Case study: programmer as a career - series 2 of 3

Here is the article.

Case study: Qin Chen

两个礼拜前，美国硅谷，一名中国籍程序员在Facebook总部的大楼上纵身一跃，结束了自己38岁的生命，没有留下任何遗言。

 

时代浪巅，前途光明，这个因光环吸引了无数优秀人才的行业，裹挟其中还有不为人知的高压、焦虑和各种苦不堪言。

 

从Facebook四楼跳下的工程师Qin Chen毕业于浙江大学，30岁那年赴美在南加州大学攻读硕士，后留在美国，一年半前加入Facebook。根据前Facebook工程师、现YouTube网红Patrick Shyu在揭露视频中介绍，Qin Chen所在的广告技术部门，本身压力就很大，稍有闪失都可能造成数百万美元的损失。最近Qin Chen的工作评级下滑，他想换组避免进入PIP（绩效改善计划），因为进入PIP的雇员在一段时间内如果不达标就会被炒掉。Qin Chen的印度裔上司先是同意，后又出尔反尔，最终还给了他一个低评级，让他无法换组。

Patrick Shyu还称，Qin Chen没有绿卡，只持有工作签证。这意味着，如果被开除，他就必须得在60天内找到新雇主，不然就得离开美国，而他的家人待在美国也全靠他的工作签证。外界猜测，38岁的Qin Chen在美国的8年时间几乎每两年跳槽一次，与拿绿卡不顺有关，这些压力最终压垮了他。

 

很多人认为，Qin Chen事件并不是一个人的悲剧，应该将其归咎于Facebook恶性竞争文化以及美国大厂对PIP制度的滥用。在Patrick Shyu的视频中，有Facebook员工在匿名论坛Blind上坦言，自己有好几次也想过自杀，并且去阅读公司死亡保险。也有员工写道，当他与其他员工谈论企业文化和工作中的快乐时，很遗憾没有人说很快乐，没人愿意长时间待下去。

 

有国内老程序员评论说，Qin Chen的行为表明，程序员肯定不是他原本内心深处最热爱和执意追求的东西。因为干程序员很苦，没有真心的热爱，很容易被别的东西裹挟。而最近这些年互联网的高速发展，这个职业被裹挟了太多东西。

 

也有湾区码农评论称：被PIP了不要先自我否定，这就是一门生意而已，不要把自己个人的喜好过多投射到一个商业公司上。要想的只有怎么让自己的利益最大化，怎么给自己争取更多的时间。

Actionable Items

How to do a good business for myself? Do not think about negative things. Trust yourself how to build wealth and grow rich. 

Mental health is a biggest issue. Every one may have depression under stress. It is better to learn first, and stay healthy no matter circumstance. I think that it is important to push myself to work on basics. 

US visa, salary, income, net asset, peer pressure, all those things should be considered carefully. I think that living under your mean, frugality, do not boast your income, stay away from people who like to scam you, and learn from job experience, and learn how to invest as well. Minimalism is also a good life style to look into. 

It’s time to give managers basic training in mental health

Here is the article.

Google is running an employee mental health project without any metrics

Here is the article.

Case study: programmer as a career - series 1 of 3

Here is the article.

Case study - 郑然 2017 - 2019

Computer master degree, Google one year experience, PIP,

2017年郑然在美国一所大学修完了计算机硕士，第一份工作是湾区的一家创业公司。离职待业时，她想过回国，但周围人都在跟她说：“坚持一下，不能回国，回去就是失败。”

 

她很迷茫：100万元的留学开销、身边同学不断收到的offer大包、要留在美国的自尊心、上一份工作中来自上级“你不适合做程序员”的评价……睡觉时郑然常常望着黑暗中的天花板问自己：我是不是一个loser？

 

她决定要留下。这之后半年，郑然主力攻克谷歌，开启刷题模式，这一刷就是半年。谷歌题库700多道题，她并不是把每道都刷到，但两百道是有的。但当她如愿以偿进入谷歌后，并没有变成“人生赢家”，她在工作中感受不到快乐，待了一年后，她被PIP，两个月后便离开了谷歌。她说：“我在湾区就是一个失败典型吧。”

 

郑然经历了痛苦的自我怀疑时光，她寻求过多个心理咨询师，包括谷歌内部的Bluedot志愿者。她发现大公司内部的心理咨询部门并不是给求助员工信任和自由表达的绿洲，其价值就在于帮公司劝你尽早主动离职。

 

还有专业的心理咨询发挥了作用，她意识到自己并不是一个loser。身处湾区“CS大法好”的大环境，很容易被周围的圈子攀比带跑偏。一个在湾区大厂的程序员总结，在湾区，码农们比谁拿的offer高、谁拿到了绿卡、谁住的house漂亮、谁的孩子上了顶级私立学校......

 

比较永不停止，他们已经是站在金字塔顶层的程序员，但正因此而更怕掉队，对“成功人生”的追逐狂热不减，以至于他们步步惊心，如履薄冰。当裁员或者PIP来袭时，程序员们更容易陷入脆弱的绝境，担心周边人的眼光而崩溃。

 

离开谷歌后，郑然在两个月时间里做了以往从未做过的事情。运动、用约会软件认识网友、参加了一场两百人相亲大会。这些事情让她突然发现，世界之宽广，人类之丰富，成功和失败之间没有标准。

 

“我连不擅长写代码都能刷题刷进谷歌，那我做自己擅长的事情岂不是无敌？”郑然终于跟自己达成了和解，但是她表示心理咨询会一直进行下去。

Actionable Item

I need to learn how to read the article. I found the keyword: Google bluedot, and then I find myself an assignment to work on. Read the article related to this Google bluedot project. 

What Bonds Are and How They Work

Here is the article I like to read .

How a Fixed Annuity Fits a Retirement Plan

Here is the article.

How to Use Bond Ladders for Retirement Income

Here is the article.

Bond Ladders as Part of a Balanced Portfolio

Suppose you are an investor with a moderate risk tolerance, retiring with $1 million. You might take $400,000, or 40% of your portfolio, and buy eight bonds with a face value of $50,000 each. The first bond would mature in one year, the next would mature in two years, the next in three years, and so forth, thus laddering the bond portfolio over an eight-year period. This is a simplified example, but it gives you a general idea of how it works.

The remaining $600,000 would be invested in stocks (equities preferably in the form of index funds) to make up the growth portion of your portfolio. Eight years later, if stocks averaged a 7% rate of return, the $600,000 would grow to just over $1 million, allowing you to sell $500,000 of stocks to create another bond ladder.

Sequence Risk's Impact on Your Retirement Money

Here is the article.

Rolling Returns vs. Average Annual Returns

Here is the article.

Interesting paragraph to read:

Nassim Taleb, in his book The Black Swan (Penguin, 2008), has a section called “Don’t cross a river if it is (on average) four feet deep.” It is a statement worth pondering. Most financial projections use averages. There is no guarantee that your investments will achieve the average return. 

Volatility is the variation of returns from their average. For example, from 1926–2015, historical stock market returns—as measured by the S&P 500 Index—averaged 10% a year. But that average encompassed years where it was down 43.3% (1931) and up 54% (1933), as well as more recent years like 2008 when it was down 37%, and 2009 when it went up 26.5%*.


A ten-year rolling return would show you the best ten years and worst ten years you may have experienced by looking at the ten year periods not just starting with January, but also starting February 1, March 1, April 1, or any other date.

Facts: 

the S&P 500 Index
down 43.3% (1931) 
up 54% (1933)
down 37% (2008)
up 26.5% (2009)

Does Taking on Investment Risk Deliver Higher Returns? - extreme risk investments

07 Extreme risk investments

High-risk investments can deliver fabulous returns, but you also take the risk you could lose everything you've invested.

High-risk investments include things like owning individual stocks, starting a business, playing the options market, or speculating on a piece of real estate.

It's not quite like gambling, because you're investing in an opportunity that you've hopefully taken the time to thoroughly research, but luck will still have quite a bit to do with your results.

For play money or sophisticated investors, these choices are fine. But for those of you who have a limited amount of funds and know you'll need to rely on them in retirement, you probably want to steer clear of higher risk choices.

Actionable Items

I like to look into this topic. I like to figure out how to invest an individual stock. I like to study Amazon stock, ROSS and Apple stock. 

Does Taking on Investment Risk Deliver Higher Returns?

Here is the article.

01 comparing low risk investments to high risk investments
02 safe, no risk investments
03 low risk investments
04 moderate risk investments
05 high risk investments
06 compare low risk investments to high risk investments
07 extreme risk investments

Learn How to Become a Better Investor

Here is the article.

Case study: Seattle road trip expense report

Oct. 6, 2019

Introduction

It is my personal finance research. I had to discipline myself not to purchase another pair of Nike sneaker on sale on road trip to Seattle, last year I purchased three pairs. And also I like to figure out how to analyze what I need and what I want.

Case study

I like to list all expenses I spent. And also I had a friend to offer me to stay in her house for one night, and another friend offered me to drive to snowqualmie falls, and treated me a lunch as well.

As a Christian, I also decided to visit a friend in hospital, and brought some food with me to show my care and fellowship with the friend I knew back in Florida.

I had to pay a tank of gas for round trip to Seattle, which is total 400 miles in total. The gas cost is around $68.09.

I paid parking for Google GHC event, I chose the cheap one, $10.00 US dollars for 3 - 6 hours.

I spent over 20 minutes in Nike store to try a few pairs of sneakers, but I did not purchase any of them. And then I bought two soccer balls on sale, $8.00 dollar each, one for me, one for gift to my friend.

I spent a lunch at Casino Seattle premium mall.

Total expense is around $176.00 Canada dollars. 1 US dollar is equal to 1.33 Canadian dollar.

Double check, make sure that credit card number is removed from the above image.

Follow up 

Nov. 1, 2019
I used to play a few times soccer in 1984, but I never had chance to own a soccer ball. I like to play more soccer ball inside my Vancouver home office, it is good for me to train my arm and my finger to keep them agile for daily acitivities.

Josh Brown: "CEO, Ritholtz Wealth Management" | Talks at Google

Here is the link.

Mr. Frugal, should I purchase a GPS with less than $100 dollar budget

Oct. 5, 2019

Introduction

It is time for me to think about the purchase a new GPS. I found out that my GPS does not work on Oct. 2, 2019, and it took me three hour 30 minutes to get my friend's house, which will take less than 30 minutes with a GPS.

Research for the purchase

I have to learn to make a plan for my expense. I do have to analyze the tools I need for road trip. Frugal is a good idea to practice, but I also need to learn how to evaluate how good my 10 year old GPS, it should be replaced long time ago.

1217. Play with Chips

Here is the post.

It is the first algorithm in weekly contest 157. I spend almost 20 minutes to read and think, and then finally I learn that odd or even position should be counted, and sum of odd position and sum of even position can be used to calculate the minimum cost.

time complexity: O(N), N is the size of the array

public class Solution {
    public int MinCostToMoveChips(int[] chips) {
        var even = 0; 
        var odd = 0;
        
        foreach(var item in chips)
        {
            if(item % 2 == 0)
                even++;
            else
                odd++;             
        }
        
        return even >= odd? odd : even;
    }
}

weekly contest 157

Oct. 5, 2019

Introduction

It is my favorite weekly contest. I just played weekly contest 157 today. I solved the first two algorithms, and then I only had less than 10 minutes left. I spent some time to chat with SJTU 1984 wechat group, I started at least 10 minutes later.

My performance

Here is my performance.

Actionable Items

I found the joy in the first easy level algorithm. I could not figure out what is asked in the question, so I read again and again, almost 20 minutes, I finally figure out the question, and also it took me at least five minute to come out the idea to solve it.

The first 20 minutes is so fun. I thought about how tough it is to understand the problem, I need to read, play with an example, and then read the statement again, and then think about, and then read again.

1218. Longest Arithmetic Subsequence of Given Difference

Here is my discussion post.

It is easy to tell that the problem can be solved using dynamic programming solution. Since the length of array is 10^5, so if it is not linear, N^2 will be 10^10, I guess timeout will be a problem.

Here are highlights:

1. Take time to think about subproblems, dynamic programming solution;
2. My idea is to use extra space to save each value and its maximum length in prefix array;
3. Once I figure out step 2 to track prefix array each value with its maximum length hashmap, take time to write and test the code;
4. I made mistake to forget else case in second if clause in for loop; I need to push myself to test using my own test case first. Do not rely on Leetcode online judge.

public class Solution {
    public int LongestSubsequence(int[] arr, int difference) {
        var length = arr.Length; 
        
        // key - value
        // value - longest subsequence
        var dict = new Dictionary<int, int>(); 
        var dp = new int[length];
        
        for(int i = 0; i < length; i++)
        {
            var current = arr[i]; 
            var previous = current - difference; 
            int currentMax = 1; 
            
            if(dict.ContainsKey(previous))
            {
                currentMax = 1 + dict[previous];
            }
           
            dp[i] = currentMax; 
            
            if(dict.ContainsKey(current))
            {
                var previousLength = dict[current];
                if( currentMax > previousLength )
                {
                    dict[current] = currentMax; 
                }                
            } 
            else
                {
                    dict.Add(current, currentMax); 
                }
        }
         
        
        return dp.Max(); 
    }
}

1046. Last Stone Weight

Here is my discussion post.

The algorithm can be solved using minimum heap. To convert maximum two numbers to minimum two numbers, negative value is used instead.

Here are highlights:

1. Understand C# SortedDictionary can be used to impelement minimum heap first;
2. Apply all ement value to negative one, so maximum heap turns into a minimum heap problem;
3. Get familiar with IEnumberable First API and it can be used to get the minimum one from the heap.

public class Solution {
    /// <summary>
        /// Oct.4, 2019
        /// Implement a maximum heap - 
        /// what I can do is to use negative value 
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="stones"></param>
        /// <returns></returns>
        public int LastStoneWeight(int[] stones)
        {
            var sorted = new SortedDictionary<int, int>();

            // put all numbers into minimum heap - default - negative value
            foreach (var number in stones)
            {
                var key = number * (-1);
                if (!sorted.ContainsKey(key))
                {
                    sorted.Add(key, 0);
                }

                sorted[key]++; 
            }

            while (!((sorted.Keys.Count == 1 && sorted[sorted.Keys.ToList()[0]] == 1) || sorted.Keys.Count == 0))
            {
                // get minimum two values from minimum heap
                var key = sorted.Keys.First();
                var hasAtLeastTwo = sorted[key] > 1;
                if (hasAtLeastTwo)
                {
                    sorted[key] -= 2;
                    if(sorted[key] == 0)
                    {
                        sorted.Remove(key);
                    }
                }
                else 
                {
                    var minimum = key;
                    sorted.Remove(key);
                    var next = sorted.Keys.First();
                    sorted[next]--;

                    if (sorted[next] == 0)
                    {
                        sorted.Remove(next);
                    }

                    var diff = Math.Abs(minimum - next);
                    var newKey = diff * (-1);

                    if (newKey == 0)
                        continue;

                    if (!sorted.ContainsKey(newKey))
                    {
                        sorted.Add(newKey, 0);
                    }

                    sorted[newKey]++;
                }                
            }

            if (sorted.Keys.Count == 0)
                return 0;

            return sorted.Keys.ToList()[0] * (-1);
        }
}

Jim O'Shaughnessy: "What Works on Wall Street" | Talks at Google

Here is the link.

What it takes to be a successful active investor. Hint, it’s much harder than you think. Contrast active and passive equity investing. Risk/rewards. Conclusion—Investors who do not have the following traits and emotional quality should index their portfolios. I find they are the majority of investors today. Also discussion of points of failure for passive and active investors. What traits and emotional characteristics are required to succeed as an active investor? A true long-term perspective on their investments. Discussion of Evolution and why it hampers long-term thinking. Discussion of behavioral biases that hamper successful long-term active investing. Power Point illustrations. Successful active investors value process over outcome. Short-term focus of investors is killing returns. Why you need access to truly long-term data to make intelligent choice. Successful active investors generally ignore forecasts and predictions. Discussion of studies proving forecasts and predictions are virtually worthless; illustrations documenting the failure of forecasts; both within markets and in outside professions. Successful active investors are patient and persistent. Discussion of great investors who may have very different styles, but all share the trait of patience and persistence. Successful active investors have a strong mental attitude. Successful investors are made, not born. Discussion of how successful active investors have a mental attitude bordering on stoicism; how they control how they interpret the world. Tools to use to help you succeed as an active long-term investor. Long-term data uncovered by What Works on Wall Street that you can use to guide your investment strategy. The importance of value; momentum; financial strength and earnings quality in putting together your portfolio. A highlight of stocks with high versus low shareholder yield (Cash dividend %+Bet Buyback %); it’s efficacy since the 1920s What NOT to own, lottery stocks versus the market. The importance of a stock’s market capitalization—the most profitable stocks come from the smallest part of the market (Micro cap stocks) Putting it all together—should you be an active or passive investor? Weight of the evidence for passive and active investing Which type of investor are you? Getting the best out of the style you choose. Discussion and Q/A.

My notes:

Recency bias, availability bias, overconfidence bias

Fortune magazine, 2000, 10 stocks, next 10 year - 2 of them Nortel, Enron, -27%, vs index 116% S & P 500

54:11
The only 5 fears we all share
1. extinction
2. mutilation
3. loss of autonomy
4. separation
5. ego-death

Hospital visit - 3 hour visit

Oct. 4, 2019

Introduction

It is tough decision for me to visit a friend in the hospital in Everett city in Washing state. I learned from a sister in the church, and she told me that she visited once a week. I understood that I also like to serve people who needs help, specially a person in Chinese community.

3 hours visit

I stopped by the hospital and then have my first visit on the road trip from Bothell to Vancouver on Oct. 3, 2019. Life is so challenging, my friend back in Florida and palm beach country Chinese christian church back around year 2000 has brain cancer and he went to hospital this July, the same cancer John Mccain had a few years ago.

Life is so tough since he could not move his left part of body, and he stays inside the room last 2 months, and he has not went out his room even once.

My birthday celebration with friends

Three things learned about GPS

200 minutes road trip | Google grace hopper event in 2019 | Three hours road trip | Blessing of birthday trip

我这篇是写小说或者散文或者是纪实， 讲一个真实故事， 联络无数微信的朋友。久违的陌生的， 或者是在苦苦挣扎， 经济上， 学业

上， 健康， 或者与疾病做生死挣扎。我一个人开车从晚上九点十五分钟开始， 到凌晨12点30分终于到达目的地。先是2009年买的GPS 没有信号， 开始找Wi-Fi, 加油站， 打手机国际长途， 从西雅图， 穿过湖到Redmond, Renton, 到晚上12点才明白需要下载离线地图， 用Google map 才找到目的地。12点已经想睡觉。美国都市晚上都没有地方可去十点之后， 我找加油站， 找上网， 用的是xfinity 免费一小时， 只有加油站有信号。我要学习功课太多了。平时出门太少。对一个城市不了解。12点之后打瞌睡开车只好祷告求救。我没有想到参加谷歌的活动， 我这段三个半小时经历， 体会美国最繁华发达高速公路。仅次于硅谷。高速几乎到处我一个人压马路。没有雪和冰， 最美季节。给自己生日最好旅游。以往在北京看中网庆祝。

 This article is about writing a novel or an essay or a documentary, telling a true story, and contacting countless friends on WeChat. A stranger whom I haven’t seen for a long time, or who is struggling financially or academically.

on, health, or a life and death struggle with disease. I started driving alone from 9:15 in the evening and finally arrived at my destination at 12:30 in the morning. First, the GPS I bought in 2009 had no signal. I started looking for Wi-Fi and gas stations, and made international long distance calls on mobile phones. From Seattle, I crossed the lake to Redmond and Renton. It wasn’t until 12 o’clock in the evening that I realized that I needed to download an offline map and used Google Maps to find it. destination. Already want to sleep at 12 o'clock. There is no place to go after ten o'clock at night in American cities. I looked for gas stations and Internet access. I used xfinity for free for one hour. Only gas stations had signals. I have so much to learn. I usually go out too little. Don’t know much about a city. I fell asleep while driving after 12 o'clock, so I had to pray for help. I didn't expect to participate in Google's event. During this three-and-a-half-hour experience, I experienced the most prosperous and developed highway in the United States. Second only to Silicon Valley. I drive almost everywhere on the highway alone. There is no snow or ice, the most beautiful season. It’s best to travel for your birthday. In the past, we celebrated and went to China open tennis tournament in Beijing.

Follow up 

June 3, 2021

1. Add more content in the title;
2. Old title: 200 minutes road trip;
3. New title: Add more:  | Google grace hopper event in 2019 | Three hours road trip | Blessing of birthday trip;
4. Get Google 4 pixel 5G phone, and understand the importance to manage storage of mobile phone, get 120 GB one; download free GPS app and use it more often;
5. Spend time to watch Google I/O 2019 videos. Learn more about Google and how Google apps help so many people in terms of product design, marketing etc. 

Follow up 

Sept. 13, 2023

I did not have offline map to Bothell, WA on my mobile phone, and I only had Rogers pay as you go plan, and I could not find wifi, so I tried several gas stations and got some help. 

Finally after 12:00 AM, I installed offline map on my mobile phone and drove to my friend's house. 

我这篇是写小说或者散文或者是纪实， 讲一个真实故事， 联络无数微信的朋友。久违的陌生的， 或者是在苦苦挣扎， 经济上， 学业

上， 健康， 或者与疾病做生死挣扎。我一个人开车从晚上九点十五分钟开始， 到凌晨12点30分终于到达目的地。先是2009年买的GPS 没有信号， 开始找Wi-Fi, 加油站， 打手机国际长途， 从西雅图， 穿过湖到Redmond, Renton, 到晚上12点才明白需要下载离线地图， 用Google map 才找到目的地。12点已经想睡觉。美国都市晚上都没有地方可去十点之后， 我找加油站， 找上网， 用的是xfinity 免费一小时， 只有加油站有信号。我要学习功课太多了。平时出门太少。对一个城市不了解。12点之后打瞌睡开车只好祷告求救。我没有想到参加谷歌的活动， 我这段三个半小时经历， 体会美国最繁华发达高速公路。仅次于硅谷。高速几乎到处我一个人压马路。没有雪和冰， 最美季节。给自己生日最好旅游。以往在北京看中网庆祝。

 This article is about writing a novel or an essay or a documentary, telling a true story, and contacting countless friends on WeChat. A stranger whom I haven’t seen for a long time, or who is struggling financially or academically.

on, health, or a life and death struggle with disease. I started driving alone from 9:15 in the evening and finally arrived at my destination at 12:30 in the morning. First, the GPS I bought in 2009 had no signal. I started looking for Wi-Fi and gas stations, and made international long distance calls on mobile phones. From Seattle, I crossed the lake to Redmond and Renton. It wasn’t until 12 o’clock in the evening that I realized that I needed to download an offline map and used Google Maps to find it. destination. Already want to sleep at 12 o'clock. There is no place to go after ten o'clock at night in American cities. I looked for gas stations and Internet access. I used xfinity for free for one hour. Only gas stations had signals. I have so much to learn. I usually go out too little. Don’t know much about a city. I fell asleep while driving after 12 o'clock, so I had to pray for help. I didn't expect to participate in Google's event. During this three-and-a-half-hour experience, I experienced the most prosperous and developed highway in the United States. Second only to Silicon Valley. I drive almost everywhere on the highway alone. There is no snow or ice, the most beautiful season. It’s best to travel for your birthday. In the past, we celebrated and went to China open tennis tournament in Beijing.

Case study: Amazon stock

2018 年 9 月 4 日，亚马逊以 2026.50 美元开盘，盘中达到 2050.50 美元，这使亚马逊成为继苹果以来美国第二家市值突破万亿的公司。自 1997 年 5 月亚马逊上市以来，亚马逊的市值从 4 亿美元上升到1 万亿美元，增长了将近 2500 倍。从 1997 年 12 月到 2014年 12 月，亚马逊股价从 5 美元上涨到 310 美元，从 2014 年 12 月以后，亚马逊股价开始加速上涨，在 2018 年 9 月股价突破 2050 美元。

Here is the article. I will take some notes later. 

Seattle road trip on Oct 2. 3, 2019

Oct. 5, 2019

Introduction

It is my favorite road trip to Seattle. I spent two days on the road trip to Seattle. I like to write something for my road trip.

Road trip 

Lesson learned - Google map offline map

GHC meeting in Google office lake union

Oct. 3, 2019

Introduction

I like to write a blog to share my such great experience to attend GHC meeting on Oct. 2, 2019.

Millionaire Interview 52

Here is the article.

#4 - 10 DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN MILLIONAIRES AND THE MIDDLE CLASS PEOPLE - PART 2

Here is the link.

Distinction # 7 Millionaires think long term The middle class thinks short term. Distinction # 8 Millionaires take calculated risks.  The middle class is afraid to take risks. Distinction # 9 Millionaires embrace change. The middle class is threatened by change Distinction # 10 Millionaires believe they must be generous. The middle class believes they can’t afford to give. 

#3 - 10 DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN MILLIONAIRES AND THE MIDDLE CLASS PEOPLE - PART 1

Here is the link.

#3 - 10 Distinctions between millionaires and the middle class people - Part 1 Distinction # 1 Millionaires ask themselves empowering questions. The middle class ask themselves disempowering questions. Distinction # 2 Millionaires focus on increasing their net worth. The middle class focuses on increasing their paychecks. Distinction # 3 Millionaires continually learn and grow. The middle class thinks learning ended with school. Distinction # 4 Millionaires talk about ideas. The middle class talks about things and other people. Distinction # 5 Millionaires work for profits. The middle class works for wages. Distinction # 6 Millionaires have multiple sources of income. The middle class only has one or two.

13 Surprising Facts from 100 Millionaire Interviews and What We Can Learn from Them

Here is the article.

1. Most millionaires have high incomes, but it hasn’t always been that way.

The median annual income of my 100 millionaires was $250k.

The Millionaire Next Door, The Next Millionaire Next Door, and the upcoming book Everyday Millionaires.

Millionaires do earn higher than average incomes?

The main reason millionaires earn more is that they are great at growing their careers. 

They know that just a bit of extra, focused effort can make a huge difference in how much they earn over time (which is literally millions). As a result, they invest time and energy to grow their careers and the skills needed to get ahead.

Many nay-sayers will object to these findings and thus begin making excuses why they can’t be a millionaire. 

A common example is something like this: “If some guy/family makes $250k plus a year, that’s a no brainier….I could do that with no investment risk and free cash flow unless I was an idiot” (from my post titled How to Ignore the Basics of Personal Finance and Still Become Rich).

First of all, no, that’s incorrect. A large income alone does not guarantee a high net worth. 

There’s no correlation between income and wealth. 

Millionaires have been earning this much throughout their careers. It is not true. 

Most millionaires started with very modest incomes and advanced over time.

10 Differences Between Middle Class And Rich People

5. The middle class work to earn, the rich work to learn

“When you are young, work to learn, not to earn.”
-Robert Kiyosaki

The middle class are easily persuaded to change jobs when someone offers more money. The rich understand that working isn’t about the money, especially in the early years. It’s about developing the skills and traits you need to develop to become rich. That may mean working a sales job to better understand the world of selling. Or it could mean you work at a bank to better understand accounting. If you want to be rich, you should be working to learn the skills you need to become rich. Most rich people didn’t get there by earning a high salary.

Learn to write 

The middle class ->  more money -> change jobs -> easily persuaded
working isn't about the money 
the rich thinks working is to learn. Specially in early years. 
Develop the skills and traits -> The rich thinks about that. 

Most rich people didn't get there by earning a high salary. 

10 Differences Between Middle Class And Rich People

Here is the article.

9. The middle class underestimate their potential, the rich set huge goals

The middle class set goals. Sometimes. It’s the capacity of the goals that differ from the middle class to the rich. The middle class set safe goals that are easily obtainable. The rich set goals that seem impossible, difficult or crazy. But they know they are achievable. It all comes back to having the proper mindset.

When you’re setting your goals, ask yourself if they could be bigger. Ask yourself if that’s really all you can do or if you can do more. I think you can do more.

What The Middle Class Doesn't Understand About Rich People

5. The wealthy carefully monitor their associations.

People with high-level formal education like to associate with the academic elite. Physically fit people enjoy spending time with others who are fit. Religious people like to have fellowship with people of faith. And rich people like to associate with others who are rich.

Like attracts like, yet the wealthy are often criticized for having a closed inner circle that is almost impossible to break into unless you are rich. Successful people generally agree that consciousness is contagious, and that exposure to people who are more successful has the potential to expand your thinking and catapult your income. We become like the people we associate with, and that’s why winners are attracted to winners.

Set a goal to double the amount of time you spend with people who are richer than you. Who knows, it might just make you rich.

Learn to write - one statement a time

The wealthy are often criticized for having a closed inner circle that is almost impossible to break into unless you are rich. 

inner circle -> a closed inner circle -> impossible to break into -> you are rich 

Learn to write - one statement a time

Successful people generally agree that consciousness is contagious, and that exposure to people who are more successful has the potential to expand your thinking and catapult your income. 

contagious, what is contagious? consciousness 

exposure to people -> thinking, your income, -> work on your thinking -> expand your thinking

your income -> catapult -> catapult your income