31–40 of 185 posts
Get lucky, either through a series of serendipitous events or through birth.
Be old enough to have lived in an era when you didn't have $50K or more in student loans to pay off and could get a good job.
Entrepreneurism seems under-represented: most of the responses seem to be inheritance or stock investments. I'm wondering if that reflects on the reddit community makeup, the type of people who would answer this question, or just that growing a successful startup is really hard / rare.
9/10 start-ups fail, just like most other forms of new business. I believe we could apply Bayes' Law here...
The most common pattern I see is doing a startup, failing, but learning enough about how to do it right, and then trying again and having moderate success with #2 or #3.
9/10 of startups failing could be explained by "virtually all first-time startups fail, and 9/10 founders give up after their first failure, and those that stick with it, succeed". That would actually be rather encouraging.
Almost nobody I know working for a big company is working for their first big company, so you could also say "9/10 of all employments fail", but that's hardly an indictment of employment.
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.
Some businesses are only meant to last a couple of years. Lots of owners start several businesses and eventually focus on one. Most numbers you hear are based on the number of businesses registered & renewed/not renewed, a terrible way of measuring both these things.
Easiest way: No kids. Two good incomes. Reliably saving 20%. Mid 40s. No college debt or health issues. That should get you to about a million in assets.
I fulfill all the above (except that I have a son, but he's young so the only big cost is daycare, around 13K/year), so where's my million!? In order to develop a successful model, one should also have negative examples, i.e. people who could have had ~$1M in their mid 40s but do not. The greatest mistakes I made that I see with hindsight are (i) doing a PhD in EE where a MS was more than enough and then taking too l…
Entrepreneurism seems under-represented: most of the responses seem to be inheritance or stock investments. I'm wondering if that reflects on the reddit community makeup, the type of people who would answer this question, or just that growing a successful startup is really hard / rare.
If they do they won't reply to those questions. I have friends that are terrible rich by earning it and the first thing they learn is that life is better when few people know about it. (Thieves, kidnappers and envious get out of your life). They life normal lives.
Those that inherit, well, that is another story.
Entrepreneurism seems under-represented: most of the responses seem to be inheritance or stock investments. I'm wondering if that reflects on the reddit community makeup, the type of people who would answer this question, or just that growing a successful startup is really hard / rare.
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…
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 have to say I almost wondered if this plan was meant as a bit of a joke. I'd rather spread my income around now on a nice(r) house, some fun hobbies and a bit of abject consumerism, and enjoy life more evenly then save now not have as much fun but end up with more money in the bank later. You'll never get your younger years back.
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 have to say I almost wondered if this plan was meant as a bit of a joke. I'd rather spread my income around now on a nice(r) house, some fun hobbies and a bit of abject consumerism, and enjoy life more evenly then save now not have as much fun but end up with more money in the bank later. You'll never get your younger years back.
If you're forced to live that way due to some personal hardships, you'll only come to resent your lot in life and you'll just end up over spending as soon as you are able to again.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have to say I almost wondered if this plan was meant as a bit of a joke. I'd rather spread my income around now on a nice(r) house, some fun hobbies and a bit of abject consumerism, and enjoy life more evenly then save now not have as much fun but end up with more money in the bank later. You'll never get your younger years back.
Yes but a new iPad doesn't make you younger either.