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How to get rich without getting lucky

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Re: How to get rich without getting lucky

#331

Post by stcredzero »

Specific knowledge is knowledge that you cannot be trained for. If society can train you, it can train someone else, and replace you.

If there is market value in a skill or knowledge, the market will find the people who can be trained in it, then train them. Perhaps a talent is required to be competitive.

Corollary: Beware of fields which have artificial gatekeeping. They are in a disadvantageous market.

Become the best in the world at what you do. Keep redefining what you do until this is true.

Borrowed from Scott Adams: It's hard to become a top 5% in a given field. It's easy to get to the top 20%. So find two synergistic fields where you can get to top 20%. This makes you a top 5% cross-disciplinary expert.

There are no get rich quick schemes. That's just someone else getting rich off you.

Often, it's other people getting rich off of the efforts of a huge mob, while making a small sliver of that mob fantastically rich.

Re: How to get rich without getting lucky

#332

Post by sfoley »

iamwil wrote: post #305
oliwarner wrote: post #297

Isn't this the tenth how-to-get-rich post today? I guess that's fairly standard, and I ignore them, but they're getting votes today. I'm a little surprised that —since every other thread on HN is about hacking your diet/wardrobe/matress to counteract the crushing depression you get from your job— nobody is putting one and one together. There is more to life than money. I don't want to sound too hippy but there is. Th…

You didn't read his last sentence.

For the lazy:

> When you're finally wealthy, you'll realize that it wasn't what you were seeking in the first place. But that's for another day.

Re: How to get rich without getting lucky

#333

Post by gascan »

falcolas wrote: post #231
11thEarlOfMar wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no mustache and was born with no silver spoon, Had to work my way through college. This approach to building wealth worked for me.

> I have no mustache and was born with no silver spoon, Had to work my way through college. My parents said this quite a bit. Of course, my dad did blue collar labor for an inflation-adjusted $30 per hour (the same position today pays around $11 an hour), plus overtime and a pension. My mom was a part time waitress to pay her way through 4 years of college. It was surprising how quickly they stopped saying that when…

There is a certain amount of inflating expectations going on, IMO. I'd bet a lot of the people who worked their way through college, went to community college. Also, even comparing like for like- my father attended Berkeley in the 60's. I think he'd be one of the first to tell you it wasn't quite the same world-famous ultra-elite school kids are applying to today.

Similar to complaints about how one's parents were able to afford a house in Silicon Valley, why can't I? Well, gee, fifty years ago Silicon Valley was an orchard.

Re: How to get rich without getting lucky

#334

Post by Sargos »

zeth___ wrote: post #141
mmcconnell1618 wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is an inverse relationship between salary and the number of jobs available at that rate. I think you will find it harder to continue raising your income just by job hopping. You’re going to need to demonstrate you can deliver increasingly higher value to organizations in order to demand higher wages.

Thanks for the advice. How many new jobs have you taken in the last three years? I've had 8.

When I see a resume of someone who has had 8 jobs in 3 years I immediately think "liability". You won't deeply learn anything. You won't be able to think long term. I won't be able to give you an important project because you likely won't be around by the time it hits market and needs to be shepherded to success.

Your job hopping is only going to work for so long. If I were you I would focus on building up your staying power in order to make meaningful changes that businesses need from their higher level employees.

Re: How to get rich without getting lucky

#335

Post by wilsonnb »

refurb wrote: post #318
simantel wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. You were lucky to be born into a family with money to invest and to grow up with a father around. Not everyone has those advantages.

Not everyone has those advantages, but many people do and never get rich. That would suggest it's much more than just luck.

I'm not saying it's all luck. Hard work is important. Luck is also important. It's pointless to argue over which is more important in my opinion.

However, a lot of successful people (including the person I was originally responding to) downplay the role that luck plays and exaggerate the role that hard work plays.

Re: How to get rich without getting lucky

#336

Post by oliwarner »

iamwil wrote: post #305
oliwarner wrote: post #297

Isn't this the tenth how-to-get-rich post today? I guess that's fairly standard, and I ignore them, but they're getting votes today. I'm a little surprised that —since every other thread on HN is about hacking your diet/wardrobe/matress to counteract the crushing depression you get from your job— nobody is putting one and one together. There is more to life than money. I don't want to sound too hippy but there is. Th…

You didn't read his last sentence.

I had, it's not what I'm saying though.

I'm saying that prioritising money makes you unhappy. It's a toxic culture where only a few make it. Author is saying those few still aren't happy.

Subtle distinction but I think I'm going much further.

Re: How to get rich without getting lucky

#337

Post by wilsonnb »

icedchai wrote: post #286
wilsonnb wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Having some talent at hiring and managing people helped. Luck. > Spending my teenage years writing clever little programs in 6502 assembly language on my Commodore 64 instead of smoking weed and partying helped. Lucky enough to grow up with access to a computer in a time when that wasn't common. > Having a strong knack for math and computer science helped. Luck again.

Are you saying everything is luck? come on... My dad taught me about investing when I was a teenager. I actually applied this for the next 20+ years. Was this luck ?

Yes, that is quite obviously luck. People don't get to choose your parents. You were lucky enough to have parents that taught you about investing at an early age.

Hard work and luck are both parts of success. Humans just have a tendency to downplay the luck aspect.

Re: How to get rich without getting lucky

#338

Post by graedus »

segmondy wrote: post #298
falcolas wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Counterpoint: Your chances of dying before "making it big" and retiring are somewhere in the 1-in-10 range. Investing works mostly because of the current trend of artificially propping up the stock market. Any failure in your investment strategy leave you in the same boat as the current boomer retirees who are trying to get back in the workforce. Not to mention, your life is going to be pretty miserable if you're wor…

You can have lots of fun living frugal. Living frugal doesn't mean not having fun. Having fun is really cheap and free if you set your mind. Walking, hiking, bicycle ride, board & card games. Hanging out with friends at home and watching Netflix. Cooking at home and drinking at home. These are fun and cheap, the fun in it depends more so on the crowd. Going out to party can also be fun but this becomes the difference…

> Going out to party can also be fun but this becomes the difference in spending $20 at home vs $200 in one night.

Agreed, but try not to be the person who refuses to ever go out because you're too focused on being frugal. A few times here and there won't really hurt you in the long run (and having fun with friends is important and worth the money), but making it a habit every night will. Just avoid the latter.

> Frugal is buying an old reliable honda/toyota for $3,000 vs picking up a $40,000 entry level benz.

Definitely agree. Americans in particular tend to buy way more car than they need, and the difference in price is on an order of magnitude that really does matter in the long run for many of us (i.e. if you invest that marginal $20k, $50k, or $100k and wait 10-30 years instead of buying a quickly depreciating fancy car).

Re: How to get rich without getting lucky

#339

Post by sjosji »

oliwarner wrote: post #297

Isn't this the tenth how-to-get-rich post today? I guess that's fairly standard, and I ignore them, but they're getting votes today. I'm a little surprised that —since every other thread on HN is about hacking your diet/wardrobe/matress to counteract the crushing depression you get from your job— nobody is putting one and one together. There is more to life than money. I don't want to sound too hippy but there is. Th…

What is it with HN that so often people comment without having read the full article? And then complain about other HN threads while doing so.. Sigh ..

Re: How to get rich without getting lucky

#340

Post by mrnobody_67 »

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #94
hguhghuff wrote: post #85

Is Naval rich? I think the most valuable advice in getting rich is from people who are moderately rich. Advice from people who aren’t rich is stupid. Advice from billionaires seems irrelevant because their circumstances are so exceptional. How did the friend of a friend make $20million ... there’s an interesting question. I could give you advice on how to not get rich.... just make what are in hindsight a constant fl…

My guess: looking at his investment track record, Naval is probably quite rich (8-9 figures) and he spends a lot of his time dealing with other pretty rich people, both successful founders and other rich investors. Just a guess though. Edit: https://angel.co/naval Investor in Uber, Twitter, Postmates, Yammer, and about 60 others. Wouldn’t surprise me if that’s a fraction of the total. Not to mention cofounding AngelL…

$100m+ for sure with that portfolio. And he got liquidity on his Uber investment with the recent deal that was offered to shareholders.
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