Mark Cuban on How to Get Rich

A somewhat relevant story. 3 months ago I started saving and researching Costa Rican real estate. I figure that over the next two years a lot of people will be having a cash crunch and it will be a buyer's market in (somewhat over-built) Costa Rica.<p>Right now I'm not where I need to be in terms of savings or knowledge, but in 10-16 months I will be.<p>The interesting thing is that I have started talking to agents in CR and I can almost see things beginning to unfold. The people I'm talking to start throwing "deals" at me. It starts like "I know this may be a little soon, but I may have the perfect rental property for you" says the real estate agent. "It's $225, if you can bring 80k to the table the selling can finance the rest over 5 years"<p>"Sorry, not interested. I'm just not ready, I need to do more research" I say.<p>"Hi Mike, I spoke with the seller again. He can bring the price down to $200k, with financing over 10 years."<p>I say again that I'm about 18 months away from pulling the trigger.<p>The agent comes back with "We can probably go under $200k finance for 15 years (at about 9%) and we can furnish the place for you - a 12-15k value."<p>Now I don't (yet) know if this is a good deal or notbut it is pretty easy to see the leverage working here. Because I'm on the right side of the market I can throw out a low offer and see what happens. I'm not going to.<p>Hopefully in about a year, I will be walking in and everyone else will be running the other way, needing to sell.<p>I understand that everyone @ hacker news is smart enough to "get" this, but it is cool to see this in action.

Mark gives good advice.<p>1. Have the discipline to save<p>2. Find an area you are passionate about and invest in yourself to become really really good<p>3. When the opportunity presents itself, make good use of it<p>“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” Seneca

"The 2nd rule for getting rich is getting smart. Investing your time in yourself and becoming knowledgeable about the business of something you really love to do"<p>and<p>"Before or after work and on weekends, every single day, read everything there is to read about the business. Go to trade shows, read the trade magazines, spend a lot of time talking to the people you do business with about their business and the people they buy from.<p>This is not a short term project. We aren’t talking days. We aren’t talking months. We are talking years. Lots of years and maybe decades. I didn’t say this was a get rich quick scheme. This is a get rich path"<p>That's what I have been constantly telling everyone. Be passionate about what you do and don't waste your time on anything else than your passion.

"If you use a credit card, you dont want to be rich"<p>That is such an over-statement. You've got to spend money to make money. Using credit wisely might be the only way for some people to break out of their financial status.

1. Get a job 2. Save money. Wow, what insight. Though I think this could also be titled "How to Get Diabetes."

I'm not quite sure what his problem with "buy and hold suckers" is. Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffet both built financial empires by doing just that. Peter Lynch didn't too too badly, either. As of now, the only investing strategy which consistently beats the market in the long run is long-term value investing. The technical traders, such as Cramer may do well over 5 or 10 year stretches, but they inevitably have their melt-downs that wipe out everything.<p>When the market takes a dive, "buy and hold suckers" just keep buying. This leads to dollar cost averaging benefits that lead to even greater long-term market outperformance.<p>Everything else in the post struck a chord with me. It seems that discipline is king.

btw I recall an interview with Mark Cuban saying he answers about 5% of cold emails containing businesses/business ideas. Give him a try...

Mark Cuban on how to become an innumerate tool: <a href="http://bramcohen.livejournal.com/35949.html?thread=516461" rel="nofollow">http://bramcohen.livejournal.com/35949.html?thread=516461</a>.

"Busts are when rich people started on their path to wealth." very timely.<p>its the people that are up and running when it turns that appear "lucky", when in reality they had been building during the downturn.

my aunt and other rich people i know always shared 'pay yourself first' , my aunt and uncle used that money (after 5 years) to get bonded in order to build their first stadium.

The most valuable lesson here is: persevere in doing what you like and you will succeed.

Diversify and hedge. Name of the game. People I work with have seen their 401K's eviscerated. Mine is more or less OK, because it is "heavily weighted" into money markets, which are safer than equity markets. The "rule of thumb" for people in their 20's and 30's is to have 70% of the 401K in equity markets. I didn't follow that, and instead reduced my position in equities and increased my position in money markets, when it came to my own 401K. Now I am more or less OK while my collegues are scrambling to sell.

Question : Why have I heard of this guy? Really, why?