few years time they will be in their next cushy job --probably employed by the government at that. Ain't capitalism grand?
I could only read about halfway through that list! Terrible though. I'm a supporter of capitalism - but not as free as it has been. I understand Clinton took away some of the laws limiting the kind of trading and lending that has gone on...
Depressed over this? get out of here, please. No point getting depressed over this, anyone, and I mean anyone, who gets to that level of power, will abuse it, without fail, Nexxo, Tim, Me, anyone, would abuse it. "Hi, would you like a £2.7m bonus this year?" "Sure" "Have a nice day now" ... LOL @ the cricket guy through, what a stupid bloke, you are already minted to the brim, why risk going to prison for a few more pennies? Does my head in big time actually, you have millions and millions, yet you want more, why? Seriously. Give me a million, and I'll put it in a "stable" bank and live on it for the rest of my life.
Right there with you. One million would sort me out nicely, for life. But I guess when your average yearly income is in the millions, plus bonusses, you lose a grip on what money really is, and when enough is enough. People compare events by the baseline of their experience. And people like these, well, they don't live in the real world. "The rich, they're not people like you and me" --Philip Marlowe
I bet if i give you or anyone with a clue a million dollars, allthough you might throw most of it in the bank and have a little party, you'll then go back to some sort of work, trying to make more money. If not for you, then for every person you know, the poor, and after all that, a bit more for you as a reward for all your good deeds, etc... It's never enough. It doesn't matter if it's your ram, cpu speed, net bandwidth, screen real estate, or money.
I'd prolly spend maybe 30,000$ of it (pay off my car really), rest would go into a savings account, maybe take a month or so of holiday visiting a few countries, and then I'd find a job, though nothing really intense and live happily. Reading about the economy isn't depressing anymore, it doesn't even phase me now, it's obvious corporate greed took a turn for the worse. I just focus on making sure I'm free of debt, don't spend more than I have to, do my best at my job to not get fired, live life as usual minus any expenses I may otherwise have done.
Yes I would find a job, but it would be a job "I" will enjoy, and I wouldn't work for the money, you wouldn't need too. I would most likely become a fitness trainer and open a place for overweight people to stay for 3-6 months and for them to lose weight. It can break even, but I wouldn't care, cause I'm getting way over the average pay per year with the interest of the money. Have this chat about the million pound with my Dad very often, he says it isn't enough to live on, and inflation would make that million worthless in a few years. True, which is why you would top it up every year with the interest you are getting, you spend 80% of the interest and store 20%.
I realize that the What would I do with $1 million scenario here is largely hypothetical, but there are a few other aspects to the game to consider. Keep in mind that while the rich hold most of the wealth, they also carry the largest part of the tax burden - at least, they should in an ideal system. The tax man is going to take his share immediately, so your $1 million is instantly cut by a significant amount. Next is the idea that you can spend 80% of the interest while you leave 20% to grow in the bank. A good idea, if it wasn't for the fact that you get taxed on income earned from interest. A more realistic approach might be to set aside 20% of the interest for taxes, spend 50-60%, and leave 20% to grow/stabilize your account. This brings up the next question: How much interest does your bank account accrue each year, and can you conceivably live on that amount? And 5 years down the road, will you have stayed ahead of inflation? 10 years? A related issue is location - where do you plan to live? A decent, small, tear-down house in the middle of Oklahoma might cost $30,000. The same house (on less land) might cost $500,000 in Los Angeles. Choices... Of course, that doesn't account for all the other considerations that come into play when you suddenly find yourself holding a fortune. Are any of you financial managers? Do you know how to invest your money wisely, aside from an ill-thought-out plan of letting it all sit in a savings account and living off the interest? I hope your bank doesn't go under. Here in the states your account is only guaranteed up to $100,000 (beginning 2010). You might consider hiring a financial manager and/or a tax professional. Not only does that subtract another portion of your investment earnings (a good financial manager can be expensive), but the original post demonstrates the risk involved there. A sudden influx of cash does things to people. Consider these people, for example. All of them were seemingly ordinary people who struck at rich and suddenly had millions. Some of them drank and gambled the money, some of them made poor investment decisions, others gave to so many charities that the money simply ran out. $5,000 here and there adds up quick. I'll grant that a lot of these considerations become moot if you're extremely wealthy. When you count your money in billions, it takes a lot longer for $5,000 to add up. Then again, I don't think many of these people actually have a billion dollars sitting in a bank account. Much of that is net worth, with all of their investments (houses, stocks, material goods, etc.) added together. Some of you might be perfectly happy with the income that $1 million would bring in. My point is that $1 million might not be as much as some people realize. Just my 2¢. Plus interest. Minus taxes and expenses. -monkey
You only pay tax when you make a profit, so not all of the interest has to be taxed. You'd want your business to be making a loss, to offset the profit from your interest. This loss shouldn't be waste though, it can be living expenses that you enjoy, and would have been paying for anyway. Parts of things like cars, phones, cameras, pcs, holidays, restaurants, all sorts of expenses can be claimed on tax if you continue to work, even if its just part time - which is perfect since you are doing something you love full time would just make it a chore. You could for example, spend ~60-70%, re-invest ~10-20%, and the leftover ~20-30% of your interest covers the tax. A million will be worthless in a few years? That's some crazy inflation Oh well, doesn't matter, only if you are liquid It's good to be free of bad debt, but good debt/investment debt however, is very very good. It's alot easier to make money when everyone else is giving it to you. It's also alot easier to loose more money than you can imagine or afford with a bad investment, but you don't have to take big risks! Plenty of good options out there!
If I had a million dollars, i'd throw it into high yield savings accounts and live off the interest, which would be about 55-70k a year, plus whatever I earn from my day job.
Well put. But if you have modest expectations, you can make it work. Personally, I would be happy to just pay off my house. After that, everything else is a bonus.
Indeed, no need to get complicated about it all, it's very possible. And if you are travelling around the world, why do you need a house, just rent until you have finished your travels. Of course the first year you would take £40,000 or so out of the money, and whatever you are left with just gets chucked back in.
I'd move, get everything paid off and work part-time. 2 or 3 days a week would do me. Hypothetically.
If i was a millonare, i would buy bit-tech so it wouldn't have to use advertising to pay the 'bills' Any then every month one bit-tech member would be selected at random if its there birthday within given month with 1000+ posts and given a prize such as that months pick of hardware in the high end selection. Sounds good?
how did this thread go from "GRRRR THEY DID MAJOR FRAUD AND NOT GOING TO GET PENALIZED!!!" to "if i had 1 000 000 dollars i would..." ?