We just recently posted the story “6 Reasons Why You Can’t Get Rich in the Stock Market, and Why You Never Will” and we got a surprising spike in traffic and interest in our site. One reader submitted this story to us that we want to share. While it’s not your typical success story we think it makes Carlos a huge winner for seeing the right message. If you’ve ever wondered what millionaires say about stock market investing in private, here’s Carlos’ take on it:

Around the Holidays every year one gets invited to social gatherings and between sipping drinks and stuffing your face you enter into small talk. On several occasions this season I had the privilege of discussing worldly matters with some well-to-do (rich) individuals and each time I came away with the same bit of information about wealth or rather the accumulation of wealth.

I’ve always assumed that rich people (having a net worth over a couple million dollars) were invest heavily in the stock market as I had been for years. Not so. As a matter of fact I discovered they have only a portion of their money in the market; the rest is spread out over real estate and business or two. I found this bit of news both interesting and unsettling. I politely inquired how they had been able to accumulate their vast fortunes and they all said through owning their own business or partners in a business. Interestingly enough not one person I talked to became wealthy by investing in the market.

One never wants to feel like a fool in a conversation so I quickly defended my investing habits by quoting how well I had done in the market over this past year. This boast was only met with smiles and grins. It was then that I was given my education for the evening. Without much fanfare I was informed that a good business man could easily make 3 to 5 times the money invested in their business in a given year. And here I was bragging about getting over 20% for the year, which in their eyes would have translated into a bad year in business.

My new found friends went on to inform me that the market was “Unpredictable”, you’re in the money one minute then the next you’re loosing money. I gathered that this lack of control was something these individuals either couldn’t tolerate or went against their nature. I know from years of investing experience that the market can turn on a dime sending your portfolio straight down. You have got to watch your investments every day.

I remember somewhere in our little discussion I opened my big mouth a said something to the effect that “your stockbroker was working for you”. I think that was one of the other issues these well-off people didn’t like about investing, trusting someone else with their money. I mean its bad enough when you loose your money; it’s worse when someone else does it for you.

Well, so there you have it; my rich party-pals let the “cat out of the bag”. Rich people don’t use the stock market to become wealthy; wealth is created through other means such as owning a business or real estate. Rich people only get into the market after they have made it and use the market to grow their wealth.

Like my dad use to say, if you can’t beat’m, join’m.

Best Regards,
Carlos

Thanks Carlos! If you didn’t catch our previous blog that started this click here. Have your own story about wealth enlightenment you want to share. Email us your story at mystory@mywealthpuzzle.com. Let us know if you’d like us to share your full name or not. Thanks for reading. Before you leave share your comments below. We like to hear from you.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, January 20th, 2007 at 3:23 am and is filed under Stock Market. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.