How People Get Rich Now • Hacker News Board

Re: How People Get Rich Now

#211

Post by ed312 » Mon, Apr 12, 2021, 5:24 PM UTC

giantg2 wrote: post #86

internetslave wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to work in investment research in NYC. So I know those types, but the vibe was the same. Maybe I’ve been lucky, but a lot of people I know actually have had startup success. I know a few people that ended up making over 25 million by 30. None of them made it in law or finance, and none of them ever wanted to continue their finance career. 10x the median income just isn’t that much. If you have three kids, mone…

"...because they’re actually getting paid what they produced." Do they really though? That's really the owners getting paid that, not all the workers. And a lot of that is really valued on the potential rather than what was actually produced to that point. "10x the median income just isn’t that much. If you have three kids, money is still tight." That's about $400k, right? That seems like an insane amount of money (I…

Cost of living has gone absolutely through the roof, and shows no signs of stopping. That's, least in the northeast, the main reason $400k sounds rich but for a family of 4, with a $5k/mo mortgage, child care, etc. it really isn't.

Re: How People Get Rich Now

#212

Post by pjfin123 » Mon, Apr 12, 2021, 5:24 PM UTC

> fund managers discovered new ways to generate high returns, and more investors were willing to trust them with their money.

Is the first part of this true? Most funds underperform the S&P.

Re: How People Get Rich Now

#213

Post by jedberg » Mon, Apr 12, 2021, 5:24 PM UTC

api wrote: post #22

aqme28 wrote: post #11

I don't think that the top 100 richest people is a good dataset. You can be extremely rich without making it anywhere near that list. While a lot of those top 100 people made it to that list by starting companies, I'm curious how many of them did so by leveraging family or inherited wealth.

I'd be more interested in a study of how people move from lower classes to at least upper middle class.

Unless it's changed recently, I believe there is exactly one person on the billionaires list that started life in the bottom quintile -- Oprah.

So you have a good question is all I'm trying to say.

Re: How People Get Rich Now

#214

Post by mattzito » Mon, Apr 12, 2021, 5:25 PM UTC

wanderer2323 wrote: post #180

WhompingWindows wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Paul Graham's articles always shoot immediately up to the top of HN, but I agree with you, they're generally cursory and pithy thoughts which don't convince my skeptical mind. I don't know, can someone explain why his work is so popular? Think of all the amazing writers across our civilization whose work is linkable, and we're worshipping these decent but not amazing blog posts?

PG is apropos for this forum, but beyond that he is plainly a good writer. I don't know who you consider 'amazing writers across our civilization' -- but whether it is Gracian or Scott Alexander, PG shares one thing with them, namely that his works will be quoted beyond the lifespan of his contemporary readers.

It's impossible to know for certain, of course, but it seems highly unlikely that any of those writers will be quoted beyond the lifespan of contemporary readers (except potentially in scholarly books about rationalism/startups/etc). How many authors from the 1940s are still widely read, especially for essays/non-fiction?

Re: How People Get Rich Now

#215

Post by Der_Einzige » Mon, Apr 12, 2021, 5:25 PM UTC

Moodles wrote: post #150

DC1350 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$150k is not even enough to buy a small home near your workplace in a lot of cities. Janitors had better living conditions 50 years ago than $150k earners do today

You sound more out of touch than an alien from outer space. No way is 150k worse quality of life than a janitor 50 years ago.

Many janitors are unionized and paid quite well. I think you're the out of touch one here.

Re: How People Get Rich Now

#216

Post by bob33212 » Mon, Apr 12, 2021, 5:25 PM UTC

afpx wrote: post #169

harshaw wrote: post #32

I don't want to derail this too much with personal anecdotes, but I suspect you are much more likely to build wealth with the more established tech companies - and that wealth is "rich enough". Maybe I am just unlucky or unskilled, but I spent roughly 20 years working at startups or innovation labs. I was "close" to some big events where I could have made big $$ but made 0. Both at my own startup and being at early s…

Over 25 years, I worked for 4 startups, 2 pre series A, 2 series A. All were VC funded, high growth, successful. 3 were acquired; 1 stayed private. I worked for startups because I really wanted to “get rich”. And, I put way too many hours in trying. In the end, I did get moderately rich. But, honestly, it was mostly from saving and investing well, not from exit events. Unless you play the political game, I doubt you’…

I have a similar background, and also miss the 90s where the people playing with tech were not thinking about the money but actually enjoyed the coding.

What I find hopeful about Paul's essay and the current state of the world is that I can start my own company for next to nothing. And I only have to find a couple customers to cover my living expenses. I'm not going to be the CEO of a billion dollar company and that is fine. I don't want to have those responsibilities.

Re: How People Get Rich Now

#217

Post by blackoil » Mon, Apr 12, 2021, 5:26 PM UTC

pc86 wrote: post #124

josefresco wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. A rich individual can give their child $0 in inheritance but one introduction, referral or diner party later and they could be set for life. In between this scenario, and the other (handed money) there are countless scenarios that make conclusions very cloudy.

> A rich individual can give their child $0 in inheritance but one introduction, referral or diner party later and they could be set for life. It's a mighty big leap to go from a single intro to "set for life."

It means that one introduction becomes the difference between a talented, motivated, hard working person who is successful vs who is not.

Re: How People Get Rich Now

#218

Post by gonational » Mon, Apr 12, 2021, 5:27 PM UTC

Coining a term: *The Social Limit*

At any given moment, this is the income/wealth level of the medium social media account owner. Naturally, as those with fewer means come online, this limit decreases.

The purpose of this limit is to define the level of income/wealth, above which one will have to send an inordinate amount of time trying convincing everyone below the limit that it is not one's fault that the rest are currently below the limit. Everyone below that limit will be angry.

Once everyone in the world is online this limit will be defined as 0.

Re: How People Get Rich Now

#219

Post by jedberg » Mon, Apr 12, 2021, 5:27 PM UTC

globular-toast wrote: post #174

Taek wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The games we've played with money have pushed valuations to a point of being nearly meaningless. There are people who own a billion dollars of stock/crypto, and then there are people who own multiple yachts, multiple mansions, sports teams, factories, etc. The thing that bothers me the most about paper wealth is that not all of it can be exited. The economy may say that there are 500 new billionaires, but if all 500…

Exactly. At the end of the day there is only so much stuff to go around and we're pretty much at the limit of what people actually want. If a billionaire wakes up twice as rich tomorrow is he immediately going to buy a bigger mansion? Another car? Another yacht? More expensive food? Realistically he's unlikely to really want anything else. Billionaires have essentially infinite wealth. They can have whatever they wan…

> What do they have that I don't?

The ability to do whatever they want whenever they want. If they want to see a live show in another country, they can get front row seats and be there. If they want to talk to the President, they can. If they want a new law that benefits their business, they can make a few calls and get that done.

Re: How People Get Rich Now

#220

Post by exhaze » Mon, Apr 12, 2021, 5:28 PM UTC

iur12 wrote: post #195

cryptoz wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PG's recent articles have changed from what they used to be. Recently (last few years) there is a dramatic change towards defending riches, logical fallacies to explain why being rich is okay, a lot of focus on wealth and how to get it and why it's okay. A lot less technically interesting than he used to post. I used to send Startup=Growth to everyone I knew. I think people are used to high-quality content from PG an…

This isn’t a surprise. The religion that formed here hanging off his every word subscribed to it to get rich, just like he started YC to get rich. Now he’s happily rich, barely even looks in the mirror at these adherents that he left behind, and is writing for his new friends who are also rich. It was always pointless snake oil but the Sand Hill Greed here made everyone overlook that because maybe, just maybe, the ke…

Maybe one day, you'll even be confident enough to not make a throwaway account to say something like this.