Correlation between wealth and education? - Page 3 - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

DF7 · 24th February 2003, 17:24

interesting reading! good topic!

I have a bachelors in business administration w/ concentrations in finance, economics, & entrepreneurship.

D

jmott · 24th February 2003, 17:49

I have a BA in cmoputer science, graduated in 2001

But Im not wealthy! (yet)

I just got a good deal =)

M Power · 24th February 2003, 22:03

B. Comm.. too many years ago to remember how to do regression analysis..

I'll take good luck over brains every day..
but it takes brains to recognise the opportunity and hard work to make it pay off..

In most cases, those who can, will.. while those who don't, don't

XrayMD · 24th February 2003, 23:13

I have degrees in music and music education K-12th grade as well as an M.D. degree.

yapallas · 25th February 2003, 01:50

J.D. is a juris doctorate. I am a lawyer and have been for 30 years. Hard working and I agree that a few bad apples in our midst make it hard on the rest of us and give rise to the bad jokes. As vp and general counsel to a F-500 brewing operaton, I have seen some my bretheren give meaning to many of the bad jokes about lawyers. I agree with those on the board that education does not wealth make. Look at Bill Gates. He dropped out of Harvard, or was it Yale? Anyway, a great combination of factors go into intellect and wealth. Maybe someone on the board should compile such a list? I vote for "moves, grooves and knowhow! Cheers.

GT-R · 25th February 2003, 05:13

Wow! This is a great thread, very informative!
Should be in the collection of best threads section.

Quote from chunpng:

Quote:

Here's my solutions:

A cushy 9-5 job that pays well enough to cover all the regular expenditures, e.g. mortgage, insurance, etc. I'm an architect for a top home builder. 18 professional staffs in the entire company, $350mm annual closings. I manage my one-man department, no boss, no underlings, little deadline, no politics, zero stress. The best gig I've found so far. Believe me, my previous job was 5+years with Arthur Andersen as a tax manager. This job is the antithesis of AA&Co. A stable job sure reduces financial stress 'big time'.

In my spare time, I do custom architecture for the 'rich' in the Silicon Valley. They don't care how much they spend as long as they have the best/biggest homes. I do my most creative work here, and get to spend their money creating beautiful homes. This is a side business that I love to no end. It earns me 2+ times my regular pay. Pays for all my toys, vacations, retirement plans, and other frivolous spendings. All my clients come to me after seeing my prior work. I don't have marketing materials or a portfolio. The thing about being an architect, I don't face a techno-revolution every 6 months. My body don't wear out, so I don't have to retire at any particular age.

Once in a while, I build homes for myself and family members. Eight total so far. In the Silicon Valley, that creates a ton of equity ($8mm-$10mm).

chunpng,
IMHO, I think you have a near-perfect life (nothing is perfect)! I am in my first year of university, working towards becoming an architect. Your post has given me a lot of inspiration.
chunpng, you are my role-model!....no wait, your my hero!!

Btw, any more insightful tips & hints on how to be successful in the architectural field or how you got where you are now would be greatly appreciated!!

Anyways, although I am still quite young, I understand and agree with most of you that wealth cannot be gauged through one's net worth or education/career, but through an individual's self-satisfaction, by doing what they love (some call this work), and by who you surround yourself with (friends, family, associates,etc.). However, there's no deny that financial stability is very benefical, as it offers us a piece of mind and is a kind of "buffer zone". It's so unfortunate seeing sooo many people on campus going about their studies for the sole purpose of only making money or for the sake of fufilling parents' expectations!!
Thank you for the insightful information gathered by all the board members on this thread through the many years of experience and sorry for the long post.

KC

chunpng · 25th February 2003, 22:54

KC,

I'd be happy to help you any way I can. Isn't what this board is all about?

I agree with you that I'm probably one of the luckiest person around and living a good life.

You asked great questions and the answers may be a little long, so please bear with me. I'll take the easy one first

How I got where I am now.

Since I was 20 years old, I had wanted to design and build my own home. I quickly realized that I needed two things: $$$$ and knowhow. For $, I got as much education as I could: BS. MS in Civil Engineering, MBA with tax concentration (you will never be rich unless you limit what Uncle Sam takes from you). I also got my license in Civil Engineering. For knowhow, when I was getting my MBA, I went nights and worked full time for an architect. I had an MS and professional license, yet I worked for $2.25 an hour. I didn't care because I was learning what I needed to achieve my dream. Between 1975 and 77, I learned as much as I could designing custom homes, and built three of them for sale, earning my contractor's license, and some more $.

After I got my MBA in 77, I worked 5+ years as a structural engineer designing nuclear reactors as it paid the most back then. In 1979 I designed and built my first home for myself. In 1984, I designed and built our second home. Then came another 5+ years as a tax manager at Arthur Andersen & Co. All this time, I designed custom homes on a moonlight basis. In 1988, a client asked me to design his home. Afterwards he invited me to leave AA&Co and be in charge of all his design work for his home building business. That's the first time I really evaluted what I wanted out of my life.

I was on a partnership track at AA&Co. That would mean great $$, financial stability, challenges galore, and prestige. I could live a glamorous life with lots of international travel. The down side is a hectic, stressful life, with very little time for family and myself. The new job would mean an unknown financial future, but I'd do what I love (architecture), and possibly a less stressful life. I left AA in 1989, and that's the best move I've made professionally. I'll probably retire with this company. I love my job.

In 1994, I designed and built my current home. Here's some pics.

http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4291555733

Now the tough question. What does it take to be a successful architect:

Here's are the qualities I think are important:
Creativity: Clients love things that no one else has.
Client devotion: Clients' needs always come first.
Communications: You have to be able to explain your vision.
Be flexible/no ego: we don't always have the same taste, clients may not appreciate our best designs.
Extensive knowledge: state-of-the-art technologies, products, construction methods etc.
Problem solving skills: lots of road blocks from cities, neighbors, project opponents etc.
Marketing skills: I don't do any marketing, but most successful architects who own their own firms spend 90% of their time selling/cementing client relationships, and smooching cities for approvals, and the rest of the time running their offices. At the top, they seldom get to do any design at all. That's why I don't own my own firm.

Here's the toughest question: How to become a successful architect.

There are sooo many ways to skin a cat. I got my first exposure because I had my own home to show my clients. I got work from people who already seen my work and liked them. I must be doing something right as my moonlighting clients included an owner of a baseball team, a superstar for the SF Giants, ex-chairman of Apple Computer, and ex-VP at e-Bay, amongst others. I did projects in the Bay Area, Lake Tahoe, Oregon, Montana, and Hawaii. Since I don't own a firm, and does no marketing, I'm the best architect that no one knew existed.

When I started dreaming about designing/building my own home, I never thought that it would be a ticket to a great professional life, so what's happened is all gravy. I still believe that while unconventional, my history is repeatable. I have no formal architectural education, it didn't seem to matter thus far.

Architecture is a very competitive field, and by no means a lucrative field for all. However, if you are the best in what you do, persistent, and street-smart as to getting what you want, I'm sure it's eminemently doable. Of course this holds true for almost any field in life.

Hope this helps you a little, and good luck.

CP

joegraz · 26th February 2003, 01:51

Graduated High School...barely. Stayed a rebel and found a way to make it....the American Way!

Jim Dolan · 26th February 2003, 02:09

I couldn't resist this old thread. I don't know how successful I am but some say I've done well.

Dropped out of high school, did the Air Force thing, got a GED, then a High School Diploma, worked my way through college, became a deans list student, (imagine that), learned to fly, built a business as as CPA and like a said earlier in this thread... wealth should be measured by not how much you have but by how little you need.

I'm comfortable with where I am.

rebel1 · 26th February 2003, 03:00

A number of years ago a study was conducted at Yale university.
The study was on goals and goal setting. What they found was quite interesting.

They found, as you might suspect, that goals and goal setting had a definate correlation to success. So they conducted a poll with the idea that within 7 years they would poll the same people again.

The poll was to see how many people had goals in life, and how they were planning on attaining them.

The resuts as foillows:

50% had no goal
38% had a goal with no plan of attainig them.
12% had a goal, a plan on how to attain it, with a definate date for achieving it.

Seven years later they follwed up and re-polled the same group.

Here's what they found:

Of the 50% that had no goals
85% were making a below average living, less than $40,000.00
13.5% were living a middle class lfe, above $40,000.00
1.5% were considerd well off, earning over $100,000.00

Of the 38% that had goals, with no plan had nearly identical statistics the first group.

Here's were the rubber meats the road.
Of the remaining 12%
85% were millionairs
13% were earning above $300,000.00
2% were earning above $200,000.00
95% had achieved the goal they set in college

Here's the best part.
Of the 12% group:
Less than 1% had a goal of being rich. The other 99% had other goals. Thier wealth was attained along the way.

So is there a direct corellation of wealth to education? Perhaps there is. Perhaps there is not. I'm of the opinion that it is as much coincidence as anything. However, I am a goal setter, and I have applied the same goal setting methods as the 12% above. I also refuse to loose.

To date I have achieved every goal I have set. I am a ninth grade drop out. I also know tht I am an exceptional person, with exceptional goals.

All of us here are exceptional people, the key is having exceptional goals and a willingness to do what ever it takes to achieve them. This of course does not mean using, hurting or abusing anyone in the process!

Happy driving;