Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Success factors

Organ transplant guy does get insurance but if some rich Chinese or Greek guy comes in and pays you 50K, and you get a few of those, it makes a difference in a guy who makes 300K from insurance.

Not Bill Gates kind of money but a big differnce from a specialist trying to build a practice and making 250K and stuck there.

Ren

I don't agree with this either. I don't care if my kids are rich, and I feel quite ambivalent about the idea of them being famous (fame isn't all it's cracked up to be, IMO).

My main hope is that they will be happy and fulfilled. I would also hope that they won't have to be really seriously worried about money, but mainly that means I really hope they can have decent healthcare and not get into serious debt.

The best way to do this is to save 50% of your gross income and stay as healthy as possible.

I think that $250K doc would probably do much better if he was saving $125K a year. Then he would have a cushion and probably feel better.

I agree. I was involved with the music industry for awhile and I chose to leave and get away from it. I don't know what I'll do if DD ends up being talented and interested in acting, singing, or dancing. I wish someone had supported my love of singing early on, but now that I see what the industry is like, maybe I am better off for it...

Well, 50% seems a bit steep!...however, I certainly hope to teach them to live within/below their means, as we do. I do think that's a component of happiness and security, regardless of actual income.

Have you tried using a retirement calculator recently?

Everything in the world is returning 2%!

Except stocks. They're at about 0% long-term now.

So, long term economic and regulatory projections are necessary to achieve material and/or career success.

Don't aim for where the ball is. Aim for where it's going.

I would agree that saving 50% of income above that needed to obtain decent food, clothing, and shelter is probably wise advice. I think it would be cruel and totally unreasonable to tell someone in the US making $15000 a year (full-time work at the Federal minimum wage) that he or she should be able to save $7500 a year.

I was thinking more in the context of the numbers in this post. $80K - $400K plus.

Not poverty line. I would expect people at that level to run chronic deficits and experience periodic bankruptcy, which is part of the modern American experience. This is based on what I see with my clients, who normally have negative net worth, no job, and often no healthcare.

Such an interesting topic.

As a radiation oncologist....and by Jon's comments, one of the "successful" people, I thought I should give my 2 cents.

Success most certainly cannot and should not be defined by how much money you make.....at least not for everyone. Obviously, to many people in the United States, success is defined by material wealth. As emphasized in the preceeding posts, each individual, however, has his/her own measure of success. In my opinion, success should be defined as having the means available to achieve one's individual measure of success.

I, for one, have conciously chosen to work part-time and make half the money as my full-time colleagues. I feel that I would actually be less successful if I worked full time. I say this because my definition of success includes building relationships with my friends and family, raising strong and confident children, having a career that I truly love (and that I'm not totally burned out on), contributing to my communtiy through volunteer work, and having time to to travel and pursue my other interests. I don't define success by the size of my house or the type of car I drive.

So what does all of this have to do with giftedness?

I think giftedness opens doors so that more choices are available, but it does not necessarily mean that you will make all the "right" choices to obtain your particular definition of success.

Do I think my gifted children have a better chance of being successful than "average" chidren? Yes. Do I think that success is guaranteed? Absolutely not. Do I think that it is possible for an average intelligence person to be more successful than an gifted person? Most certainly.

Do I think that the "gifted" physician in your initial post is successful? Maybe. He may consider himself successful even though he is working his *** off, lives at the hospital and barely makes any money. He may consider himself successful because he loves his job and he loves his patients and no trip to Aruba or anywhere else in the world can compare to the feeling he gets when he is able to help someone that otherwise would be suffering. I wonder what the world would be like if more people defined this as success?