Top 10 Reasons You're Not Rich

Many people assume they aren't rich because they don't earn enough money. If I only earned a little more, I could save and invest better, they say.

The problem with that theory is they were probably making exactly the same argument before their last several raises. Becoming a millionaire has less to do with how much you make, it's how you treat money in your daily life. The list of reasons you may not be rich doesn't end at 10.

Here are 10 more possible reasons you aren't rich:

10. You care what your car looks like

A car is a means of transportation to get from one place to another, but many people don't view it that way. Instead, they consider it a reflection of themselves and spend money every two years or so to impress others instead of driving the car for its entire useful life and investing the money saved.

9. You feel entitlement

If you believe you deserve to live a certain lifestyle, have certain things and spend a certain amount before you have earned to live that way, you will have to borrow money. That large chunk of debt will keep you from building wealth.

8. You lack diversification

There is a reason one of the oldest pieces of financial advice is to not keep all your eggs in a single basket. Having a diversified investment portfolio makes it much less likely that wealth will suddenly disappear.

7. You started too late

The magic of compound interest works best over long periods of time. If you find you're always saying there will be time to save and invest in a couple more years, you'll wake up one day to find retirement is just around the corner and there is still nothing in your retirement account.

6. You don't do what you enjoy

While your job doesn't necessarily need to be your dream job, you need to enjoy it. If you choose a job you don't like just for the money, you'll likely spend all that extra cash trying to relieve the stress of doing work you hate.

5. You don't like to learn

You may have assumed that once you graduated from college, there was no need to study or learn. That attitude might be enough to get you your first job or keep you employed, but it will never make you rich. A willingness to learn to improve your career and finances are essential if you want to eventually become wealthy.

4. You buy things you don't use

Take a look around your house, in the closets, basement, attic and garage and see if there are a lot of things you haven't used in the past year. If there are, chances are that all those things you purchased were wasted money that could have been used to increase your net worth.

3. You don't understand value

You buy things for any number of reasons besides the value that the purchase brings to you. This is not limited to those who feel the need to buy the most expensive items, but can also apply to those who always purchase the cheapest goods. Rarely are either the best value, and it's only when you learn to purchase good value that you have money left over to invest for your future.

2. Your house is too big

When you buy a house that is bigger than you can afford or need, you end up spending extra money on longer debt payments, increased taxes, higher upkeep and more things to fill it. Some people will try to argue that the increased value of the house makes it a good investment, but the truth is that unless you are willing to downgrade your living standards, which most people are not, it will never be a liquid asset or money that you can ever use and enjoy.

1. You fail to take advantage of opportunities

There has probably been more than one occasion where you heard about someone who has made it big and thought to yourself, "I could have thought of that." There are plenty of opportunities if you have the will and determination to keep your eyes open.

Source: By Jeffrey Strain via TheStreet.com

Jeffrey Strain has been a freelance personal finance writer for the past 10 years helping people save money and get their finances in order. He currently owns and runs SavingAdvice.com

Facebook Worth $50 Billion

Depending on who you talk to, Facebook is valued at more than $50 billion (a jump from $10 billion since 2009) -- maybe even as much as $65 billion.

Forbes puts the social networking site's market value higher than Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Target, Sony, Nike and the major automakers.

"Facebook's not worth $50 billion. I mean, it's just not," according to Douglas Rushkoff, an author and respected teacher on new media. "What people think is that Facebook in the future might be worth more than $50 billion, but for Facebook to be worth more than $50 billion it would have to become a permanent fixture."

Launched by Mark Zuckerberg just seven years ago in his Harvard dorm room, Facebook has been nothing less than a sensation. The site has almost 600 million worldwide users and enough influence to make its founder Time magazine's Person of the Year. Facebook is even getting credit for helping to topple regimes in the Middle East.

The recent hit movie, "The Social Network," certainly promoted the idea that Facebook is worth a fortune. The film itself has earned more than $220 million dollars in theaters worldwide.

But the $50 billion price tag came from a far less flashy source: Goldman Sachs. The investment firm reportedly paid $500 million for 1% of Facebook. And $500 million is 1% of $50 billion.

"No one is offering $50 billion at all for Facebook," said Lise Buyer of Class Five Group, a Silicon Valley firm that advises companies on going public.

Buyer is an analyst who makes her living helping investors figure out what companies, especially internet firms, are worth. And she says no one in Silicon Valley really has any idea about Facebook's value, even though they all concede it could be a lot.

"Oh, Facebook is definitely worth something because it's a company that's collected more personal information about 600 million ... individuals than any company has ever had access to before, and marketers love that information," she said.

That's the real fortune of Facebook: access to all that information about consumers. What music and movies we like, where we shop, how much we spend, what we eat, where we vacation, and who our friends are.

"We are the thing that Facebook has of value. We are the only thing they have to sell," said Rushkoff, who teaches media studies at NYU and the New School University.

Most Facebook users probably think they are customers of the site. Think again, Rushkoff says.

"The user's not the customer of Facebook. The user's the product," he said. "The customer at Facebook is the people paying Facebook, and who's paying Facebook? Market research firms and advertisers."

Zuckerberg, the boyish CEO, has long said the goal of Facebook is to connect people. Facebook also has repeatedly and publicly spoken about its commitment to protecting the privacy of its users.

But analysts say the judicious use of that information must inevitably form the economic backbone of the company, because it allows targeted ads to be put in front of the most likely buyers with unprecedented accuracy.

For Facebook, that's the potential gold mine -- and the risk. Because even the company does not know how the public will respond if Facebook tries to cash in on all that data.

"It's one thing for me to send that [information] to my friends," Buyer said. "It's something else for someone else to try to use that information to market to me. Now maybe, folks who will be marketed to will be happy to have ads from their real interests. Maybe they won't. We'll see."

To become a permanent fixture on the internet, Facebook must transform itself from a wildly popular social network into a money-making machine. And analysts say that will be tricky.

"When Facebook goes over that line ... as it will have to justify its valuation, and starts selling us and who we are to its real customers is when people are going to get that itchy feeling," Rushkoff said. "When you look at the ways in which people are actually committed to Facebook, it's not so strong that they can't move somewhere else."

The company's finances are something of a mystery. No one outside of Facebook knows what the company is truly worth, or how much revenue it's bringing in. "They're a private company so they don't really have to share what they are making or not making with us...or how they're making it," Rushkoff said.

And with ongoing legal battles over whether Zuckerberg truly had the original idea for Facebook, no one close to the financial records is talking.

Facebook passed along the following statement: "We're focused on creating a useful service and building our business for the long term."

That long-term future may be Facebook's biggest challenge. Remember MySpace?

The Facebook's seven-year history is an eternity on the Internet, where other dreamers are hard at work, especially in Silicon Valley, trying to knock them off the top.

"Those of us who still mention Facebook ten years from now, will mention it in the same sentence as AOL, and Friendster, and MySpace," Rushkoff said. "As yet another thing that we thought was invincible and turned out to be another passing fad."

Will his dire prediction prove to be right? That ultimately will depend on how many people remain friends of Facebook as it tries to realize its full value, and how many do not.

Source: CNN

GhostMarket.net owners jailed for $26m Crimebook scam

Two British schoolboys have been jailed for up to five years for running a $26 million Facebook-style website for criminals dubbed "Crimebook".

Nick Webber, 19, and Ryan Thomas, 18, were found guilty of starting up and operating the online forum GhostMarket.net, where up to 8000 members exchanged details about thousands of stolen credit cards and used the information to defraud banks and shops across the world, The Guardian reported.

Information about 65,000 hacked bank accounts was also shared on the site, prosecutors said.

Judge John Price of Southwark Crown Court in London, said the fraud was on a "massive scale".

"This was a criminal enterprise offering sophisticated advice on how to hack into computers, cause them to malfunction and retrieve personal information from computers - and how to do it on a massive scale."

He said only the age of the teenagers saved them from harsher sentences.

"I'm extremely conscious of the youth of you all. Were you four or five years older the sentence would be much longer."

Mr Webber and Mr Thomas were still at school when they were arrested by police in October 2009 after trying to use the details of a stolen credit card to pay for a £1000 hotel bill, The Guardian said.

Police found 100,000 stolen credit card details on Mr Webber's laptop and traced it back to the GhostMarket.net site - the biggest criminal website they had ever uncovered.

The pair jumped bail and escaped to Majorca in Spain.

Webber taunted police while on the run, writing on a site: "To be a Legend Carder u gotta be a ghost" and adding, "F--- the Police!", London's Daily Telegraph reported.

With Thomas, he was re-arrested in early 2010 after returning to the UK.

Webber was described by prosecutors as an "extremely experienced computer hacker" and the leader of the gang behind the website.

The gang included 21-year-olds Gary Kelly and Shakira Ricardo, who were jailed for five years and 18 months respectively, the BBC reported.

Thomas worked as a moderator on the site.

Thomas and Webber pleaded guilty to conspiracy to make or supply articles for use in fraud, encouraging or assisting offenders, and conspiracy to commit fraud.

The son of former Guernsey politician Anthony Webber, Webber spent his illegal earnings on expensive goods such as cameras, jewellery and plasma televisions, the BBC reported.

His father said he never thought his son would have been involved in such criminal activity.

"He has always been super brilliant at computers but it never occurred to me anything like this would happen," he told the Telegraph last year.

"What happened to Nicholas has been a big shock to both his mother and to me. ... In a very short period of time things went wrong. He is a delightful son in a lot of respects.

"He is the sort of person that the security services should be employing. His skills are such he could do a lot of things but the very sad thing about this is it is going to affect his future career."

Source: SMH

Christian government minister killed opposing Islam law in Pakistan

Taliban militants on Wednesday shot dead Pakistan's only Christian government minister for challenging a law that mandates the death penalty for insulting Islam, the latest sign of instability in a country where many fear radical Islam is becoming more mainstream.

Read previous posts:
* Pakistan court encourages Islamist extremism
* Asia Bibi sentenced to death for blasphemy will be pardon by Pakistan President

Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti is the second senior official this year to be assassinated for opposing the blasphemy law. Provincial governor Salman Taseer was shot dead by his own bodyguard in January.

These killings, along with frequent militant attacks and chronic economic problems have raised fears for the future of U.S.-ally and nuclear-armed Pakistan, where an unpopular coalition government is struggling to cope.

Bhatti was shot by men in shawls in broad daylight while he was travelling in a car near a market in the capital, Islamabad, police said. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the killing, saying the minister had been "punished" for being a blasphemer.

The windscreen of Bhatti's car had four or five bullet holes and blood covered the back seat. His driver, Gul Sher, said at least one gunman had taken part in the attack. A hospital spokesman said Bhatti, who had spoken out against the anti-blasphemy law, received several wounds.

"A white car stopped near us at a crossing," Gul, who was slightly injured, told reporters. "Four people were sitting in the car. One of them got out with a Kalashnikov... He came infront of the car and opened fire. I ducked. Minister died on the spot."

Witnesses said the attackers scattered leaflets signed by " The Qaeda and the Taliban of Punjab" at the attack scene, which read: "This is the punishment of this cursed man."

The blasphemy law has been in the spotlight since last November, when a court sentenced a Christian mother of four to death after her neighbours complained she had insulted Prophet Muhammad.

On Jan. 4, the governor of the most populous province of Punjab, Salman Taseer, who had strongly opposed the law and sought a presidential pardon for the 45-year-old Christian farmhand, was killed by one of his bodyguards who had been angered by the governor's stand.

Taseer's killer was lionised by many in Pakistan, raising fears that mainstream society's tolerance for secularists and moderates was being eroded by a more hardline version of Islam.

"This kind of attack was expected after the government's

response to governor Taseer's assassination," said Amir Rana, director at the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies. "Because of the government's very weak response ... it has encouraged the hardliners in society."

The government of President Asif Ali Zardari has repeatedly said it would not change the blasphemy law, and officials have distanced themselves from anyone calling for amendments.

Al Qaeda-linked Pakistani Taliban militants, fighting to bring down the state, had called for Bhatti's death because of his attempts to amend the law.

"He was a blasphemer like Salman Taseer," spokesman Sajjad Mohmand said by telephone from an undisclosed location.

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani condemned the killing and ordered the Ministry of Interior to investigate.

"PROTECTION FROM HEAVEN"

Bhatti was travelling without security, having left two police escorts at home, Islamabad police chief Wajid Durrani said.

"There was no protection when he left the house," the police chief said. "There was just a private driver with him. We don't know about the minister's thinking, but we had provided him two escorts because he was under threat."

Last month, in an interview with the Christian Post, Bhatti said he had received threats.

"I received a call from the Taliban commander and he said, 'If you will bring any changes in the blasphemy law and speak on this issue, then you will be killed'," Bhatti told the newspaper.

"I don't believe that bodyguards can save me after the assassination (of Salman Taseer). I believe in the protection from heaven."

The January killing of Taseer was widely praised by hardline Islamist groups such as the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), the country's largest religious party.

But the party denounced Bhatti's murder.

"We condemn this killing. This is a conspiracy and it may bean attempt to divert attention from the case of Raymond Davis," senior JI leader Farid Paracha told Reuters.

Davis is an American CIA contractor on trial for killing two Pakistanis. The case has been taken up by religious parties which have called for Davis to be hanged.

Bhatti's killing is likely to further deter any attempt to change the blasphemy law that mandates death for anyone who speaks ill of Islam's Prophet Mohammad.

Sherry Rehman, a former government minister and member of the ruling Pakistan People's Party, of which Bhatti was also a member, tried to change the law last year but the party leadership forced her to stop in the face of opposition.

The Vatican condemned Bhatti's assassination as a "violence of terrible gravity" and called for more protection for religious minorities in the country. Bhatti, a Roman Catholic, met Pope Benedict in Rome last September.

The Anglican Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury,Rowan Williams, and the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, also warned of the impact on Pakistan's religious minorities.

"This further instance of sectarian bigotry and violence will increase anxiety worldwide about the security of Christians and other religious minorities in Pakistan," they said in a statement.

The law has its roots in 19th Century colonial legislation to protect places of worship, but it was during the military dictatorship of General Mohammad Zia ul-Haq in the 1980s that it acquired teeth as part of a drive to Islamise the state.

Liberal Pakistanis and rights groups believe the law to be dangerously discriminatory against tiny minority groups.

Under the law, anyone who speaks ill of Islam and the Prophet Mohammad commits a crime and faces the death penalty, but activists say the vague terminology has led to its misuse.

Christians who make up about two percent of the population have been especially concerned, saying the law offers them no protection. Convictions hinge on witness testimony and often these are linked to personal vendettas, critics say.

Convictions are common although the death sentence has never been carried out. Most convictions are thrown out on appeal, but mobs have killed many people accused of blasphemy.

Source: Reuters