Over at the investing megasite TheStreet.com -- which, fun fact, Marty Peretz founded -- there's a wonderfully revealing article explaining the "10 Reasons You're Not a Millionaire." Here are the 10:
1. You care what your neighbors think.
2. You aren't patient.
3. You have bad habits.
4. You have no goals.
5. You haven't prepared.
6. You try to make the quick buck.
7. You rely on others to take care of your money.
8. You invest in things you don't understand.
9. You're financially afraid.
10. You ignore your finances.
And those are copy-and-pastes, not my interpretations. In other words, you're not a millionaire because you suck. Because you're un-virtuous. Because you could be doing better, but aren't. It's not because you work a low-wage service sector job, or because Jenny needed orthodontics work and your classification as a contractor doesn't come with dental insurance, or because your division was outsourced. No, it's because you're a failure. Because you're impatient, and lazy, and fearful, and slovenly, and self-conscious. And, the flip side is, all those folks who are millionaires didn't get there by luck, or because they were born into a good family that could provide them with SAT prep and a private education. They're millionaires because they deserve to be. That's the key. We used to talk about the haves and the have-nots. Now it's the deserves and the deserves-nots.
