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How I got wealthy without working too hard

amaca.substack.com

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Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard

#11

> Do this for 7 years while investing most of your salary in a diversified portfolio. Don’t go too crazy with Crypto. In a bullish market, like last decade. This will work. This suggestion does require you to do sufficient research in financials.

people said this in 1993 "the bull market lasted a decade, it cannot continue". Even after accounting for the 2000 and 2008 crash, it would only revisit the lows of 1996. Even when stocks are overvalued or the bull market is long in tooth, staying invested can still pay off. The evidence suggests market timing does not work:there are no reliable signals for exiting the market.

Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard

#12
I like this post. If nothing else it challenges each of us to think about what really matters to us.

I think the business world has always relied upon the drive that many have to be the top dog, or one of the top dogs. Work 70 hrs/wk and you can be a team lead! If you don't care about that and make choices accordingly, you can optimize your life in a way that makes sense for you.

Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard

#13
Some of the stuff is pretty generalized, I do agree not living in a big city is key to building wealth, the problem is all the great mid-sized cities with interesting stuff to do and are close to nature have skyrocketed in price, think Boulder CO, Bozeman MT, Bend OR, etc. Also contract work is not great, better to find full time work at a employer with decent work/life balance.

Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard

#14
I don't get the "don't live in big cities" thing. Unless you prefer the country life, giving up big city qol (not to mention the social and professional networking opportunities) to reduce expenses by maybe $200k over a decade doesn't make sense in the context of the kind of hourly rates we are talking about here, especially since companies adjust your salary up if you live in a big city

Good point about leaving jobs that have many meetings, though

Also, I think it's smart to take breaks between contracts, as you can build your skills and become senior much faster if you can focus on studying full-time 2-3+ months every year. Compared to self-directed project-based study, jobs are a hopelessly inefficient way to build competence

Also, yeah....don't do a startup unless you are VERY sure you don't mind being stuck there and having it be your whole life for 5-7+ years if it works

Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard

#16
post #6

Title seems needlessly editorialized (and presumably submitted by the author). Actual post title is more accurate to the content: "How to become a millionaire without coding too hard"

> and presumably submitted by the author

if the username is a guide....

Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard

#17
The core message is true: If you get a high paying job, keep expenses low, and invest the difference then you will accumulate wealth over time.

But this isn’t a secret. It’s the dream of a significant majority of the young CS students and grads that I’ve worked with as a mentor lately. They all grew up with the internet. Most of them know about Mr. Money Mustache or another FIRE blogger.

Yet very few of them end up moving to the country and doing high paying remote work. They all learn very quickly that remote companies aren’t in a rush to give $200-300K compensation to new grads with zero real world experience who live so far from the office that they have to do everything remote.

So instead they move to cities with jobs, where they meet people, establish friend groups, and eventually settle down with a partner. They also discover that full-time jobs are actually very nice right now, or that we’ll-paying full-remote contract work isn’t as easy to come by as blogs make it sound.

I do know a few people doing the remote work / country living thing, but they’re all building on top of decades of experience and reputation building to get those contracts.

In general, be skeptical of anyone selling an “it’s easy” vision of getting rich and not working hard. If it was truly easy, more people would be doing it. Usually these pitches are associated with people “selling the dream”, which is why this particular pitch is attached to a Substack that the author wants you to subscribe to in order to learn the secrets. Take with a grain of salt.

Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard

#18

What good is wealth if you are living in a boring old town with nothing to do? Also this would obviously not be true if you have a family because kids are a money sink.

There are many perks to living outside of the city. You can have twice the house for 1/3 the cost. It's much quieter. There are hobbies and activities that are only available outside of the city. Of course, if you are single, it's a terrible idea, but for married people or those in committed relationships, there are a lot of pluses to consider.

As an example, a friend lives in a 5 bed, 4 bath house and hour and a half out of the city. He has a woodshop, a workshop, fire pit, fireplace, man cave, 4 car garage, loves dirt biking, off-roading, cycling, fishing, flying his racing drone,and can play his drums as loud as he wants. He is also only an hour and a half from the city if he wants to go in for the day or weekend. He would be in a 2 bed, 1.5 bath condo if he lived in the city and wouldn't be able to do any of his hobbies; maybe the cycling.

Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard

#19

There's some rather big leaps here. First of all you need a skill to do this. If you aren't already pretty good at coding, how are you going to get the work? This is like saying we can all represent our country at the Olympics, just pick an easy sport. Investment returns... how do you say this politely? If you already know the market is going up, why don't you just borrow money and go long the market? Also, taxes. It…

Americans pay taxes even if they live outside the US. You get a $90k (or however much it is today) “outside the US” exemption, and if you have a treaty, any taxes paid towards your domicile.

But you do pay taxes.

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