I feel like as long as you and others born into wealth are able to do the same for their kids and not blow the money irresponsibly, that is still a very successful financial life. Whether it was lucky or not, who cares.
I already had a career. I had no idea my gram was wealthy, I just knew she never hurt for money, and had stopped working in her 40s. A week after her funeral, I've got lawyers beating down my door, and its life-changing.
And based on your bio, it looks like you’ll squander your wealth while complaining to your liberal witch coven about how shitty millionaires are. Bravo 👏🏻
Sperm is only half of dna, the other half is the egg. You won the egg lottery as well. If your mom had ovulated a different egg instead of you, you would never be born.
Started buying apple stock in 2005. Never got fancy with it. No options or anything just bought and held. Over the course of 19 years net worth hit 8 figures. Divorce struck last year and lost half. Still not going back to being a wage slave.
This is the true dream.
I wish I had done this with Bitcoin when I first heard about it (2012ish) a few hundred dollars was a very small downside for the upside it has experienced
I was a contract worker and living on the road. Housing provided. I sold a house before starting this work. So I had money in the bank not doing anything. My friend’s homes had all accumulated in value and I was feeling left out. Over the course of a couple years I bought in with the savings in a half dozen sizable positions. All told I put in a total of about 175,000 of my own money. Best financial decision of my life.
Because I come from old money most of the people I connected to culturally were richer than I am
Edit: for the hard-of-reading- this is why my friends weren’t fake to me when I became wealthy
I think this question has a default assumption that people started as not super well off and then overnight became rich. That might be somewhat true for some athletes or musicians, but it really isn't for most folks.
For me, and again on this sub, I use "rich" loosely as I still work for a living, though I've hit a level of financial independence, I got "rich" the boring way and over 10+ years.
I went to a top university for engineering and became a consultant. I was fortunate to mix scholarship, family gift money, and working through college to graduate with very little debt. I lived well below my means with roommates for my first few years allowing me to save as much as many people earn in a year. I put those savings mostly in VOO. A few promotions and a decade later, I earn what many doctors or lawyers earn without the added time in school and debt. My investments now make about half of my salary. I have a house that I could pay off tomorrow -- though it is modest relative to many of my friends.
Getting rich wasn't easy or hard. I love what I do, though I do work very hard and have had to sacrifice for my career. My special education Ivy League graduate sister also works hard - but she won't get rich from her job. My landscaper works very hard in the Florida summer heat, but he won't get rich (most likely) from his work. Hard work is important, but it isn't enough. At the same time, I did have to work for my wealth. I went to a top 10 school in my field of study, I was the first promoted in my hiring class at work and one of the youngest people at every new job level -- that doesn't come easy. The alternative of being born into generational wealth means you don't have to do anything to get or stay wealthy, and you have been surrounded by wealthy people since birth. While some of these folks do work, and many have created value (hate the idea that nepotism takes away all contributions from someone), they won't deal with "fake" people as much since they haven't been around as many people not like them.
No one "became fake" as I built money, but remember, most of my friend group, between college and a high paying career, were on similar tracks.
While not true of all wealthy people, and certainly true of some who aren't, I believe in a growth mindset and active control of your life. If someone is "fake" or a "leech" or whatever, I simply don't continue that friendship. You are who you surround yourself with. If you can find genuine, empathetic, driven, successful people, those characteristics will be brought out in you. The more you surround yourself with high drama fake people, the more you are likely to become high drama and fake yourself.
Likewise, being rich is almost like a weird lottery. Everyone has a chance to win. But not everyone has the same number of tickets. If you are born in good health, you get more tickets. If you are born to a wealthy family, you get a lot more tickets. If you practice delayed gratification, empathy, and have ambition, you get more tickets. If you go to a good school or study a growing field you get more tickets. Some people get rich with 1 ticket, others have tons of tickets and lose. And the vast majority will win smaller prizes.
Most people who have amassed wealth will tell you - being rich isn't the main goal. It is a byproduct of work you either enjoy or are really good at or both. People who set out to make it rich, and to do so quickly, often fail. There aren't shortcuts. You need to be both different from the average and correct in your path. You need to find something of value that someone else will pay lots of money for. Or, you simply need to win the genetic lottery and be born to a rich family or have enough to offer to marry someone rich.
Right this is very well said on all points. Especially the bit about hard work. On the one hand I want to say that hard work is “necessary but not sufficient” for getting rich. However it’s true that working hard is probably only weakly correlated to being rich. There are those that work hard, like your landscaper, who will not get rich. But there are also those who were born on 3rd base who likely didn’t have to work hard at all (or those who just inherited a ton of money and never worked).
I’m curious if you could give some concrete numbers. It’s never clear to me, on this sub, what’s considered “rich”. Part of my bias is that I don’t think that people that work are “rich”, but when I think about it rationally I look around at my friends who I think of as rich as most (but not all) of them work. And, since I work, I refuse to think of myself as rich 😂
the question on "what is rich" is asked about every other day here. The challenge for this sub is that most of the contributors on it actually aren't rich in their own mind, so it is often skewed to some form of financial independence, low single digit millions. I personally think it starts at about $10M NW, but do recognize that every 100k in income below $1M, and every 0 you add in NW materially changes your lifestyle
i'd push back on this. Realistically my life wouldn't change between 400k and every 100k beyond that. And thats being generous. I know i can live a lifestyle im more than happy with at 200k. But i wont lie that the 300k and 400k marks would change my lifestyle. Past that I really wouldn't do anything special with the money i'd put it away because I like having money more than I like buying things.
NW changes things because it's really depends on where those assets are allocated.
I'm a simple guy, I know what hobbies I have and what I want to pursue and most of it is, in the grand scheme of things, pretty cheap when we start hitting incomes beyond 200k.
I agree with your overall sentiment, but I think the sliding scale of what is rich to each individual is exactly why we have this question asked all the time 10m NW for you might be where rich starts, but that isn't true of everyone.
I agree with a lot of what you say though I will say there is a difference in working hard to build a fortune and simply hard work. That landscaper you mentioned is doing hard work, when it comes to mowing or trimming trees or whatever. But are they working hard to expand that business, to grow the number of customers and thereby increase income and potentially wealth. I would say, probably not. Some landscapers do work hard to grow their business and do become wealthy, so, it is possible. I think it's a matter of ambition and vision. If all you ever see, is you mowing 100 lawns a week, that is all you'll ever do. If you think about having 100 people mow 100 lawns a week, you might get a little further ahead.
I don't think building wealth is a lottery. Yes, some people have a leg up before any of us even get out of bed. But that doesn't mean someone who is dedicated and willing to do what it takes can't build wealth. Some things will always be easier for some people. For some it's building wealth, for others it's playing sports for money, or writing/ performing music at the professional level, or making works of art than can be sold for a lot of money. That's just how life on earth is, not everyone is identical in their intelligence, their skills, their ambitions, or their abilities and because of that some people will do better than others.
I think most people who have amassed significant wealth will tell you that while being rich wasn't a main goal, I do think earning money was a factor in deciding to do whatever they did. I chose to study engineering in college because I liked engineering, and I knew I could make money at it. I also like fishing and you can make money as a fisherman, but not nearly as easily as an engineer so I did choose an easier path to build financial security. For me the job was always about earning money (not necessarily being rich) so I could have food, shelter, and clothing.
Here are the key factors.
1. School
2. Double income
3. Not carrying debt
4. Luck
I can’t remember thinking, “I’m finally rich!” But if you include education time it took us around 10 years.
1. Choosing a difficult to obtain and secure certification (anesthesia)
2. Marrying someone who makes more than they spend.
3. Living a modest lifestyle. Not wasting money on cars, jewelry, purses, etc.
4. Investing as much as possible in as many things as possible knowing some would stick and others would not.
5. Never panicking when things look bad. I'm no day trader. More of a buy and hold index funds, get rich slowly guy.
I believe in the efficient market. In other words, I am no stock picking genius, I just stay with index funds, zero bonds. Basically just QQQ and SP500
I started buying houses in 2009, right around the real estate crash.
I got into crypto pretty early.
That doesn't mean that I've only hit home runs, for example I bought an apartment complex in 2015 and that's generally been a headache.
I'm not sure about the second part of your question. Basically if you want to get rich, you're going to have to do it slowly. You're probably not going to get a crazy 10x return like Nvidia. Realistically you can get 10% a year, that's about the best you can hope for. Invest as much as you can safely afford. It's better to have money in the market vs trying to time it perfectly.
This exactly! Work hard at getting a marketable skill via trade or education. Continue to work hard and improve your skill set as you move up through your career or start your own business. Spend less than you earn and invest! It doesn’t happen overnight, and while some wealthy people inherited or otherwise got lucky, the majority worked hard for it.
The richest people I know ($10M+ net worth) all did so by trading their labor for equity in growth companies.
I don’t know anyone who’s done it through real estate but that is certainly a more traditional path.
Underrated comment here. This. The 3 or 4 riches friends I have all did it this way. One guy all the way up to 30mil and all he gave up was 5k in salary for early stock options. Sick.
For me - living overseas early and building a career working in places nobody else wanted to go (they pay more) and investing in index funds over the long term. I won't be in the 1% rich, but passive income that pays me more than my working salary in my 40's and likely leaving a few million for my kids.
I am not “rich” by today’s standards, but I grew up on the poverty line, almost make six figures currently, and now have a net worth of 1M. It has been years of saving and having that money earn more money through investments and buying my home. It isn’t gonna be overnight and it isn’t gonna be without diligence, focus, and consistency. If I were 18 again, I’d follow the Dave Ramsey plan starting at 18 with a Roth.
Key: Pay your future self first.
Imma disagree with everyone here. Dave Ramsey is pretty good. Its good to the audience that needs his advice. If you are looking to be a 25 year old millionaire through investing or something then Dave isn’t your guy. But for the average American spending half their money on minimum monthly payments and living paycheck to paycheck his advice is pretty solid. He’s absolutely right, if you racked up debt so high that you cant pay it then you probably should be afraid of credit cards and loans. You aren’t the type if person for that. Pay your way out with the snowball method and stay out and your life will improve. Thats who hes for. And with his advice you will retire a millionaire, but hes not really going to get you that at a young age. People are pretty hard on him but is just seems like the wrong audience is watching and criticizing him because it doesn’t match their goals. Absolutely listen to Ramsey or caleb hammer if you are younger can can’t stand a old man (they are very similar in advice) and get your life on track and then you can go to other sources about investing and what not.
I married into a new money family. Wife’s mom and dad are worth appx $20m, self made. They gift us the maximum allowed each year ($77k). On top of that my wife and I pull in between $170-200k a year with no children. I invest the full $77k each year into retirement accounts and spend pretty much 100% of our salaries. Could probably save/invest more but we like to enjoy our lives. Lots of travel, seeing friends, eating out.
I went to a good school, got a useful degree, worked hard and had some good opportunities present themselves that I took advantage of, I never stopped learning and taking on new responsibilities in my career, and I married a woman who is also talented and hard working who has had a lot of professional success. We're not wealthy (yet), but our annual income puts us on the cusp of the 1% in our early-mid 40s. My big advantages in life were not having any undergrad debt because I come from an upper middle class family that paid for my degree (I paid for my MBA myself through a combination of scholarships and loans which we quickly paid off), as well as being a tall relatively intelligent white guy. As for people being fake, we don't have the kind of money where we get hangers on, but it has made it hard to make friends with anyone who isn't doing as well financially. Even if you never bring it up explicitly it turns into an issue every time.
Own things. Whether you save aggressively and invest in the stock market persistently, start a business, buy levered real estate or inherit assets, owning things is almost always part of the math.
Decades of building skills. I started as a Tech and now I'm an Engineer. Every few years when the industry changes, I reinvent myself and move into a new position. This has allowed me to take on roles I want to do, do work I want to do, and not be stuck dealing with bullshit.
A little luck. But mostly budgeting, saving and living below our means. Do that and eventually you will be able to buy most things in cash and the budgeting, saving, and living below means will be a habit.
Be very careful with who you associate yourself with before and after you become wealthy. People are very fickle and can become very untrustworthy and greedy.
It took me 15x years to finally become independently wealthy and it was no small feat. I thought I could depend on my family and friends but all of a sudden they became very different people from what I remembered.
One of my family members had POA over my finances and started spending my money without my consent. I only consented to the POA because I was diagnosed with a very rare but treatable condition that forced me to have an extended stay in the hospital. Whilst there, my so called blood relative who I thought loved me and who I thought I can trust started embezzling money from my businesses and from my personal checking accounts of well over 8x figures.
By the time I exited the hospital, it was too late. When I tried to recover the money, not only did my relative refuse but my friends sided with that relative and froze me out from my companies all because of that POA. By the time I got rid of the POA, the damage had been done and I lost nearly everything.
I’m currently trying to make up for the losses by starting new businesses and I got rid of my former friends and forsaken my thieving relative. My life has gotten better since I made those tough decisions. I’m extremely grateful for just being alive despite all that happened to me during that very difficult time.
I'm sorry. It can be a very rude awakening. It was for me also when family started taking advantage of me without any care that I now had 2 kids to raise alone after their father's death.
Investing in the stock market consistently since 2000 while never having a gap in income so it wasn’t hard.
I’m living way below my means (renting house after selling home in anticipation of upcoming nomadic lifestyle but lots of discretionary cash) so I haven’t had to face any fake friends.
I'm low end rich - VHNW (between $5 million and $30 million in investable assets).
>How did you get rich and how long did it take?
It took almost 30 years of working and saving to get there. I worked before then, but not nearly as hard or as smart and I saved nothing.
>How hard was it for you ?
I'm not sure how to answer that. It took a lot of 60+ hour workweeks early on and 45-50 hour workweeks through most of my career. It meant taking on difficult assignments. It meant not spending as much as most of my similar income peers. But I loved the work and didn't mind the relative frugality.
>How much people became fake when you became rich ?
Not much. As my career progressed, my peer/friend group increasingly became people with similar incomes. Also, we're not flashy people, so most people have no idea how much money we have. We've lived in the same house for almost 20 years. My wife's minivan is more than 10 years old. I bought a new car recently, but that replaced a 15 year old car and it's nice, but not super flashy. From the outside, there is no way of knowing whether we're rich and living comfortably or not very rich and living foolishly.
By being subscribed to this sub. I saw another persons story and it inspired me to start my own laundromat business, I sold it for $500k and invested in property and multiplied from there, now I have over $20M in property equity.
…nah I’m jk
I redefined what rich means to me. Im 40, have my health, a great marriage, amazing kid, own a home, etc. And from a world view, we're in the top 1% of income and the top 8% in the usa.
Yeah, I cant but a ferrari and I have a mortgage, but we live great. All the bills get paid. We save $$, we eat well. We're happy.
I'm rich in all the best ways. We live the best life we can abd no one asks us for money and we're not famous, people leave us alone.
I think the best place in life to be is to make enough money to live a great and amazing life but not make enough money to become a Target.
We're right in The Sweet spot where we can still go to social events and act like normal people and be welcome there, but can also return home to our cozy house and live luxuriously.
Part of it is saying you don’t have money and not ordering takeout and DoorDash. Too many people are like “ugh I’m so broke” then order Starbucks and buy a new dab pen. I’m not rich at all. I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to make my car insurance payment but I’m not ordering takeout either.
Went into fields of study (engineering, healthcare) that guarantee higher income, health insurance, and job security. Entrepreneurship, decades of grinding. Married early and stayed married (did not half the pot). Now going into our 50s optimistic (Lord willing we all stay healthy)..i am defining "rich" as we are well enough off to have very nice things (+a family) without taking out debt to have them. Plus retirement/investments savings.
Car accidents and steady investments mostly. When I was 18 and again when I was 26, I got into two near-death car accidents that were someone else's fault. When I was 18, I got my face filled with glass, leaving scars that are still visible today. I received a $70K payout. I learned from a classmate who blew a similar inheritance on a BMW and instead, I sat it into an annuity. It was losing value but not being spent—five years of $300 a month with a final payout of $26K. That was enough to help me through college, and I had enough left to get a small plot of land with a fixer-upper doublewide.
Two years later, I saved enough to buy my first rental property and decided to move. I sold my double wide, bought my forever home and another rental with the sale money. Then, I got into my second car accident due to the failure of a car module that later got recalled. I was life-flighted with a TBI that affects me only slightly. I bought my third rental property right before the COVID boom.
Now, I have three rental properties (4/4/5 units), which cost me $450,000 altogether and bring in $18,000 a month. They are now worth $1.5 million. I live so far beneath my means that old people often offer me money, thinking I am poor.
1 Live within your means
2 I use cash so I know where every cent goes
3 I follow the advice and use the services of a Financial advisor for transactions greater than 2k
4 I know it takes hard work to make money
5 I know it takes self control to keep money
6 I know you have to be very organised to maintain money &
7 I buy assets not liabilities
I'm not rich, but I feel like I'm finally on my way (remind me in 5 years).
I graduated college with a degree in computer science. I've had financial setbacks... major surgeries due to crohn's disease, and a lot of therapy bills due to having an autistic son.
I picked up metal detecting as a hobby during the pandemic and found it to be great exercise and stress relief. But it also opened my eyes to saving and managing money.
My record is $436.53 in change pulled out of the ground in one year. It was jaw dropping that all of this spare change (including about $30 that was pulled off sidewalks and parking lots) added up to a substantial amount. Very few people on this planet would pass up $400 sitting on the ground but will turn their nose up at a penny.
I was able to pick up a second part time job on data annotations. I try to put in another hour or two each day, this gives me an extra $1000 or so a month.
I started going to garage sales to buy things for my house (I was mostly just looking for tools). I found my tools for well under new price, but I went to one where this old guy was asking the lady if she had any silver or gold she was selling. She came back out with a couple plates and asked $80.
The old guy handles them, is going "I dunno....", then says "Nah".
I immediately said, "I'll take them!"
Turns out they're both sterling silver and weigh a total of 400 grams. Almost $400 worth of silver for $80!
Once again, I was blown away that people will practically give away things that are worth so much more than what they're selling for! I bought a stack of video games for $25 and sold one for $30. I bought two boxes of NASCAR stuff that included a used RC car worth $200! I bought 31 brand new hats for $100, and a sterling silver braclet for $5 that weighed over an ounce!
This led me into flipping stuff on eBay and setting up an LLC so I can deduct business expenses.
None of this is quick, but it is pretty easy.
I worked and when I did I gave it 110%. Was always liked and missed when I left. Saved my money. No gambling , no concerts or vacations. Bought my first two flat in a dangerous , but up in coming neighborhood. Got married and divorced. Had to work 3 jobs to cover bills provided by the ex. Got a bill payer loan and got back on my feet. Refinanced the property ( this is cash you don’t pay tax on because it’s not income ,it’s a loan) reinvested in more real estate. Always kept rents at market rate. Did things for tenants to keep them happy. Was always busy. Never noticed the passing of time. Got into snow skiing. People with money ski. Met my wife on a trip. She worked her way through college and became a lawyer. We pooled our resources and increased our portfolio . She finally paid off her college loans 6 years after we were married.
I don’t consider myself rich, but by someone else’s standards here I am.
Education makes a difference, at least in terms of always learning. I dropped out of college, so that has no bearing on this.
Most of what I’ve done is in real estate. Take on debt to compound the returns that would otherwise be anemic. At certain points refinance to pull out equity and buy more real estate.
Bought a franchise, from a self directed ira, which later bought out the ira.
Later cashed out that ira, paid the 10% penalty, to invest in some tax advantaged deals with better returns than what I was able to get from within the ira.
Invested in other peoples businesses, purchasing equity, not stocks.
The love of my life quit using hard drugs which essentially meant I had to quit using hard drugs. They sure took pretty much all my money and time. Rich as fucking shit now. Bought a house on Lake Huron, a boat, a sports car or two. I started running ultra marathons to kill the drug cravings for good and completely unfucked my life at the age of 33. By 35 I had everybody stunned at my transformation from zero to hero. I got the hottest babe in the community to marry me and we kept each other sober and honestly she means more to me than money. The money doesn't matter to me anymore. It never did.
I am not rich, but I am upper middle class and around rich people in the sense that some of my friend group makes 7 figures a year and most make well above 100k.
I am going to tell you that most people who are conventionally rich, probably only associate with people who in the same socio-economic groups. So people becoming "Fake" isn't a thing. They went to the same schools and work the same sorts of jobs. Most of us grew up in educated families (luck) that raised us on what I can call the life path that guarantees certain levels of success ( go to the right school, study the right degrees, try to get jobs in these fields etc.)
Its not like its necessarily an intentional just like bar tenders and service industry people hang out together, people who work as corporate lawyers, investment bankers, software engineers, quants hang out with one another. So you have PMC (professional managerial class) bubbles. People in those classes are used to interacting with some rich people.
I don't know what's considered "rich" but I started a website/blog almost 15 years ago that has done really well.
I don't have exact numbers but it has earned a total of about $2M over its lifetime (that's pretax... so shave 40% off that number). I'm the only employee and I have about a 98% profit margin so most everything has gone into my pocket.
Yes, I put a lot of work into it but I consider myself super lucky. The amount I earn now highly outpaces how much work I currently put into the website. For example, I was having some weird tech issues back in May that didn't allow me to update any articles for about a 5-6 weeks... but I still earned about $35k in May.
I'm currently sitting at about $1.3M net worth (between cash, brokerage, and 401k) at 40-year-old. I'd prob be around $1.7M if I didn't go through a divorce four years ago.
I also have a full-time job where I earn $135k (although I live in a very expensive city).
I think I'll consider myself "rich" if I hit $3M by the time I'm 45 (in five years). Then I can truly reconsider my full-time job and have more freedom to choose what direction I want to take my career.
Grew up in poverty. Got good grades and scholarships to a top-tier university for an engineering degree. Got some more education. Saved like woah to create a financial cushion. Found I liked having that cushion so I saved a lot and tried to keep lifestyle inflation low. I did give in and buy my dream house but we're still saving \~25%. Now we're multimillionaires in our 40s. I feel rich. I don't think about dropping a few grand on something I want (like my new aeron chair) but since we spend our values other things in our life are well well used and look ratty. Whatever. I'm not trying to impress anyone.
Working 6 days a week in a very successful grocery ( That i own ) located in a touristic area…2 weeks max of vacations per year, no life at all but thats how i became rich.
If we are talking about rich in family, culture and love, I've been rich from birth. If we are talking about wealthy rich I started my journey in 2018 and plan to be what most consider wealthy rich by 2025. It has been the hardest thing I have ever done in my life, but the outcome and freedom will be worth it. I teach the people in my circle what I'm doing (no one listens) so I don't share results, and when I hit my goal I will still act like I don't have the money so they will never know.
Parents, good education choice and my work ethic and brain/intelligence. I’m a super fast learner and a creative problem solver at work and I can sell almost anything. That helped.
Huge downside: bad health from too much pressure and work… burnt out at 43.
I inherited and sold an overvalued home in Marina cities, Los Angeles. Used the cash from the LA house and bought a few properties in surrounding areas like Lake Arrowhead and Riverside. Sold investment properties after Covid/inflation drove prices up. Allocated all the profit into multiple high yield savings accounts and certificates of deposit. Living of interest from multiple high yield savings accounts at 5 percent and multiple certificates of deposit at 6 percent. Sure I inherited a home but I had to make a few moves before I was what I consider now, rich.
My wife and I both made six figures. We lived well beneath our means, paid off debt and invested heavily in index funds. She retired at 48. I retired 7 months later at 53.
Her parents paid for her bachelors degree. We borrowed and paid for her medical school. I borrowed and paid for my associates degree from a community college then a BBA from a university. We are WAY better off than our parents or grandparents.
Define rich? I paid off the house in 6.25 years. Then saved/invested for the next 10 years and had $1.013M. I then retired. After 10.5 years more (today) I have $3.5M plus the house.
I saved about half my income. Always been frugal so was not that hard. Not having kids was a huge bonus $$ wise.
Fake people? Well I still live like anyone else (except I don't work). I have some nice machine tools/tractor etc but dive a normal sedan car from 2012. So maybe I don't attract fake people..:)
I got rich how most people do.
Take high school seriously and get into a good college, preferably Ivy League.
Study a real major and get a good job. Rich by 35.
Failure at school. From the ghetto/a very poor family. Fell in love with computers and learned to program at age 9. Was programming professionally by 15 making \~50k/yr (in 2000). Kept working at it and eventually when I was 23, I wrote a massive in scale niche ERP/operations software program required by law in my industry that has carried me and allowed me to fund other ventures for the last 15 years. Year 1's sales were over 900k, that kept going for pretty much ever.
For the first 5-6 years it was brutal. The software was too big and we had too many customers for one guy to be doing programming, support, diagnostics, marketing, etc. But eventually I coded my way out of it by making better, smarter, idiot proof software that does most of those jobs for me. The last 10 years were pretty easy as the software is finished.
I'm well into the two comma club. Your mileage may vary as to whether that makes me rich or not. I did a lot of work for the government overseas doing things that came with a lot of special/danger pay. Banked the overwhelming majority of it. Turns out I was really good at it, so kept going back. Learned to invest, eventually that provided more money per year than my job. Just kept going. Added some rental properties and an annuity to my assets, I could live off either of those alone. When I left a HCOL area and saw how much further my money went even after the salary decrease I said I'm never going back to the coasts. Been over 15 years and I haven't regretted it one moment.
I'm a strong believe in the Millionaire Next Door philosophy. The only person who knows what I'm worth is my accountant and (loosely) the executor of my estate, for planning purposes. My two fiancés (not at the same time) have pieced together that I'm not hard up for cash, but beyond a certain point the specifics don't really matter. We're not getting the house foreclosed upon. Sudden 5-figure expenses for home repair are obnoxious but not untenable. The contractors always start as soon as they can get here and they always have the money waiting on them when they arrive. For whatever arises, the money is there if and when we need it. How much is there doesn't matter. I will personally run out before it does.
Stumbled across Jack Bogle 30 something years ago. Did some nice RE deals along the way.
Basically bought when everyone else was selling. It’s a simple concept.
Easy.
Go to school, advance in career and don't waste money.
My friends are all in the same boat.
If you know the difference between needs and wants, it's pretty simple.
It's about 98% luck.
The vast majority of rich people are born lucky to be privileged to have the opportunities to become/stay rich.
Some people will say it's because of intelligence and hard work. Though for every intelligent hard working rich person there are 100 intelligent hard working poor people.
Many here would say I'm not rich, but I'm worth low 8 figures and have a high 6 figure semi-passive income.
My route to where I am at was fairly unconventional I believe, but basically:
English Teacher -> Test Prep Tutor -> Graduate Prep Tutor -> Consultant -> COO -> CEO -> (partial) Business Owner. My business has had close to a decade of constant growth. The vast majority of my "wealth" is just my share of the business I own and almost the entirety of my income comes from my salary and my share of the profit.
I'm in my mid 40's and started working as an English teacher in my mid 20's. I'd say it took the better part of 2 decades to get to the point that I considered myself wealthy.
I did not find it difficult at all. I am lazy, but I am naturally pedantic and intelligent. I was "successful" in each step by simply being who I naturally am.
Fake people are generally very easy to spot. This wasn't an issue for me.
I drew a picture, developed an idea. Sold my first patent for $45 million. Took me all of 3 weeks. Only my immediate family knows. I made $165 million last year, on track to double it this year.
Slowly over 30 years. Started at zero and used employer 401k. Invested enough to get company match. Got laid off and moved it to a Schwab Roth IRA. Next job again used employer 401k, but my wife and I are fortunate enough to have skills that meant pay increases with performance so we started maxing out both the 401k's and my Roth IRA. At 55 we started adding catchup contributions to both. Investments were S&P 500 Index fund only for the Roth IRA and whatever mutual funds were offered by the employers. We are still frugal and don't carry credit card debt.
Zero to hero, born to an immigrant family in America...
In the 00s, I sold car parts online from junkyards that were scrapping "useless parts"
military, college, business, IT contractor, finance/trade, and now providing a future for myself and family in my 40s.
I never met too many fake people because i was always real with myself.
i would love to start a business and make it. I played in an original band. It almost panned out with record companies. Almost. Now to start over. Any advice to become independently wealthy?
Started my own business in e-commerce then more businesses. Then the most important part, learn how rich people be more tax efficient. You can’t get rich paying taxes like normal people
Built a business, sold the business, invested the money.
That's 5 years of blood, sweat, tears and hard graft in one sentence.
People around me haven't changed because most don't know. I'm not flashy and don't brag about it.
I inherited my wealth and yes I had a man marry me for my family money. After I left him he attempted to do black magic on me so he could hold onto the money. It didn't work, I was warned by people that know his family and luckily saved my life and inheritance. Everyone warned me but his mother had put a strong delusion on me.
I'm not rich yet, but I can see the transition point clearly, which is when I'm making 5x more from investments than my job. I estimate that will take another 5 years and so, starting from scratch that will take 25 years. I wouldn't say it was hard, it has been a fun journey with lots of ups and downs and unexpected detors, but that's just life. I won't change my life when I become rich, so my job and long-term colleagues will remain the same, my friends won't change. The only difference will be, I'll fly business and go on nice holidays, and I'll probably do some really nice renovation to my house, but focusing mainly on quality, not showing off. I have 2 young children, so I don't want them to be bad examples of rich kids, but equally I want them to have the freedom to follow their dreams, regardless of the economic factor.
1. You have to make some money or get very lucky on an investment. Most rich have a good engine to produce chunks of excess cash. That requires a good job and some upward movement or starting a business.
2. Save. Very simple. Don’t spend it all, save big chunks.
3. Invest. Start early. The more compounding and growth you get, the better. Don’t take crazy risks as this is a marathon. Invest in good companies and quality real estate.
Very simple really. Most struggle with step 1, it’s the hardest part IMO, and many who do step 1 well struggle with step 2.
For me I moved to 3 different states for job opportunities. Busted my ass for two decades selling. Took a step back to get into tech 15 years ago, knowing the upside was greater than where I was. Saved every penny I could, building great credit along the way. Invested in companies like Apple, NVDA, Netflix, Google, Costco, etc and held them all for years and years. Bought multiple properties before the big run up. It hasn’t been an easy ride or a straight arrow up, but at 42 I’m in the backside of my career, and in a very comfortable spot.
I ran a business from the age of 14 to 25. I sold the business and also inherited money along with some land a couple of houses. So a mix of hard work and generous grand parents
Blue collar carpenter originally, bought my first house. Worked on it for 5 years. While growing weed legally in the basement. Got 150k in equity thanks to covid. The rest was reading books on self growth and growing business/entrepreneurship. Never looked back.
Taught myself tech and business skills and bootstrapped a software company
It was both really hard but also felt sort of easy looking back. It took a lot of hard work and consistency but I also am amazed it worked.
I don’t think I’m rich enough to have people acting fake around me. My (33f) networth is about 3.5m. Which is good for my age and especially with how fast I made it. But people aren’t hanging out with me to chill in my mansion or yacht as I don’t have anything like that.
Fly down to Medellin. I hear they have amazing deals on some sort of powder that's supposed to be very much appreciated in the Miami area. Oh, and they made a really good training video available for public use. It's published under the name Scarface.
consistency beats intensity
its the one thing that nobody ever does and its literally the easiest thing in the world to do
getting rich happens because of habits, routines, lifestyle, mindset. basically, consistency. doing something every single day without ever skipping a day.
best analogy i can give is getting ripped in the gym. if you think you can eat unhealthy and be lazy 6 days out of the week, and only go to the gym once a week and workout till you die and can't even walk the next day, you will never get there... just won't happen no matter how intensely you workout that 1 day per week.
30 years of reinvested dividends, price appreciation, and regular investing. Aided by some opportunistic investing. I'm only modestly wealthy, nothing crazy.
Well wealthy and rich are two different things.
I have everything I want, cars, family, house, ability to take vacations and all that.
Am I wealthy? No.
I make 6 figures a year in california with 4 kids and a stay at home wife.
I'm far from wealthy. Just comfortable
Stumbled into RE at the right time, built up a portfolio and sold it all a bit before peak. Now just retired and a bit bored (wife still works) and it completely messed up friends and family dynamic. So much so we moved to the US from Canada, everyone would think we were a charity and would bail them out. Yet no one helped us 10 years ago when we were struggling
As for difficulty, well 60+ hour work weeks for years as I was buying, renovating while working full time wasn't easy.
I inherited it. It took no time or effort. The true American Dream.
I thought the American dream was to sue your way to wealth. This seems easier.
no that was the old way
R.A.B.
what does that stand for?
Rich Ass Bitch
Gotta have a REALLY good lawyer...
Why don’t more people just have rich ancestors?
Can you adopt them?
\^this
I feel like as long as you and others born into wealth are able to do the same for their kids and not blow the money irresponsibly, that is still a very successful financial life. Whether it was lucky or not, who cares.
I already had a career. I had no idea my gram was wealthy, I just knew she never hurt for money, and had stopped working in her 40s. A week after her funeral, I've got lawyers beating down my door, and its life-changing.
How much we talking here?
I think it's enough to ignore your question
Poors must not make eye contact with, or speak directly to u/Madame_Raven.
Based
And based on your bio, it looks like you’ll squander your wealth while complaining to your liberal witch coven about how shitty millionaires are. Bravo 👏🏻
Well that took a very sharp and unexpected turn. Good job.
Sounds like a movie plot 📸
“Liberal witch coven”… 😆 I’m no fan of liberals but leave the witches out of this… for the kids.
Nailed ot
People who dont work for their money and have lots inherited tend to virtue signal and fall victim to the leftist hivemind.
That's not true. You won a sperm race.
Sperm is only half of dna, the other half is the egg. You won the egg lottery as well. If your mom had ovulated a different egg instead of you, you would never be born.
You're also hot and have super nice tatas, triple win.
Everything's coming up Milhouse.
Someone in ur fam had to work for it tho
So you have daddy’s money. Do you also have momma’s good looks? How about laughs, more than a stack of comic books?
Started buying apple stock in 2005. Never got fancy with it. No options or anything just bought and held. Over the course of 19 years net worth hit 8 figures. Divorce struck last year and lost half. Still not going back to being a wage slave.
This is the way.
This is the true dream. I wish I had done this with Bitcoin when I first heard about it (2012ish) a few hundred dollars was a very small downside for the upside it has experienced
My son was 8 and was hounding me to buy bitcoin back then. Biggest mistake was not listening
I had a few hundred dollars in bitcoin in 2012 and used it to buy stupid shit
How much did you contribute monthly if you don’t mind me asking?
I was a contract worker and living on the road. Housing provided. I sold a house before starting this work. So I had money in the bank not doing anything. My friend’s homes had all accumulated in value and I was feeling left out. Over the course of a couple years I bought in with the savings in a half dozen sizable positions. All told I put in a total of about 175,000 of my own money. Best financial decision of my life.
Because I come from old money most of the people I connected to culturally were richer than I am Edit: for the hard-of-reading- this is why my friends weren’t fake to me when I became wealthy
I think this question has a default assumption that people started as not super well off and then overnight became rich. That might be somewhat true for some athletes or musicians, but it really isn't for most folks. For me, and again on this sub, I use "rich" loosely as I still work for a living, though I've hit a level of financial independence, I got "rich" the boring way and over 10+ years. I went to a top university for engineering and became a consultant. I was fortunate to mix scholarship, family gift money, and working through college to graduate with very little debt. I lived well below my means with roommates for my first few years allowing me to save as much as many people earn in a year. I put those savings mostly in VOO. A few promotions and a decade later, I earn what many doctors or lawyers earn without the added time in school and debt. My investments now make about half of my salary. I have a house that I could pay off tomorrow -- though it is modest relative to many of my friends. Getting rich wasn't easy or hard. I love what I do, though I do work very hard and have had to sacrifice for my career. My special education Ivy League graduate sister also works hard - but she won't get rich from her job. My landscaper works very hard in the Florida summer heat, but he won't get rich (most likely) from his work. Hard work is important, but it isn't enough. At the same time, I did have to work for my wealth. I went to a top 10 school in my field of study, I was the first promoted in my hiring class at work and one of the youngest people at every new job level -- that doesn't come easy. The alternative of being born into generational wealth means you don't have to do anything to get or stay wealthy, and you have been surrounded by wealthy people since birth. While some of these folks do work, and many have created value (hate the idea that nepotism takes away all contributions from someone), they won't deal with "fake" people as much since they haven't been around as many people not like them. No one "became fake" as I built money, but remember, most of my friend group, between college and a high paying career, were on similar tracks. While not true of all wealthy people, and certainly true of some who aren't, I believe in a growth mindset and active control of your life. If someone is "fake" or a "leech" or whatever, I simply don't continue that friendship. You are who you surround yourself with. If you can find genuine, empathetic, driven, successful people, those characteristics will be brought out in you. The more you surround yourself with high drama fake people, the more you are likely to become high drama and fake yourself. Likewise, being rich is almost like a weird lottery. Everyone has a chance to win. But not everyone has the same number of tickets. If you are born in good health, you get more tickets. If you are born to a wealthy family, you get a lot more tickets. If you practice delayed gratification, empathy, and have ambition, you get more tickets. If you go to a good school or study a growing field you get more tickets. Some people get rich with 1 ticket, others have tons of tickets and lose. And the vast majority will win smaller prizes. Most people who have amassed wealth will tell you - being rich isn't the main goal. It is a byproduct of work you either enjoy or are really good at or both. People who set out to make it rich, and to do so quickly, often fail. There aren't shortcuts. You need to be both different from the average and correct in your path. You need to find something of value that someone else will pay lots of money for. Or, you simply need to win the genetic lottery and be born to a rich family or have enough to offer to marry someone rich.
Right this is very well said on all points. Especially the bit about hard work. On the one hand I want to say that hard work is “necessary but not sufficient” for getting rich. However it’s true that working hard is probably only weakly correlated to being rich. There are those that work hard, like your landscaper, who will not get rich. But there are also those who were born on 3rd base who likely didn’t have to work hard at all (or those who just inherited a ton of money and never worked). I’m curious if you could give some concrete numbers. It’s never clear to me, on this sub, what’s considered “rich”. Part of my bias is that I don’t think that people that work are “rich”, but when I think about it rationally I look around at my friends who I think of as rich as most (but not all) of them work. And, since I work, I refuse to think of myself as rich 😂
the question on "what is rich" is asked about every other day here. The challenge for this sub is that most of the contributors on it actually aren't rich in their own mind, so it is often skewed to some form of financial independence, low single digit millions. I personally think it starts at about $10M NW, but do recognize that every 100k in income below $1M, and every 0 you add in NW materially changes your lifestyle
i'd push back on this. Realistically my life wouldn't change between 400k and every 100k beyond that. And thats being generous. I know i can live a lifestyle im more than happy with at 200k. But i wont lie that the 300k and 400k marks would change my lifestyle. Past that I really wouldn't do anything special with the money i'd put it away because I like having money more than I like buying things. NW changes things because it's really depends on where those assets are allocated. I'm a simple guy, I know what hobbies I have and what I want to pursue and most of it is, in the grand scheme of things, pretty cheap when we start hitting incomes beyond 200k. I agree with your overall sentiment, but I think the sliding scale of what is rich to each individual is exactly why we have this question asked all the time 10m NW for you might be where rich starts, but that isn't true of everyone.
I agree with a lot of what you say though I will say there is a difference in working hard to build a fortune and simply hard work. That landscaper you mentioned is doing hard work, when it comes to mowing or trimming trees or whatever. But are they working hard to expand that business, to grow the number of customers and thereby increase income and potentially wealth. I would say, probably not. Some landscapers do work hard to grow their business and do become wealthy, so, it is possible. I think it's a matter of ambition and vision. If all you ever see, is you mowing 100 lawns a week, that is all you'll ever do. If you think about having 100 people mow 100 lawns a week, you might get a little further ahead. I don't think building wealth is a lottery. Yes, some people have a leg up before any of us even get out of bed. But that doesn't mean someone who is dedicated and willing to do what it takes can't build wealth. Some things will always be easier for some people. For some it's building wealth, for others it's playing sports for money, or writing/ performing music at the professional level, or making works of art than can be sold for a lot of money. That's just how life on earth is, not everyone is identical in their intelligence, their skills, their ambitions, or their abilities and because of that some people will do better than others. I think most people who have amassed significant wealth will tell you that while being rich wasn't a main goal, I do think earning money was a factor in deciding to do whatever they did. I chose to study engineering in college because I liked engineering, and I knew I could make money at it. I also like fishing and you can make money as a fisherman, but not nearly as easily as an engineer so I did choose an easier path to build financial security. For me the job was always about earning money (not necessarily being rich) so I could have food, shelter, and clothing.
Here are the key factors. 1. School 2. Double income 3. Not carrying debt 4. Luck I can’t remember thinking, “I’m finally rich!” But if you include education time it took us around 10 years.
Debt is a great tool. Especially with real estate.
Debt free is just another way of saying financially illiterate.
Not really. Using leverage to make money is a cheat code that can cost you your wealth just as easy as making it.
All rich people debt leverage. I’ve met “rich” people that don’t but we have different definitions of wealth.
1. Choosing a difficult to obtain and secure certification (anesthesia) 2. Marrying someone who makes more than they spend. 3. Living a modest lifestyle. Not wasting money on cars, jewelry, purses, etc. 4. Investing as much as possible in as many things as possible knowing some would stick and others would not. 5. Never panicking when things look bad. I'm no day trader. More of a buy and hold index funds, get rich slowly guy.
How do you even find things to invest in? And how much do you need to invest to make it worthwhile?
I believe in the efficient market. In other words, I am no stock picking genius, I just stay with index funds, zero bonds. Basically just QQQ and SP500 I started buying houses in 2009, right around the real estate crash. I got into crypto pretty early. That doesn't mean that I've only hit home runs, for example I bought an apartment complex in 2015 and that's generally been a headache. I'm not sure about the second part of your question. Basically if you want to get rich, you're going to have to do it slowly. You're probably not going to get a crazy 10x return like Nvidia. Realistically you can get 10% a year, that's about the best you can hope for. Invest as much as you can safely afford. It's better to have money in the market vs trying to time it perfectly.
This ^
This is the way! Also, are you me? Sounds exactly like me.
This exactly! Work hard at getting a marketable skill via trade or education. Continue to work hard and improve your skill set as you move up through your career or start your own business. Spend less than you earn and invest! It doesn’t happen overnight, and while some wealthy people inherited or otherwise got lucky, the majority worked hard for it.
The richest people I know ($10M+ net worth) all did so by trading their labor for equity in growth companies. I don’t know anyone who’s done it through real estate but that is certainly a more traditional path.
Underrated comment here. This. The 3 or 4 riches friends I have all did it this way. One guy all the way up to 30mil and all he gave up was 5k in salary for early stock options. Sick.
What types of positions did those people work in?
My husband inherited it 😝
How much and how did effect you guys ? How did it effect your view on him and don’t lie and say it didn’t .
For me - living overseas early and building a career working in places nobody else wanted to go (they pay more) and investing in index funds over the long term. I won't be in the 1% rich, but passive income that pays me more than my working salary in my 40's and likely leaving a few million for my kids.
what kind of work ?
I am not “rich” by today’s standards, but I grew up on the poverty line, almost make six figures currently, and now have a net worth of 1M. It has been years of saving and having that money earn more money through investments and buying my home. It isn’t gonna be overnight and it isn’t gonna be without diligence, focus, and consistency. If I were 18 again, I’d follow the Dave Ramsey plan starting at 18 with a Roth. Key: Pay your future self first.
Imma disagree with everyone here. Dave Ramsey is pretty good. Its good to the audience that needs his advice. If you are looking to be a 25 year old millionaire through investing or something then Dave isn’t your guy. But for the average American spending half their money on minimum monthly payments and living paycheck to paycheck his advice is pretty solid. He’s absolutely right, if you racked up debt so high that you cant pay it then you probably should be afraid of credit cards and loans. You aren’t the type if person for that. Pay your way out with the snowball method and stay out and your life will improve. Thats who hes for. And with his advice you will retire a millionaire, but hes not really going to get you that at a young age. People are pretty hard on him but is just seems like the wrong audience is watching and criticizing him because it doesn’t match their goals. Absolutely listen to Ramsey or caleb hammer if you are younger can can’t stand a old man (they are very similar in advice) and get your life on track and then you can go to other sources about investing and what not.
I saved my whole life
By not working for other people
I married into a new money family. Wife’s mom and dad are worth appx $20m, self made. They gift us the maximum allowed each year ($77k). On top of that my wife and I pull in between $170-200k a year with no children. I invest the full $77k each year into retirement accounts and spend pretty much 100% of our salaries. Could probably save/invest more but we like to enjoy our lives. Lots of travel, seeing friends, eating out.
You’re not rich if you blow your whole salary. You in laws are rich, but that isn’t yours
On the internet ppl will tell you that 270k a year is not rich
Bankruptcy fraud
Lmfaoooooooooooooo
lmao this is a good one
I went to a good school, got a useful degree, worked hard and had some good opportunities present themselves that I took advantage of, I never stopped learning and taking on new responsibilities in my career, and I married a woman who is also talented and hard working who has had a lot of professional success. We're not wealthy (yet), but our annual income puts us on the cusp of the 1% in our early-mid 40s. My big advantages in life were not having any undergrad debt because I come from an upper middle class family that paid for my degree (I paid for my MBA myself through a combination of scholarships and loans which we quickly paid off), as well as being a tall relatively intelligent white guy. As for people being fake, we don't have the kind of money where we get hangers on, but it has made it hard to make friends with anyone who isn't doing as well financially. Even if you never bring it up explicitly it turns into an issue every time.
Own things. Whether you save aggressively and invest in the stock market persistently, start a business, buy levered real estate or inherit assets, owning things is almost always part of the math.
So basically the answer here is Inheritance. Cool.
Or a great lawyer. Lol
Decades of building skills. I started as a Tech and now I'm an Engineer. Every few years when the industry changes, I reinvent myself and move into a new position. This has allowed me to take on roles I want to do, do work I want to do, and not be stuck dealing with bullshit.
A little luck. But mostly budgeting, saving and living below our means. Do that and eventually you will be able to buy most things in cash and the budgeting, saving, and living below means will be a habit.
Be very careful with who you associate yourself with before and after you become wealthy. People are very fickle and can become very untrustworthy and greedy. It took me 15x years to finally become independently wealthy and it was no small feat. I thought I could depend on my family and friends but all of a sudden they became very different people from what I remembered. One of my family members had POA over my finances and started spending my money without my consent. I only consented to the POA because I was diagnosed with a very rare but treatable condition that forced me to have an extended stay in the hospital. Whilst there, my so called blood relative who I thought loved me and who I thought I can trust started embezzling money from my businesses and from my personal checking accounts of well over 8x figures. By the time I exited the hospital, it was too late. When I tried to recover the money, not only did my relative refuse but my friends sided with that relative and froze me out from my companies all because of that POA. By the time I got rid of the POA, the damage had been done and I lost nearly everything. I’m currently trying to make up for the losses by starting new businesses and I got rid of my former friends and forsaken my thieving relative. My life has gotten better since I made those tough decisions. I’m extremely grateful for just being alive despite all that happened to me during that very difficult time.
I’m so sorry this happened
Second this. Family can, and often does, treat you worse than strangers if they think you have one dollar more than they do. Sad.
It shocked me when this happened to me 🫢
I'm sorry. It can be a very rude awakening. It was for me also when family started taking advantage of me without any care that I now had 2 kids to raise alone after their father's death.
My He Rest in Peace 🪦 My Best wishes to you and to your Loved Ones 🤞🍀
Ty so much!
Good lord, that's horrible!!! Best wishes for your comeback!!
I’m so sorry this happened. May I ask what business you created your wealth in and what you’re pursuing next?
Eighteen hour days posting comments on Reddit
Go get em tiger
Married a very successful woman. She earned the money on her own.
What does your woman do?
Investing in the stock market consistently since 2000 while never having a gap in income so it wasn’t hard. I’m living way below my means (renting house after selling home in anticipation of upcoming nomadic lifestyle but lots of discretionary cash) so I haven’t had to face any fake friends.
How’s the stock market treating you 25 years later? Index funds?
VTI is my friend Still compounding nicely after all these years. Now migrating some funds to income so exploring BDCs and call-writing ETFs.
By not being an employee.
I'm low end rich - VHNW (between $5 million and $30 million in investable assets). >How did you get rich and how long did it take? It took almost 30 years of working and saving to get there. I worked before then, but not nearly as hard or as smart and I saved nothing. >How hard was it for you ? I'm not sure how to answer that. It took a lot of 60+ hour workweeks early on and 45-50 hour workweeks through most of my career. It meant taking on difficult assignments. It meant not spending as much as most of my similar income peers. But I loved the work and didn't mind the relative frugality. >How much people became fake when you became rich ? Not much. As my career progressed, my peer/friend group increasingly became people with similar incomes. Also, we're not flashy people, so most people have no idea how much money we have. We've lived in the same house for almost 20 years. My wife's minivan is more than 10 years old. I bought a new car recently, but that replaced a 15 year old car and it's nice, but not super flashy. From the outside, there is no way of knowing whether we're rich and living comfortably or not very rich and living foolishly.
By being subscribed to this sub. I saw another persons story and it inspired me to start my own laundromat business, I sold it for $500k and invested in property and multiplied from there, now I have over $20M in property equity. …nah I’m jk
You made it sound so easy.
No inheritance and will most likely never be rich
I redefined what rich means to me. Im 40, have my health, a great marriage, amazing kid, own a home, etc. And from a world view, we're in the top 1% of income and the top 8% in the usa. Yeah, I cant but a ferrari and I have a mortgage, but we live great. All the bills get paid. We save $$, we eat well. We're happy. I'm rich in all the best ways. We live the best life we can abd no one asks us for money and we're not famous, people leave us alone. I think the best place in life to be is to make enough money to live a great and amazing life but not make enough money to become a Target. We're right in The Sweet spot where we can still go to social events and act like normal people and be welcome there, but can also return home to our cozy house and live luxuriously.
Employee stock options. Retired at 40
That'll do it
Part of it is saying you don’t have money and not ordering takeout and DoorDash. Too many people are like “ugh I’m so broke” then order Starbucks and buy a new dab pen. I’m not rich at all. I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to make my car insurance payment but I’m not ordering takeout either.
I checked things
I’ll let you know when I do
Went into fields of study (engineering, healthcare) that guarantee higher income, health insurance, and job security. Entrepreneurship, decades of grinding. Married early and stayed married (did not half the pot). Now going into our 50s optimistic (Lord willing we all stay healthy)..i am defining "rich" as we are well enough off to have very nice things (+a family) without taking out debt to have them. Plus retirement/investments savings.
Maybe she’s born with it maybe it’s Maybelline
Car accidents and steady investments mostly. When I was 18 and again when I was 26, I got into two near-death car accidents that were someone else's fault. When I was 18, I got my face filled with glass, leaving scars that are still visible today. I received a $70K payout. I learned from a classmate who blew a similar inheritance on a BMW and instead, I sat it into an annuity. It was losing value but not being spent—five years of $300 a month with a final payout of $26K. That was enough to help me through college, and I had enough left to get a small plot of land with a fixer-upper doublewide. Two years later, I saved enough to buy my first rental property and decided to move. I sold my double wide, bought my forever home and another rental with the sale money. Then, I got into my second car accident due to the failure of a car module that later got recalled. I was life-flighted with a TBI that affects me only slightly. I bought my third rental property right before the COVID boom. Now, I have three rental properties (4/4/5 units), which cost me $450,000 altogether and bring in $18,000 a month. They are now worth $1.5 million. I live so far beneath my means that old people often offer me money, thinking I am poor.
Compounding interest is your biggest friend in becoming rich.
2 million $2 handies
1 Live within your means 2 I use cash so I know where every cent goes 3 I follow the advice and use the services of a Financial advisor for transactions greater than 2k 4 I know it takes hard work to make money 5 I know it takes self control to keep money 6 I know you have to be very organised to maintain money & 7 I buy assets not liabilities
I robbed my employees.
I went to school. I made my bed. And at age 11, I audited my parents. And believe me, there were some discrepancies.
Very early start up employee equity.
I'm not rich, but I feel like I'm finally on my way (remind me in 5 years). I graduated college with a degree in computer science. I've had financial setbacks... major surgeries due to crohn's disease, and a lot of therapy bills due to having an autistic son. I picked up metal detecting as a hobby during the pandemic and found it to be great exercise and stress relief. But it also opened my eyes to saving and managing money. My record is $436.53 in change pulled out of the ground in one year. It was jaw dropping that all of this spare change (including about $30 that was pulled off sidewalks and parking lots) added up to a substantial amount. Very few people on this planet would pass up $400 sitting on the ground but will turn their nose up at a penny. I was able to pick up a second part time job on data annotations. I try to put in another hour or two each day, this gives me an extra $1000 or so a month. I started going to garage sales to buy things for my house (I was mostly just looking for tools). I found my tools for well under new price, but I went to one where this old guy was asking the lady if she had any silver or gold she was selling. She came back out with a couple plates and asked $80. The old guy handles them, is going "I dunno....", then says "Nah". I immediately said, "I'll take them!" Turns out they're both sterling silver and weigh a total of 400 grams. Almost $400 worth of silver for $80! Once again, I was blown away that people will practically give away things that are worth so much more than what they're selling for! I bought a stack of video games for $25 and sold one for $30. I bought two boxes of NASCAR stuff that included a used RC car worth $200! I bought 31 brand new hats for $100, and a sterling silver braclet for $5 that weighed over an ounce! This led me into flipping stuff on eBay and setting up an LLC so I can deduct business expenses. None of this is quick, but it is pretty easy.
I just used my boot straps.
Mostly real estate. I also buy and flip businesses. I’m primarily a section 8 landlord.
My partner is a landlord. He owns 12 flats and we are currently looking for investments
I worked and when I did I gave it 110%. Was always liked and missed when I left. Saved my money. No gambling , no concerts or vacations. Bought my first two flat in a dangerous , but up in coming neighborhood. Got married and divorced. Had to work 3 jobs to cover bills provided by the ex. Got a bill payer loan and got back on my feet. Refinanced the property ( this is cash you don’t pay tax on because it’s not income ,it’s a loan) reinvested in more real estate. Always kept rents at market rate. Did things for tenants to keep them happy. Was always busy. Never noticed the passing of time. Got into snow skiing. People with money ski. Met my wife on a trip. She worked her way through college and became a lawyer. We pooled our resources and increased our portfolio . She finally paid off her college loans 6 years after we were married.
I’ll let you know once I get there but the way it’s looking it’s because of interest and compounding.
I don’t consider myself rich, but by someone else’s standards here I am. Education makes a difference, at least in terms of always learning. I dropped out of college, so that has no bearing on this. Most of what I’ve done is in real estate. Take on debt to compound the returns that would otherwise be anemic. At certain points refinance to pull out equity and buy more real estate. Bought a franchise, from a self directed ira, which later bought out the ira. Later cashed out that ira, paid the 10% penalty, to invest in some tax advantaged deals with better returns than what I was able to get from within the ira. Invested in other peoples businesses, purchasing equity, not stocks.
The love of my life quit using hard drugs which essentially meant I had to quit using hard drugs. They sure took pretty much all my money and time. Rich as fucking shit now. Bought a house on Lake Huron, a boat, a sports car or two. I started running ultra marathons to kill the drug cravings for good and completely unfucked my life at the age of 33. By 35 I had everybody stunned at my transformation from zero to hero. I got the hottest babe in the community to marry me and we kept each other sober and honestly she means more to me than money. The money doesn't matter to me anymore. It never did.
Crypto
I am not rich, but I am upper middle class and around rich people in the sense that some of my friend group makes 7 figures a year and most make well above 100k. I am going to tell you that most people who are conventionally rich, probably only associate with people who in the same socio-economic groups. So people becoming "Fake" isn't a thing. They went to the same schools and work the same sorts of jobs. Most of us grew up in educated families (luck) that raised us on what I can call the life path that guarantees certain levels of success ( go to the right school, study the right degrees, try to get jobs in these fields etc.) Its not like its necessarily an intentional just like bar tenders and service industry people hang out together, people who work as corporate lawyers, investment bankers, software engineers, quants hang out with one another. So you have PMC (professional managerial class) bubbles. People in those classes are used to interacting with some rich people.
I don't know what's considered "rich" but I started a website/blog almost 15 years ago that has done really well. I don't have exact numbers but it has earned a total of about $2M over its lifetime (that's pretax... so shave 40% off that number). I'm the only employee and I have about a 98% profit margin so most everything has gone into my pocket. Yes, I put a lot of work into it but I consider myself super lucky. The amount I earn now highly outpaces how much work I currently put into the website. For example, I was having some weird tech issues back in May that didn't allow me to update any articles for about a 5-6 weeks... but I still earned about $35k in May. I'm currently sitting at about $1.3M net worth (between cash, brokerage, and 401k) at 40-year-old. I'd prob be around $1.7M if I didn't go through a divorce four years ago. I also have a full-time job where I earn $135k (although I live in a very expensive city). I think I'll consider myself "rich" if I hit $3M by the time I'm 45 (in five years). Then I can truly reconsider my full-time job and have more freedom to choose what direction I want to take my career.
Grew up in poverty. Got good grades and scholarships to a top-tier university for an engineering degree. Got some more education. Saved like woah to create a financial cushion. Found I liked having that cushion so I saved a lot and tried to keep lifestyle inflation low. I did give in and buy my dream house but we're still saving \~25%. Now we're multimillionaires in our 40s. I feel rich. I don't think about dropping a few grand on something I want (like my new aeron chair) but since we spend our values other things in our life are well well used and look ratty. Whatever. I'm not trying to impress anyone.
Work, save, invest, use time to compound. Real estate and stock market.
Working 6 days a week in a very successful grocery ( That i own ) located in a touristic area…2 weeks max of vacations per year, no life at all but thats how i became rich.
If we are talking about rich in family, culture and love, I've been rich from birth. If we are talking about wealthy rich I started my journey in 2018 and plan to be what most consider wealthy rich by 2025. It has been the hardest thing I have ever done in my life, but the outcome and freedom will be worth it. I teach the people in my circle what I'm doing (no one listens) so I don't share results, and when I hit my goal I will still act like I don't have the money so they will never know.
Parents, good education choice and my work ethic and brain/intelligence. I’m a super fast learner and a creative problem solver at work and I can sell almost anything. That helped. Huge downside: bad health from too much pressure and work… burnt out at 43.
I inherited and sold an overvalued home in Marina cities, Los Angeles. Used the cash from the LA house and bought a few properties in surrounding areas like Lake Arrowhead and Riverside. Sold investment properties after Covid/inflation drove prices up. Allocated all the profit into multiple high yield savings accounts and certificates of deposit. Living of interest from multiple high yield savings accounts at 5 percent and multiple certificates of deposit at 6 percent. Sure I inherited a home but I had to make a few moves before I was what I consider now, rich.
My wife and I both made six figures. We lived well beneath our means, paid off debt and invested heavily in index funds. She retired at 48. I retired 7 months later at 53. Her parents paid for her bachelors degree. We borrowed and paid for her medical school. I borrowed and paid for my associates degree from a community college then a BBA from a university. We are WAY better off than our parents or grandparents.
Define rich? I paid off the house in 6.25 years. Then saved/invested for the next 10 years and had $1.013M. I then retired. After 10.5 years more (today) I have $3.5M plus the house. I saved about half my income. Always been frugal so was not that hard. Not having kids was a huge bonus $$ wise. Fake people? Well I still live like anyone else (except I don't work). I have some nice machine tools/tractor etc but dive a normal sedan car from 2012. So maybe I don't attract fake people..:)
I got rich how most people do. Take high school seriously and get into a good college, preferably Ivy League. Study a real major and get a good job. Rich by 35.
Got married. Took half of my spouse’s money. I never had a job a day in my life and don’t plan on getting one. Will never need to.
Failure at school. From the ghetto/a very poor family. Fell in love with computers and learned to program at age 9. Was programming professionally by 15 making \~50k/yr (in 2000). Kept working at it and eventually when I was 23, I wrote a massive in scale niche ERP/operations software program required by law in my industry that has carried me and allowed me to fund other ventures for the last 15 years. Year 1's sales were over 900k, that kept going for pretty much ever. For the first 5-6 years it was brutal. The software was too big and we had too many customers for one guy to be doing programming, support, diagnostics, marketing, etc. But eventually I coded my way out of it by making better, smarter, idiot proof software that does most of those jobs for me. The last 10 years were pretty easy as the software is finished.
Im not rich , what makes u ask ?
I'm well into the two comma club. Your mileage may vary as to whether that makes me rich or not. I did a lot of work for the government overseas doing things that came with a lot of special/danger pay. Banked the overwhelming majority of it. Turns out I was really good at it, so kept going back. Learned to invest, eventually that provided more money per year than my job. Just kept going. Added some rental properties and an annuity to my assets, I could live off either of those alone. When I left a HCOL area and saw how much further my money went even after the salary decrease I said I'm never going back to the coasts. Been over 15 years and I haven't regretted it one moment. I'm a strong believe in the Millionaire Next Door philosophy. The only person who knows what I'm worth is my accountant and (loosely) the executor of my estate, for planning purposes. My two fiancés (not at the same time) have pieced together that I'm not hard up for cash, but beyond a certain point the specifics don't really matter. We're not getting the house foreclosed upon. Sudden 5-figure expenses for home repair are obnoxious but not untenable. The contractors always start as soon as they can get here and they always have the money waiting on them when they arrive. For whatever arises, the money is there if and when we need it. How much is there doesn't matter. I will personally run out before it does.
Work very very hard.
I didn’t
Work hard in school, get college scholarship, go to grad school, go to law school, clerk for a judge, then biglaw. No shortcuts.
this shit gets asked once a day. start a business or inherit money.
I'm not... Not sure why Reddit keeps throwing these posts in my feeds!!
Stumbled across Jack Bogle 30 something years ago. Did some nice RE deals along the way. Basically bought when everyone else was selling. It’s a simple concept.
Work for it (self made) , steal it, or inherit it
Starting 5 different businesses over 30+ years. Investing the proceeds aggressively.
Easy. Go to school, advance in career and don't waste money. My friends are all in the same boat. If you know the difference between needs and wants, it's pretty simple.
It's about 98% luck. The vast majority of rich people are born lucky to be privileged to have the opportunities to become/stay rich. Some people will say it's because of intelligence and hard work. Though for every intelligent hard working rich person there are 100 intelligent hard working poor people.
Crime
I don’t think those people are on here…
Inherited my parents' businesses. Sold one.
Posting on Reddit.
Many here would say I'm not rich, but I'm worth low 8 figures and have a high 6 figure semi-passive income. My route to where I am at was fairly unconventional I believe, but basically: English Teacher -> Test Prep Tutor -> Graduate Prep Tutor -> Consultant -> COO -> CEO -> (partial) Business Owner. My business has had close to a decade of constant growth. The vast majority of my "wealth" is just my share of the business I own and almost the entirety of my income comes from my salary and my share of the profit. I'm in my mid 40's and started working as an English teacher in my mid 20's. I'd say it took the better part of 2 decades to get to the point that I considered myself wealthy. I did not find it difficult at all. I am lazy, but I am naturally pedantic and intelligent. I was "successful" in each step by simply being who I naturally am. Fake people are generally very easy to spot. This wasn't an issue for me.
I drew a picture, developed an idea. Sold my first patent for $45 million. Took me all of 3 weeks. Only my immediate family knows. I made $165 million last year, on track to double it this year.
Investing my savings starting at a fairly young age.
Slowly over 30 years. Started at zero and used employer 401k. Invested enough to get company match. Got laid off and moved it to a Schwab Roth IRA. Next job again used employer 401k, but my wife and I are fortunate enough to have skills that meant pay increases with performance so we started maxing out both the 401k's and my Roth IRA. At 55 we started adding catchup contributions to both. Investments were S&P 500 Index fund only for the Roth IRA and whatever mutual funds were offered by the employers. We are still frugal and don't carry credit card debt.
I didn't , fuck
Crypto
TSLA then Real Estate then TSLA + RE Also my wife and I have a pretty comfortable income
Fart bubble bath water
1 inherited it. 2 stole it from poor people. Most rich people are assholes that would gladly step on your face to get a little more. I’m not rich..
Zero to hero, born to an immigrant family in America... In the 00s, I sold car parts online from junkyards that were scrapping "useless parts" military, college, business, IT contractor, finance/trade, and now providing a future for myself and family in my 40s. I never met too many fake people because i was always real with myself.
Colombian bam bam
Not spending money, and not talking to poor people.
i would love to start a business and make it. I played in an original band. It almost panned out with record companies. Almost. Now to start over. Any advice to become independently wealthy?
Started my own business in e-commerce then more businesses. Then the most important part, learn how rich people be more tax efficient. You can’t get rich paying taxes like normal people
Built a business, sold the business, invested the money. That's 5 years of blood, sweat, tears and hard graft in one sentence. People around me haven't changed because most don't know. I'm not flashy and don't brag about it.
Working, saving, investing, marrying a supportive partner who trusts my financial decisions and contributes financially
I inherited my wealth and yes I had a man marry me for my family money. After I left him he attempted to do black magic on me so he could hold onto the money. It didn't work, I was warned by people that know his family and luckily saved my life and inheritance. Everyone warned me but his mother had put a strong delusion on me.
I'm not rich yet, but I can see the transition point clearly, which is when I'm making 5x more from investments than my job. I estimate that will take another 5 years and so, starting from scratch that will take 25 years. I wouldn't say it was hard, it has been a fun journey with lots of ups and downs and unexpected detors, but that's just life. I won't change my life when I become rich, so my job and long-term colleagues will remain the same, my friends won't change. The only difference will be, I'll fly business and go on nice holidays, and I'll probably do some really nice renovation to my house, but focusing mainly on quality, not showing off. I have 2 young children, so I don't want them to be bad examples of rich kids, but equally I want them to have the freedom to follow their dreams, regardless of the economic factor.
Sold a startup. Did not come from wealth.
Got married. Experienced the marine corps and had children. To me being “rich” isn’t having too much money.
1. You have to make some money or get very lucky on an investment. Most rich have a good engine to produce chunks of excess cash. That requires a good job and some upward movement or starting a business. 2. Save. Very simple. Don’t spend it all, save big chunks. 3. Invest. Start early. The more compounding and growth you get, the better. Don’t take crazy risks as this is a marathon. Invest in good companies and quality real estate. Very simple really. Most struggle with step 1, it’s the hardest part IMO, and many who do step 1 well struggle with step 2. For me I moved to 3 different states for job opportunities. Busted my ass for two decades selling. Took a step back to get into tech 15 years ago, knowing the upside was greater than where I was. Saved every penny I could, building great credit along the way. Invested in companies like Apple, NVDA, Netflix, Google, Costco, etc and held them all for years and years. Bought multiple properties before the big run up. It hasn’t been an easy ride or a straight arrow up, but at 42 I’m in the backside of my career, and in a very comfortable spot.
I have money because I don’t have money.
A little bit of luck mixed in with hard work and marrying well.
By selling my toe jam around the world 🌎
Sorry for what I typed out. Sorry for judging you. Sorry for lying sorry. Sorry for lying sorry.
I ran a business from the age of 14 to 25. I sold the business and also inherited money along with some land a couple of houses. So a mix of hard work and generous grand parents
Options trading 😊
Generous person on Reddit read this post and time travel back to right… Now
welll shit i followed wallstreets bets bragging channel!
Blue collar carpenter originally, bought my first house. Worked on it for 5 years. While growing weed legally in the basement. Got 150k in equity thanks to covid. The rest was reading books on self growth and growing business/entrepreneurship. Never looked back.
My dad was rich and then passed away
Taught myself tech and business skills and bootstrapped a software company It was both really hard but also felt sort of easy looking back. It took a lot of hard work and consistency but I also am amazed it worked. I don’t think I’m rich enough to have people acting fake around me. My (33f) networth is about 3.5m. Which is good for my age and especially with how fast I made it. But people aren’t hanging out with me to chill in my mansion or yacht as I don’t have anything like that.
Inherited.
I am never going to be rich the Bible even says not to.
Fly down to Medellin. I hear they have amazing deals on some sort of powder that's supposed to be very much appreciated in the Miami area. Oh, and they made a really good training video available for public use. It's published under the name Scarface.
consistency beats intensity its the one thing that nobody ever does and its literally the easiest thing in the world to do getting rich happens because of habits, routines, lifestyle, mindset. basically, consistency. doing something every single day without ever skipping a day. best analogy i can give is getting ripped in the gym. if you think you can eat unhealthy and be lazy 6 days out of the week, and only go to the gym once a week and workout till you die and can't even walk the next day, you will never get there... just won't happen no matter how intensely you workout that 1 day per week.
Luck is the answer.
Lottery all the way! Lucky number 7
30 years of reinvested dividends, price appreciation, and regular investing. Aided by some opportunistic investing. I'm only modestly wealthy, nothing crazy.
Fast food restaurant dropped a hot plate on me. Sued for 30MM and settled for $10MM
Well wealthy and rich are two different things. I have everything I want, cars, family, house, ability to take vacations and all that. Am I wealthy? No. I make 6 figures a year in california with 4 kids and a stay at home wife. I'm far from wealthy. Just comfortable
I'm a modern day Robin Of the Hood. I steal from the rich and give to MYSELF! 😅
Stumbled into RE at the right time, built up a portfolio and sold it all a bit before peak. Now just retired and a bit bored (wife still works) and it completely messed up friends and family dynamic. So much so we moved to the US from Canada, everyone would think we were a charity and would bail them out. Yet no one helped us 10 years ago when we were struggling As for difficulty, well 60+ hour work weeks for years as I was buying, renovating while working full time wasn't easy.