While I know contractors who have worked the same job for many years, this is not the standard, they're not making $1000/day and they have huge risk exposure. For the rest of us you don't work 10 months a year and vacation for 2. You spend a lot of non-billable time lining up work and selling. Then when you get that work it's (a) gross income, (b) temporary and (c) rarely remote at the start. Add to this giant pile of preconditions that a guaranteed 5% return doesn't exist in the world today and this "advice" is essentially: "My single data point => ??? => PROFIT!"
How I got wealthy without working too hard
151–160 of 349 posts
Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard
#152Earlier quoted context omitted.
I absolutely can and will call $1M wealthy. Anyone who thinks it isn't is absolutely living in a bubble.
I once shared this outlook, but when one considers their own ideas about the lifestyle "wealthy" entails, and run some numbers, specifically determine the annual spend for that lifestyle, one will quickly realize the truth. A million can be blown in a year, or SWR'd (safe withdrawal rate) at $40k a year indefinitely. Can you retire on $40k a year? Would you want that level of income and lifestyle? Of course this depe…
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Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard
#153> I was born in a developed country in the 80s (Italy), with access to fresh water, very good carbohydrates and a decent education system.
I'm going to go out on a limb and posit that most of those early benefits were paid for or subsidized by highly progressive taxes.
I can only hope that wealthy people like the author understand this and don't pull up the ladder behind them.
Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard
#154Earlier quoted context omitted.
> But contractor income is not comparable to normal career income because you have to handle additional taxes and health insurance, so this is more like a $150K (plus or minus) full time job once you subtract self-employment taxes and pay for health insurance. What ? I've never heard of a scenario where you get less money after tax as a contractor vs employee, even without doing things like claiming a bunch of everyd…
> What ? I've never heard of a scenario where you get less money after tax as a contractor vs employee It’s called self-employment tax: https://smartasset.com/taxes/self-employment-tax It’s not actually a separate tax. Normally your employer pays these taxes but you don’t see it. When you are a contractor you are self-employed, so as an employer of yourself you have to pay these taxes like any other employer. Some pe…
Not in my country, I actually get tax break for being self employed. In the end I pay less tax on my income than someone employed earning a similar income. Not to mention I make 2-3 times what I would make being employed. And I'm not playing any tax tricks.
Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard
#155Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I once shared this outlook, but when one considers their own ideas about the lifestyle "wealthy" entails, and run some numbers, specifically determine the annual spend for that lifestyle, one will quickly realize the truth. In other words, at some point you underwent lifestyle inflation and didn't realize it. And now you're unwilling to give it up. > Of course this depends on location and cost of living. I am refer…
Just adding to your point: Not only do millions of people raise families on $40k, they also do so while still living in NYC, SF, Seattle, and other expensive cities.
Raising a family in NYC on $40k is what poverty looks like, not wealth.
Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I was born in a developed country in the 80s (Italy), with access to fresh water, very good carbohydrates and a decent education system. This seem like a pretty hard to follow "how-to"
Given that 80% of the world doesn't have that, yeah. But for that 20%, the author's path isn't entirely unreasonable (if a bit quick). Make $$$, spend $, invest $$. it requires living somewhere other than CA and probably not having kids, but if you can make those sacrifices and can play the software engineer game, it's more a matter of math working out than it is an unreasonable path.
JFYI, an old Italian proverb/saying:
Fare i conti spesso, moderar le voglie, spender men di quel che si raccoglie.
That roughly translates to:
Do the (financial) math often, limit your cravings, spend less than you can gather.
Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard
#157>Preamble: I'm extremely lucky. ... So what you're going to read is 99% luck and 1% planets alignment. I mean, that's pretty much it and he states it up front. If that's the crux, then why write about this other than to brag?
Thats just being humble. Most successful people think its that way because they are special and worked hard. Wrong. Most people work hard, its the LUCK many underestimate. Being aware of this is healthy in so many ways, especially socially.
> Being aware of this is healthy in so many ways, especially socially.
On the flip side, ascribing success entirely to luck is not at all healthy. I see lots of people who complain about their lot in life but then do nothing to change the trajectory.
Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard
#158Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thats just being humble. Most successful people think its that way because they are special and worked hard. Wrong. Most people work hard, its the LUCK many underestimate. Being aware of this is healthy in so many ways, especially socially.
Veritasium has a nice video about that: "Is Success Luck or Hard Work?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LopI4YeC4I
yes, thats where I learned about this, forgot it concretely though. Thanks for the reference!
Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard
#159Earlier quoted context omitted.
If your friend can reliably generate 10% (not just in the current insane bull market) he should open a hedge fund.
He had it for about 4 years I think. Also he does not manage the money. Somebody else does it for him.
If your friend gave someone a million dollars and they promised to deliver $100K per year indefinitely, your friend is the victim of financial fraud.
Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard
#160Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can relate, I have three and I feel it does give my life more meaning. But I still feel like pointing something out: Know that phenomenon where users that paid for software are typically more satisfied with it and give better ratings than users who didn't? Whish I knew what the proper name for it is, but having kids is kind of the ultimate version of that :D (Update: Thanks so much for helping me figure out what to…
>Know that phenomenon where users that paid for software are typically more satisfied with it and give better ratings than users who didn't? >Whish I knew what the proper name for it is, Possibly these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mere_ownership_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endowment_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choice-supportive_bias https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IKEA_effect
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