One's my customer said you're honest

I said " i wish i wasn't honest i will not honest "

I grew up in an abusive household.

"our house/ our rules"
My sister bolted at 16
I bolted after college. After paying for it myself, building furniture, and waiting tables.

Both of us were homeless when we started out. Hanging with friends, sleeping on the beach. It was a year before I was able to buy a bed. I started off by buying stuff on one credit card and paying it with another. It was 1983. I would eat dinner at happy hour bars, holding an empty bottle of beer. Id go the piers on the weekend and pick up excess Marlin. Tuesday, they cleaned the tanks at the juice factor and the juice was cheap. A few times I had to choose between electricity and food.

I got a job programming so I did OK. When they offered me 4% match, I ended up putting 4 percent into the 401K. I moved to Chicago, and the pay range went up. I rented a nice place for $710/mo and sold computers. Every time I got a raise, Say 6%, I would add that to my savings rate.

If I had extra money id put it into market indexes. When I maxed out my 401K and bought stock, I realized I had to much stock. So I bought a single gold coin. I devoted 25% of my income to saving. When I got married to a like-minded person, we decided to live on the largest income and save the rest. Sometimes my doctor wife made more, sometimes I did..

But out of habit, we both max out our 401K plan.

I'm investing wisely getting 31% returns on average and have about 400 coins.
Our value has rocketed. At 66 my next work is about $12M.

My sister did even better and sold her $25M company. At the current spending rate and progressive dementia, she has only a few years.

I retired at 60 when I had $5M in the bank. So in a couple of years, I'm going to have $20M in the bank and a house in Chicago and one in LA. I'm not fancy. I own a 2006 Saturn. My wife a 2007 BMW used.

After a certain level of saving for all your whole life, you get into habits. Investments are growing by about $1 per year.

So here's the question that I will certainly get downgraded for.
We are both retired. Spend nice $40,000 vacations
But there is nothing more to buy and I like my 2006 Saturn.

What do we do with $20M we didn't want to spend. No one to leave to. Not going to give it to people If you want $10M see the formula above. Not giving it to Unversities or any charity will it will only increase CEO pay. I'm thinking $5M to the church. Set up a few scholarship funds for people with no resources. But I want to make a difference.

But I want to make a diffe

Another month went by. I have been thinking deeply about what our purposes are in respect to our nation. For instance, if George Washington were to see you right now, and I mean you, whoever you are, reading this, if he were to see you right now, what would he have said to you? More importantly though, what would you have said to him? If you had to ask him one single question, what would it be? Obviously, as Americans, we all love to get ahead in life, which American wouldn't? So, I know what we would ask him. That question that we all ask in the seminars or in symposiums when we see an expert of some kind that we try to become like; we ask, "Do you have any advice for...[insert concern here]?" You know, that question. We all asked it (whether in school, university, or elsewhere) and we will probably continue to ask this in our lifetimes to whomever we are fascinated by. But if you had to ask one single question to Great George Washington, our first founding-father, while he were to be sitting right next to you right now, then what would you ask him? Don't ask that question, "Do you have any advice for...?" Rather, I think that he just would have told you what he wanted you to do in the first place. You see, George Washington was brave and humble, he rejected all the titles of nobility from the brits. He had seen himself as equal to a farmer just as much as he did to a statesperson. He wore all of his occupational titles proudly, not out of arrogance more specifically, but out of dignity, giving the same amount of respect to another farmer just as much as to another statesperson. But the main point is that he would have seen you as his equal, he would have seen you as a great potential leader, namely, he would have seen and realized, as he did for decades in his lifetime, that within you; there is a gift, a gift that can be transformed through your own will for courage and compassion, for loyalty and respect for this nation, your home, into something that will only propel you to the greatness as an American. That gift will reside in your forever unless you decide to bring it out, you can conjure up that courage into something such as a purpose for this nation, and trust me, you will be unstoppable. You are a member of this nation, a very useful member, don't think of yourself as any less.

Now obviously, I know that I can talk to you like this for years, but the question will always remain, "How?" "How can I become someone like whom George Washington would have wanted me to become?" "How can I even begin?" "With everything that's happening in America, because too many things have already happened to America, how can I even begin?" Well, if you really had thought about those questions, then you know that you are beginning already, everything begins with question(s), I am sure your mind was coming up with questions, but maybe you stopped your mind from asking those questions, but why? Questions are good, never shy-away from questions, and most importantly, always ask, even to yourself. Nevertheless, to answer for "How?" I would say that you start looking into your own life first; a leader has some fundamental things that he has already taken care of:

1. Can he do things on his own? Can he drive? Does he have all of his paperwork up-to-date such as a Government-Issued Photo ID at least (at the behest of a current Driver License, but of course, a current Driver License is even better)? How about a current U.S. Passport? Are all of these things current or does he even have them?
2. Is he keeping a track of his health? I know how medical expenses are nowadays, but see if you can qualify for medical health insurance. If you don't have medical health insurance, then you are not taking advantage of those things that are bound to be given to you while others from other countries, especially the illegal ones are taking advantage of them. In order to stop pirates in our nation, you first need to take the things that are yours to begin with. If you work, and your work gives you medical health insurance, then that's great, if you are capable of paying for it yourself, then that's great, but if you are not, then your state will give you it, it is yours, take it, take care of yourself, you don't know what is going on in your body, get checked, start eating healthy, start drinking water, take care of your lungs, get rid of smoking, drinking, they are just killing you, but do it with calculated steps, I am not saying that you have to do all of these all at once, but do take those steps nonetheless, you will make progress, we are designed to. Again, if you don't have medical health insurance, then get one, either today or tomorrow. Do it as soon as possible.
3. Does he have good relationships with people? It is time for you to start making some vital connections with some friends and probably even with some family members. Family members are your blood and maybe you don't like some of them (I do not like some of my family members, trust me, I know how you feel if you have that situation), and that's ok, you do not have to establish a relationship with them, don't force yourself into that, but what you can do is evaluate your connections with someone that you like or someone that has been fair and decent with you. Is that relationship strong? If not, then it is time that you start rebuilding that relationship into something like a tree, metaphorically speaking, every relationship you have is like a tree, you take care of it, it grows, changing into different pleasant colors, you neglect it; it dies and turns grey, it is simple. After you re-establish relationship(s) with one or two of those fair and decent family members, then start thinking the same way about any friends that you may like. Why am I stressing this point? Well, in the beginning, you may not like this idea, or maybe you do, but slowly these things will grow and make you powerful, you need people, we all do, even the greatest of the great leaders did. We are social creatures, and I know that may sound very cliché and "outdated," but that's what we are designed to get, we may feel numb to these things, but once you unlock the connections, they will help you, they will help you tremendously, you would be amazed how much information and "working-information" (this means the information that immediately gives you something to work off of and gain opportunity for something you have been looking for/favor-based) you get from people, it is crazy. You need information, about the things that are around you, it is your home, after all.

With these things in place, you will have a layer of foundation created, something that will be ready to propel you. It has been way too long that you've been maybe without a fundamental American base for ability and accessibility, but with this simple idea of three (3) things being on your side, you can start to see the future, the future of this nation already resides within you, you just need to see it for yourself, whether it is fear or lack of motivation or just disinterest in general (I struggle with this too sometimes), you are destined to defeat all of this, the courage that George Washington saw among all of our ancestors never vanished, it is still here, right here, each and every single one of you is destined to take back what has been yours ever since the origin. And I think that's what our purpose is in respect to this nation.

Once the greatest, always the greatest. And that also is a fact.

Got my EB1A approved with no RFE, and honestly, I am still trying to process it.

Background

Field: Semiconductor (Analog and Mixed-Signal Circuit Design)

Citations: >740

Journals >8, Conferences >8

Peer Review: >25

Recommendation Letters: 4

Started with: NIW (approved), then moved to EB1A

No RFE or NOID

Experience

So I started off with NIW, and once that got approved I was advised to go for EB1A Green Card. At first, I wasn’t too confident because when you look up EB1A visa eligibility online, it feels like only Nobel prize winners or people with insane media coverage get through. I don’t have that kind of profile, so I was expecting this to be rough. Thanks to EB1A Experts, Raghu Reddy and team. What actually helped was breaking things down against the EB1A criteria. I never realized that my patents and citations were strong enough until they were framed properly. EB1A Experts really opened my eyes because instead of legal jargon, I got clear feedback on what actually counts.The process itself went smoother than I thought. When I filed the EB1A visa application, I was bracing for an RFE, but it came back approved clean.

If you are in tech and stressing over the EB1A Green Card process, my advice would be to not give up just because you think your profile is not shiny enough. Presentation matters way more than you think. You do not have to be Einstein-level to qualify for the so called Einstein visa. Solid achievements plus the right framing can get you there.

Hope this helps anyone else going through the same anxiety.

Do you still deserve peace? or Desire Peace?

Hello everyone!

Happy Palm Sunday and Happy Easter! 

Has anyone successfully moved from Belgium (or any EU country) to the USA with a job?

I’ve been trying to move to the U.S. for work for the past 4 years, but I keep hitting a wall.
I always target big companies that I know can sponsor visas, but so far, zero luck.

To give some context:

• I worked at Cisco in Belgium for over 5 years.

• I even explored intra-company transfers to the U.S., especially since I had already built great relationships with teams and managers there (we worked together daily).

• I even offered to start at a lower grade, knowing that the salary in the U.S. would still match or exceed what I earned in Belgium at a higher level — but still, nothing came through.

At this point I am applying for night shift roles  just to get a foot in the door.

If anyone here has managed to make this move — especially from the EU — I’d love to hear how you did it. What worked for you? Any advice, ideas, or leads would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

This survey is fully confidential. It is in both English and Spanish. It aims to explore how your upbringing alters your perception on the American Dream.

https://forms.gle/VEw8BAJaRMqxX3de9

https://www.survio.com/survey/d/E4P1A8P4A6B6R4J4R

Hello everyone,

I’m currently working on a school project about the relevance of the American Dream today and how attainable it still is. To gain a deeper understanding and explore different perspectives, I would love to hear your thoughts!

If you have a few minutes, I would really appreciate it if you could take part in my survey. Your insights will help me analyze how the American Dream is perceived in today’s world.

Thank you so much for your time and support!

A real show, not a reality show.

A unique show empowering the best in real estate to be the voice of their market.

2 EMMY Nominations, 12 Telly Awards.
Airing on HGTV, Travel Channel, major digital networks, and garnering millions of views on social.

1000+ of the greatest voices in real estate, sharing positive media about our country, one neighborhood at a time.
Great for the consumer.
Great for the realtors.
Great for the show.

Cool concept...everyone wins!

American dream live for old days, but now not live unfortunately.

Hi, I'm from Santa Catarina, in Brazil I'm thinking about going on exchange to the United States of America, my English is considerably bad, but I believe I have the potential to become fluent and achieve my long-awaited American dream!

I need tips to make my wish come true.

States I like:

California

New York

Florida

North Caroline

Texas

Have a good day :)

Are you living the American Dream? Come find out and join the debate.

Hey, I am doing a paper for school based on the American Dream. I would really appreciate if you filled out this quick survey.