Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Amway Creates Millionaires?

I keep hearing from some IBOs that they belive that Amway has created more millionaires than any other company in the US. I call BS on that claim. I am not saying that Amway hasn't created any millionaires, obviously, the Amway owners are worth billions of dollars. But what the IBOs are apparently implying is that the diamonds are millionaires. I'm sure there are some diamonds who indeed are millionires, especially if they are tenured diamonds, in particular the double diamonds and higher. But conversely, I believe that many high level diamonds are not millionaires. I believe it is just as common for a diamond to be in debt as it is for a diamond to be living large. I also believe that many diamonds did not accumulate their alleged wealth exclusively from Amway.

The reason why this is an issue is because these big pins will stand on stage and show off excessive wealth and imply that it is their Amway income that pays for these mansions, sports cars, and in some cases, jets. In the US, I attended a function called "Dream Nite" where these kinds of trapping are displayed, to the tune of the song "I wanna be rich". The diamonds would say that you can have what they have, if only you will do what they advise. These functions still go on today and I believe it is now called Winter Conference.

Stanley and Danko's book, "The Millionaire Next Door" http://www.personalfinanceplaybook.com/2009/08/the-millionaire-next-door/

This book makes some very interesting points which I believe applies to Amway diamonds. I will outline the significant ones and I will comment below:

**Predictably, the data shows that most people who you believe to be very rich are not.

**High net worth individuals, statistically, tend to be people that live within their means. They don’t spend a lot of money. They don’t waste money. They tend to be pretty frugal people.

**The authors point out that most of the richest people you know aren’t driving expensive luxury automobiles. That’s what the people who want everyone to think they’re rich drive.

Joe's commentary. The book does say that about 1/3 of millionaires acquired their wealth thru a J-O-B and saved and invested, but did mention that many millionaires were also business owners, such as a pest control company, etc. But based on the points made by the book above, I can see where it is likely that diamonds portray a wealthy lifestyle as a recruitment tactic, when the reality is they may be living very middle class lifestyles off stage, or may even be in debt. I have seen evidence of diamonds having their homes foreclosed and being in debt (Ruth Carter's book: Amway: Behind the Smoke and Mirrors). Recently, there was also a report that Triple Diamond Greg Duncan filed for bankruptcy. The report indicated that he could not make his mortgages, or something to that tune. Odd, because when I was in WWDB, some of the upline leaders said diamonds paid cash for everything because paying interest to the bank wasn't very smart.

My question is why IBOs continue to make up these claims? Try googling millionaire or Amway millionaire. There is nothing to indicate that Amway was responsible for creating the "most millionaires" of any US company. If this were true, wouldn't Amway state it on their website?

5 comments:

shakespeare said...

The answer is become a diamond first... and you will know the answer...

Anonymous said...

This blog post is a great example of cognitive dissonance. You hold a belief in your mind that other people are contradicting with their opinions. So your subconscious (and conscious) brain goes to work on finding facts that support your own beliefs in order to reduce the dissonance. Prime example: "[The Millionaire Next Door] makes some very interesting points which I BELIEVE applies to Amway diamonds". There is no factual basis for drawing the conclusion you made.

Rather than judging others and assuming you are always being lied to, I challenge you to look for the good in others. You will find that it is much easier to be happy that way.

However, with your history, Steve, that may be easier said then done. I will pray for you and your family, Steve. I owe everything great in my life to Amway and WWDB. They are two phenomenal companies that have made a tremendous impact on who I am as a person. I don't post the following link to criticize you, Steve, but rather so others are not sucked into your negativity: http://www.thetruthaboutamway.com/who-is-amway-critic-joecool-and-does-he-owe-me-50000/

Joecool said...

Cognitive dissonance is believing that Amway is all good and works for everyone who wants it. The facts provided by Amway support my side. .26% of IBOs go platinum (about 1 in 400). Average income of active IBOs = $202 a month (53% of IBOs are not active).

Maybe you should read this post about the person who authored y
our link:
http://www.amquix.info/steadson_amway_zealot.html

He's an Amway shill who will do anything to defend Amway, even posting false information about me. I am not Steve by the way.

Anonymous said...

If the business is not for you my friend then leave it alone and find something else to do, you can't spend all your time trying to discredit the company when they are moving on in life, trust me you will sleep better if you focus on what you want.

Joecool said...

I don't lose any sleep. I write these articles to share my experience with those who can benefit from it.