A reply from CEO of J.P. Morgan to a pretty girl seeking a rich husband

A reply from CEO of J.P. Morgan to a pretty girl seeking a rich husband

I read this from a friend's sharing on facebook and I found it really intriguing so I decide to share it here on my blog....

 A young and pretty lady posted this on a popular forum:

Title: What should I do to marry a rich guy?

...
I'm going to be honest of what I'm going to say here.

I'm 25 this year. I'm very pretty, have style and good taste. I wish to marry a guy with $500k annual salary or above.

You might say that I'm greedy, but an annual salary of $1M is considered only as middle class in New York.

My requirement is not high. Is there anyone in this forum who has an income of $500k annual salary? Are you all married?

I wanted to ask: what should I do to marry rich persons like you?

Among those I've dated, the richest is $250k annual income, and it seems that this is my upper limit.

If someone is going to move into high cost residential area on the west of New York City Garden(?), $250k annual income is not enough.

I'm here humbly to ask a few questions:
1) Where do most rich bachelors hang out? (Please list down the names and addresses of bars, restaurant, gym)
2) Which age group should I target?
3) Why most wives of the riches are only average-looking? I've met a few girls who don't have looks and are not interesting, but they are able to marry rich guys.

4) How do you decide who can be your wife, and who can only be your girlfriend? (my target now is to get married)

Ms. Pretty 

A philosophical reply from CEO of J.P. Morgan:  

 Dear Ms. Pretty,
I have read your post with great interest. Guess there are lots of girls out there who have similar questions like yours. Please allow me to analyse your situation as a professional investor.

My annual income is more than $500k, which meets your requirement, so I hope everyone believes that I'm not wasting time here.

From the standpoint of a business person, it is a bad decision to marry you. The answer is very simple, so let me explain.

Put the details aside, what you're trying to do is an exchange of "beauty" and "money" : Person A provides beauty, and Person B pays for it, fair and square.

However, there's a deadly problem here, your beauty will fade, but my money will not be gone without any good reason. The fact is, my income might increase from year to year, but you can't be prettier year after year.

Hence from the viewpoint of economics, I am an appreciation asset, and you are a depreciation asset. It's not just normal depreciation, but exponential depreciation. If that is your only asset, your value will be much worse 10 years later.

By the terms we use in Wall Street, every trading has a position, dating with you is also a "trading position".
If the trade value dropped we will sell it and it is not a good idea to keep it for long term - same goes with the marriage that you wanted. It might be cruel to say this, but in order to make a wiser decision any assets with great depreciation value will be sold or "leased".

Anyone with over $500k annual income is not a fool; we would only date you, but will not marry you. I would advice that you forget looking for any clues to marry a rich guy. And by the way, you could make yourself to become a rich person with $500k annual income.This has better chance than finding a rich fool.

Hope this reply helps.

signed,
J.P. Morgan CEO

I wonder if this is a true incident but nevertheless what this CEO had written is indeed very true. Many young and pretty girls out there who are seeking or dreaming about marrying a rich husband are actually thinking of trading their beauty for money but beauty is only skin deep and it will definitely deteriorate with time. And no amount of money can buy you beauty forever! Strangely, I have never thought about marrying a rich guy, not when I was young and definitely not now since I am already in no trading position. Well, I hope my own daughter will learn to depend on herself too.

Is a house an asset or a liability?

I was reading Rich Dad and it has some very interesting points. Basically it is highlighting to us the differences in terms of thinking and outlook of life between a poor man and a rich man. The main difference? The poor man works hard for his money but a rich man has his money work hard for him. How to make money work for you? Apparently it is the difference in the way one thinks that will make one get financially stronger or weaker. The poor man will think that "I cannot afford it." and shut his brain down. The rich man will think "How can I afford it?" and continue to exercise his brain to think of a way to make the money. Another difference, a poor man will think that his house is his asset while the rich dad thinks that a house is a liability. Hmm...interesting isn't it? Why is a house a liability when everybody is investing in properties and getting rich with their properties?

Well, I have 1st hand experience...remember the 1997 crisis when so many people went bankrupt by having properties? Well, when the market is good and the property is being rented out at a higher rent than your mortgage repayment, it can be considered an asset. However, when the market is bad and the property you have on hand is still under mortgage, then it is a big liability. I bought my private apartment in Upper East Coast Road during in 1995 and took a 80% mortgage. By mid 1997 the property has dropped 30%~40% from the price that I bought it for and it remained there at the bottom for 10 years. The rental income was less than my mortgage repayment, so for 10 years, the property was not an asset but a liability to me. I was paying through my nose and if I had no other inome to tide me through, I would be gone. I sold it for 5% higher than my purchase price last year and got out of the crap. I may have sold it a little too early...but I had my reasons and I shall not go into details here. The market has turned around and if I still have my property now, I will be taking in a monthly income of at least SGD500 after paying for the loan repayment from the rental. So, a property can be an asset or a liability depending on the market situation. Right?

Anyway, there is a board game by the name of Cashflow 101 that teaches finance, accounting and investing at the same the fun way! I think I am going to buy this board game and start playing it with my children. It is supposed to be suitable for adults and children above 10 years old. Just nice for my family. Good idea to start the kids young! :D