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**SmuffNuSMaxqh** · 09-03-2007, 11:35 AM

And the only way to better one's (financial) standing in life is to become a succesful entrepreneur, and that means taking risks.

That's nonsense. I'm not an entreprenuer, I work for a guitar company. My financial standing is ridiculously better than it was just a few years ago...

Most Americans don't become enterpreneurs because they're tremendously risk averse. People who don't make it very far financially do not understand the concept of calculated risk. To them, risk is just bad.

The standard American model of life is. . .be born, go to school, then do one of 5 things. . .

1) Go to college, then get a college level job
2) Join the Armed Forces, then stay there
3) Work a menial job (i. e. McDonald's, dept. store) then work your way up to manager
4) Get a government job thru connections, then keep working at it and retire with a nice pension
5) Become nurse, med secretary, or some other health care assistant While I disagree that those represent the "standard" model, I'll discuss only #2, as that's where my experience is.

I dropped out of college three months after starting. Seems I had a problem with the fact that I was expected to do more than party all the time. I ended up joining the Navy at age 18. I "stayed there", retiring at age 38.

At age 38, life was far from over. I wasn't real interested in a government job or a job with a defense contractor (both were offered), so i went into music instrument retail. I did that for about three years, until I was hired by my current employer.

I know a lot of people who've retired from the military, get a pension, and move on to a second, and wildly successful, career...

What I believe--and this is strictly my opinion so don't yell at me--is that kids should take risks, i. e. chase their dreams, when the're young.

Don't believe me. Here are some names. . .

Michael Dell
Bill Gates
Justin Frankel
Marshal Mathers
Britney Spears
Marc Andreessen

Chasing one's dreams does not entail jumping in the pool unprepared. Hard work and intense preparation is certainly needed. Oh, I absolutely agree with that, although I look at people like Spears and Eminem as having more luck than anything else; that's just the nature of that particular business...

However, most kids never try to fulfill their childhood dreams because they defeat themselves mentally early on and/or succomb to the low risk path their parents want them to follow (presumably because that's how their parents made it), and consequently, opt for a line of work where they can predictably stay employed (so long as they don't do anything tremendously stupid) and predictably advance. My daughter is 20. I constantly tell her to take risks. Her employer, Anheuser-Busch (they own the theme park where she works) offers a 401K. I always tell her to choose high-risk, high-yield stocks, and forget about the stocks that I might elect for my 401K. The reason being is that, at such a young age, she can afford to lose money more than I can, because she's got time to recoup it if she does lose it. Thus far, at 20, she's doing pretty good. She's sure in better shape, financially, then I was at her age...

09-03-2007, 11:35 AM	#33
SmuffNuSMaxqh Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 587 Senior Member	And the only way to better one's (financial) standing in life is to become a succesful entrepreneur, and that means taking risks. That's nonsense. I'm not an entreprenuer, I work for a guitar company. My financial standing is ridiculously better than it was just a few years ago... Most Americans don't become enterpreneurs because they're tremendously risk averse. People who don't make it very far financially do not understand the concept of calculated risk. To them, risk is just bad. The standard American model of life is. . .be born, go to school, then do one of 5 things. . . 1) Go to college, then get a college level job 2) Join the Armed Forces, then stay there 3) Work a menial job (i. e. McDonald's, dept. store) then work your way up to manager 4) Get a government job thru connections, then keep working at it and retire with a nice pension 5) Become nurse, med secretary, or some other health care assistant While I disagree that those represent the "standard" model, I'll discuss only #2, as that's where my experience is. I dropped out of college three months after starting. Seems I had a problem with the fact that I was expected to do more than party all the time. I ended up joining the Navy at age 18. I "stayed there", retiring at age 38. At age 38, life was far from over. I wasn't real interested in a government job or a job with a defense contractor (both were offered), so i went into music instrument retail. I did that for about three years, until I was hired by my current employer. I know a lot of people who've retired from the military, get a pension, and move on to a second, and wildly successful, career... What I believe--and this is strictly my opinion so don't yell at me--is that kids should take risks, i. e. chase their dreams, when the're young. Don't believe me. Here are some names. . . Michael Dell Bill Gates Justin Frankel Marshal Mathers Britney Spears Marc Andreessen Chasing one's dreams does not entail jumping in the pool unprepared. Hard work and intense preparation is certainly needed. Oh, I absolutely agree with that, although I look at people like Spears and Eminem as having more luck than anything else; that's just the nature of that particular business... However, most kids never try to fulfill their childhood dreams because they defeat themselves mentally early on and/or succomb to the low risk path their parents want them to follow (presumably because that's how their parents made it), and consequently, opt for a line of work where they can predictably stay employed (so long as they don't do anything tremendously stupid) and predictably advance. My daughter is 20. I constantly tell her to take risks. Her employer, Anheuser-Busch (they own the theme park where she works) offers a 401K. I always tell her to choose high-risk, high-yield stocks, and forget about the stocks that I might elect for my 401K. The reason being is that, at such a young age, she can afford to lose money more than I can, because she's got time to recoup it if she does lose it. Thus far, at 20, she's doing pretty good. She's sure in better shape, financially, then I was at her age...
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