How People Get Rich Now • Hacker News Board

Re: How People Get Rich Now

#31

Post by josefresco » Mon, Apr 12, 2021, 4:33 PM UTC

aqme28 wrote: post #11

I don't think that the top 100 richest people is a good dataset. You can be extremely rich without making it anywhere near that list. While a lot of those top 100 people made it to that list by starting companies, I'm curious how many of them did so by leveraging family or inherited wealth.

I agree. A rich individual can give their child $0 in inheritance but one introduction, referral or diner party later and they could be set for life. In between this scenario, and the other (handed money) there are countless scenarios that make conclusions very cloudy.

Re: How People Get Rich Now

#32

Post by harshaw » Mon, Apr 12, 2021, 4:34 PM UTC

I don't want to derail this too much with personal anecdotes, but I suspect you are much more likely to build wealth with the more established tech companies - and that wealth is "rich enough".

Maybe I am just unlucky or unskilled, but I spent roughly 20 years working at startups or innovation labs. I was "close" to some big events where I could have made big $$ but made 0. Both at my own startup and being at early stage duds. Its kind of like I was the tech guy in 'life of Brian'. However, in the last three years I have built more wealth at a FAANG than I have in the previous 20 years. YMMV.

Back to the thesis, I think pg is saying wealth is built by startups - I am just here to say that's it still really rare unless you get lucky. But maybe you create your own luck by living in SF - I am a Bostonian.

Re: How People Get Rich Now

#33

Post by aqme28 » Mon, Apr 12, 2021, 4:35 PM UTC

skybrian wrote: post #20

From the headline, I had guessed this article would be about how people become millionaires rather than billionaires, but that would be a whole different article.

And would probably have a lot more heirs.

Re: How People Get Rich Now

#34

Post by VBprogrammer » Mon, Apr 12, 2021, 4:35 PM UTC

aqme28 wrote: post #11

I don't think that the top 100 richest people is a good dataset. You can be extremely rich without making it anywhere near that list. While a lot of those top 100 people made it to that list by starting companies, I'm curious how many of them did so by leveraging family or inherited wealth.

There is a pretty low bar for inherited wealth. Simply having a family who is able to support you if everything goes pair shaped (maybe as little as letting you live in your childhood bedroom for little or no rent) gives you a huge advantage over someone who isn't in that position.

Having parents who are able to lend / invest / gift modest sums of money is yet another step up the ladder.

All the way up to having parents with business / political contacts in the industry you are trying to move into.

Re: How People Get Rich Now

#35

Post by bserge » Mon, Apr 12, 2021, 4:35 PM UTC

tpmx wrote: post #4

What this post looks like on a 40" 4k screen (which btw is an awesome investment for productivity): https://i.imgur.com/gPHT5hI.png

Adjust window size, place it in the center or wherever it's more comfortable, increase text size as needed. That's what I do :D

Re: How People Get Rich Now

#36

Post by curiousllama » Mon, Apr 12, 2021, 4:35 PM UTC

internetslave wrote: post #23

I think there’s a different reason, companies just aren’t paying enough. Wages, even at 150-200k just really aren’t that much. 200k now is a lot less than 200k in 2010. The younger generation intuitively knows this. I don’t know anyone jockeying to climb the corporate ladder, and my social circle spans Stanford grads to no college degree at all. People are starting businesses because working for a corporation day in…

How many consultants & I-bankers do you know? You sound like you come from a remarkably entrepreneurial subset of the world.

Where I come from, everyone wants to make MD/Partner, ether in law, finance, or consulting. More generally, MBA applications to top schools have been rising for years.

Besides, if 10x the median individual income isn't enough outside of SF/NYC, you got bigger problems.

Re: How People Get Rich Now

#37

Post by strikelaserclaw » Mon, Apr 12, 2021, 4:35 PM UTC

claudiulodro wrote: post #26

Im curious, if we wait, say, 40 more years, I wonder will the richest people again be heirs (of today's current crop of tech billionaires)? If so, what does that mean for Paul's hypothesis?

undoubtedly, unless we have a new revolution like the personal computing/internet revolution that makes the pie bigger and accessible for people, and those types of revolution are things that you can hardly for-see.

Re: How People Get Rich Now

#38

Post by dokem » Mon, Apr 12, 2021, 4:35 PM UTC

tpmx wrote: post #4

What this post looks like on a 40" 4k screen (which btw is an awesome investment for productivity): https://i.imgur.com/gPHT5hI.png

Why does a browser window need to take up an entire 40" screen for general browsing?

Re: How People Get Rich Now

#39

Post by harshaw » Mon, Apr 12, 2021, 4:36 PM UTC

internetslave wrote: post #23

I think there’s a different reason, companies just aren’t paying enough. Wages, even at 150-200k just really aren’t that much. 200k now is a lot less than 200k in 2010. The younger generation intuitively knows this. I don’t know anyone jockeying to climb the corporate ladder, and my social circle spans Stanford grads to no college degree at all. People are starting businesses because working for a corporation day in…

Inflation data: https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/2010?amount=1. I don't think that a 20% difference means 200K is a lot less. It's a bit less.

Re: How People Get Rich Now

#40

Post by Taek » Mon, Apr 12, 2021, 4:36 PM UTC

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #15

It's hard to take this article seriously. People get rich now from companies because multiples have been artificially pushed higher by low interest rates. If that weren't the case, the top 100 would still likely be dominated by heirs. All that's changed is the Fed is manipulating the market more now than before, and that's benefiting growth stocks and fund managers of growth stocks... among other things.

The games we've played with money have pushed valuations to a point of being nearly meaningless. There are people who own a billion dollars of stock/crypto, and then there are people who own multiple yachts, multiple mansions, sports teams, factories, etc.

The thing that bothers me the most about paper wealth is that not all of it can be exited. The economy may say that there are 500 new billionaires, but if all 500 of them try to buy a fleet of yachts at the same time, their divestment would crash (rug pull) their entire wealth.

Anyone who already owns a fleet of yachts is in a completely different category from someone who owns nominally the same value in paper.