By: Daniel Nardini
One of my biggest arguments with yahoo.com news is that it has stories about how people discovered a Renoir painting or a penny worth one million dollars or a Continental silver coin worth $100,000. While these stories may be true, the problem with how these stories are framed is that it makes them seem possible that many, many people might “get lucky.” The answer to that one is a resounding no. Many of these writers do not put these stories into perspective. The chances of finding that extremely rare penny worth one millions dollars are 250 million to one. And even then, it depends on the condition of the penny. If the penny is less then very fine, then chances are you might be able to sell it for $600,000 to $800,000. Yes, that is a huge amount of money of course, but you are basically not likely to find it. As for the Continental silver coin found by one couple, they had gotten it quite by accident, and did not know its real value for over 40 years. As coin dealers will tell you, such a thing of happening is so freaky that it is virtually impossible.
In truth, your odds of striking it big in Las Vegas is much higher compared to these things. Even a state lottery has better odds. I have seen a number of people fritter away their lives trying to find that extreme rare oddity that might be worth something while they neglect finding work, paying their bills and providing for their families. Just as equally bad, some people spend fortunes trying to buy hoards of coins, lots of lottery tickets, and buying plane tickets to search for that one rare oddity that will make them rich. Basically all it did was make them spend too much money while not taking care of the basics. But I have to fault the news media as well for trying to give this impression that any person can find that rare oddity that will land them a fortune. If people are made to think in this fashion then there will be a lot more people who will be in financial trouble than they should be in.
I am by no means trying to say that people should not look for that possible penny that might be worth one million dollars, should not buy a lottery ticket that might be a jackpot winner, and should not give up trying to find a possible treasure among all of the junk one finds at yard sales. What I am saying is that one should focus in on their responsibilities of taking care of themselves, taking care of their families, and paying for what we need as we go through life. Only after all of this then should we think of maybe looking for more. But we should always invest in something wisely, and not in crackpot schemes because of some news story in the news media. Because sadly other people will have read the same articles and they may try to do the same. As much as I normally do not say this, my readers should treat these type of sensationalist stories with a bit of skepticism.
The Danger of Get Rich Quick Schemes
By: Daniel Nardini
In truth, your odds of striking it big in Las Vegas is much higher compared to these things. Even a state lottery has better odds. I have seen a number of people fritter away their lives trying to find that extreme rare oddity that might be worth something while they neglect finding work, paying their bills and providing for their families. Just as equally bad, some people spend fortunes trying to buy hoards of coins, lots of lottery tickets, and buying plane tickets to search for that one rare oddity that will make them rich. Basically all it did was make them spend too much money while not taking care of the basics. But I have to fault the news media as well for trying to give this impression that any person can find that rare oddity that will land them a fortune. If people are made to think in this fashion then there will be a lot more people who will be in financial trouble than they should be in.
I am by no means trying to say that people should not look for that possible penny that might be worth one million dollars, should not buy a lottery ticket that might be a jackpot winner, and should not give up trying to find a possible treasure among all of the junk one finds at yard sales. What I am saying is that one should focus in on their responsibilities of taking care of themselves, taking care of their families, and paying for what we need as we go through life. Only after all of this then should we think of maybe looking for more. But we should always invest in something wisely, and not in crackpot schemes because of some news story in the news media. Because sadly other people will have read the same articles and they may try to do the same. As much as I normally do not say this, my readers should treat these type of sensationalist stories with a bit of skepticism.