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Ask HN: It seems like everyone is getting rich?

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Re: Ask HN: It seems like everyone is getting rich?

#91

There's an old commercial where a guy is mowing his huge lawn in front of his huge house and he says "Someone help me. I'm in debt up to my eyeballs." Lots of people make lots of money and then don't hang onto it. Lots of people who seem to be doing well aren't. It's sometimes all appearances. I definitely need more money than I've got but... I am not overly impressed with the people who "have dozens of friends and t…

Statistically, those who become wealthy quickly are far more likely to end up in bankruptcy than people who never get wealthy. This is because they tend to start living the way they fantasized they'd live if they were rich -- but seriously underestimate how expensive that is.

I know a very wealthy man. I once asked him what the secret to becoming wealthy is. He responded "You're not going to believe me, but this is the truth. It's very simple. Spend less money than you make, and keep doing that."

Re: Ask HN: It seems like everyone is getting rich?

#92

You're experiencing a classic case of selection bias. You're much more likely to hear about the person that got rich trading crypto rather than the person that lost a lot of money trading crypto.

This isn't just selection bias. At this point you can buy random crypto/stocks/real estate almost blindly and just hold onto it and see its value appreciate more every day. There are occasional dips but on average there's a massive upwards trend.

I'm not implying that growth is impossible; on the contrary, investing your money in stocks/real estate/crypto can generate consistent returns over a long time period. I just interpreted OP's words as meaning more of a "get rich quick" type thing.

Re: Ask HN: It seems like everyone is getting rich?

#93

For every transaction, there is typically a winner and a loser. The winners brag, and the losers keep quiet.

> For every transaction, there is typically a winner and a loser.

This is certainly not true. Most of the transactions I engage in don't have a winner and a loser. Those that do tend to be transactions that I consider "bad", regardless of whether I'm the winner or the loser.

Re: Ask HN: It seems like everyone is getting rich?

#94
Many people are telling you that these are all fake show offs, but here are the facts:

1. We had one of the longest bull runs in stock market history. Even a modest investment in something like Facebook at it’s initial price of $15 dollars around 2009 would have netted you hundreds of thousands by now.

2. The pandemic dip was an insane buying opportunity. If you just parked some money in the SPY around the lockdowns you would have doubled your money (I’m talking in just one year, not 10 years).

3. Tech industry just exploded, the whole world relies on it. The jobs and opportunities just amassed.

4. The financial collapse pretty much made it so anyone and their mother could get a home mortgage loan with literally no interest.

So yeah, it did really happen for a lot of people. If anything, what you are witnessing now could be the tail end.

But, to remain optimistic, if we look at things purely based on eye balling numbers, the world population that is not totally connected into the Internet, and have not even begun American-level consumerism is still a pretty high number. We haven’t actually gotten everyone to buy apps, and sit around and watch Netflix. Just based on that fact alone you can somewhat infer that there’s way more growth ahead.

Re: Ask HN: It seems like everyone is getting rich?

#95
post #9

Focus on building a life that operates from love and abundance rather than fear and lack. Grow your skills so you can be of service to others. These two things will make you most likely to become rich. “Mastery of Love” and “Millionaire Fastlane” are two books I would recommend.

> Focus on building a life that operates from love and abundance rather than fear and lack. No offense, but this kind of "positive thinking as financial advice" is extremely pathological. It not only fails to offer any concrete, actionable advice but implicitly blames the subject if they end up poor: "Ah he's poor, he must have been operating from fear, not love." It positions wealth as a signal of moral virtue, not…

You may find it too abstract, but this mindset is exactly why I’ve been successful twice, now going on three times.

I’m also saying this specifically for the sake of the poster because it appears they are operating from a scarcity mindset, which will only hold them back.

Re: Ask HN: It seems like everyone is getting rich?

#96
post #9

Focus on building a life that operates from love and abundance rather than fear and lack. Grow your skills so you can be of service to others. These two things will make you most likely to become rich. “Mastery of Love” and “Millionaire Fastlane” are two books I would recommend.

You call it fear and lack, I call it being prepared for when life gets harder.

Yeah? How happy are you? How holistically successful are you? It is my observation that those that operate from fear and scarcity based programming remain quite unhappy their entire lives.

Re: Ask HN: It seems like everyone is getting rich?

#97

Many times the reason we are jealous is not because of other people luck but rather because we don't live up to our full potential. Try to focus on things you can control and to improve yourself, put on some muscle, dress nicely, do some cheap activities you enjoy, whether it is some specific hobby or if you don't have one do stuff anyways just for the sake of increasing your social interactions. Those things will im…

What a wholesome response. Beautiful. Please write more :)

Re: Ask HN: It seems like everyone is getting rich?

#98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone in my family lost over 20K in bitcoin when he sold for lower than what he bought them for during recent ups and downs. So yea, this is nothing but selection bias. Not to mention that outside of HN echo chamber, there are plenty of people who have no idea how to do crypto, index funds, startups and what not. They go to work, get a paycheck, do may be a 401K and live paycheck to paycheck.

I mined more than a few thousand Bitcoin back in the pre-“Bitcoin pizza” days when it was a complete curiosity. Difficulty so low you could chuck a couple dozen desktops at it for a weekend and come back with dozens and dozens of Bitcoin on Monday morning. I basically used it as a benchmark and never even saved a single wallet file, it was worthless junk data at the time since no one was even sure it was going to be…

You would have sold it at all for $1000 anyway and thought if it as a lucky goof lol.

Re: Ask HN: It seems like everyone is getting rich?

#99

This happens periodically. Internet stocks in the late 90s, real estate in 2007. And now we're in an everything bubble. In December 1996, Alan Greenspan (Federal Reserve Chairman) used the phase "irrational exuberance"[2] to describe the market. It was already obviously a bubble. The bubble didn't burst until March 2000. Some people think this particular bubble will end with the dollar crashing instead of the market.…

> Some people think this particular bubble will end with the dollar crashing instead of the market.

That's exactly what's on my mind, you have any links to share?

Re: Ask HN: It seems like everyone is getting rich?

#100

Many times the reason we are jealous is not because of other people luck but rather because we don't live up to our full potential. Try to focus on things you can control and to improve yourself, put on some muscle, dress nicely, do some cheap activities you enjoy, whether it is some specific hobby or if you don't have one do stuff anyways just for the sake of increasing your social interactions. Those things will im…

What a beautiful response! Yes, please write more!
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