Sary's notes on The Millionaire Fastlane

Ch.8 Cuban understands the dichotomy that most don't: Process creates events that others see as luck. Cuban comments how nobody mentioned luck when it came time to read complicated software texts or Cisco router manuals or testing and experimenting with new technologies from his garage. Where was luck then? "Rich people got lucky" is a Sidewalker's creed and a disempowering belief that strips you of your free will.

Ch.8 The art of selling moneymaking "systems" on social media and TV infomercials is a strong Fastlane. Unfortunately, the systems being sold aren't Fastlane or as profitable as the act of selling the system itself. Example: Order now for just one low payment of $1997, and you can join my super-dupe training program that will teach you how to make millions working just ferty minutes a day with no risk or effort. Yes, folks, it's that easy, and you know a works. Just look at this picture of me standing in front of my leased ten-year-did Lamborghini. But you must hurry; Im only allowing 1000 lucky students into my program, and spaces are filling up quickly. But wait, there's more! Order to-day, and, as a thank you, you'll get access to my secret insider sales system, which I will personally video from my one-bedroom apartment. Yes, folks, this system is fantastic, and it won't be here for long. Act now!

Ch.9 Victims are Side-walkers who refuse to take the driver's seat of their own lives and live under a dark cloud of "theys" reflective of a "me against them" attitude. They laid me off. They changed the terms. They cheated me. They didn't tell me. They raised my rent. They raised my interest rate.

Ch.9 Hey, Eugene and to anyone else reading, if you're tired of making $11 an hour, raise your value to society. Get your butt over to the library or take an online class at uDemy. Walmart can't offer low wages if they don't have an endless supply of victims like you.

Ch.9 Reflect on your choices. Are you in a situation because you put yourself there? Did you make an error in the process? Were you lazy? Most bad situations are consequences of bad choices. Own them, and you own your life. No one can steer you off course because you are in the driver's seat. And when you own your decisions, something miraculous happens. Failure doesn't become the badge of victimhood —it becomes wisdom.

Ch.9 Summary - Hitchhikers assign control over their financial plans to others, which effectively introduces probabilities to victimhood. - The Law of Victims: You can't be a victim if you don't relinquish power to someone capable of making you a victim. - Responsibility owns your choices. - Taking responsibility is the first step to taking the driver's seat of your life. Accountability is the final.

Ch.10 We highlighted that a Sidewalker has no financial plan and is only focused on today's pleasures, often governed by instant gratification. While the Sidewalk is a lifestyle that mortgages the future for a comfortable today, the Slow-lane is the opposite: a sacrificial today in the hopes of a more comfortable tomor-row.

Ch.10 Slowlane mind posts - Debt Perception: Debt is evil and must be religiously attacked and avoided, regardless of interest rates. - Time Perception: My time is abundant, and I will gladly trade my time WORKING for more dollars or WAITING for more years to pass as I hope for stock market gains. The more time that expires, either working or waiting, the more I can reduce my debt and invest money for retirement. - Education Perception: Education helps me earn a bigger salary. - Money Perception: Money is scarce, and every dime and dollar must be micromanaged in an Excel spreadsheet, budgeted, and rigorously saved. If I want to retire with millions, I must ensure I don't squander my hard-earned money.

Ch.10 Slowlane mind posts - Priary Income Source: My job is my sole source of income. - Primary Wealth Accelerator: Compound interest is powerful because $10 invested today will be worth $300,000 in 40 years. Oh yes, and don't forget about mutual funds, home appreciation, and my employer's 401(k). - Wealth Perception: Work, save, and invest. Work, save and invest. Repeat for 40 years until retirement age... 65 years old or if the markets return 12% yearly, I can retire early if I eat Ramen for the rest of my life and buy nothing!

Ch.10 Slowlane mind posts - Destination: A comfortable retirement in my twilight years, or a life of mediocrity enslaved by money, budgets, and experiential deprivation. - Responsibility & Control: It's my responsibility to provide for my family, although for that plan to work, I must rely on others, including Wall Street, my employer, my financial adviser, the government, and a booming stock market. - Life Perception: Settle for less. Give up on big dreams. Save, live frugally, don't take unnecessary risks, and one day I will retire with millions (but still suffer the same miserable existence).

Ch.10 slowlane weapons - Go to college or university - Graduate with good grades - Get a good job - Save X% of your paycheck - Pay yourself first - Climb the corporate ladder - Contribute to your 401 (k) - Save, save, save - Invest in the stock market - Buy and hold - Buy indexed-funds - Diversify your portfolio - Raise your insurance deductibles

Ch.10 slowlane weapons - Say "no" to expensive coffee - Be frugal and keep a tight budget - Get out of debt, then avoid debt - Apply The Rule of 72 - Cancel your credit cards - Dollar cost average - Get an advanced degree - FIRE: Sell everything, buy nothing - Have patience, patience, patience! - Max out your IRA and/or Roth - Live below your means - Understand compound interest - Understand withdrowal rates

Ch.10 Friday evening is celebrated because people are rejoicing the dividends of their trade: five days of work-bondage exchanged for two days of unadulterated freedom. Saturday and Sunday are the payment for Monday through Friday. Friday evening symbolizes the emergence of that payment, freedom for two days. The prostitution of Monday through Friday Is why "Thank God it's Friday" exists. On Friday, people are paid FREEDOM in the currency of Saturday and Sunday.

Ch.10 The ultimate insanity is selling your soul Monday through Friday for the paycheck of Saturday and Sunday. Yes, give me $5 today, and in return, I'll give you $2 back tomorrow. 5-for-2. No? How about five loaves of bread today, and in return, I'll give you two back tomorrow. No again? Why? This is a smoking deal! Hopefully, you recognize that five of anything in exchange for two is a bad return. The 5-for-2 return on investment is a negative 60%. If you make a consistent negative 60% return on investments, you will go bankrupt quick. What logical person would accept such a horrific deal?

Ch.10 While I worked on my plan, I gave 7-for-0 (I worked seven days and didn't take a day off) because I knew the roads within my roadmap converged with dreams. I worked for a better ratio shortly, not in forty years. I controlled my des-tiny, and eventually, my time trade investment yielded a dividend of forty years. Now I do 0-for-7. I work zero days and get seven days of freedom. Sadly, if you are Slowlane grinding, your options to shatter this negative 60% return for your freedom are restricted. Remember, wealth is defined by freedom.

Ch.10 summary • The Slowlane is a natural course correction from the Sidewalk evolving from responsibility and accountability. • Wealth is best experienced when you're young, vibrant, and able, not in the twilight of your life. • The Slowlane is a plan that takes decades to succeed, requiring masterful political prowess in a corporate environment, frugality, and Wall Street wizardry. • For the Slowlaner, Saturday and Sunday are the paychecks for Monday through Friday. • The default return on your time in the Slowlane is negative 60% —5-for-2. The 5-for-2 trade inherent in the Slowlane is generally fixed and cannot be manipulated because job standards are five days a week. • In the Slowlane, Lifestyle Servitude is created via ascetic saving and investing rituals, whereas Lifestyle Servitude from the Sidewalk evolves from conspicuous consumerism. • The predisposed destination of the Slowlane is mediocrity. Life isn't great, but with enough mental gymnastics, it isn't so bad either.

Ch.11 JOBS: HUMAN DOMESTICATION If you want to escape the Slowlane and find wealth and freedom fast, you've go to dump the job. Let me repeat. Dump the damn job! Jobs suck. I mean that generically, not targeted toward a specific job. Whethe you're an electrician or a store manager, you hold a job. Jobs suck because they'r rooted in limited leverage and limited control. Sure, you can have a good job (an a fun one), but in the scope of wealth, they limit both leverage and control two things desperately needed if you want wealth.

Ch.11 A job is a basis for that horrific 5-for-2 exchange. But let me translate that word, time, differently: life. In a job, you sell your life for money. If you work, you get paid. If you don't work, you don't get paid. Who officiated this bloodsucking marriage? Assuming a 20% income tax, here is a list of typical jobs and how long it takes to carn (and then pocket) $1 million in after-tax dollars. If you diligently save 10% of your after-tax earnings and stuff it under a mattress, your time to $1 million multiplies by a factor of 10. Do you have 250 years to save your way to $1 million?

Ch.11 Experience comes from what you do in life, not from what you do in a job. You don't need a job to get experience. Ask yourself this: Which experience is more important? The experience of a menial job designed to pay your bills? Or the experience (and failures) of creating something that could provide you financial freedom for a lifetime without ever having to hold a job again?

Ch.11 Job experience is usually organized into a core group of activities that is routinely repeated, day after day. After the initial learning experience, the job becomes regimented, and the accumulation of new knowledge creeps to a crawl. A job limits learning and mutates into life's death knell: a trade of life force for money.

Ch.11 A job is like sitting in the bed of a pickup truck. You're exposed to the harsh elements while the driver of the truck sits comfortably in the driver's seat. And if the ride gets rough? You get jacked around or, worse, tossed overboard. There is no control sitting in the back of a pickup truck, and to have this "strategy" at the core of your financial plan is insanely foolish. If you don't control your income, you don't control your financial plan. If you don't control your financial plan, you don't control your freedom.