My entire financial existence just got judged based on one particular post on my blog. The blogger assumed that my whole financial existence was focused on declaring war on debt (perhaps he’s getting me confused with the much larger and well established blogger: Enemy Of Debt, but so be it).
This blogger posted about how I didn’t do investments, such as 401ks, 529s or any other type of investments… HA!
Since 2000, I’ve been contributing to my 401k, and since mid 2008 I bumped it up to the maximum amount (yeah, I jumped in with both feet while the market was at its lowest! I believe the Buffett saying: “Be fearful when other are greedy and greedy when others are fearful“).
I also have a 529 plan for each kid that I expect to be well over $100,000 for each kid, when they are 18.
I also have a Roth IRA, HSA, and an online brokerage account .
I been a shareholder in various stocks since I was 6 years old, and I’ve made my share of mistakes!
Needless to say, the other blogger at 7million7years took a glance at my post and made a lot of incorrect assumptions about me!
But even with the assumptions corrected, his approach is still drastically different from mine.
His approach is more about becoming a higher level of rich than what I am striving for. Actually, he might already be at this level, I’ve only read a few of his posts on his site, so I can’t really make a solid judgement of his financial being. I applaud him for his efforts but that approach only works for less that 5% of the population (I’m guessing, but I’m also betting that my number is conservative too and the percentage is really closer to less than 2%).
But my approach is different! You see I come from a family of entrepreneurs, but I chose a different path.
After growing up without learning practically anything from my dad (for example, how to catch a ball, riding my bike, batting, swimming.. you name it) since he was always worked 80+ hours per week at his business, I decided I didn’t want my kids to grow up like that!
Since I’ve been an employee for a good chunk of my life, during the times when I’m not at work, was able I teach both of my kids how to ride their bikes, (they learned swimming at the local recreation center), hit the ball with a bat, catch the ball, throw a football, and other sports exercises. I’ve done numerous things with both, and in this respect, I’m light years away from when my dad was at the same point in time.
Yes, my net worth is less than someone like my dad, but my family is happy!
I hope this clears up any confusion about me vs the other blogger’s lacking interpretation of me!
-MR
Yeah, it was kind of rude to take your post out of context like that. I also agree with your family first philosophy. All those experiences are priceless. As long as your family is well cared for, I don’t see a reason to spend every waking hours working.
I don’t think a lot of people realize how valuable family time is. Money is just a tool, it’s not the meaning of life.
Always family first! 🙂
Wow- shareholder since 6? 🙂 Amazing! I agree that you learn about investing from doing it yourself (and failing- I’ve had my fair fair share).
It’s all about balance and everything in moderation 🙂
Everyone has a different way of getting where they want to be 🙂
Yeah, I’ve been seasoned. I’m constantly learning, but at least now I feel like I’m ahead of the curve… At least by a little bit 🙂
I don’t hate debt though, it’s just a tool like money (sort of)…
Balance and everything in moderation is absolutely right! At least for me 🙂
Money Reasons,
I wasn’t confused about you. Believe me: don’t take the magnifying lens personally (happened to me 2x recently).
As bloggers, we publicly disclose private information about our finances, opinions, beliefs, experiences etc. It is easy to take something out of context, misread someone, or misinterpret a post or blogger.
Shawn, you and I are walking a similar financial path with similar points of view even 🙂
I’m not really upset about the bloggers at 7million7years post. Actually I like his blog and wish him the best of luck. I’ll still stop by his site as usual 🙂
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Ooops!
I remember weekends lying on top of my parents’ bed with Investors Daily spread across it. My dad had us follow Exxon, which taught a lot about the mechanics of the stock market. It liked to go high and split.
Wow the Investor Daily is an expensive newspaper!
Being the frugal guy that I am, I noticed it was at the library in my area, so I sometimes check out their top 100 pick on Monday.
He’d pick it up once a week at the local cigar store. It cost less than a dollar. He also spends a lot of time on weekends pouring over investment thingies at the local library. Money is his hobby.
Me, I prefer index funds.
I have been having trouble accessing that site ever since I left a comment there yesterday (at the 7million site, not yours).
He obviously made a snap judgment, and flat out read your post wrong.
We all know that you love investing! Although I did not know that you started when you were 6. I did not start until I was 23 and I contributed to my 401k with my first check.
I know it is frustrating when someone represents you completely differently than how you really are. Glad you wrote a post in response.
I have to admit, I hate when a judgement is past without really knowing the fact!
But, I’m getting numb to people like that, so it doesn’t bother me as much as it use to.
Hehe, he’s kind of saying on his blog that he is different, but when he jumps to a conclusion like that without doing the research, he really isn’t that different 😉
C’est la vie
this is no different from the many criticisms you have and will be facing in the future. as a blogger with a wide open kimono, you are putting yourself out there and inviting the unsolicited opinions – right or wrong. people are quick to judge, we all know that. but let’s give them the benefit of the doubt. they obviously don’t know as much about you as you do. if they did, they might change their opinion?
to your concluding thoughts – family, happiness and contentment is what we work so hard for to accumulate all that money, so using money to live the life you want is the right thing to do. your kids will fully and truly appreciate what you have done for them when they grow up . . .
You are right, but that doesn’t mean that you should be a victim! If you don’t try to correct a wrong (or misinformation), sometime the wrong becomes the perceived reality.
So I choose to lay out the true, and not just lie down and take it 🙂
My family is what is most important to me. So I hope (and believe I am) getting the combination correct!
Hm… Adding on to sunil.. I think this means you’re now Famous on the Internet. Go you!
I like that line of thinking 🙂
Scoot over J.D. Roth, here I come (lol)
All joking aside, it is kind of cool that I got some post coverage from another blogger… even if it’s not entirely correct coverage. 🙂
Money is a means to an end, so the fact that you see your net worth as attached to your family’s happiness says millions about you. No figure can be put on the security and contentment your family must feel with you as a parent.
Yeah, I pretty happy in my middle class lifestyle. I don’t need flashing things to enjoy life, but that’s me.
If one does want more flashy things, that’s okay too. My value system is just different than such an individuals.
Neither way is right or wrong… 🙂
I’m not sure how to get to 7 mil in 7 years. There’s no clear explanation, is there?
It’s good when bloggers criticize. It’s fun!
I’m not sure either, I think the 7million7years blogger “Adrian” tries to get his readers to think outside of the box.
I think his site is actually pretty good, my only complaint is that the picture he paints of my site in his post was very inaccurate. No big whoop though, I’ll still read his site, it’s decent enough. Although not for the faint of heart…
Yeah, actually it was fun!
It is frustrating to be the victim of snap judgments. A few months ago some lady decided that my retirement contributions meant squat since I’d be happy but pointless to society since I’m not popping out kids yet. Kris talked me down, lol.
Really? People are funny that way… My older aunt didn’t have kids and they are having a great retirement!
AJC is actually a good blogger and while you can’t really verify anything he has done, seems like a successful businessman.
He generally has a problem with debt hating bloggers and just lumped you in for some odd reason.
The lack of anti-debt stuff is actually one of the reasons I keep coming back here!
I skimmed throught some of AJC’s stuff and it’s not bad at all. He writes very well.
Being a family man, I’m very happy with were I’m at, it’s the slower but less risky road. Balanced but slow 🙂
I think leveraged debt can be a device that can make people rich! And I love my reward credit cards!!!
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I guess there are some advantages of only having a few readers on my blog. Not as much scrutiny. You have arrived though. Keep on the lookout for paparazzi.
lol, in a few months, you’ll be surprised how quickly your visitors will grow. Especially as part of the Yakezie.
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Yeah, he misread this one. Water off a duck’s back, MR!
If we’re going to blog, we need to be ready to take some arrows in the chest every once in awhile (justified or not), either via comments, sombody else’s blog or – more often, in my case – through emails (usually from folks with phony gmail addresses).
Personally, I’m with Sam. I enjoy controversy. It’s not for everyone though.
Best,
Len
Len Penzo dot Com
Hi Len,
I actually enjoy 7million7years site. I’ve seen it before I started my blog, and his plan isn’t that bad really. And even with his post it wasn’t too bad. As he said his readers are a different niche than the typical reader.
So, although I didn’t like the inaccuracies, it was cool to be referenced in his post 🙂
As a side note, I referenced him in my response post, and I noticed that many of my exits were to his site to check out the article. Good stuff…
Now if I could just get J.D. Roth or Trent Hamm to feature a post with me in it as a referenced (lol)…
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I remember seeing that post, haha! He definitely does comment on quite a few bloggers out there; so far I’ve had the grace or misfortune to not be commented about, so far.
He does seem to have something out for the anti-debt bloggers! I guess he just made some incorrect assumptions about you that he shouldn’t have. Could be worse, though. 😉 Have you ever seen this post? https://7million7years.com/2010/02/22/is-he-really-a-clever-dude/
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