Something I used to hear all the time at Amway meetings was retiring early. When I was in Amway I was always hearing stories about people who retired in their 20's. I've seen a lot of older Diamonds at Amway functions so it looks like nobody really retires. Diamonds have to keep after new recruits and make sure their downline are toeing the line and buying plenty of Amway products and investing in the tool scam. I think the more correct term is for a few IBOs is some are able to quit their day job and work at being a commissioned sales rep for Amway full time. Even more common are the IBO's who quit their day job to work Amway full time only to discover they couldn't sustain a decent level of living and had to go back to working a job again.
I've had a couple of ambots leave comments on my blog who are 19, 20 years old and they're all going to retire in a year. Yeah, yeah. Maybe if you win the lottery.
I found this article about a couple who did retire early by age 45 and they have some tips here. Yikes – do not click this is now a dead link! http://finance.yahoo.com/focus-retirement/article/113590/tips-from-early-retirees-usnews?mod=fidelity-buildingwealth&cat=fidelity_2010_building_wealth
Note they were not involved in any MLM scheme.
The husband worked as a technical writer and that's really only a recent career that's been around for about 20 years. The wife was a travel agent, a commission based job, but she went back to nursing school. These aren't extraordinarily high paying jobs.
They owned a house and were looking to cut housing costs but there wasn't too much room there so they rented out part of their house. I have a couple of different friends who take in foreign exchange students in their house. It doesn't pay all that well but I'd say enough to cover the monthly grocery bill and maybe a good chunk of the gas bill. Another friend of ours converted his garage into an apartment and he lived in there and rented out his house. I think a lot of people can convert part of their house into another living space to rent out if their city zoning laws allow for it and that helps pay the mortage or utility bills. I knew someone whose house was occasionally used for movie and TV shoots, exterior shots and use of the yard. Movie crews never came inside. That's one of the advantages of being a home owner instead of a renter. You can use your home to create income.
They saved their money and invested it and eventually sold their house and invested the equity. Now they travel the world. Unlike Amway Diamonds they live below their means. They seek out inexpensive places to stay and choose countries where the cost of living is low. They do not rule out taking on temporary work to supplement their income and investments.
That's the complete opposite of what we're taught in Amway: working a job is failure.
Not everyone can live like this couple not having any place that they can call home. Staying in one place for a few months and moving on to a new destination. Its not something that could easily be done if there is a family in tow.
Their plan of retiring by age 45 and traveling the world is much better than the Amway business plan of walking the beaches of the world. One is reality. The other is a fairy tale.
I've read a handful of articles about people who did retire young (in their 30's or 40's). None of them were in MLM. They had decent jobs but basically lives on 1/4 or 1/3 of their income and they saved and invested the rest.
ReplyDeleteThey accumulated close to a million dollars and are able to live off the returns from their money. They continue to live well below their means. That's how they do it.
How can diamonds, who live a life of excess, be able to ever "walk away" from Amway and live like kings? I believe many diamonds are living in debt (like many do) but they just appear to be wealthy. Sure, their "work" might be easier than a 9-5 job but a 9-5 job is what will allow me to retire at the age of 55, and have a net worth of over 1 million dollars when I retire in a few years from now.
Had I learned from the folks who retired at the age of 40, I may have been able to do that as well.
But joining Amway is more likely to decrease your chance of early retirement, rather than giving you a shortcut. The results speak for themselves.
Out of the WWDB diamonds, here's the ones I remember seeing on stage:
Puryear - pass away
G. Duncan - chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2009
Wolgamott - divorced some years ago (Amway saves marriages?)
Kosage - divorced some years ago
Shores - home foreclosed some years ago (diamonds pay cash?)
Brooks - divorced some years ago
New diamonds - Whalens?
There's not much fruit on the WWDB tree. LOL
Hi Joecool. Yes there are stories out there of people who retire or semi retire in their 40s who have saved and invested and now have a million dollars. As you pointed out they don't live beyond their dreams. In some cases they move to foreign countries with a low cost of living and can live quite nicely on monthly dividends and disbursements from their investments or maybe going into their capital. They sell and give away their stuff and travel and spend a few months here and there. And these guys are probably not spending much time in places that cost a lot of money. They're not living beyond their means the way Amway Ambots do.
DeleteI also wish I'd learned a lot more about investing when I was younger. Oh sure I saved and bought homes but I didn't get started early enough with the right type of investments that would have really grown my wealth.
And yes joining Amway will decrease your chances of early retirement. Putting thousands of dollars in credit card debt to tithe the Great Amway God could set a person back financially for years. And I hate seeing the story of retirees dropping their entire savings into the Amway scam all with the promise that in 2 to 5 years of being devoted cult followers Amway will reward them bazillions of dollars rolling in every month in residual income for the rest of their lives.
Those Diamonds are all good examples. People working until they die thanks to Amway. People going into bankruptcy, foreclosure and divorce court thanks to Amway. No retirement options for any of these broke Amway losers. Go out and get a real job. Quit scamming people Ambots!
No new Diamonds either no matter how many lying Ambots stop by to leave comments that Amway is breaking hundreds of new Diamonds every month.