How to be an over-night millionaire!

**buildmybudget** · 12-01-2009, 06:27 PM

"over-night millionaire" is an oxymoron. Add cheap, quick, and legal and I don't know what you have...

**wincrasher** · 12-02-2009, 04:39 AM

Step One - make a million dollars.

Step Two - do it in one night.

Hmmm....wasn't there a movie about this?

**disneysteve** · 12-02-2009, 04:45 AM

Do you know how to make a million dollars in the stock market?
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Start with two million.

**disneysteve** · 12-02-2009, 04:55 AM

It would be interesting to know what $1 US buys in each of those countries. I'm sure many, if not all, of them have lower COL than we do.

I remember the first time we went to Jamaica in 1992. We exchanged some dollars for local currency. $1 US was something like $20 Jamaican and yet they still had quarters and dimes and nickels, so their nickel was worth $0.0025 US. Surely, it cost more than that to make the coins.

**Broken Arrow** · 12-02-2009, 05:18 AM

Originally posted by disneysteve View Post

It would be interesting to know what $1 US buys in each of those countries. I'm sure many, if not all, of them have lower COL than we do.

Yeah, I posted this more for amusement than anything else.

But if we want to take it seriously, we would need to know the regional economy's basic purchasing power. Perhaps... using a chicken as a baseline commodity for example. But then, we'd also have to have a sense of how valuable that chicken is within that society... which complicates things even more.

Otherwise though, we don't really know how much 50,000 Paraguayan Guaranis can actually buy. Is it enough to buy a chicken, or a cow, or something in the middle? We only know what the exchange rate to USD is at the time of writing....

Regardless of the details, I too think it's safe to assume that money would go much further in these low COL countries. I remember reading an article of an American couple who never saved much for retirement, and when it finally came around, they just uprooted themselves and retired somewhere in South America. They would have had to struggle here, even with social security, but over there... they even had a maid and a chef. I don't remember exactly where though, because I don't think all of South America is low COL anymore.

But back to the amusing part, did anybody else notice the (Dis)Honorable Mention? OMG, 1 US dollar is equal to 100 trillion Zimbabwean Dollars? The currency is so bad that they've suspended it indefinitely! I once mentioned that Robert Mugabe is the dumbest world leader I've ever read about, and this certainly hasn't changed my opinions any.

**Joan.of.the.Arch** · 12-02-2009, 08:02 AM

I just want to know the significance of the stack of rocks on the Zimbabwe $100 trillion note. Curious.

**zakity** · 12-02-2009, 08:24 AM

Man... I feel sorry for those countries.

**disneysteve** · 12-02-2009, 08:31 AM

Originally posted by Joan.of.the.Arch View Post

I just want to know the significance of the stack of rocks on the Zimbabwe $100 trillion note. Curious.

I wasn't curious until you went and posted that.

"The main illustration on the obverse of banknotes issued since 1980 is the Chiremba Balancing Rocks in Epworth, Harare. The rocks were part of the Reserve Bank's emblem, which was used for all Bearer and Agro cheques, which circulated between 15 September 2003 and 31 December 2008. The reverse of dollar notes often illustrate the culture or landmarks of Zimbabwe."

**wincrasher** · 12-02-2009, 08:41 AM

Didn't they just print money with no numbers on it? Just blank notes for the bank to put a number on each day. Thought I heard that on NPR last year.

**wincrasher** · 12-02-2009, 08:42 AM

I mean, at a certain level, the bank notes have the actual value of the paper they are printed on. So at a certain point, a stack of notes and a roll of toilet paper may have the same value and could be used for the same thing.

**Joan.of.the.Arch** · 12-02-2009, 08:54 AM

In grade school history class when we were learning bout how the US monetary system came about --initially various states and various banks issued their own paper currency!-- we learned about how the ravages of land speculation and bank bankruptcies led to this currency or that losing all value except as paper, at which point it was used for wall paper, wrapping small goods, toilet, etc. Growing up in the South, I also heard the same stories about Confederate bills after the Civil War.

Huhm... real estate speculation...bankruptcies...worthless paper money. Perhaps I need to go re-read some history. There might be some parallels today, eh?

**wincrasher** · 12-02-2009, 09:09 AM

Warren Buffett said that the one thing we learn form history is that we learn nothing from it.

**PrincessPerky** · 12-02-2009, 09:51 AM

those who refuse to learn history are doomed to repeat it...unfortunatly learning history wont really save you from it...(It's the politicians who need to study!)

Anyway, those Zimbabwe dollars are still useful, my father bought some cheap off ebay so he could say he is a trillionaire

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**southerndoc** · 12-02-2009, 10:36 AM

Originally posted by zakity View Post

Man... I feel sorry for those countries.

America in 10 years.

How to be an over-night millionaire!