HALF A MILLIONAIRE

On June 14, 2009, I challenged myself to amass $500,000 in cash. My strategy is to “eliminate debt, grow wealth, and control expenses”. I want to make it clear that it is not about money, but, instead, it is about mental toughness. One is born. One lives. One gets sick. One becomes old. And, one dies. We all follow this pattern, and what separates us is the way we choose to live our lives. Everyday, I choose to be happy. And, to be happy, I am willing to take on my earthy responsibilities. In the end, happiness is the ultimate prize in life, not money. However, money can buy me more time to enjoy my life with my loved ones. Therefore, I am going after it. 

Our expenses have remained the same in the last several months. My wife and I have managed to stay within our budget. When we go shopping, we write down what we need to buy and stick with the list. If an item is expensive, we remind each other about saving money by voting “no”. For example, she wants to buy an expensive camera because she believes that it will produce more beautiful pictures. I tell her that we can afford it, but it is not the right time because the current one is still working, and she has been capturing perfect moments of our daughter’s life with the three-year old camera. Also, because we allow our daughter to play with our camera and laptop to stimulate her learning ability, I do not want to overpay these items. However, for the right item, I will not hesitate to buy. For example, when my wife informs me that our dryer is broken, I have it delivered to our house the next day. Of course, I never pick items with the highest price because I have realized that expensive things often require higher maintenance and usually cause more problems when they break. Our goal is to focus on each other, not on materialism, and, so far, we have achieved it.

In the last several months, I have been working about 60 to 70 hours per week because I have realized that cutting expenses alone will not bring me to the finished line. I have to increase my revenues, so I do overtime. I work 12 hours on weekdays and an extra 10 hours on Saturday when I am needed. Again, in life, it is not aways about money, but it is all about time. Because I want to spend the maxium amount of time with my daughter, I go to work very early in the morning while my loved ones are still sleeping. And, because I am an early riser, the working schedule fits me very well. What is the result? I have been able to increase my revenues by 100%. Of course, I know that the overtime will not last forever, but I will take whatever given because I want to win the game. And, to win the game, I must execute my game plan.

What do I do with the extra money? I have been paying down my debts and “cautiously” putting more money in the stock market. However, I have decided to stop buying more shares because the stocks that I own have become more expensive. How do I know? The prices have gone up by 30% compared to last year. I do not have a degree in finance, but I learn from reading and analyzing data on my own. Something is just not right. On one hand, I am trying to cut expenses, grow revenues and eliminate debts. On the other hand, President Obama increases spending, kills the labor market and borrows more money. I know that I can be wrong in my opinion because I do not have all the data, but on the surface that is what I am seeing. Our national debt is $12.8 trillion. I am not interested in hearing President Obama explaining that he and his administration are not responsible for our national debt. He needs to stop blaming the past because the American people needs him to solve problems. Yes, sir, we know that you are facing with difficult challenges. However, we need you to make the right decisions for our nation.

In my humble opinion, America needs more jobs at this very moment. America does not need to show the world her compassion at this very moment. America does not need to make new friends at this very moment because she is angry and not in the mood to hang out. There is nothing wrong with that because she has to focus on taking care of her own children at this very moment. Why does she have to show her compassion to the world at this very moment? She has always done that. Her true friends should understand her. She does not have to bow to anyone to show that she is respectful. She should be herself and others will follow. Her foes will always hate her because they envy her success and compassion. These foes will die because they have to follow the same pattern of life. And, there will be new foes. In the end, America should be herself because I love her just the way she is. I don’t want the government to shackle her because she has given me opportunities to grow in ways that I truly believe I will not be able to do anywhere else on earth.

The poor cannot afford health insurance. The rich are afraid that the government will take their money to pay for the poor. Ruthlessly, insurance companies seek new ways to deny claims because they want to make a profit. Healthcare providers charge high fees to cover their malpractice insurance. How do we solve the healthcare problem?

We can make health insurance more affordable by introducing new competition to the industry. To compete with the powerful insurance companies, the government must become a player. Of course, we do not want the government to control how we take care of our health, but we do need it to step in because we must think for our poor fellow Americans. We must create a law to force the insurance companies to cover everyone, regardless of pre-existing conditions, but we must choose our method carefully because we do not want to kill the industry with governmental overregulation. We have to hold everyone accountable by creating a functional managed care system that will provide checks and balances. We must utilize technology to make our healthcare system more efficient because it will lower costs. We must focus more on preventing diseases, in lieu of just treating them. In short, we must be proactive when it comes to reforming our healthcare system.

Personally, I do believe that we all must have a choice when we take care of our health. However, the current healthcare system eliminates that choice for the poor because they can no longer afford health insurance. And, I know that many are ready to point out the reasons why they are poor in the first place. Please hold your thoughts. I used to be poor. For more than a decade, I lived without health insurance. I told my roommates that “if I fall sick, do not call 911 or take me to the hospital because my family will not be able to pay the bill”. When one knows that one has no options, one must adopt the “I have nothing to lose” approach. Because I used to be one of them, I must advocate for healthcare reform. For those who are afraid that the government will take away your money to help the poor, I would like to offer an alternative view.

Poverty will never disappear in our society because our free market economy is based on competition. And, competition produces losers and winners. However, our society shall not lose compassion because it defines our American culture. Life is a circle. The rich shall help the poor. And, when the poor become rich, they shall help the other poor. And, unfortunately, there will always be poor people in this world. Therefore, the rich must be willing to take on the responsibility of pulling the imperfect circle of life.

Honestly, I am not afraid that the government will take away my money to improve social structures and our standards of living. However, sometimes, I am doubtful that it is capable of doing as good a job as we expect it to do. I know for sure that the healthcare reform will not be perfect for everyone, but I also know that it will improve the lives of many Americans. When everyone is healthy, everyone will be happy. When everyone is happy and healthy, productivity will increase. And, America will be prosperous, again. We all will be better off.

We all can dream and hope. Therefore, I hope that the Obama administration and current Congress know what they are doing. I hope that they will not bury our nation in debt. I hope that their healthcare reform will not put us in a worse situation than the one that we are in now. I hope that these patriots do care for the American people as they say they do. 

Just having the audacity to hope sometimes is not enough because one must face reality. For me, I will continue to pursue my goal of accumulating $500,000 because I know that in reality I am the one who will help me and my family.