Everyone Ought To Be Rich.....................

John J. Raskob penned an essay by that title in the summer of 1929.  While his first paragraph (the first excerpt below) may raise some hackles, most of his essay is spot on.  A person with an investment plan and the discipline to follow it over a longish period of time can become, and ought to be, financially independent.  Of course, the historians amongst us will note that two months after Raskob's essay was published the stock market crashed and the Great Depression ensued.  Neither fact erases the importance, or timelessness, of Raskob's message.  Perhaps the only addition I would suggest would be don't follow the herd, think for yourself.   Full essay is here.  Four excerpts here:

"Being rich is, of course, a comparative status. A man with a million dollars used to be considered rich, but so many people have at least that much in these days,or are earning incomes in excess of a normal return from a million dollars, that a millionaire does not cause any comment."

"Suppose a man marries at the age of twenty-three and begins a regular saving of fifteen dollars a month - and almost anyone who is employed can do that if he tries. If he invests in good common stocks and allows the dividends and rights to accumulate, he will at the end of twenty years have at least eighty thousand dollars and an income from investments of around four hundred dollars a month. He will be rich. And because anyone can do that I am firm in my belief that anyone not only can be rich but ought to be rich."

"Debt may be a burden, but it is more likely to be an incentive."

"The personal fortunes of this country have been made not by saving but by producing."

thanks david