The Guy List: Robb Report
By The Editors
PlannedMan

If you want to live the good life, first read the instructions. They're all in the 'Robb Report'.

The Guy List: Robb Report

Highlights


Poor Rob "Rusty" White started a magazine highlighting the ingredients in the good life he hoped to find.

He followed his own advice, shared it with his readers — and chronicled the details in the 'Robb Report'.

Why the folks at Robb Report and their readers and advertisers are like one of us:

Here’s Guy Shepherd’s take on Robb Report from his PM story “Guy’s Weekly Reader“:

“The Robb Report is an oasis of excellence in a desert of aesthetic despair.It’s very much a publication geared to the global one percent. But flippingthrough it is a visual joy that appeals to the strivers in the best of us—remember Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous?Americans have traditionally liked the rich because they believe that with hard work in the service of good ideas, a good market and some good luck, they can get rich, too.”

“The Robb Report is Planned Man with a bank behind it.”

— Guy Shepherd

The Robb Report reminds us that success and wealth often begin with a plan and a dream:

Before you can aspire to be or do something bigger than yourself, like becoming wealthy, it’s helpful to be able to visualize or see it. We’re pretty sure the Wright Brothers visualized flight before planning and then building their first plane, just as The Babe pointed with his bat over the center-field fence before sending the ball there and helping to drive his team to complete a four-game sweep of the World Series.

This is why, as Guy explains in the same article, the website you are visiting right now is called “Planned Man“:

“It’s fun to look at the fruits of success, even when they aren’t actually yours. But maybe someday. Besides, who wants to read a magazine about the consequences of failure? (We call that Mother Jones.) The Robb Report is Planned Man with a bank behind it.

How to use the Robb Report to help stay focused on your future:

When used correctly, the Robb Report can give you a regular hit of dopamine that keeps you driving toward your goals. While much of the content and media of the world around us is focused on the negative, the Robb Report’s stated raison d’etre is to provide its readers with “…a shared appreciation and desire for quality, exclusivity, heritage, taste, and fine design.

This is why smart men, or shall we say “Planned Men,” use resources like the Robb Report to provide the kind of inspiration and motivation that keeps them focused on their dreams and goals.

Meanwhile, here’s a clue Guy unearths that shows that everyone associated with Robb Report is pulling for all of us to join their ranks of the wealthy too: Not only is a subscription far more affordable than you would expect ($99 for a year, $149 for two years), but the online edition is available to everyone for free.

“I would be remiss if I did not mention to you that the website is not paywalled so there are no barriers to peeking at the good life.”

– Guy Shepherd

Even the history of the Robb Report provides inspiration and motivation: 

Wealth and success are an attainable goals, as we discuss in the PM story “Don’t bullshit yourself about your budget.”

The Robb Report itself is a perfect example of this.

It was started by Robert “Rusty” White who began building his own personal wealth as a teenager by buying and selling civil war collectibles. He didn’t come from wealth.

His father owned a hardware store and Dad made Rusty take out a $200 loan from the local bank to buy his first collectibles, which Rusty sold a few years later for $12,000.

Making a 6,000% gain on his first sale had Rusty hooked, and as a side note he took the $12K and bought a new split-window 1963 Corvette Stingray which he then drove off to college.

His Robb Report had an equally humble beginning.  While still in college, Rusty started putting all his collectibles on a mimeographed (think photocopies before photocopiers existed) list that he would pass out by hand. Over time, that mimeographed list of his own collectibles grew into the Robb Report, which Rusty sold for $150 million in 2002.

If Rusty can do it, you can do it. And we hope someday we see you in Forbes the same way we would see Rusty there before he passed away in 2018.

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