Wouldn’t it be great to have invested in Google when it was worth $100 and sold it at its recent $700 peak, or Hansen Natural when it was worth pennies and watch it climb all the way to $67.

There are countless stories of people who scored a big one and made themselves overnight millionaires, and not just by purchasing and selling stocks. The same stories go for business opportunities and “get rich quick” schemes. A word of advice . . . don’t get yourself caught up in the thrill because you will get burned.

Some highly experienced, and consequently highly-leveraged, investors are capable of betting with margin accounts to make fortunes and high-yield returns. These people, have years of experience, training and specialty resources. They also tend to have high-highs and low-lows — one week they are on top of the world trading options, futures and other derivatives, and the next week they are flat broke and highly in debt.

Amateur investors who get caught up in the hype of being able to score big don’t last long though. All too often amateurs see an infomercial in the middle of the night that guarantees to make them millions in the foreign exchange market. The next day they spend a fortune to learn how to fund their account and minutes later they watch their entire life savings be wiped out, while the professional and institutional investors make their profits.

You know the old adage, “If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.” If you play this game, pouncing on the opportunity to earn unordinary high-yield profits, you may get lucky and win here and there. But you will loose more than you will win, and when you lose, you lose big. The odds are against you.

Everyone dreams of making a quick pile of money, and con-artists know that people become very vulnerable if you lead them to believe they can become rich quick. Be very wary of offers to receive immediate returns, such as 100% a week. Chances are you are getting caught up in a ponzi scheme or some other scam, which are quite prolific online these days. Although illegal in America, many of these web-based scams are hosted overseas and tough to track. Run away from offers like this. You’re better off putting your money on the roulette table where odds may not in your favor, but at least there are odds.

If you must give in to the temptation and take these risks, realize that it is a loosing bet and play with money that you intend to loose. Most money managers recommend that less than 10 percent of your funds should be invested in speculative stocks. Other types of high-yield investments should not consume more than one percent of assets.

Millionaire Money Habit: Don’t think about how much you can make, think about how much you are going to lose.

Not all investments are the same. Buying 10 shares of Microsoft through your online brokerage account is probably a lot cheaper than buying the same exact shares through an investment firm. The lower the investment costs, the more money you make. It is as simple as that.

There are two big reasons that the same exact investment can vary in cost:

1. Fulfillment of order. If you place an order to buy your shares at the current market price through your online brokerage account, that order will get filled immediately. If, however, you call your broker, there is a process to fill your order. By the time your order is actually filled, the share price could have already skyrocketed.

Solution: Place limit orders, which allow you to name the price that you want to buy at. It will be filled when there is a seller at that price willing to take your offer.

1. Fees. Just about any time you buy or sell a stock, option or mutual fund, there is a fee assessed in order to place your order. Since online brokerages are completely automated, overhead costs are low. This savings is passed on to you. Your investment firm may charge a percentage of your investment. For example, most online brokerages charge about $10 no matter the size of the trade, but some firms charge 1.5%. That means a $30,000 investment would cost you $450, but the same exact trade would only cost $10 through your online account.

Solution: Do your own trading and eliminate fees entirely with Zecco, which offers 0% stock trading. They make up their costs with advertising revenue.

Not only can excessive charges cost you thousands of dollars, they are unnecessary. Using an online brokerage firm can eliminate these charges and can be more convenient.

Millionaire Money Habit: Investing is not just about what you invest in, but how you manage your assets as well. Keep your fees low and your losses to a minimum, and you can reach your financial goals at a much faster rate.

I’ve always enjoyed watching movies about money. Even though most of them are more about greed than actually building assets and making money, I still find them very motivating.

Here are 12 of my favorite movies about money. Ironically, most of these are also pretty violent movies.

1. Wall Street
2. Glengarry Glen Ross
3. The Sting
4. The Godfather
5. Trading Places
6. Indecent Proposal
7. American Gangster
8. Casino
9. There Will be Blood
10. Ocean’s 11 and the sequels
11. Jerry McGuire

. . . and quite possibly one of the worst movies ever, but I still get a kick out of is Boiler Room. Remember this scene?

Warning - this clip has a lot of profanity

Millionaire Money Habit: While I don’t recommend crime and killing as a means to make your first million, these movies make for great entertainment and can provide some motivation.

What are your favorites?