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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

#21

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.

Some people like boring towns and what you consider things to do may not be of interest to others.

For example I have many friends in large metropolitan areas whose lives revolve around eating and going out. On the other hand I much prefer going on hikes to going out to dinner and bars. Also if I want a more cultured experience I have enough money to hop on a plane and go anywhere I want. Overall the smaller town with the lower cost of living works very well for me.

Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard

#22

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.

Fellow "boring old town" member here. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Far away from me are the trivialities and concerns of concrete monoliths. I much prefer being able to walk outside on my own, and see open fields and forests where ever I turn.

Maybe I'm not an exception, but there are more than a few people who don't need much in life. A wood cabin in the mountains with 802.11 and solar power is all I need.

Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard

#23

>Take a $ 500-1000 / day, full-remote job. If you can’t find them, I’ll post a bunch. lol yeah that is the rub. flagged, sorry. this post is terribe

I can post them, why is it terrible ?

A quick list from: https://www.cwjobs.co.uk/jobs/contract/remote/in-london

Java Developer - Remote - Contract £600 - £750 per day

Kotlin Developer - Contract (Outside IR35) - Remote £625 - £650 per day

PHP Developer - FinTech - Contract - Remote Up to £450 per day

Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard

#24

>Take a $ 500-1000 / day, full-remote job. If you can’t find them, I’ll post a bunch. lol yeah that is the rub. flagged, sorry. this post is terribe

The bottom end of that range is $125k/yr. That’s within the average of a senior software engineer. It’s not a big leap or, really, hard to get in that context.

The article specifically sites this as for senior software roles.

Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard

#25

> 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.

Yes, you could have also said it in 1987 in Japan. The Nikkei 225 had returned 23% ARR since 1950 (for 37 years) and would return another ~60% before falling and going nowhere (except down) for the next 30 years.

We have never actually had a true deleveraging in the system (in terms of absolute debt loads), so we're kicking the can on that down the road. It's working for now, but it's not going to work forever. We'd need either a deflationary crush or an inflationary debt jubilee to reset the leverage - it's going to be painful either way.

That has been the modus operandi since the late 80s (in the U.S.) - increasing deficits, increasing debt, and bailing everyone out, but it will eventually stop working (number go up won't work forever).

Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard

#26

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.

In my boring little town, a tourism town, we have a high-ranked ski hill within 40min of city centre, other options including heliskiing with a couple hours, world-class golf (and spa) with 20min of city centre and several other equally great ones within a couples hours drive, an enormous lake running a few hundred kilometres in length within 10min of city centre, world-class backcountry hiking in nearly every direction, a x-c ski area that regularly hosts world cups, awesome mountain biking, some amazing motorcycle highways, fantastic wineries and fruit farms, endless fresh vegetables, etc. International airport is 40min away. We even get some good performing arts acts. Lower Mainland is 4.5hr to downtown core. Population Not really seeing a downside to this place. Different strokes for different folks.

Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard

#27

>Take a $ 500-1000 / day, full-remote job. If you can’t find them, I’ll post a bunch. lol yeah that is the rub. flagged, sorry. this post is terribe

The bottom end of that range is $125k/yr. That’s within the average of a senior software engineer. It’s not a big leap or, really, hard to get in that context. The article specifically sites this as for senior software roles.

How come websites like payscale, glassdoor, etc say 125k is what Google pays in Bay Area?

Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard

#28

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…

You probably only count housing expenses (which are still way off), but giving up on QOL == savings too.

Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard

#29

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…

> giving up big city qol

What does this even mean?

Living in a sterile 600 sq ft box filled with IKEA furniture emitting VOCs? Hearing sirens all through the night? Stepping over needles and human poop on the sidewalk en route to the CVS that's currently being robbed? Enjoying that specific moment between 10:47am and 1:04pm when the 90-floor building's shadow allows actual sunlight to enter your sterile box's windows? Getting stabbed, raped, or becoming a victim of anti-Asian hate violence on public transport?

I've yet to hear an explication of what's so great about the city, other than access to different breweries, nightclubs, and fancy farm-to-table restaurants.

Here in the country, the microbrewery is closer - literally a row of carboys fermenting DIPAs in the basement, and cold kegs fresh off secondary. The free range eggs and organic vegetables are in the backyard, and the pastured bacon is curing from last week's butchering.

Nightclubs, I'll grant you. But I don't need to blow $3k on bottle service for a night with my wife.

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