Redditors who are rich (net worth $1 million+) - how did you get rich? • Hacker News Board

Re: Redditors who are rich (net worth $1 million+) - how did you get rich?

#101

Post by hkarthik » Wed, Apr 04, 2012, 9:21 PM UTC

joevandyk wrote: post #57

hkarthik wrote: post #22

Our path to be on track for a net worth of $1 mil: 1) Two good incomes on the professional track. We both have good degrees from universities and don't plan on taking any breaks in employment. Even with kids, there are plenty of great childcare options available. Living near family helps too. 2) Drive paid off cars. Buy new cars if you want, but structure your costs so you can pay them off in 2-3 years max and then d…

For what it's worth, I just bought a new car for $35k. Came with a 5 year interest free loan with nothing down. If you can get that type of loan, you don't want to pay it off quickly.

what's the benefit in not paying it off quickly if you can?

That monthly payment is extra cash you could put away into savings or other investments, presumably at a positive interest rate. Even if the market sucks and interest rates on most banks are terrible right now, at the very least, it's still money you could have invested in yourself with some positive return.

Re: Redditors who are rich (net worth $1 million+) - how did you get rich?

#102

Post by jodrellblank » Wed, Apr 04, 2012, 9:29 PM UTC

corkill wrote: post #88

This book sums up everything you need to be wealthy, what people who live hand to mouth believe and why most people's 9-5 job, live frugally for 50 year plan to be rich in their retirement is stupid (hint: because you just pissed away your whole life). http://www.themillionairefastlane.com/ (scammy title I know but seriously read it). The guy who wrote it was the founder of limos.com.

s/pissed away/lived/

Just beceause it's not a constant adrenaline high doesn't make it wasted.

Re: Redditors who are rich (net worth $1 million+) - how did you get rich?

#103

Post by rprasad » Wed, Apr 04, 2012, 9:29 PM UTC

jaxn wrote: post #18

eli_gottlieb wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

9/10 start-ups fail, just like most other forms of new business. I believe we could apply Bayes' Law here...

That is crazy talk. The rate for small businesses as a whole is around 50% failure within the first 5 years. There are exceptions to that rule and ways to increase the odds. As an example, 90% of franchise businesses are still running after 5 years.

Jaxn's data isn't anecdotal -- those numbers were reported in the WSJ earlier this year in an article on franchising.

Re: Redditors who are rich (net worth $1 million+) - how did you get rich?

#104

Post by car » Wed, Apr 04, 2012, 9:40 PM UTC

hippee-lee wrote: post #62

girardy wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) Two good incomes on the professional track. I read a book called The Millionaire Next Door that described how getting married and staying married was one obvious way to boost wealth. Not only is divorce really expensive, but married people on average use less space per person than single people. You can obviously construct scenarios where this isn't true—what if you marry a spendthrift?—but it was still a really i…

I haven't read the book but my wife and I started investing in our mid twenties and were blessed with generous matched contributions from our employer. We both maxed out the 401k contributions and (she) still does. We also do ROTH's as much as we can. She is into finance and 'manages' it by logging into the accounts 2x per year, looking at performance and making adjustments as needed. The growth in the past few years…

If you want to improve the returns on your 401k, a buddy of mine runs http://kivalia.com, where they provide advice on allocating the money to funds available in many companies 401k's.

If your company is not listed, you can easily create a new plan (clever crowd-sourcing ;), which then gets optimized. You can also get feedback on your current allocations. HTH.

Re: Redditors who are rich (net worth $1 million+) - how did you get rich?

#105

Post by tzs » Wed, Apr 04, 2012, 9:47 PM UTC

stevear wrote: post #58

dwc wrote: post #27

There's a sad undercurrent to this, as some redditors respond that they find this depressing. While I understand their plight, I do not understand the sustained pessimism for most of the depressed ones. I went to work right out of high school at menial jobs. No college, no big family business. Paycheck-to-paycheck, and any minor emergency like a dead car battery was a financial crisis. I did not "get lucky" on stocks…

I am really glad someone else has noticed this and feels the same way. This quote from that thread pissed me off all morning: "If you told the common man any time in history other than the baby boomer generation, that the way to get rich was 'hard work' and 'Budgeting' they would die of laughter." Every day I feel more and more alienated by the victim mentality on Reddit. It seems to be the only tangible by-product o…

Why are you pissed off? That quote seems basically accurate, although we can quibble about how far back we have to go for it it apply and what exactly qualifies as the "common man".

Through much of history, hard work and budgeting where not the road to riches--they were the road to not starving or, in good times, to being reasonably well off. The path to being rich was often blocked by ethnic background, religious background, or social class.

Yes, some people were able to break through those barriers, but that usually took more than just hard work and budgeting. They needed luck or brilliance.

Re: Redditors who are rich (net worth $1 million+) - how did you get rich?

#106

Post by dirkdeman » Wed, Apr 04, 2012, 9:50 PM UTC

It's funny how RICH is defined in a monetary value. I live a very rich life (including kids, those of you who don't have them yet: you'll get it when you have them), can afford everything I need and most of the stuff I want. I never got the lavish spending of the wealthy, why on earth would someone buy a Ferrari or 50,000 dollar pool table? What I'm trying to say is money is just the means to fulfilling a desire.

I knew an old lady who saved every penny in her life to amass 10.000 euros, it was her dream. She did accomplish it, but never had any fun in her life because she'd always save her money. When she died she had the desired amount on the bank. Her children inherited the money, but only after they paid 40% tax.

How to get rich? Live your life to the fullest and have fun. And yes, raise a family at some point. I promise you that all the money in the world can't buy you what you get from your that!

Re: Redditors who are rich (net worth $1 million+) - how did you get rich?

#107

Post by Klinky » Wed, Apr 04, 2012, 9:55 PM UTC

jacoblyles wrote: post #94

dwc wrote: post #27

There's a sad undercurrent to this, as some redditors respond that they find this depressing. While I understand their plight, I do not understand the sustained pessimism for most of the depressed ones. I went to work right out of high school at menial jobs. No college, no big family business. Paycheck-to-paycheck, and any minor emergency like a dead car battery was a financial crisis. I did not "get lucky" on stocks…

I blame politics. A lot of young people are emotionally invested in the idea that "the System" is responsible for some people being poor and others being rich. If you acknowledge that some choices are good and others are bad, it challenges the view that wealth is predetermined and that income inequality is caused by fate/bias.

I don't think blaming it all on good choices/bad choices is any more reasonable than blaming it entirely on "The System". They both play a role in where someone will end up.

Re: Redditors who are rich (net worth $1 million+) - how did you get rich?

#108

Post by mcdowall » Wed, Apr 04, 2012, 9:57 PM UTC

hkarthik wrote: post #22

Our path to be on track for a net worth of $1 mil: 1) Two good incomes on the professional track. We both have good degrees from universities and don't plan on taking any breaks in employment. Even with kids, there are plenty of great childcare options available. Living near family helps too. 2) Drive paid off cars. Buy new cars if you want, but structure your costs so you can pay them off in 2-3 years max and then d…

I own a car, I own a nice flat in a popular beach town and earn a very good wage. This may sound cliche, but I woke up a year and a half ago and realised I had so many things I wanted to do but just never did. So I wrote a bucket list of activities, things to learn, places to travel to / general life goals and through going out and doing these I am so much more happy. In the last year Ive taken up Spanish, learnt to surf, sailed the whitsundays, camped on Fraser Island, visited a Damien Hirst exhibition, partied in Ibiza, in the next few months I'm going to my first festival, to the European Football Championships, a number of Olympics events and La Tomatina festival in Bunol, added to that I've just planned my next trip to Central & S.America for 3 months in September.

I suppose the moral of my point is not to be fixated on attaining a net worth, enjoy each day for what it is and get out and do the things you want to do. In a few years do you want to sit back and look at your bank balance or think back to the life you've led. Either way I'm not judging but moreso hoping some others don't fall into the millionaire pursuit.

Re: Redditors who are rich (net worth $1 million+) - how did you get rich?

#109

Post by carguy1983 » Wed, Apr 04, 2012, 9:57 PM UTC

vaksel wrote: post #100

run4yourlives wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't it be easier just to lease? The big thing your entire calculation leaves out is the time it takes to do this transaction every couple of years, because there is no way a dealership is going to give you the money you are looking for... I'd rather do something else with my time to be honest.

leasing costs way more. cars lose the most value in the first 3 years. So in those 3 years, you'll lose 50% of the car's value. Since leasing is basically just covering the cost of depreciation...you end up on the hook for the biggest loss in the car's life. when you buy used and sell in the next 2 years, you only lose ~20%. + with leasing you are limited to 10-12K miles per year. remember, for this thing we are talk…

If you own a business the lease is tax deductible, which knocks about 33% of the cost out of the picture.

Re: Redditors who are rich (net worth $1 million+) - how did you get rich?

#110

Post by vaksel » Wed, Apr 04, 2012, 10:06 PM UTC

carguy1983 wrote: post #109

vaksel wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

leasing costs way more. cars lose the most value in the first 3 years. So in those 3 years, you'll lose 50% of the car's value. Since leasing is basically just covering the cost of depreciation...you end up on the hook for the biggest loss in the car's life. when you buy used and sell in the next 2 years, you only lose ~20%. + with leasing you are limited to 10-12K miles per year. remember, for this thing we are talk…

If you own a business the lease is tax deductible, which knocks about 33% of the cost out of the picture.

only if you use the car exclusively for the business, and have a separate car that you use for your personal stuff.

+ I heard that deducting car leases is a huge red flag for the IRS.