Wednesday, February 3, 2010

A $300,000 Car for a 16 Year Old Kid? WTF

Dear Frugal fans,

Again I have heard the unbelievable. I try not to judge too harshly and I think Puff Daddy, P-ditty,
Sean P is a talented person and shrewd entrepreneur but he just purchased a $300,000 car for his son's sixteenth birthday. Come on. Like Chris Rock said, "He is rich but he ain't wealthy." "Rick James was rich...." Aside from the comment of where is a 16 year old going to drive his ride outside of Beverly Hills without being Jacked discussion, what about the principles of money management a teenager is missing. Is he setting his son up for sustainability for the future. It would have been much better to put that in a trust or annuity available at age 55. Could you imagine how much he would have? This would ensure that if he blew his money and Puffy's that his son would be ensured a poverty free retirement.

I will give P-ditty a challenge if he thinks his business model is so strong. Walk away from it for a year without contact. Make no business decisions and connections to new talent. If the business sustains it self then great you have done your job as a father. Why this experiment? Because this is exactly what will happen if he expired today.

Now look at Warren Buffet who we know is wealthy. He has set up his children so that they will not be able to blow their inheritance. He has picked a successor to his position. More than that he has lead a frugal life and set a great role model so well that his grandson is modeling himself after his strategy. He lives in a modest home but enjoys life and his job. From my research, he has never purchased a $300,000 vehicle for anyone or does he own said vehicle.

Now for the everyday folk like me, who had hard working frugal parents who had Warren Buffet tendencies just not the money,I tip my hat. These parents delayed wants and satisfied our needs. I remember a time when everyone on my block wore pleather not leather jackets and the arguments were about whose pleather looked real or fake. I remember knowing exactly what we were getting for Christmas because my mom had layed it away months ago, but I still acted exited on Christmas morning. I also remember that most teenagers first cars needed paint jobs or interior work, but you drove it as is. There was no conversation with your parents about getting a job during the year to fix it up because school came first. I was never embarrassed and neither were my friends because if and only if you were lucky to have a car everyone had old cars or a new Yugo, Horizon,Chevette which might as well been close to junk cars.

I do wish the musical artists would at least take a few history courses on Black music. They would soon find that Louis Armstrong was a better business man than they. He was getting 3 cents per record sold in his day. If I am wrong from my information, I think the artists still get 3 cents. They could learn from Mahalia Jackson who demanded her payment for concerts before she went onstage and had several million left when she passed.

Sorry, I have to go. Starting to babble.

Peace Out,

Frugal Frank OTBS