what do you define as significant? 1M 10M or 100M plus
Beside a startup, what are the other ways to significant wealth for a dev?
121–130 of 191 posts
Re: Beside a startup, what are the other ways to significant wealth for a dev?
#122Save half of what you make, diversify your investments, and pay down your debt. Do this for 15 years and you will be rich with your skills.
I have realised this is the best course of action for me. I've always wanted to do a startup, do something significant or meaningful. But I also yearn for freedom, like being able to go someplace warm for the worst 3 months of the year. Or just travel for a while. Saving 60% of me and my wife's income and working on side projects will allow me to do exactly that. If none of my side projects take off, we'll still be able to retire by 40. If something takes off then even better, I can keep that going through retirement.
Re: Beside a startup, what are the other ways to significant wealth for a dev?
#123A general rant, when someone asks about how to make reasonable wealth, significant wealth, or to get richer than you would be as a salaried worker I assume they are interested in getting into the 1% or higher bracket of earners. Someone making 6 figures asking how to get more wealth probably doesn't care they are in the top 10%. They are looking up, not down. Saving half their salary isn't realistic for a single inco…
> I have relatives making choices between feeding themselves or their pet for the day [..]
Really? And why do they have a pet? If they are disabled (e.g. blind) then I understand the inherent value of a pet (a god that helps you walk through). If not, then I think owning a pet is a poor choice for someone who can't feed himself.
Re: Beside a startup, what are the other ways to significant wealth for a dev?
#124Like others have suggested in this thread: contracting. Ideally find clients who are willing to work with remote contractors. Emigrate to a "poorer" country and save money. For example, people in Thailand earn on average around 500 EUR a month (from what I've read). If you can manage to work for western clients who perhaps pay you 10.000 EUR a month (40 hour work weeks), you will be able to retire extremely quickly.
My suggestion for newcomers is a budget of 2000-4000 EUR month for comfortable living in Bangkok (depending on your level of comfortableness). The daily live of a 500 EUR worker is not the same as that of an expat (e.g. membership at a co-work space alone will set you back ~200$/month). Gyms are as expensive as in the west.
Really? I live very comfortably in Stockholm (a very expensive place) with 1500 EUR. How on earth would you need 4000 EUR in Bangkok?
Re: Beside a startup, what are the other ways to significant wealth for a dev?
#125"Significant wealth" can mean many different things. I've seen Derek Sivers speaking at multiple conferences. He has a very interesting question that I since ask myself and others: "What do you optimize your life for?". When you find the answer to that question, it gets easier to go from there. Robert Kiyosaki and other wealthy people state that wealth is measured in time. Can you not work for x weeks, months, years…
> Investing/saving $5K a month for 15 years with an expected rate of return of 7% and an expected inflation rate of 3% will bring you to a place where you end up with a balance of ~$1.5MM (or $1MM after inflation) to your name. Would that make you wealthy in your books? So, 15 years and you'll have almost enough to buy a _starter home_ in Palo Alto...
You could also buy a nice castle in Italy for that money [0]. Where would you rather live when you retire?
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[0]: https://www.moulin.nl/en/realestate/castle-with-old-tower-an...
Re: Beside a startup, what are the other ways to significant wealth for a dev?
#126As someone who has spent their 20's accruing "significant wealth" through a startup (I am by no means loaded, but have not worried about money at all in ~3 years), I'll tell you now - it's overrated. Money can buy you happiness, but it's an inefficient exchange mechanism - unless you roll two sixes, the amount of work and bullshit that goes hand in hand with growing your "worth" usually exceeds the reward - and that…
Having grown up in a poor household with a single parent who worked multiple jobs to get ends to meet, you'll forgive me if I don't feel a whole heck of a lot of sympathy for you and your "gilded cage". Money itself does not buy happiness. A lack of money, though, makes it a heck of a lot harder to find it. The goal should be to reach a point where you don't have to actively worry about money, and that includes some…
Seconded. "Money can't buy happiness, but it can sure chase away the blues". (And the debt collectors and irate landlords, I would add).
Re: Beside a startup, what are the other ways to significant wealth for a dev?
#127Like others have suggested in this thread: contracting. Ideally find clients who are willing to work with remote contractors. Emigrate to a "poorer" country and save money. For example, people in Thailand earn on average around 500 EUR a month (from what I've read). If you can manage to work for western clients who perhaps pay you 10.000 EUR a month (40 hour work weeks), you will be able to retire extremely quickly.
My suggestion for newcomers is a budget of 2000-4000 EUR month for comfortable living in Bangkok (depending on your level of comfortableness). The daily live of a 500 EUR worker is not the same as that of an expat (e.g. membership at a co-work space alone will set you back ~200$/month). Gyms are as expensive as in the west.
For others wondering if 2K euro is really needed, there are plenty of 'digital nomads' living in Ho Chi Minh and Bangkok for $1200 a month. That's with a serviced studio and restaurants all the time.
Re: Beside a startup, what are the other ways to significant wealth for a dev?
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
The only unions that I am aware of that have achievements close to this are lawyer's guilds (through state bars) and doctor's guilds (the AMA, by limiting medical school admissions). Lawyers, as of the last 15 years or so, are not doing so well - the median figure I found for 2013 is $114K. Doctors are doing better, at median $190K. That's a far cry from "each of us" - even with these two professions, 50-80% of the p…
You're not talking about unions. Those are cartels that restrict supply. Lawyers and Doctors are business owners operating as an oligopoly. I'm not talking about business owners. I'm talking about employees. I'm talking about people joining together to put themselves on equal negotiation grounds with their employers. Just because no union has successfully produced wages of 200k plus doesn't mean it can't happen. Soft…
I'm intrigued to hear what examples you draw your inference from.
These days I reside in a country which has unions everywhere - including in engineering disciplines. And everyone who wants to increase their salary runs away from union and unionized workplaces as far away and as quickly away as possible.
It CAN happen? Why hasn't it, except for guilds (which you rightfully group with business owners)? I can tell you why it didn't happen in unions I'm familiar with: The union representatives who negotiate on behalf of the employees and the people who can score a >$200k salary are mutually exclusive groups. In fact, they negotiators are usually those who wouldn't score more than the prevailing average in an industry. At which point, they are happy to sign an agreement for just 5% than the prevailing average - and they do so in the name of the more capable employees as well.
Other things that happen is stuff like management requesting the union to agree that "no employee will be paid higher than their manager". Which union officials always agree to (for various reasons), and which causes your most productive employees - those who are at the top of their fields but not anywhere near the top of the managerial ladder - to abandon ship.
The unionized software professionals are among the least capable and worst paid software professionals around here. And it's not a fluke - it basically converges the same way in every unionized industry where capabilities (and earning potential) have large variances.
It's excellent for retail employees, public school teachers, bus drivers, port workers - but all my observations lead me to believe it is horrible for programmers, engineers, actors and even lawyers.
Re: Beside a startup, what are the other ways to significant wealth for a dev?
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
Perhaps they had adopted the pet before a completely unexpected event turned their lives upside down and out of their control?
when it's a question if my family eats vs the pet eats, there are only 2 possible answers: 1. sell/give the pet away or 2. eat the pet
Time to chow down on Scruffles kids!
Re: Beside a startup, what are the other ways to significant wealth for a dev?
#130As someone who has spent their 20's accruing "significant wealth" through a startup (I am by no means loaded, but have not worried about money at all in ~3 years), I'll tell you now - it's overrated. Money can buy you happiness, but it's an inefficient exchange mechanism - unless you roll two sixes, the amount of work and bullshit that goes hand in hand with growing your "worth" usually exceeds the reward - and that…
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