A Million Quid? Or Fags and Booze? Your Choice!
Apr 16th, 2007 by Freddie
Greetings from sunny Berkshire!
Have you ever driven to the airport and left your car in the long term car park?
Because I live near to Heathrow, I’ve done this often in the past. Too often…
Let me tell you, it’s a bleak experience.
First, the car park is miles away from the terminal.
Next it’s almost always choc-a-block full.
Sure they TELL you to park in ‘ZONE G’ but when you get there, you find they’re parked up the lamp-posts, on the pavements – everywhere. Usually you can find a spot though, then it’s a long walk with all your cases to the nearest bus stop.
(Irritating pause whilst you write ZONE G – Stop 3 on the back of your ticket. Is it just me, or is life too short for this nonsense???)
You wait…
A bus comes along. Wrong one. It’s for terminal 4.
Then another bus – ‘out of service’.
Then another – ‘sit down only’.
I’m not fooling here. If you’ve done this, you’ll be chortling in recognition.
Eventually you heave your cases aboard a bus which then sets off on a Grand Sightseeing Tour of All Ye London Terminals…
Coming back is worse! You have to find the bus stop and queue with dozens of others, then trundle around all the terminals before heading off for the long drive to the car park. Then around every bus stop. Honestly it’s… what’s the modern idiom I hear my children using… erm… underwear – that’s right! It’s really underwear (or was it pants? Not sure now…)
Whatever.
So when I went on my travels last week I thought I’d book the car park on line (as it was Easter and I thought the car park might be full).
I went to the web site and… what’s this? An option for Valet parking?
VALET PARKING???
Tell me more, please do.
They did.
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Jeeves – Park My Car!
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For an extra twenty quid, I could drive right up to the terminal where a spry young parking-meister would take over my borge-mobile and whisk the decadent thing away to who-knows-where ready to be retrieved at the snap of my arrogant fingers.
Sounds great!
I booked and paid on-line and it worked like absolute clockwork. Zero hassle and it saved me an hour each way, easily.
Why I have never come across this before, escapes me.
The point?
Two points, actually.
First, don’t be such a lousy goddamned cheapskate – get used to living life first class. Start with small things like valet parking. Yes you CAN afford it, so stop whining.
Second. You don’t need to invent antigravity to make serious money. I mean, these guys were stacking it away in big bundles. A simple service which is an extension of an existing service – that’s really all you need to get very, very rich.
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Quote of the Day
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“I find it fascinating that most people plan their vacations with better care than they plan their lives.
Perhaps that is because escape is easier than change.”
Jim Rohn
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A Million Quid? Or Fags and Booze? Your Choice!
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Here’s a seriously scary thought for the day…
If you read last week’s Money Tree you’ll know I banged- on about the awesome power of compounding. (Example: Put ten grand into stocks and shares and add 10% of your salary - let’s say £2,500 a year or about £200 a month - and you’d have two hundred grand after twenty years and a MILLION after 37 years assuming 10% average per year!)
That’s the upside. Now the downside.
What do you spend your money on?
Many people (too many) spend a lot of their cash on fags and booze. If you don’t, it’s time to cuddle-up and have some SMUG TIME. If you do, you may find these facts hard to swallow…
If you smoke 20 a day for 30 years it costs you fifty five thousand quid!
If you drink 20 units a week (modest) for 30 years that costs you another fifty grand!
(I hope you’re feeling a little queasy…)
Here’s the kicker.
If you INVESTED that money at 7% instead of spending it on fags and booze you would have a gargantuan… a truly astonishing… a mind-bending HALF A MILLION in the bank after 30 years!!!
After 40 years we’re talking close on A MILLION QUID!!!
And remember, 40 years is ‘just’ aged 16 to 56.
People get the their retirement broke and embarrassed – totally skint. Unable to support themselves and having to fall back onto State hand-outs. Almost all of these people could have had between £250,000 and a MILLION pounds in the bank if they hadn’t smoked and/or drunk to excess. What a difference that would make to their retirement years!
And I haven’t even touched upon the masses of consumer junk we spend our money on. Tens of thousands of pounds which, if invested instead of squandered, would return huge dividends in the form of compound interest.
Something to think about…
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SCAM ALERT: If Someone Offers You Cash From a Bag – Say No!
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One of the latest ATM scams involves placing a man dressed as a security guard at the bank cash machine (after the bank has closed). The ’security guard’ tells customers that the ATM is not working and asks how much money they want. Next to him is an official looking bag full of cash. He will give £20, £50 or £100 to the person to buy their trust, then he’ll ask for their account number and PIN which he’ll note down in an official looking book. This information will then be used to empty your bank account.
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Time Saving Tip of The Day – The 80:20 Rule
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Prioritize your tasks. Most people spend 80% of their time trying to complete 20% of their tasks.
Most people spend 80% of their time on the 20% or trivial and unimportant tasks, ignoring the life- changing tasks which need doing.
Set aside ten minutes at the start of every day to plan your day’s activities.
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That’s it from me today. I’m off for a walk around town to see if I can find one of those talking CCTV cameras.
Now, where’s my hammer…?
Yours,
Stuart Goldsmith
