Lazy Man and Money

Get Rich, Stay Rich, Pass It On: A Mini Review

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Catherine S. McBreen and George H. Walper Jr.’s book may be misleading

Every now and again, publishers sense me books to read. More often than not it takes me a long time to read them. I was sent Get Rich, Stay Rich, Pass It On: The Wealth-Accumulation Secrets of America’s Richest Families in May of 2007.

The last couple of days, I carved out a few minutes to look at the book. As I write this I’ve completed on the first 28 pages. This is why I call it a mini review. I wouldn’t normally try to review a book after reading a little more than 15% of it, but this is an exception. The authors have repeated pelted me over the head a hundred times with the same concept… lasting wealth is built through real estate and owning a business that reinvents itself.

Building Wealth Through Real Estate: Is It Really the Answer?

The book takes a historical look at what has worked for the richest families in the past. In just the 28 pages I’ve read, there have been numerous stories about people who have either gotten rich or protected their wealth through real estate. Did we forget about Casey Serin and how he had 8 houses that all foreclosed on him?

I have my own real estate story. I bought a home in the summer of 2004. It’s valued at less 10% of what I paid for it. At the time, I bought it a little below market value – not a great deal, but not the worst one. I don’t mind that it’s valued at less since I continue to rent it out at break even costs. It’s worth noting that it isn’t building me lasting wealth. Perhaps in 30 years when it’s paid off largely through my tenant’s rent it will be worth something. I’ll have spent a good deal of money renovating it though.

I’m not going to say that real estate doesn’t work to build wealth. I think it can, but I’m not necessarily convinced that the historic performance is going to be indicative of future performance. I don’t believe it’s a given that real estate is the key.

I do have to agree on the second point. Constantly reevaluating your business is key. I don’t see this as a big secret. Perhaps reading the rest of the book will flesh out the ideas in this area. If so, it might be worth the $7.00 that Amazon is currently charging for the hardcover version of the book.

Asus Eee Purchased – Only One Catch

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Yesterday, I wrote about my techno-lust with the Asus Eee. Not long after the post went live, the lowest possible version on Craigslist for $200. That’s $100 less than retail, and $40 less from any other price I’ve previous seen. I jumped at the opportunity to own it. I figured that in the worst case scenario, I could sell it for a very small profit on Ebay tomorrow. I love when I can try “new-to-me” technology with little or no financial downside.

So now I get to “the catch…” It is the pink version. My wife finds the whole thing rather comical. Not that there’s anything wrong with pink, it’s just not the color I would choose if given a choice. It should be an interesting conversation piece when I bring it to a conference next Tuesday (more on that later today). I think I will pay another $20 for a protective color that will make it look mostly black. If I can look for a silver lining, it will make a good hand-me-down for my wife. She could take it with her when she travels for work. I’ll be happy to upgrade to better versions when the prices get more reasonable.

If you are considering getting one, here are some quick thoughts on the Linux version:

  • Linux isn’t bad – There’s a reason that one of the “E”s stands for Easy. It really is easy. I would have no problem giving this to my mom to use. She could get on the Internet and do most anything that she would want to do.
  • Google Reader is bad on the 800×480 screen – I use Google Reader as my main way of reading blogs. Unfortunately the frames that Google chose to use do not allow you see your list of subscriptions by default. However, if you switch Firefox to full-screen mode (press F11), you get just enough real estate to cycle through your subscriptions in a very small window. For those with the newer Asus Eee 900 this shouldn’t be a problem.
  • It’s relatively snappy – Because it has a solid-state hard drive, it boots up in 20 seconds. From Standby, it comes back in about 7 seconds. Websites render quickly. The slowest part of the machine is me – the keyboard is small that I current make a lot of typing mistakes unless I resort to a mostly two fingered approach. I think I will get better with it over time.
  • Not sure if space is going to be an issue – With a 2GB hard drive there’s not a lot of room for extras. I have a 4GB SD card, but I’m not sure if I can run extra programs on that. My limited experience with Linux says this shouldn’t be a problem, but I haven’t tried it.

It doesn’t look like it’s going to replace my full computer any time soon, but it looks like it will do exactly what I expect it to do – get me online from the road with relative ease at a reasonable price.