Would you travel to third world countries to become uber-rich ?
So I read news today about how a Brit woman was raped in Colombia by drug traffickers who found her camping at a site.
All I could think was how dangerous the world outside of most G10/G20 nations is. Then I thought about who would have been my employer and boss if I passed all interviews at his firm.
I tried to make it in to the commodity/oil trading industry by joining Trafigura but I couldn't. For those of you who don't know - they're a physical trading house and a Fortune 500 empire. Single handedly built by a French swash-buckling real deal billionaire who traveled to far flung countries to do business and had a stomach made out of steel.
Claude died in Colombia in 2015. He was the real deal billionaire - a guy who could lay everything on the line and had 0 fear. Clearly, it took a serious mind hell bent on getting rich to travel out of the comfort zone to countries like Ivory Coast in Africa, and Colombia.
So I'm just wondering - would you guys go out of your comfort zone for the bucks ? Mentally and physically you need to be prepared to have 0 fear. It's clear to me Claude deserved all his billions because the easiest thing would have been to settle for some 9-5 in France. He didn't need to travel to third world places or do deals with shady people and get uncomfortable.
I'd love to be as rich as Claude, but sometimes I wonder whether I have the stomach for it. A cubicle job does suck, but at least you're not facing jail time in Africa - nor do you have to travel to Colombia. Fortune favors the bold indeed, but the question is - are you willing to become bold for it.
Claude was a freak of nature, mentally and physically. You picture a man on the Forbes list as someone sipping wine in Monaco on a yacht, but this was someone who was as adventurous as Indiana Jones and never felt an ounce of fear doing what many would fear doing. He could be doing big deals in countries you never heard of traveling 3 weeks a month while laying it all on the line. I really wonder how he managed it all mentally, every time he step foot into the USA he could've been arrested on bribery allegations or for buying some third world dictator a mansion as a "gift".
Claude in his private jet ($20 million + brand new) during happier times:
https://static.wixstatic.com/media/172220_8c6e8a8…
This is claude in Africa - where he spent 5 months in jail when a deal went wrong. I believe he was a proper billionaire by this point.
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/_lWXrpwC28yU/S_QeryQYWi…
Claude was a high-flyer - his friends and business associates were close to Vladimir Putin
https://www.rosneft.com/upload/site2/document_new…
http://www.asianews.it/files/img/RUSSIA_Sechin_Pu…
A remarkable individual for sure. Colombia, Africa, doing deals with Putin's friends, private jetting around the world to build a Fortune 500 empire. This man was built tough. How many of you would do the same for the almighty dollar ?
bump
spend a few weeks in the far eastern European countries, and you'll feel "uber rich". i am speaking from experience. non obese girls there are an added bonus.
How far east are you talking? I have family in Poland, always a great place to visit.
First of all thanks for typing this up. Good read. Secondly I believe that a majority of us would want to lead this sort extraordinary life. I definitely would.
The question when facing this sort of "fear" is not, "would you face it". Of course we would face it! Because we know the glorious outcome!
The real fear is created when this man ventures into the unknown and faces the distinct possibility of achieving NOTHING.
Point: Christopher Columbus ship could've been sunk in a hurricane and his ventures would've been for nothing. (he didn't gain anything but credit to his name posthumously anyway)
I agree . Sometimes I feel the entire reward is in the risk which is why when you look at all those who have "made it". What's striking is the gargantuan size of risk they took on.
Most of the uber-rich didn't invest in mutual funds to get uber-rich. They did things that'd make most people puke thinking about what could go wrong.
Either way, it's a crap shoot. The ones who make it are the minority. For every man who made it there are dozens that got shot down in the process by gravity.
pretty much.
I wonder how many people tried the same thing and were either killed, jailed, or just gave up after the first few attempts.
Please don't deal blood diamonds or you may make Leo cry ;_;
Currently in a third world country to try my fortune. Its a frontier market thats just opening up. But there are a lot of challenges to being here that I think most people on this forum would not be able to handle. Ultimately moving to a third world country is not something I would recommend for everyone
Dealing with thugs ? Lack of power ? Rule of law not on your side ?
Please discuss your problems
It usually is not as simple as coming in for a few months and cashing out. If you want to make the big gains you got yo stay here for a long time, ex: more than 5 years. A lot of things here are relationship driven , much more so than the first world. If you want to do any sort of business it will always be about who you know. Good luck getting anything done here without any network.
And the food and nightlife here suck , so you are never going to get anything close to NYC or London. There are not that many things to do after work. The loneliness can get to you if you let it, most people cant speak english and you cant speak their language. The friends you will make are ususally other foreigners.
Thugs are not a big problem unless you piss off someone who matters. People here are genuinely nice despite growing up in absolute poverty. I am in South East Asia, so I dont know how Africa would be like.
All in all I dont think its been a bad move so far. If you really want to come here you gotta know what you really want from this. Alot of people here are running away from something, they dont seem to know what they want out of life. But if you feel that you really want to take advantge of opportunities there then you should def move there. If you are single and have no responsibilities , I would def reccomend you to move . it could go great or bad, there is not much inbetween
100%. I want to live 5-7 years in a country where a revolution could outbreak at any moment, live without the law and order in America, and see stuff that .00001% of those in the western world will see. It's the lifestyle that is the most attractive to me more than the very high fiscal upside.
great plan
Perception of fear is usually a lot worse than it reality.
How many people visit Colombia and leave unscathed? Plenty, there just aren't any news articles about people making it home safe, I mean young women and men go out there travelling, many solo, without security and don't even bat an eye lid.
Within commodities - My desk regularly travels West Africa etc. and it's not like you're on your own fending for yourself. You'll have people to accompany you, potentially security if it's needed. Fear doesn't come into it in.
Have you ever actually been to a third world country? They really are not that bad if you're visiting for a few weeks or months - maybe you should try it?
And now I think about it, is Colombia even a third world country?
Going there is different from getting stuck in a jail there !
My friend went on a surf trip to Indonesia and saw that there was some need for efficient lightbulbs there due to increases in infrastructure type spending and started a light company making the product for new buildings cheaper to buy and maintain. He did really well. I have no idea how he got the whole operation going, but I think he might have to jump through a lot of loops as a company in Indonesia as i've been to his "HQ" which is just one big house in Bali and he has a whole room of locals working in this one room. I guess he is living the dream. He likes surfing there and made it happen.
Didn't this guy Claude Dauphin get his start under Marc Rich, the dude from Glencore?
That is the guy that Bill Clinton pardoned a few hours before leaving the presidency. He was a big donor of his, and supposedly pardoned him from lots of international crimes. It was some big scandal and Comey did the investigation and cleared him of any wrongdoing.
I'm sure you kind find this it is all public information.
Yeah. Claude and Marc Rich are legends. **** these - and pardon my language - **** these teens and their iPhone app ideas. Very rare in the history of mankind have two employees left one company to both start a Fortune 500 firm. Dealing with dictators, private jetting around the world, bribing everyone in sight.
Balls of steel our outright I don't give a damn approach to life along with crazy work ethic and business sense.
Claude Dauphin seems alright, though I'm sure he cracked a few eggs in his day to make his billionaire omelet. Marc Rich is an asshole who did business with literal totalitarian dictators to get rich.
.
Someone here posted that staying long term in a frontier market is your chance to become rich. By that measure, shouldn't there entire population be rich? For starters they have spent their entire lives there.
To become uber-rich? no.
To reclaim my hereditary lordship and own a private military, yes.
To which end, I am working on.
I agree...I see this every freakin day...
I've always had fantasies of being some cool swashbuckling capitalist in Africa or the like, but I just don't have the stomach for the risk that I would end up with nothing (or worse)...
No Need for risky traveling, I am happy and always take care of risk travel.
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