Tell me about becoming wealthy

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tell me about becoming wealthy

photomikey: Dec 30, 2012

The Unholy Ghost posted:

Context: I'm a middle-class dude, 21, about a year away from finishing an undergraduate in a field I'm not entirely interested in. At this point I'm basically planning to work for a few years, save up money, then go back to school for another degree. (This is just me� other people with other situations can feel free to ask the same.)

How does someone "climb the social ladder"? How does one get "farther" in the world than their parents? Is there a school degree that lands you in a field that doesn't entirely consume your life? Is investing in the stock market worth it? Is there a general strategy to attaining better and better jobs? Any advice would be appreciated.

It seems like your question is less "how can I be wealthy" and more "how can I not be poor forever". Step 1 would be stop spending money on school, and start making money in a career. College is overall a good choice, but when you focus 4 years of frittering away money on "a field I'm not entirely interested in", it's not.

Buckle down, figure out something you can do with the degree you spent 4 years getting, then go do that.

True wealth, I agree with everyone else, start a business and pour 80 hours a week into it.

# ¿ Dec 8, 2016 17:24

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 07:25

photomikey: Dec 30, 2012

That is 50% of it. The other 50% is knowing economics 101. Selling something for more than it costs to produce. Knowing how people assign value. Scarcity. Luxury. Needs vs Wants. Of course that's helpful if you're in sales, but even if you're in a role where you never touch a product and never interact with a customer, being able to track your organization's direction by paying attention to the finances and more importantly being able to look at your job, determine where you add value to the company, and being able to prove that value to the people above you... It just seems like there is a huge lack of that in business.

# ¿ Dec 11, 2016 06:23

photomikey: Dec 30, 2012

Shbobdb posted:

There is a lot of bloat with business, but isn't that the way capitalism is supposed to work? "The Market" seems to dictate that there are at least six non-productive bureaucrats for every real producing member of the company.

Perhaps. I'm suggesting that with a basic knowledge of economics and a smattering of the "win friends and influence people" strategy the poster ahead of me mentioned, you can be the one person bringing the value and not one of the six pepople dragging the ship down.

If you're the one person, you can eventually write your own ticket.

# ¿ Dec 11, 2016 09:27

photomikey: Dec 30, 2012

Shbobdb posted:

LOL at a bunch of people talking about things like "nursing" or "$250K" as "wealthy".

OP asked how he could go from nothing to wealthy. The obvious solution here would be to be born as Bill Gates' child or the prince of a small Mediterranean country, but the more pragmatic advice is to find a career that has a high ceiling and work hard at it. The subtext of the OP seemed to me to be more "I struggle to pay for my ramen, how can I make that go away", and IMHO nursing or 250k are pretty good solutions

Proud Christian Mom posted:

2. find a bunch of dumb people to work very hard for you

They only have to work moderately hard. I don't have wealth but the money I do have comes from the people who work for me. None of them will invent the internet or roll out a better mousetrap, but by their showing up every day, that's how I make my living and conversely, my being here provides their stability (like during the holiday season when there is no money coming in and I just write endless checks).

# ¿ Dec 16, 2016 03:25

photomikey: Dec 30, 2012

Pyramid Scheme posted:

In my case, I was very lucky to come from a middle class family, got a great education, lucky enough to choose a double degree (law + accounting) that opened a lot of doors. So, I lucked into a great foundation to build from.

Being born middle class and in the USA is certainly luck. Education, less so. Choosing a double degree, in fact, a double degree that is a double whammy, there's not a lot of luck there.

That said, the rest of your post was dead-on. Without my wife, my business wouldn't be half of where it is, and in fact without my input my wife's career and connections would be half of what they are. Point-by-point, you nailed things we also do, including befriending people who don't flaunt money (and then we aren't goaded into flashy stuff), we cook at home a lot (because we enjoy it, and it's 50 or 75% cheaper than eating out), and keeping the kid count to 1.

# ¿ Dec 25, 2016 23:00

photomikey: Dec 30, 2012

mobby_6kl posted:

Becoming affluent or even rich shouldn't be too hard if you pick the right field and work your rear end off for a few years. Becoming wealthy is entirely different thing and you're not gonna get there by euthanizing your cat.

Again, we diverge into the difference between "born the prince of Nigeria" wealth, and the start your own business and stack up a couple hundred grand and have a couple of vacation homes kind of wealth. There is nothing we can do to force someone back in the womb and make them the prince of Nigeria, but the $5k you spend to treat your cat for cancer is ABSOLUTELY the difference between being able to start your own coffee cart, then branch into a couple of coffee carts, then start a B&M coffee shop and pay off your house and take month-long vacations. Sure, it'd be nice to have $100k to start that coffee shop, but the $5k is much more attainable for most folks.

# ¿ Dec 27, 2016 22:58

photomikey: Dec 30, 2012

To my recollection, most successful small businesses start with $0 and grow from there. Businesses that start with loans and seed money are much more likely to fail. With $0, you need to make money from day 1. With $100k in seed money, you can bleed money for a long time, and never learn how to make it.

IMHO, you're more likely to make a successful life for yourself with $5k than with $100k.

# ¿ Dec 28, 2016 00:43

photomikey: Dec 30, 2012

I don't have anything to support it. I read it in passing somewhere. It probably stuck with me because it's my situation and there's a bit of confirmation bias at work.

# ¿ Dec 28, 2016 02:23

photomikey: Dec 30, 2012

WampaLord posted:

Someone who made it from nothing and then expects everyone else to be able to do the same easily?

Are you Adam Carolla? It would explain a lot about your posting.

Adam Carolla and I agree on about 95% of social issues.

# ¿ Dec 28, 2016 18:37

photomikey: Dec 30, 2012

I was born poor, worked my way through college, I am 4% now. Aiming higher.

# ¿ Jan 31, 2017 06:45

photomikey: Dec 30, 2012

Might have been after a couple of drinks. It's been a rough week in photomikey-ville. You're right. My bad.

# ¿ Feb 3, 2017 17:23

photomikey: Dec 30, 2012

Anything in the nonfiction side of the library. Business books are great, but anything that interests you is good.

# ¿ Feb 28, 2017 18:33

photomikey: Dec 30, 2012

I run a business, I hire and fire. I would gladly fire my best friend in order to hire you, a stranger, if your throughput was 0.5% better.

There is nepotism in certain situations. There is nothing you can do about that. Focus on what you can do in the other 99% of situations, which is be better than everybody else.

# ¿ Mar 1, 2017 03:42

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 07:25

photomikey: Dec 30, 2012

Shbobdb posted:

I'm not actually smart and I don't have a common touch. But I've learned how to fake both. Life is a learned skill.

This.

# ¿ Mar 1, 2017 19:07

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tell me about becoming wealthy