Self-Made Or Spoon Fed? How the wealthy get rich

As a culture, we believe anyone can achieve abundant wealth. You don't have to be born into an old-money family whose name is plastered across schools and libraries to make it in America. The American Dream glorifies the self-made person. After all, at one point Rockefeller and Vanderbilt were just regular old John and Neil. But to what extent is it true that hard work is all it takes to make it rich? Reese and Jane investigate.

Reese: All in a day's work
As of 2011, 75% of the top 400 richest Americans are self-made, according to Forbes. From creating a technology giant to becoming a renowned Wall Street guru, the wealthy elite prove that achieving the American Dream depends on how hard you work.

Even outside the top 1%, hard work lays the path to individual wealth--but it isn't always glamorous. David Sumner built his Portland, OR car wash and oil change business into an enterprise by working nearly sixty hours a week alongside his frontline employees servicing over 78 cars per day. "I worked for almost two years without a paycheck," he recalls.

The years of washing cars, changing oil, and fighting off competition paid off big when Sumner received an unsolicited buy-out offer from regional competitor Oil Can Henry's for nearly five times his income plus assets. "They gave me an offer I couldn't refuse," he recounts, "because they didn't want to try to compete with me."

READ MORE:  http://www.brassmagazine.com/article/self-made-or-spoon-fed-how-wealthy-get-rich 

Free & Totally Useful: 10 things high school can actually

teach you

Think school is for fools? Here are ten ways that school actually prepares you for life as an adult.

Home Economics. Learning your way around a stove and sewing up holes in socks are important life lessons that will forever come in handy.

Basic Math. Basic skills will be needed both at work and at home. For example, cartoon animators use geometry to work with proportion and movement, and everyone needs to prep a budget and figure out how much car they can afford.

Writing coherently. Written communications--emails, letters, etc.--are part of how an employer evaluates all kinds of workers, so pay attention to grammar and use spell-check! Even police officers and road workers need to have writing skills for reports and proposals.


READ MORE:  http://www.brassmagazine.com/article/free-totally-useful-10-things-high-school-can-actually-teach-you

Speaking In Code: Deciphering computer science prospects
In a notable scene in the Facebook flick The Social Network, a sweaty herd of bad-postured Harvard undergrads huddle in a key-clicking duel: a fight to write the best code, all in the hopes of scoring a one-way intern ticket to Zuckerberg headquarters. Over-dramatized as it may be, the scene isn't too far off from what it takes to get a computer science job at a major tech company today.

Sound tough? It's worth it. Computer science is one of the fastest-growing career paths, with jobs in software development sitting pretty near the top of just about every ubiquitous "best careers" list known to man. If you want in-demand job skills and the potential to make an impact in your profession, computer science is a career to embrace.
Puzzles and think machines

According to Dr. Bruce Porter, chairman of the Department of Computer Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin, if you're keen on brainteasers, computer science could be your jam. "A student that likes puzzles--likes solving puzzles--would probably find computer science to be a lot of fun."


READ MORE:  http://www.brassmagazine.com/article/speaking-code-deciphering-computer-science-prospects

 

Crowd-funding: Little guys help other little guys get

ahead

We no longer have to rely on deep-pocketed investors to finance a great idea. Small-change donations from lots of people can become the genesis of companies and causes. We influence what's produced and ultimately available for us to buy. For producers and cause founders, crowdfunding makes it possible to build a support group or customer base before taking the plunge--helping ensure success once they launch. With Kickstarter to date successfully funding more than 36,000 projects with $418 million, main competitor Indiegogo recently securing $15 million in venture funding, and 400-plus other crowdfunding websites worldwide, the phenomenon is here to stay.

Indiegogo and Kickstarter (founded in 2008 and 2009, respectively) tap the communal power of humanity that the Internet ties together. Nonprofits, business owners, and entrepreneurs have access to a worldwide network of millions of potential funders waiting to pool their money, something that was unimaginable 10 years ago.

"[Crowdfunding] is helping individuals who might not normally be able to start a small business to do so," says Donald Neubaum, an associate dean in the College of Business at Oregon State University. "It is also allowing thousands of 'investors' to have a small bit of influence in the kinds of products or businesses that are subsequently launched."

Sam Gordon, co-founder of Kickstarter-backed products/companies The Oona and The Brydge, which raised $929,199 combined from 7,181 funders, concurs: "One of the biggest problems was that if [my business partner, Brad Leong, and I] even had an idea, a lot of times we didn't have the money to actually get it produced and to get started. And we didn't really have access to funds any other way… but then Kickstarter came along."

READ MORE:  http://www.brassmagazine.com/article/crowdfunding-little-guys-help-other-little-guys-get-ahead

A Blow-Up Economy: How inflation affects your purchasing power

Inflation isn't one of those things that only affects "grown-ups" with 401(k)s and serious money plans. It affects anyone buying anything--i.e., you.
According to the Federal Reserve (the central bank of the United States), inflation is "a general increase in the overall price level of the goods and services in the economy." Basically, it's how much prices change over time. Inflation makes stuff cost more every year. That means groceries, rent, gas, etc., will be more expensive next year, usually without fail.
But what causes prices to rise in the first place? Here are three common factors that can influence inflation, among many others:

READ MORE:  http://www.brassmagazine.com/article/blow-economy-how-inflation-affects-your-purchasing-power