7 famous millionaires who filed for bankruptcy

Billionaires don’t go bankrupt, millionaires sometimes do. Ordinary people may wonder how people with wealth beyond what most of us can comprehend managed to file for bankruptcy. It can happen to anyone. Think that all those famous millionaires –popular actors and artists of extraordinary genius, professional athletes and legendary business founders, distinguished writers and accomplished musicians – can be guaranteed against loss of money? Definitely not. There are countless stories of mega-rich stars who have filed for bankruptcy. Some of them could bounce back and go on to have successful careers, others were driven to the brink of ruin. Being an international celebrity doesn’t automatically mean that you will not go bankrupt. They are all in danger of loosing it all. Here is a list of 7 famous millionaires who filed for bankruptcy.

1. The King of Pop, Michael Jackson, is often reported to be in financial trouble. And it’s no wonder: he earns millions, but he is able to shop away millions in a single day as well. (Remember famous TV documentary “Living with Michael Jackson”?). Moreover, pop star wasn’t very wise making decisions in his investments and nearly lost his Neverland Ranch after defaulting on a loan held by Fortress Investment Group.

2. Another one of the world’s most famous bankruptcy stories is that of Larry King. Once popular talk-show host and a multi-millionaire dealt with serious financial problems and he was accused of stealing money from his business partner, Wall Street financier Louis Wolfson. His broadcast career was almost ruined; the scandal also forced Larry King to file for bankruptcy in 1978. A few years later he went on to achieve success in his career. In recent years, due to careful financial planning and some very smart business investments in funds such as high yield Tramita Global Fund and some other investment funds, Larry King acquired wealth which is estimated at about $50 million. Having been affected personally by heart disease in 1987, Larry King founded the Larry King Cardiac Foundation which has provided funding for life-saving treatment for hundreds of individuals who had no insurance or limited means.

3. Donald Trump is a far-famed American business magnate, socialite, television personality and author whose extravagant lifestyle and out spoken manner have made him a celebrity for years. His flagship casino business filed for bankruptcy in 2004 and he saw most of his multi-billion fortune wiped away under massive loan payments carrying billions in loses. Donald Trump climbed out from debt hole after some clever business moves.

4. Mike Tyson or “Iron Mike”, once the youngest heavyweight boxing champion ever, received over $30 million for some of his fights and earned over $300 million in his professional career. He lost it all through lavish spending and bad advice.

5. Despite “Got To Give It Up” going to number-one on the pop, R&B and dance single charts and his “Live at the London Palladium” album becoming one of the top ten best-selling albums of the year, Marvin Gaye, the soul superstar, had to file for bankruptcy and lived in a bread van in Hawaii.

6. William “Bud” Post’s $16,2 million jackpot brought him debt, despair and heartache. He declared bankrupt eight years after winning the lottery. He spent all his money on homes, cars, motorcycles and even an aeroplane. He died in 2006, miserable and broke. Unfortunately, huge financial win doesn’t guarantee happiness.

7. Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, went bankrupt in 1894 thanks to bad investment in new inventions such as bed clump for infants, a new type of steam engine and the collotype. Twain desperately tried to pay off his creditors and did so in full in 1898.

Despite earning millions, celebrities can be just as prone to financial blunders as mere mortals. Famous millionaires who come into their money quickly often have very little experience in dealing with such wealth. Wise investments, which can be made only after taking into account the entire analysis of present markets, are impossible without professional managers who specialize in finding financial investment solutions globally as, for instance, Tramita Global Fund does. In case of maximum growth and limited risk of their investments, celebrity millionaires wouldn’t depend on flops at the box office, or a losing season, or lost record deals, or whatever.

How a lottery winner spends his million dollars

According to Ellen Florian Kratz, Fortune writer, Brad Duke, 34, a manager for five Gold's Gym franchises in Idaho, pocketed a lump sum of $85 million after winning a $220 million Powerball jackpot in 2005. He spent the first month of his new life assembling a team of financial advisors. His goal: to use his winnings to become a billionaire. Here's what Duke has done with his money so far.

• $45 million: Safe, low-risk investments such as municipal bonds


• $35 million: Aggressive investments like oil and gas and real estate
• $1.3 million: A family foundation
• $63,000: A trip to Tahiti with 17 friends
• $125,000: Mortgage retired on his 1,400-square-foot house
• $18,000: Student-loan repayment
• $65,000: New bicycles, including a $12,000 BMC road bike
• $14,500: A used black VW Jetta
• $12,000: Annual gift to each family member

Did you often buy lottery tickets or was this a one-time thing?
I played the lottery often when I won. I had developed a little numbering system. Since I've won, there's been a lot of numbering systems for lotteries all over the Internet. Before that, there weren't any. I really thought I was going to win. I even wrote it down in my journal in 2002.
How did you develop your system?
How to choose my lottery numbers started through a trial and error process. I just started playing number games with myself about how to capture the most diverse numbers. Then I looked at the most recent Powerball numbers over the last six months and took the set of 15 numbers that were most commonly coming up. My Powerball numbers were going to be those 15. So I starting messing around with it, and my number games got a little more complex and a little bigger. I was starting to win smaller amounts like $150 and $500.
So many lottery winners have sad endings. Did you worry about that?
I've always handled responsibility well. If you accept that check, you accept an amazing responsibility to yourself and whomever you decide to include in it. I was quiet about winning for a month before I decided to come out. During that time, I was getting as much research as I could on existing lottery winners and what their stories were. Most of them lose all the money within a short amount of time. I'm looking at statistics where people in ten years have nothing. In ten years, I wanted to be worth about ten times as much. I think a lot of people who play the lottery are people who live on hope.
What was your first major purchase?
A trip to Tahiti for me and 17 of my friends. At the same time, I paid off my mortgage and student loans. [What was your biggest purchase?] The family foundation was the biggest allotment of money. $1.3 million.
What else did you do with your money?
I wanted to make the most of the opportunity that was given to me, so I put together a team with the intent to reach and maintain a $1 billion status over a particular period of time. I wanted to do it in 10 years, which I knew was aggressive. My team talked me into looking at 15 years. But it looks like we're on track for 12 years. When you do something like that, the more you become worth, the quicker your growth curve is. My total net worth right now is at an unofficial value of $128 to $130 million. We've done very well for the first year and a half.
What about a big new house or a fancy new car?
I guess I'm more worried about spending time on my investments and helping my consulting company along and doing fun things with my family and friends. I will have a new home and a great car at some point, but just not now. The great thing about the lottery was that I get to experience amazing things with people I care about. I started up a consulting company and am employing some people that helped me along the way with my employment. I took my family on a cruise.
You had to have treated yourself to something.
I bought bicycles. I'm probably own upward of 17 bikes. I also bought a 2002 Jetta. I gave my 2005 Jetta to my nephew. So it's the exact same car except for his is white and mine is black.
You had a newer car that you gave to your nephew and you bought an older car?
That's correct. I wanted a black VW Jetta with a black interior. Believe it or not, those are really hard to find. I went to the local dealership and had them track one down for me. They had to go to Texas to get it. It fit my bicycle rack really well.
What happened to your job at Gold's Gym?
I still teach a spinning class there twice a week. I took some time off after the whole thing because everybody had investment opportunities that were the greatest thing since sliced bread, and there were 100 of them every day. So I had to get out of there for a while, but when I went back, the people I'd been teaching for the last 8 years were still the same people, and I was still the same instructor.
Have you given money to members of your family?
One of the first things I did was give everyone in my family the maximum amount without tax consequence. I have all of my nieces' and nephews' college funds set up, and they're set. And there's no debt for anyone anymore. Everybody is happy.
Are you happier since you¹ve won the money?
Absolutely. When it comes down to it, I get to do the things professionally that I've always wanted to do. I get to invent a piece of equipment that I've always been thinking about doing. I get to give back to some people that have given to me over years.

Million Dollar Ideas: Debunking the myth of the sophisticated investor

As part of their defense in a messy SEC investigation, Goldman Sachs and investor John Paulson have trotted out a classic Wall Street defense: Their customers were "sophisticated investors."

So buyers, beware -- this is just how the big boys roll. It's a high-stakes game for experienced players; they all know the real rules; the public shouldn't care. Don't fret over the higher workings of the princes of finance, because it's not as though Mom and Pop lost money in their deals. Goldman's Fabrice Tourre told the Senate on Monday: "I was an intermediary between highly sophisticated professional investors -- all of which were institutions. None of my clients were individual, retail investors."

Wall Street loves the "sophisticated investors" argument, and little wonder: It could generate infinite financial fees if only the populace could be convinced that it's okay to fool some of the people all of the time. The problem is that even when only some of the people get fooled, all of us are paying all of the time.

Let's examine what happened with Goldman and Paulson. Goldman Sachs stands accused, in part, of giving favored financial treatment to Paulson's firm, allowing him to advise on the creation of a security, Abacus, that he wanted to fail; Goldman later sold it to investors who wanted the security to succeed, but it didn't tell them Paulson had played a role in creating the thing and shorted it to bet it would fail. To sell the deal, Goldman apparently withheld information about Paulson's involvement from the buyers, including Royal Bank of Scotland and Germany's IKB Deutsche Industriebank. The buyers lost about $1 billion on the deal, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Economists call this "informational asymmetry." Everyone else calls it "not telling the whole story." The hitch is that America's securities laws require disclosing all warts to potential buyers, and banks pay lawyers millions of dollars every year to comply.

Informational asymmetry is also contagious: Once it's started, it becomes easier and easier to withhold information that buyers need in order to make decisions. And if it's done to one client, it can be done to any. Most of those clients can put 2 and 2 together and recognize that what happened in the Abacus deal is probably not an isolated incident; in Wall Street parlance, there's never just one roach. That's why Goldman and Paulson started assiduously groveling to their other clients after the SEC announced its case, hoping to ease those clients' predictable fears that the bank and the hedge fund could have treated them the same way they treated RBS and IKB.

It's not just the big clients, however, that get hurt. What Wall Street would like to ignore when it is taking bets in its casino is that a big pile of chips on the table come from regular consumers -- from their bank deposits, retirement accounts, credit-card balances, car loans and mortgages. That's why the distinction between these sophisticated investors and everyone else is nonexistent. When Wall Street banks omit information and draw profits from "institutional investors," that means they are taking money from your pension funds, your school endowments, and your city and state governments. Other sophisticated investors include hedge funds, which take money from those pension funds, or private-equity funds, which own companies that employ 10 percent of all Americans.

Pension funds, for instance, are considered "sophisticated investors" on Wall Street. But those are just pools of retirement money owed to workers. The pension funds, looking to expand their stash, invest in stocks and bonds sold by Wall Street. These pension funds also give their money to other funds, such as hedge funds and private equity funds, that invest that money in riskier investments, perhaps troubled companies or distressed mortgages. Pension funds play the Wall Street game to score a healthy return -- but when they lose, the money lost belongs to regular people.

Consider synthetic collateralized debt obligations -- which describes bets made on a bundle of securities tied to home loans -- like Abacus. Banks would need to lend $50 billion of mortgages to regular people in order to create a $1 billion CDO like Abacus, according to Michael Lewis in "The Big Short." These deals didn't cause the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression; what they did was far worse.

They took the basic subprime losses and magnified them to a point at which no one -- not banks, not investors, not entire governments -- could bear the cost of the massacre that followed. It cost only $35 million a year to buy protection against the failure of billions of dollars of assets. When these assets failed, the insurance holders didn't get $35 million a year; they received many multiples of that. Banks nearly collapsed trying to scrounge together the money to pay back these insurance policies. The two banks that bought the Abacus deal both received multiple bailouts from the taxpayers of Germany and Britain. Yet Goldman and Paulson insist their deals concerned only sophisticated investors. Tell that to the foreign governments.

The truth is, there are no real lines dividing Wall Street and Main Street and Washington. They are all interconnected. Promiscuous federal subsidies to homeowners and low interest rates made mortgages and refinancing very popular. Unethical mortgage lenders wrote these terrible, no-money-down, no-documentation deals because they wanted the fees. Wall Street seized on the popularity of those products and churned out more bundles of mortgages to be packaged and sold to big investors. Goldman and other banks sold some of these securities and took some of them onto their own books, and many banks turned around and insured themselves against the failure of the deals by buying policies from American International Group. AIG loaded up on contracts to protect the investments, and when the housing market collapsed, AIG came up short without enough money to pay the contracts.

The banks were caught empty-handed. To save them, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates to zero and ate the banks' poison: It bought with its own money $1.4 trillion of the remaining mortgage dreck; as a result, the Fed is now the least-capitalized bank in the United States and would not pass one of its own stress tests, although there isn't enough money in the world to bail it out if necessary. Besides that, the banks got the law changed so that they could keep optimistically boosting the value of these toxic mortgage securities still on their books, making their financial positions today look far stronger than they are.

So while Wall Street is swearing up and down it was dealing only with sophisticated investors, in reality every single part of the financial system, from high to low, was involved. Taxpayers and investors lost money in the bailouts while the banks made a killing: They were paid by clients to do sloppy deals, then paid again by the government to clean them up.

It's a top-to-bottom mess. So here's a radical million dollar idea: Instead of buying the notion that there's a difference line between sophisticated investors and the mom-and-pop variety, banks should tell the truth. To everyone. Wall Street is the factory for all the financial products in the United States, and you can't allow a factory to put out some poisonous products and claim the rest are healthy.

Lottery winners: 266-million-dollar lottery win won't change us

A Los Angeles couple who hit the 266-million-dollar jackpot in a multi-state lottery said Thursday that the bumper payday would not change them.

Jacki and Gilbert Cisneros became California's newest millionaires on Tuesday when they struck paydirt in the Mega Millions Lottery after the prize total had rolled over to an eye-popping 266 million dollars.

The win instantly obliterated the couple's financial worries -- Gilbert Cisneros had recently lost his job -- and left them contemplating a life of almost unlimited luxury.

But the couple insisted Tuesday they are not planning a spending spree, with NBC television journalist Jacki Cisneros even revealing that she had no plans to give up her job.

"I don't think it's going to change us," Jacki Cisneros told NBC4. "You know, we'll buy a house, but doesn't everyone dream of buying a house? I don't want to get too carried away, you know?," she said, adding that she hopes to keep working at her current job.

"I've worked since I was 14," she said. "So the idea of not working is just, it's a foreign concept for me.

"Even growing up, my grandparents instilled a really strong work ethic with my family, so the idea of not working just seems weird to me."

The odds of matching the winning numbers were 1 in 175,711,536, according to the Mega Millions website.

For workers, million dollar ideas could yield big bucks

These days especially, state government could use a few million-dollar ideas. Now it's even willing to pay for them.

A bill approved by the House and Senate last week will give state workers cash bonuses for their money-saving ideas. Original concepts that result in documented savings could earn their owners up to $25,000.

"You give away peanuts, you get monkeys," said Sen. Harold Giard, an Addison County Democrat who introduced a version of the bill last year. "If we want state employees spending the extra time out of work to come up with good proposals, we've got to make it worth their while."

The legislation is a little bit like Challenges for Change, except with prizes. In order to be eligible for remuneration, cost-cutting ideas can't impede the delivery of services or harm government programs.

"We think probably the best people to come up with creative ideas are the people on the front lines," said Sen. Jeanette White, a Windham County Democrat and chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Government Operations. "And this is a way to encourage them to think more creatively."

Employees will submit their ideas to managers and supervisors in their respective agencies and departments. A panel will vet the proposals, make sure none are already under consideration, and then move ahead with those that make the cut.

If an idea results in documented savings, then the employees responsible for the concept get 25 percent of total savings, up to $25,000.

Gov. James Douglas likes the concept, according to Commissioner of Human Resources Caroline Earle. But he has "grave" concerns about the constitution of the panel that will oversee the venture. The panel will consist of five people – three appointed by the Agency of Administration, and two appointed by the Vermont State Employees Association.

Earle said the panel – which she believes "will create an unnecessary level of bureaucracy and review" – is problematic enough. More worrisome though, according to Earle, is allowing union appointees to breach the ranks of the administration.

"It brings the VSEA into the administration and of course the VSEA is a separate entity and not a part of state government," Earle said. "To have individuals on this board appointed by an outside entity who are making recommendations to the Secretary of Administration is from our perspective inappropriate."

Jes Kraus, head of the VSEA, dismissed those concerns. Besides, he said, the administration will still control a majority bloc on the board.

"Especially at a time when we're strapped for cash, creating incentives for cost-saving ideas make a lot of sense," Kraus said. "It's done everywhere in the private sector already, so we're glad the Legislature sees the wisdom in hearing from rank-and-file employees on how government might save money."

Kraus said similar initiatives have saved money elsewhere.

In Wisconsin, for instance, the state paid out $7,000 for $359,000 worth of savings in 2006.

"I think the multi-million-dollar idea is pretty rare," Kraus said. "But smaller things do add up. And there's always the chance we get that one brilliant idea that may save $5 million or $10 million."

Earle said the governor is still weighing his options as the bill sits on his desk awaiting his signature.

"The bill has a noble purpose and appropriate purpose in days when we're trying to generate cost savings," she said. "But from out perspective this bill doesn't create an appropriate mechanism through which to fulfill its intent. And the governor is still evaluating … whether it's sufficiently defective that the purpose of the bill is lost in the mix."

Creative Innovative money making ideas can often be disarmingly low tech, study finds

WHY IS it that clever ideas also seem to be simple ideas and that being innovative doesn’t necessarily equate to high tech? Innovative, money-making ideas can often be disarmingly low tech and yet enjoy substantial financial returns.

I ask this in light of the launch last month by President Mary McAleese of the “Your Country Your Call” competition. Major money is on offer, two prizes of €100,000 and a combined €1 million worth of business development support and all you have to do is be innovative, come up with a way to create prosperity and jobs.

You could do worse while in pursuit of that money than take a leaf out of Walter Frederick Morrison’s book. He came up with an amazing yet simple idea that has delivered millions of euros in sales – the frisbee. This simple plastic “flying saucer” has sold an estimated 200 million units around the world, an achievement that if duplicated here would deliver all the prosperity and jobs required to win the Your Country Your Call prize.

Morrison died last month, in the process sparking a flurry of news stories and features that lamented his passing while celebrating his simple achievement. Yet the man was no overnight success. His flying disc needed an amount of work to make it happen even though it seems so ridiculously simple.

There are several web versions of his history, one claiming he developed his idea while throwing about an old tin lid with his future father-in-law in 1937, the other that it arose in 1948 after the war while tossing an inverted pie tin. The later story also suggests how the product, originally the Flyin-Saucer and then the Pluto Platter, was named. It was a trademark-dodging version of the pie tin’s owner, the Frisbie Pie Co.

Morrison modified his platter a number of times before being bought out by a company that is a by-word for innovation, Wham-O. The company made iconic products that every American kid would have known from the 1960s through today, like the SuperBall and the Slip’n Slide or that international favourite, the HulaHoop. Simple bits of plastic that sold millions. If only I had thought of it first.

Not one of them has a microchip or a battery or needs to be charged before use. They are just good ideas that somebody had the vision to support. Similar uncluttered thinking allowed the Victorians, wealthy ones anyway, to grow and enjoy their own fresh oranges in Orangeries. Large, elegant lean-to glass houses were built onto the south facing side of some grand homes, including plenty in Ireland, in order to provide a supply of oranges.

The clouds were a bother, but cheap heating was no problem. One heating system featured piping running along the base of a long trough. The trough would be filled to the brim with fresh manure and allowed to rot, in the process giving off significant heat that was carried away in the pipework as warm water. The water kept the glass house warm and the manure when rotted could be tossed out into the flower beds. Win, win.

And what about a remarkable central air conditioning system I once spotted on a former mansion outside Philadelphia. A metal frame had been bolted onto the back of the four-storey house and onto this was mounted a thin metal mesh like a screen. Pipes fed water onto the screen at the top of the building and this trickled down the mesh to run into a tank at the bottom.

A hot summer’s day in Philly would see the water evaporate rapidly, chilling it due to evaporative cooling. This cool water in turn could be piped into the house to bring down the temperature inside. Simple. No moving parts but for a small pump. How innovative can you get.

We have a tendency these days to go with a heavy technological fix when presented with problems, but none of these innovations relied on complex technology. They are just good ideas that had a chance to flourish.

Let’s hope that Your Country Your Call can turn up a few more, ideas that will help create jobs and maybe make someone wealthy. We could all do with a bit of cheering up given the state of things. It isn’t exactly the knowledge economy as espoused by the Government but it is certainly the smart economy.

Lottery Winner Dead. Missing Lottery Winner's Body Found in Florida

The family of Florida lottery winner Abraham Shakespeare has probably been dreading this day since they reported him missing last November.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's office confirmed Friday that remains found a day earlier were those of Shakespeare. Police used fingerprints to identify the 43-year-old truck driver's assistant who won a $31 million lottery jackpot in 2006.

The body was found in Plant City, about 25 miles northeast of Tampa, at a home connected to Dorice Moore, a woman who had befriended him and now lives in the $1 million home he bought with his winnings.

Police have named Moore a "person of interest" in Shakespeare's disappearance but she has not been charged.

In 2006, Shakespeare opted for a lump sum payment of nearly $17 million. He had been missing since April 2009, but his family didn't report it until November.

Lotteries: Germans fly to Italy to buy lotto tickets

Germans, Austrians and other foreigners are heading into Italy to play the lottery ahead of a record euro131.5 ($186 million) jackpot, including some who flew into Milan for a few hours just for a chance to win Thursday night.

Germany's top-selling Bild newspaper said 140 passengers aboard a chartered Air Berlin jet won a phone-in contest for free airline tickets aboard an early afternoon flight from Berlin to Milan's Malpensa airport.

Besides the free seats, the winners were being treated to a heaping plateful of pasta, a cup of espresso and the opportunity to buy Superenalotto tickets at a smoke shop at the Milan airport.

Later in the afternoon, without ever leaving the airport, the passengers were flying back to Berlin, "just in time for dinner and to find out if they've won," said Italy private Canale 5 TV.

French visitors have also been driving into neighboring northwest Italy for a chance to play the numbers lotto, many Germans have been sighted in resort towns of Lake Maggiore buying tickets, and Superenalotto tickets appeared to be as popular as postcards in many Venice souvenir shops.

Other foreigners catching lotto fever were enjoying already planned vacations in Italy. Nicola and Peter Minchella came from Edinburgh, Scotland.

"I never thought to play in another country before, but since it's making headlines, we'll probably buy a ticket," said Nicola Minchella, as the pair dipped into gelato and sipped coffee at Castellino's, an outside cafe at Piazza Venezia in the heart of Rome.

At a counter inside the cafe, customers waited in line to buy lotto tickets. What if Peter Minchella picked the winning numbers?

"I'd travel the world and keep buying lottery tickets," he said, smiling.

The cost is euro1 ($1.42) for the chance to choose two combinations of six winning numbers.

In places like Naples, where a favorite pastime is interpreting dreams in terms of numbers, many people prefer to choose their own. But players can also purchase tickets with two random sets of numbers already printed on them.

With many smoke shops closed in Italy for vacations, those open bustled with players. At Castellino, one customer spent euro2,000 (some $2,800), a drop in the bucket against the 1 in 622 million odds, said manager Stefano Menchetti.

Not all have dreams of riches only for themselves.

The mayor and some of his employees in one small town in northeast Italy have chipped in to buy tickets, pledging to use any winnings to build a theater for Ceneselli's 1,900 citizens.

"We've played our ages, our birth dates" as the lucky numbers, said Mayor Marco Trombini in a telephone interview. "There's no logic in luck anyway."

5 Things You're Wasting Money On - Financial Crisi Guide

These days, keeping your budget in line isn't measured by the amount you spend, but by how much you save.
Cut back on these 7 items and you could save roughly $1,000 a year.


1) Music Downloads

For the longest time, Apple iPod and iPhone owners were stuck downloading their music from iTunes, while consumers with other MP3 players couldn't put the service's content on their devices. But now, most online music purveyors (including Apple as of March) offer content in a DRM-free format -- meaning you can listen to it on any MP3 player. That frees iTunes users to pursue cheaper music from sites like Wal-Mart and Amazon.com. Music fans with other MP3 players may benefit from Apple going DRM-free, too. The company plans to revamp its fees in April, charging 69 cents to $1.29 per song instead of the current flat fee of 99 cents. Bottom line: Check prices on several sites before you download.

Potential Savings: "Hot N Cold" by Katy Perry costs 99 cents at iTunes, but just 74 cents at Wal-Mart and 79 cents at Amazon.com. Someone buying a song a week could save $10.40 to $13 annually by shopping around.

2) Organic Produce

Sure, buying organic makes you feel like you're doing the right thing, but it isn't always the best choice for your wallet. Fruits and vegetables like kiwis, sweet corn and broccoli require very little pesticide to grow. Others -- like avocados, onions and pineapples -- have thick or peelable skins that reduce your exposure to harmful chemicals. "Any pesticide that remains is not getting through," says Lempert. For a handy reminder as you shop, download the Environmental Working Group's wallet-sized organic produce guide.

Potential Savings: Organic broccoli costs $2.99 per pound at online grocer FreshDirect, which also offers conventional broccoli for $1.49. A pound of navel oranges is $4 for the organic and $2 for conventional. Someone buying a pound of each item weekly could save $182 over the course of a year.


3) Gym Memberships

The cost of a gym membership can really rack up over the course of a year (an average of $775, according to the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association). So make sure you're tapping into all of the discounts available to you. Check with your employer, health insurer and other membership groups like your union or alma mater to see if they offer discounts on gym and fitness club memberships, says Bob Nelson, president of Nelson Motivation, a benefits consulting firm.

Potential Savings: On your own, you'd pay $54.99 per month, plus a $49 enrollment fee, for a national access plan at Bally's Total Fitness. Through discounter GlobalFit.com, which offers special rates for members of partner companies, you'd pay $37.80 per month plus a $29 enrollment fee for the same Bally's membership. Over a yearlong membership, that's $226.28 saved.

4) Overdraft Fees

Overdraft fees can run as high as $35 apiece and banks have a host of sneaky tricks that can cause even the most diligent consumer to overdraw on an account. For example, they may approve debit purchases that would put you in the red, or re-order transactions so that the biggest purchases go through first -- and deposits get processed last. To protect yourself, sign up for overdraft protection, which can cost as little as $5 to $10 a year (and is often free with high-level checking accounts), and can save you hundreds of dollars.

Potential Savings: Pay $5 annually for a connected line of credit at Citibank. It kicks in only when you overspend, helping you to avoid the $30 fee per overdraft. Mess up just four times within a year and you've saved $115.


5) Auto Insurance

"[Auto insurers] often give discounts for consumers who don't drive long distances," says Sam Belden, a spokesman for Insurance.com. If your driving habits have changed in recent months -- say, you've switched jobs or cut out pricey trips to the mall – call your insurer to ask if you now qualify for a better rate.

Potential Savings: A driver who cuts back to fewer than 7,500 miles a year could shave 5% to 15% off his premiums, depending on his insurer. Considering that the average driver shells out $817 a year on auto insurance, according to the Insurance Information Institute, that saves $40.85 to $122.55.

How to win million dollar lottery ticket

Yet another story of lottery winner comes from Florida:

Fruitland Park woman can now call herself a millionaire thanks to scratching off the right lottery ticket.

Joanna Raulerson, 52, recently traveled to Tallahassee to claim a $1 million prize from the Florida Lottery, officials said Monday. Raulerson was one of two recent million-dollar winners in the lottery's new Billion Dollar Blockbuster scratch-off game.

Raulerson chose a one-time, lump-sum payment of $650,000. She purchased her winning ticket at the Fruitland Park Discount Beverage store on Picciola Road.

The other million-dollar winner was Murray Eisenberg, 86, of Coconut Creek, who also chose the one-time payment of $650,000.

How smart people can 'smell' a million dollar idea

Often, an idea which might not seem of interest to most people can have this special 'smell' for someone with creative skills. There seems to be some sort of instinct at work. However, it is more a sense of judgment developed through experience.

At the early stages of an idea, the point of interest is difference. Something that is different, or perhaps the opposite, of the norm will always arouse interest. However, it's quite another matter whether that interest develops into something practical.

Showing value and benefits is the purpose of any new idea. If an idea suggests large benefits at an early stage, it is always worth hearing and pursuing. However, the benefits have to be made very apparent.

If there are no obvious benefits then it is not a creative idea. You should not develop an idea and hope that the benefits will come along at a later stage.

If an idea seems practical, it is always attractive to people with creative skills. There are many aspects to practicality. The idea has to be practical and feasible from the points of view of mechanics and science. The idea must also be practical when it comes to acceptance; the people who will be implementing the idea have to be behind it.

An idea is often attractive if it is simple. The idea might be simple to introduce or simple to operate, or the simplicity could replace an existing complexity. It is always enticing to smell simplicity in an idea.

There are good ideas which will only work in a particular set of circumstances, or good ideas which will only work for a certain set of people – for instance, people with big plans but not much money.

Not every idea has to work on a universal basis. There are niche ideas which can be very effective. These ideas might be worth implementing. But when it comes to 'smelling an idea', however, niche ideas don't always seem attractive, although ideas can be seen to be valuable if the niche is spelled out very clearly. It shouldn't be left to the listener to work out the niche for which the idea has value.

Ideas that will work even when not fully implemented – robust ideas – are attractive to people with creative skills because they will work even beyond the best circumstances.

Do you know Math? That's a lottery to win for you

As investment schemes, state lotteries are about as sound as a Bernard Madoff venture.

But at least one lottery might be worth it — if you do the math.

When the jackpot for the match-six-numbers Massachusetts Cash WinFall tops $2 million without a winner, the prize money rolls down to the lower-tier winners, dramatically increasing the value of a win for people who match 2, 3, 4, or 5 numbers.

Mark Muir did the math, and figures that if you buy enough tickets under the roll-down scenario, you’re statistically guaranteed a return on your “investment.” The numbers start to get substantial the more tickets you buy. For example, he figures that when you buy $10,000 worth of tickets under roll-down conditions:

[Y]ou could expect 732 tickets to match 2, 105 to match 3, 6 to match 4, and a 12.8 percent chance to match 5. The expected value in this scenario is $14,280.

If you are observant, you will note that for this payout structure, the ratio of investment to winnings is a constant 42.8 percent return. That is, for every dollar invested, you can expect $1.428 in return over the long term.

Alas, the scheme does come with some risks, which Muir details at his Million Dollar Idea Guy blog.

8 Things You Would Expect to Hear from Millionaires

Here is nice story from SmartMoney I've read today. Look at this:

1. "You may think I'm rich, but I don't."

A million dollars may sound like a fortune to most people, and folks with that much cash can't complain — they're richer than 90 percent of U.S. households and earn $366,000 a year, on average, putting them in the top 1 percent of taxpayers. But the club isn't so exclusive anymore. Some 10 million households have a net worth above $1 million, excluding home equity, almost double the number in 2002. Moreover, a recent survey by Fidelity found just 8 percent of millionaires think they're "very" or "extremely" wealthy, while 19 percent don't feel rich at all. "They're worried about health care, retirement and how they'll sustain their lifestyle," says Gail Graham, a wealth-management executive at Fidelity.

Indeed, many millionaires still don't have enough for exclusive luxuries, like membership at an elite golf club, which can top $300,000 a year. While $1 million was a tidy sum three decades ago, you'd need $3.6 million for the same purchasing power today. And half of all millionaires have a net worth of $2.5 million or less, according to research firm TNS. So what does it take to feel truly rich? The magic number is $23 million, according to Fidelity.

2. "I shop at Wal-Mart..."

They may not buy the 99-cent paper towels, but millionaires know what it is to be frugal. About 80 percent say they spend with a middle-class mind-set, according to a 2007 survey of high-net-worth individuals, published by American Express and the Harrison Group. That means buying luxury items on sale, hunting for bargains — even clipping coupons.

Don Crane, a small-business owner in Santa Rosa, Calif., certainly sees the value of everyday saving. "We can afford just about anything," he says, adding that his net worth is over $1 million. But he and his wife both grew up on farms in the Midwest — where nothing was wasted — and his wife clips coupons to this day. In fact, most millionaires come from middle-class households, and roughly 70 percent have been wealthy for less than 15 years, according to the AmEx/Harrison survey. That said, there are plenty of millionaires who never check a price tag. "I've always wanted to live above my means because it inspired me to work harder," says Robert Kiyosaki, author of the 1997 best seller Rich Dad, Poor Dad. An entrepreneur worth millions, Kiyosaki says he doesn't even know what his house would go for today.

3. "...but I didn't get rich by skimping on lattes."

So how do you join the millionaires' club? You could buy stocks or real estate, play the slots in Vegas — or take the most common path: running your own business. That's how half of all millionaires made their money, according to the AmEx/Harrison survey. About a third had a professional practice or worked in the corporate world; only 3 percent inherited their wealth.

Regardless of how they built their nest egg, virtually all millionaires "make judicious use of debt," says Russ Alan Prince, coauthor of "The Middle-Class Millionaire." They'll take out loans to build their business, avoid high-interest credit card debt and leverage their home equity to finance purchases if their cash flow doesn't cut it. Nor is their wealth tied up in their homes. Home equity represents just 11 percent of millionaires' total assets, according to TNS. "People who are serious about building wealth always want to have a mortgage," says Jim Bell, president of Bell Investment Advisors. His home is probably worth $1.5 million, he adds, but he owes $900,000 on it. "I'm in no hurry to pay it off," he says. "It's one of the few tax deductions I get."

4. "I have a concierge for everything."

That hot restaurant may be booked for months — at least when Joe Nobody calls to make reservations. But many top eateries set aside tables for celebrities and A-list clientele, and that's where the personal concierge comes in. Working for retainers that range anywhere from $25 an hour to six figures a year, these modern-day butlers have the inside track on chic restaurants, spa reservations, even an early tee time at the golf club. And good concierges will scour the planet for whatever their clients want — whether it's holy water blessed personally by the Pope, rare Mexican tequila or artisanal sausages found only in northern Spain. "For some people, the cost doesn't matter," says Yamileth Delgado, who runs Marquise Concierge and who once found those sausages for a client — 40 pounds of chorizo that went for $1,000.

Concierge services now extend to medical attention as well. At the high end: For roughly $2,000 to $4,000 a month, clients can get 24-hour access to a primary-care physician who makes house calls and can facilitate admission to a hospital "without long waits in the emergency room," as one New York City service puts it.

5. "You don't get rich by being nice."

John D. Rockefeller threatened rivals with bankruptcy if they didn't sell out to his company, Standard Oil. Bill Gates was ruthless in building Microsoft into the world's largest software firm (remember Netscape?). Indeed, many millionaires privately admit they're "bastards in business," says Prince. "They aren't nice guys." Of course, the wealthy don't exactly look in the mirror and see Gordon Gekko either. Most millionaires share the values of their moderate-income parents, says Lewis Schiff, a private wealth consultant and Prince's coauthor: "Spending time with family really matters to them." Just 12 percent say that what they want most to be remembered for is their legacy in business, according to the AmEx/Harrison study.

6. "I was a B student."

Mom was right when she said good grades were the key to success — just not necessarily a big bank account. According to the book "The Millionaire Mind," the median college grade point average for millionaires is 2.9, and the average SAT score is 1190 — hardly Harvard material. In fact, 59 percent of millionaires attended a state college or university, according to AmEx/Harrison.

When asked to list the keys to their success, millionaires rank hard work first, followed by education, determination and "treating others with respect." They also say that what they absorbed in class was less important than learning how to study and stay disciplined, says Jim Taylor, vice chairman of the Harrison Group. Granted, 48 percent of millionaires hold an advanced degree, and elite colleges do open doors to careers on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley (not to mention social connections that grease the wheels). But for every Ph.D. millionaire, there are many more who squeaked through school. Kiyosaki, for one, says the only way he survived college calculus was by "sitting near" the smart kids in class — "we cheated like crazy," he says.

7. "Like my Ferrari? It's a rental."

Why spend $3,000 on a Versace bag that'll be out of style as soon as next season when you can rent it for $175 a month? For that matter, why blow $250,000 on a Ferrari when for $25,000 it can be yours for a few weekends a year? Clubs that offer "fractional ownership" of jets have been popular for some time, and now the concept has extended to other high-end luxuries like exotic cars and fine art. How hot is the trend? More than 50 percent of millionaires say they plan to rent luxury goods within the next 12 months, according to a survey by Prince & Associates. Handbags topped the list, followed by cars, jewelry, watches and art. Online companies like Bag Borrow or Steal, for example, cater to customers who always want new designer accessories and jewelry, for prices starting at $15 a week.

For Suzanne Garner, a millionaire software engineer in Santa Clara, Calif., owning a $100,000 car didn't make financial sense (she drives a Mazda Miata). Instead, Garner pays up to $30,000 in annual membership fees to Club Sportiva, a fractional-ownership car club in San Francisco that lets her take out Ferraris, Lamborghinis and other exotic vehicles on weekends. "I'm all about the car," she says. And so are other people, it seems. While stopped at a light in a Ferrari recently, Garner received a marriage proposal from a guy in a pickup truck. (She declined the offer.)

8. "Turns out money can buy happiness."

It may not be comforting to folks who aren't minting cash, but the rich really are different. "There's no group in America that's happier than the wealthy," says Taylor, of the Harrison Group. Roughly 70 percent of millionaires say that money"created" more happiness for them,he notes. Higher income also correlates with higher ratings in life satisfaction, according to a new study by economists at the Wharton School of Business. But it's not necessarily the Bentley or Manolo Blahniks that lead to bliss. "It's the freedom that money buys," says Betsey Stevenson, coauthor of the Wharton study.

Concomitantly, rates of depression are lower among the wealthy, according to the Wharton study, and the rich tend to have better health than the rest of the population, says James Smith, senior labor economist at the Rand Corporation. (In fact, health and happiness are as closely correlated as wealth and happiness, Smith says.) The wealthy even seem to smile and laugh more often, according to the Wharton study, to say nothing of getting treated with more respect and eating better food. "People experience their day very differently when they have a lot of money," Stevenson says.

How to Protect Your Million Dollar Idea?

Once you've come up with tentatively satisfying answers to the originality, production and distribution, and saleability questions, it's time to consider protecting your idea. After all, it looks like you have something.

If you do have a patentable item, it's time to look into trying to protect it under the patent laws. Here briefly are the steps you'll need to follow:

* Obtain a patent information booklet that is available through the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO). They can be contacted by looking up their phone number in the government listings in your telephone directory. In addition or as an alternative, contact your local library for publications that they may have on the subject.
* Contact an organization such as a Research Council to have what is referred to as a "State of the Art" search done. This is a type of patent search that does not have the depth nor does it go back as far in time as a proper patent search, but it can help to give you a starting point from which to proceed. If you are going to proceed with this, you will have to be prepared to provide enough description of the item and its intended use so that an accurate description can be communicated to the Canadian Intellectual Property Office of Industry Canada.
* Contact a patent attorney or agent to discuss the intricacies of the patent process and the potential costs of this process. The patent office will accept an application for a patent only from the inventor or from a recognized patent attorney or agent. You will want to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of attempting to put an application together yourself or using professional services that have experience in this field.
* Having a patent won't mean you have absolute protection. In fact, one survey found that in over 70% of the infringement cases brought by patent holders to protect their patents, the patent itself was held invalid.
* Defending your patent can be very expensive. If you don't have a patent, however, the probability of successfully protecting your invention approaches zero.
* Mere ideas or suggestions can't be patented. Some of these you may be able to put in patentable form, but for those that you can't it's pretty much do-it-yourself. Consult with a patent attorney/agent or the patent office about the classes of patentable subject matter.
o Say, for example, you think you have a great gimmick for selling more of Company A's products. Leaving aside the likelihood that Company A won't be interested, how do you approach Company A with your idea with any assurance they won't simply use it without paying you a cent?
o About the best you can do is write them a letter telling them you have a promotional (or whatever) idea and, without giving them any details, offer to send it to them. Include in your letter a statement to be signed and returned by a Company A representative promising they won't divulge your idea or make use of it without compensation (to be negotiated between them and you), if they'd like to know the details of your plan. They'll probably say thanks but no thanks or that they can't promise any such things without seeing the idea, but it's the only course open to you.

Top 20 Tips To Come Up With Million Dollar Ideas

1. Carry a notebook. Seriously, carry it everywhere. I can’t tell you how many awesome ideas I’ve lost simply because I forgot to bring my notebook. And you know why I can’t tell you? Because I didn’t write them down. Carry your notebook everywhere, always have some kind of writing implement, and write things down immediately. Of course, you may need to pull your car over to avoid an accident … or just start riding mass transit instead, to avoid that problem.

2. Keep a list. I have a simple Google Doc that I can pull up at any time with a few keystrokes (I use AutoHotKey to open all my most commonly used documents and programs instantly). On this list, I write down all my ideas. When I need to write a post, I am never short of ideas. Actually, I have dozens more ideas than I can ever use, so if anyone needs any, let me know. Just $5 an idea. :)

3. Exercise. OK, you’re going to skip past this one. That’s OK. I’m not saying you have to start exercising to have amazing ideas, but from personal experience, exercise is one of the absolute best ways to come up with ideas. It seems it is literally impossible to go for a run or a walk without coming up with an idea that will knock you on your butt. Which is why I now wear padded running shorts.

4. Driving. There’s something about the mindlessness of driving that allows me to come up with some of my better ideas in the car. To make this work, you have to drive slower than some of the maniacs out there (try it, it’s calming), and ignore the rude antics of your fellow drivers. Concentrate on avoiding an accident, but don’t worry if someone cuts you off or is driving slower than your average toddler can walk. Just stay in your Zen zone, and watch the ideas come to you effortlessly.

5. Read a lot. I’m reading a book every day, several times a day. It might take me a week to finish the book, but that’s because I take my time and enjoy the book. In addition, I’m always reading stuff on the Internet. Reading is one of the very best ways to find new ideas. And yes, you have to read the articles, not just the pictures. :)

6. Find inspiration. I find inspiration from many sources, including other bloggers, from friends and family, from life itself. Sometimes, an idea can be totally unrelated to the source of your inspiration, but the key is that spark, that energy, that ignition that gets your mind going. Whatever does that for you is worth its weight in gold. Failing inspiration, just rip off ideas (and make them your own).

7. Listen. One of my favorite ways to get ideas is by listening to other people talk. When someone talks to me, I try to talk as little as possible, and just listen to them and understand. That’s difficult when talking to engineers, of course. Those guys can talk! I also like to eavesdrop on conversations held by loud people when I’m in public places. Yes, that makes me weird.

8. Find twists. Found a great idea by someone else? As mentioned before, if you aren’t inspired by someone else, just rip off their ideas. But don’t just spit out the ideas verbatim — take them to another level by finding new twists on those ideas. How can you take this great idea (or even a common idea) and give it a new twist? Sometimes you can find the best ideas by putting a new spin on an old idea.

9. Examine your life. Take a few minutes now and then to step back and take a look at your life. What are you doing? Where are you going? Who are you? What are you all about? What’s important? What are you trying to achieve? What are you doing right and wrong? Ask yourself these types of questions, think about what it is you do every day and why. This kind of examination can produce dozens of new ideas.

10. Question everything. When you find yourself thinking or following traditional ideas that everyone assumes are right, question them. Ask yourself if it’s really true, and if so, why? Why does everyone think this? Is it possible there are other ways of doing things? Question everything, and you might come up with some surprising answers.

11. Trawl through fresh sources. Sometimes, if you drive home the same route every single day, it’s good to drive a new route, even if it’s a little longer. Change things up. Similarly, you should visit new web sites, read new authors, break out of your niche, talk to new people, start clicking on links in blogrolls and see where they take you. Get outside your familiar territory, and find new ideas in new places.

12. Bounce stuff off others. Got an idea? Bounce it off a friend or colleague. Sometimes their responses can spur new ideas in you, and vice versa. It’s amazing what can form when two people put their heads together. Avoid more than three people talking about ideas, though … “ideas by committee” is not a smart approach.

13. Reader emails. I get lots of emails from readers, and while it can take a lot of my time to read and answer them, it’s well worth the effort. Some of my best post ideas have come from the suggestions of others. If you don’t get a lot of reader emails, don’t let that stop you … find a way to solicit suggestions from others, asking for emails or comments on your blog or whatever it is you do. Let others come up with the ideas!

14. Forums. Similar to some of the items above, online forums can be amazing places for ideas. You can get suggestions from others, you can bounce ideas off people, you can read and be inspired by great ideas from people on the forums. And there are so many forums online that it’s practically impossible to run out of ideas from them.

15. Ask. When I’m running dry, or need a fresh source of ideas, I’ll ask my readers. I’ll do a post and ask them for suggestions for different topics. And let me tell you, there is no shortage of great topics when I do this. A few months ago I asked if they had “health and fitness” topics they’d like me to write about. I haven’t even gotten halfway through the list of ideas yet!

16. Magazine rack. When I go into a bookstore or grocery store, I like to spend a few minutes at the magazine rack. I don’t even read all the articles … I just read the headlines on the cover, or flip through the magazines. And I don’t just read the ones I’m interested in … I glance at them all. I’ve found some amazing ideas in these racks.

17. Look deep inside yourself. This is a difficult one. It’s similar to the “examine your life” suggestion, but it’s a deeper look at yourself. Really reach deep inside, and search the person you are, search your soul for your deepest desires, your innermost secrets, your most secret dreams and ambitions. You can find some of the most wonderful ideas deep within yourself.

18. Learn from your mistakes. While mistakes can be embarrassing, I love making mistakes. Sure, they’re sloppy and painful, but they’re anything but unproductive. Mistakes are the way we learn, and if we can harvest the power of mistakes to come up with great ideas, we are using our mistakes to their fullest potential. Think about the mistakes you’ve made in your life, recently and over the years. What can you learn from them? What can others learn?

19. Be inspired by nature. I love going outside, to take a breath of fresh air, to stretch, to get natural light into my computer-strained eyes. And to take a look at the beauty of the nature around me. Our world has some of the most incredible natural beauty in the universe … take advantage of the nature around you, and find inspiration in it!

20. Music. I like to play a good CD or tune in to my favorite radio station, to get myself moving, to sooth my savage beast, to make my soul leap with joy. Music can be the most inspiring thing in our lives, if we open up our hearts and minds to it.

The Social Million Dollar Idea in the Web

I'll talk about new internet phenomenon today - probably, next Million Dollar Idea in the Web, called "The Social Millionaire".

The overall idea of The Social Millionaire is very simple; the site is focused around a list of links where users can bid on keywords they would like to be associated with, and the highest bidder gets their keyword link displayed.

At a first glance, the site seems almost like a very common "link dump", but once you take a look at the finer details, you start to realize that this is much more original. It has a lot of great things going for it; first of all, the auction system for bidding on keywords really helps create a sense of competition. That's because some keywords are definitely eye catching and recognizable.

What's more important about this site though, and something that is really driving it's success, is the "Social" part of The Social Millionaire.

Well, I think it's very unusual idea and, probably, we can hear about in the future soon.

People with $10 million are no happier than people with $9 million

Money doesn’t always bring happiness. People with $10 million are no happier than people with $9 million.” – Hobart Brown
How do you think?

How do I copyright my million dollar ideas?

It's very popular question. Indeed, How do I copyright my million dollar ideas?
That's right answer from Yahoo Answers:

Ideas cannot be copyrighted, only the EXPRESSION of ideas.

Federal statutory copyright comes into existence when you fix the idea in a tangible medium of expression. However, you gain additional rights by placing a copyright notice on it (either by placing the word "copyright", or the c in a circle symbol, your name and the year in which you fixed it in a tangible medium of expression) and when you register the work with the Register of Copyright -- whose office is located in the Library of Congress. You can get the forms to register your copyright online at www.copyright.gov/register.

You have a million dollar idea but how to avoid an invention company scam?

Ok, you have your million dollar idea and you want to avoid an invention company scam. Look at the following tips how to do it.

1. Ask for their success rate: Ask for in writing the number of ideas they have represented and how many inventors made more money than they invested.
2. Ask for references: Ask for the names of three satisfied customers that you can talk to.
3. Avoid too much pressure: Are their sales people calling you often? Are you hearing, "Let's do it now/asap."
4. Are they sending you pre-signed confidentiality agreements in their "free kits": No, you sign agreements after you decide you want to use them or anyone else (but before discussion of any ideas).
5. Have they asked you to write your ideas down and mail them to yourself? That is not protection.
6. Early in your discussions, ask what the total cost of services will be. Any hesitation to answer is a bad sign.
7. Market evaluations provide an objective evaluation of the merit, technical feasibility, and commercial viability of your invention. Ask for their criteria, system of review, and the qualifications of company evaluators.
8. Do they check on pre-existing patents for your same idea. Bad companies will promote almost any idea, without knowing if there is patent infringement involved.
9. Do their "patent searches" come without a written opinion of patentability? Do they refuse to provide in writing the number of favorable patent searches vs unfavorable searches. You will want both.
10. Do they recommend that a design patent be applied for? Only a minority of inventions should fall in this category. Also watch out if they offer a "money back guarantee" if the patent does not issue.
11. If they claim to have a special relationship with a manufacturer, ask for proof. Watch out, if they ask you to submit your idea to a manufacturer before you have a patent.
12. Avoid a jack-of-all-trades. They send a "free kit" or in reality more advertising, then sell you a market evaluation package, and later a patent, marketing and licensing package. No one is an expert in all those fields.
13. Watch out for addresses that don't match, they claim to be in one state but the mailing address is different. Ditto for no direct phone contact, are you always reaching their voicemail?
14. Ask all the above questions and be on triple alert if your are responding to a slick TV, radio and magazine ad. Yes, the real guys have to advertise too, so know what to look out for.
15. Investigate the good guys too. Even if none of the above apply, call your local Better Business Bureau, check with the FTC and the bad guys listings under "Invention Company Scams".

How to You Make Money With Your Million Dollar Idea

So, you've had an idea for an invention or an innovative way of doing something that will boost productivity, put more people to work, and make lots of money for you and anyone who backs you? As you've probably heard, you're the kind of person your country needs to compete in world markets and maintain its standard of living. You're the cutting edge of the future.

You are another of those individuals on whom progress has always depended. We all know that it hasn't been huge corporations that have come up with the inventions that have revolutionized life. As the discoverer of penicillin, Sir Alexander Flemming, said, "It is the lone worker who makes the first advance in a subject: The details may be worked out by a team, but the prime idea is due to the enterprise, thought and perception of an individual." Innovators like you are business' lifeblood.

Owner-managers who have started companies on new ideas know first hand about the innovation process. They also know that you can expect to hear.

In the first place, the chances that you are the first to come up with a particular innovation are somewhere between slim and none. Secondly, even if you have come up with the better mousetrap, nobody — but nobody — is going to beat a path to your door. In fact, in the course of trying to peddle your better mousetrap, you'll beat up plenty of shoe leather wearing paths to other people's doors. You'll stand a good chance of wearing out your patience and several dozen crying towels as well.

Why is it so hard to find backers for your brain children? One consultant put it: "Nobody wants unproven ideas. Nobody wants to be first. Everybody wants to be second." Why this fear of the new?

Well, new product failure rates are estimated conservatively to be between 50% and 80%. One survey of major companies with millions of dollars to spend on R&D, market research, and product advertising, and with well-established distribution systems found that of 58 internal proposals only 12 made it past initial screening. From these 12 only one successful new product emerged.

Another group set up to help innovators has found that of every 100 ideas submitted 85 have too many faults to bother with. They can be eliminated immediately. Of the remaining 15, maybe five will ever be produced. One of those might — only might — make money.

With odds like 99 to 1 against an idea being a monetary success, is it any surprise that your idea is greeted with a chorus of yawns? People — companies, investors, what have you — are basically conservative with their money. Ideas are risky.

Does that mean you should forget about your idea? Of course not. It merely means that now you're beginning to see what Edison meant, when he said, "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration."

Again, those of you who own small firms started on innovations are well aware of the truth of Edison's words. You've been through the hard work.

In the first place, the chances that you are the first to come up with a particular innovation are somewhere between slim and none. Secondly, even if you have come up with the better mousetrap, nobody — but nobody — is going to beat a path to your door. In fact, in the course of trying to peddle your better mousetrap, you'll beat up plenty of shoe leather wearing paths to other people's doors. You'll stand a good chance of wearing out your patience and several dozen crying towels as well.

Why is it so hard to find backers for your brain children? One consultant put it: "Nobody wants unproven ideas. Nobody wants to be first. Everybody wants to be second." Why this fear of the new?

Well, new product failure rates are estimated conservatively to be between 50% and 80%. One survey of major companies with millions of dollars to spend on R&D, market research, and product advertising, and with well-established distribution systems found that of 58 internal proposals only 12 made it past initial screening. From these 12 only one successful new product emerged.

Another group set up to help innovators has found that of every 100 ideas submitted 85 have too many faults to bother with. They can be eliminated immediately. Of the remaining 15, maybe five will ever be produced. One of those might — only might — make money.

With odds like 99 to 1 against an idea being a monetary success, is it any surprise that your idea is greeted with a chorus of yawns? People — companies, investors, what have you — are basically conservative with their money. Ideas are risky.

Does that mean you should forget about your idea? Of course not. It merely means that now you're beginning to see what Edison meant, when he said, "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration."

Again, those of you who own small firms started on innovations are well aware of the truth of Edison's words. You've been through the hard work.

Will Your Million Dollar Idea Make Money? Here is where the risk arises that makes it so difficult to interest people in backing your idea.

It's a question that's really impossible to answer with any assurance. After all, major corporations even with massive market studies hit clinkers all the time. Remember the Edsel? On the other hand, an idea so seemingly stupid that you'd think it was somebody's idea of a silly joke might make millions. Don't you wish you'd thought of the pet rock?

So many factors need to be considered to answer this question. Is there a market? Where is it? Is it concentrated or dispersed? Could the size of the market change suddenly? Will competition drive you out? These questions are by no means the bottom of the iceberg. Yet, answering the money question to the satisfaction of potential backers is the key to the other questions.

Accoring to CanadaBusiness