Financial advice
"Great opportunities come to all, but many do not know they have met them. The only preparation to take advantage of them is to watch what each day brings." - Albert E Dunning
It implies being awake and aware. Easy on the engine additives like alcohol or drugs, maybe even being careful about fatigue. It also might apply to anything a person wants. Whatever might make you rich or happy in your opinion could benefit from this attitude.
Another favorite quote about finances is "Hard to come by, easy go." That doesn't cover the experience of winning a lottery of course but it does cover mine. It probably covers most of the people who didn't win or get an inheritance. Keeping that in mind has a nice steadying influence on my purchases.
I did buy an Irish Sweepstakes ticket about 35 years ago, and didn't win(!) Certainly not going to do that again. If that's the way they are going to play, they can count me out. If you look at lotteries as an investment, they only pay about half as much as they collect. That's not a very good investment. Even if it is only $10, I'd prefer to do something useful with it, and not risk it.
From nonprofit to profit. I was an enthusiastic member of a very unusual nonprofit organization. We had been renting a large building and using it as a community center. The rent was entirely paid by donations.
As things shifted, the center wasn't as important to what we were doing as it had been, donations fell off and we got behind on the rent.
One of the guys was concerned and started thinking about the situation. He checked the zoning and found out that with city approval the ground floor could be converted to a commercial unit, and the rest of the building could be made into condominiums. He put together a plan to do that.
To finance the substantial cost, he got together 6 other people. For their share of the cost, each would get a condominium. It seemed like a good idea and people were enthusiastic. The key part of the plan was that the rent owed would be included in the purchase price, and paid off that way.
The day before the purchase was to be made, he phoned each of the people to make sure their financing had gone through and there were no problems. Each of the people backed out of the deal at that point. (Rats!)
He still thought it was a good idea and decided to go ahead without their help. He got financing from relatives, and contracted the building plan out. When the job was about half finished, the contractor sued him, and wanted the building. More court costs, work and time taken up, but he won.
Then as the building was being finished, real estate prices started climbing. He wound up selling each unit for much more than he expected. He kept the ground level business premises and rented it out. He also kept a unit to live in. He paid off his borrowed money completely, and had enough left over to move on to bigger things.
It was just nice to hear something successful, but not motivated by greed.
