Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How to get rich without getting lucky (2018)

nav.al

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 193 posts

Re: How to get rich without getting lucky (2018)

#101

Post by shrikant »

dev_dull wrote: post #66
firstplacelast wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Possibly. The wealthiest person I ever dated (he wasn't super wealthy while we were together just doing well, but I just saw him a month ago and he was excited because he CAN retire now but doesn't want to - he's 38) spent TONS of money doing rich people things in the pursuit of wealth, he stretched his bank account very thin over and over doing this. Going to Sundance, Cannes, Burning Man, TED, etc to network. Spend…

That’s an interesting anecdote because most wealth building strategies don’t really discuss the value and cost of networking.

[This might sound cynical.]

That's because it's a dirty secret. Most people selling you wealth building strategies are loathe to openly talk about how so much of it is based on "who you know" more so than "what you know". They might touch upon it incidentally in the course of their spiel, but it's either glossed over, or they don't have the level of insight/self-reflection needed to be able to articulate the value and cost (and indeed the pathways and mechanisms) of networking.

Re: How to get rich without getting lucky (2018)

#102

Post by 0x8BADF00D »

cryptica wrote: post #97

>> Wealth is not a zero-sum game. Everybody in the world can have a house. This is false and the people who say this tend to be in elite circles so they don't see the scarcity which is obvious to everyone else. The fact is that there aren't going to be enough builders to build houses for everyone. Why? Because those people are too busy building mansions, building yahts, building private jets, mining gold, making jewe…

> And yes, investing in a useless startup is not real investing; it's consumption; the real purpose of most startups is to bring pleasure to a rich person and their friends when the startup gets acquired, not to serve society.

And yet it is the very same startups that have improved your standard of living exponentially where luxuries reserved for the rich like private chauffeur (Uber/Lyft), matchmaking (Tinder/OkCupid), and private island vacations (Airbnb) are accessible to normal people.

Wealth is not a zero-sum game. In fact, I can prove this to you right now. Go look at the consumer price index during the end of WW2 era up until the gold standard was abolished. Compare it to today's CPI. It's not the "rich" who are evil, it is central banking by fiat which is the real evil.

Re: How to get rich without getting lucky (2018)

#103

Post by cryptica »

>> It’s somewhat true in that, in a lot of the world, there’s a lot of theft going on all the time.

Also there are two kinds of stealing; the obvious one which everybody knows about and the non-obvious where even the person committing the offence doesn't realize it because society itself hasn't caught up to the fact that it is in fact stealing.

In my definition, any activity which takes value (or opportunity) from someone deserving and gives it to someone less deserving is stealing. This happens every day in every office, every industry and impacts everyone to different extents. We are a society of theives. If most money is derived from stealing, then it must be mostly evil.

It's no coincidence that Bitcoin is so valuable, even drug money is less dirty than fiat these days.

Re: How to get rich without getting lucky (2018)

#104

Post by JauntyHatAngle »

RickJWagner wrote: post #51

"when journalists attack rich people, or attack the technology industry, they’re really bidding for status" There's a lot of that going on these days.

It's also an argument that reduces any valid criticism into tribalism.

It's a dangerous statement to make.

Re: How to get rich without getting lucky (2018)

#105

Post by simonh »

0x8BADF00D wrote: post #102
cryptica wrote: post #97

>> Wealth is not a zero-sum game. Everybody in the world can have a house. This is false and the people who say this tend to be in elite circles so they don't see the scarcity which is obvious to everyone else. The fact is that there aren't going to be enough builders to build houses for everyone. Why? Because those people are too busy building mansions, building yahts, building private jets, mining gold, making jewe…

> And yes, investing in a useless startup is not real investing; it's consumption; the real purpose of most startups is to bring pleasure to a rich person and their friends when the startup gets acquired, not to serve society. And yet it is the very same startups that have improved your standard of living exponentially where luxuries reserved for the rich like private chauffeur (Uber/Lyft), matchmaking (Tinder/OkCupi…

You're kind of missing the point. The examples you give aren't useless. The vast majority are useless and die without achieving anything or are pointless financial engineering like ICOs.

Re: How to get rich without getting lucky (2018)

#106

Post by VRay »

vl wrote: post #81
nostrademons wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I made a lot more money at Google than from various startups I've worked at or founded. I made a lot more money from equity I got while working at Google than I did in salary. The ratio when I started working at Google was about 3:1:2 salary:bonus:equity; the ratio as it stands 10 years later, after a 7:1 appreciation in the stock price, was about 3:1:20. This is not inconsistent with "equity is a better way to get r…

This is the exception though, you caught the end of the tail. People joining Google now are not going to experience this. Moreover to be in the situation you described even in the given time frame one had to be fortunate to be on the "right" projects.

Man, that's a really good point. You can't get ahead at big companies by just keeping your head down and working hard. You don't need to become a weasel, but you do need to keep your eyes open and jump ship early when a project or org starts to go sour in the c-suite's opinion

Re: How to get rich without getting lucky (2018)

#107

Post by VRay »

warp_factor wrote: post #18
JamesBarney wrote: post #15

Anyone one of his thousand claims could be an interesting article. For instance "equity is a better way to get rich than working". Is it, I bet the average googler accumulates more wealth than the average start-up founder. Or "how much start-up success is based off luck versus founder?"(from what I've read it's more luck, and if you include the birth luck such as intelligence, energy-levels, focus and health it would…

> For instance "equity is a better way to get rich than working". Is it, I bet the average googler accumulates more wealth than the average start-up founder. His point more specifically is that if you want to scale above a certain point the only way to achieve it is to own equity of something successful. your average startup guy doesn't own equity of anything really successful.

Or take a more gradual approach and aggressively save as much as possible, then retire 10-30 years early

Re: How to get rich without getting lucky (2018)

#108

Post by tempestn »

b1daly wrote: post #63

I agree with a lot of his points, and I would do well to embrace them. When he gets into diving people into “makers or takers” that’s an arrogant and ugly way to look at the world. Because “taker” has a perjorative element. People are not one thing. Maybe I’m biased by living in the US but most people I know try to be a positive member of society, even if they lack wealth. Perhaps you could apply the “taker” label to…

I don't think he intended taker to mean someone who lacks wealth, but rather someone who exploits others to gain wealth, rather than participating in positive sum activities (making). IE, you could put various rent-seekers in here, some traders, and yes, criminals.

Re: How to get rich without getting lucky (2018)

#109

Post by cryptica »

0x8BADF00D wrote: post #102
cryptica wrote: post #97

>> Wealth is not a zero-sum game. Everybody in the world can have a house. This is false and the people who say this tend to be in elite circles so they don't see the scarcity which is obvious to everyone else. The fact is that there aren't going to be enough builders to build houses for everyone. Why? Because those people are too busy building mansions, building yahts, building private jets, mining gold, making jewe…

> And yes, investing in a useless startup is not real investing; it's consumption; the real purpose of most startups is to bring pleasure to a rich person and their friends when the startup gets acquired, not to serve society. And yet it is the very same startups that have improved your standard of living exponentially where luxuries reserved for the rich like private chauffeur (Uber/Lyft), matchmaking (Tinder/OkCupi…

Except that I don't care about Uber, Tinder, or AirBnb. I would happily pay more for regular Taxi and regular Hotels if only I could afford what I really want; to live in my own house in a place I actually want to live in. Now because of the job market, I am forced to live to a big city where all the rich people have their toy startups and houses are too expensive.

As a software engineer, I'm just an entertainer for rich people. I wish they would just give me the money for free so that I could create real value working on my open source projects.

Re: How to get rich without getting lucky (2018)

#110

Post by inertiatic »

This is one of the most absurd pieces of writing I've ever read and I'm only half way through.

I had to check again and see whether there was some sanity in the comments before continuing through it.

>Then there are people who come along with a sword, or a gun, or taxes, or crony capitalism, or Communism, or what have you. There’s all these different methods to steal.

What a gem. Taxes, guns, both about the same. Your "wealth" was obviously created in a vacuum, society contributed nothing to it.

>Overall capitalism [meaning free markets] is intrinsic to the human species. Capitalism is not something we invented. Capitalism is not even something we discovered. It is in us in every exchange that we have.

And this makes it more clear that this is about some form of religion.

>I started as a poor kid in India, so if I can make it, anybody can, in that sense.

Wish I could find an expression to accurate capture this sentiment...

>Now, obviously, I had all my limbs and I had my mental faculties and I did have an education. There are some prerequisites you can’t get past. But if you’re listening to this video or podcast, you probably have the requisite means at your disposal, which is a functioning body and a functioning mind.

Casually insulting people missing a limb, those obviously wouldn't be listening to a podcast about making it anyway, right? Those guys are f*ed.

>If you’re a trusted, reliable, high-integrity, long-term thinking deal maker, then when other people want to do deals but they don’t know how to do them in a trustworthy manner with strangers, they will literally approach you and give you a cut of the deal or offer you a unique deal just because of the integrity and reputation that you have built up.

In the words of Mark Wahlberg spoken in The Other Guys: "Oh my god, you were a pimp".

>Warren Buffett, he gets offered deals, and he gets to buy companies, and he gets to buy warrants, and bailout banks and do things that other people can’t do because of his reputation.

Yes. The main reason I'm not asked to bail out banks is I don't have the reputation for it. The process is obviously: -"Who could help us bail out a dying bank and make billions in the process?" -"I think I know a guy who's trustworthy, Warren I think is his name." -"Are there any prerequisites to offering him the opportunity to help?" -"I don't think so Jim. It would help if he had some cash on hand but we'll figure things out if he doesn't!".

Post reply on HN