As far as getting trusted advisors go, you usually have to go through a lot of losers to find them. Rich and famous or poor and obscure, excellent employees are truly hard to come by – most people are better off handing things themselves. But you can not build an empire by yourself. Many folks are not able to tell the good folks from the bad until it’s too late. Best of luck finding a Suze Orman to handle your affairs when you can not do it yourself.

The only strategy I can deduce from experience of the rich & the famous is that if you must be rich, try to avoid being famous.

Considering my comment, perhaps we should have a number five about family and friends. It is sad, but when you move into an extreme wealth bracket like MJ did, it is hard to discern love from greed.

MasterPo
A lot of people have difficulties understanding the difference between hard well earned money, and the absolute worship of it. The difference between looking at money and seeing something else such as a college education for your children, rather than throwing it onto the floor and rolling around in it. The difference between taking that money and planting a flower garden, rather than investing it in a company that wants to cut the top of a mountain off (thereby polluting the area for generations). There are people who understand why they work hard for their money, and then there are those that the sum of them begins and end with their money.

I used to work with a woman who did not have children and literally gave a great deal of time and money to our local schools. When asked about it, she responded rather flippantly to me: “I figure (she says) that every child I help is one less child likely to grow up and mug me.” While humorous, the comment belies an important tenet of the Liberal thought process. If you invest, and make opportunities for people, they will rise to the challenge (not all, but most) and at the end of the day, they will provide far more to our community (taxes, community service, etc.) than our original investment. Conservatives see one dead beat and declare the whole investment process a sham (designed to separate their beloved money from their wallet), and then go back to their homes to count their many coins all the while crying about the state of the world they helped create.

Peace.
Rick Beagle

I liken it to the stories of people who win multi-millions in the lottery. A huge number of them are dead broke again with in a year or so.

#5) Just because you can sing, dance, play football does not mean you know what you are doing when it comes to investments – get a trusted advisor BUT MAKE SURE HE OR SHE CAN BE TRUSTED.