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Ask HN: How to become a millionaire in 3 years?

313 points by babyboy808 16y ago

As everyone else on the planet I'm sure, I would like to become a millionaire and within a tight time constraint: 3 short years. HN is a constant source of excellent articles, amazing intelligent advice and smart people, so how would you go about it? Saving, Stocks etc etc? And also, please don't ask as to why I want to have a net worth of $1M and why I wouldn't just want to get 200k and live comfortably etc. I'm just interested in hearing people's thoughts about this idea :) Thanks

grandalf 16y ago
In parts of Africa you can set up a artesanal diamond mine with a shovel and a strainer. Spend a few weeks there finding diamonds, then smuggle them back to the US and sell them. Document this whole process on video, then sell the rights to a documentary and do a book deal when you get back. Estimated time to completion: 4 months.
- ZombieCoaster 16y ago
  how do you not get arrested after publicly admitting you did something illegal?
  - adbge 16y ago
    You move to a country that doesn't extradite to the USA. I hear Myanmar is nice this time of year.
    - hyperbovine 16y ago
      Whoah, no need to delve quite so far into fascism. The list of countries which do not have an extradition treaty with the USA is longer than most people think (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_extradition_treaties http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_extraditi...) UAE is probably your best bet if it's a developed nation you are after.
      - deleted 16y ago
        [deleted]
  - grandalf 16y ago
    Would it be illegal under US law?
  - rriepe 16y ago
    Look up the statute of limitations.
    - sliverstorm 16y ago
      His time frame is 3 years, not 7
slater 16y ago
Why three years? IMHO, you're focussing on the wrong part of it all.
- mkramlich 16y ago
  I imagine it's simply to put a stake in the ground. The exact number (2 or 4 or 5, etc.) is not important. Three years is long enough that it can probably include ramping up time, pivots, mistakes, tuning, etc. while not being so long that he's going to be an old man and/or unable to enjoy it, or have follow-on goals be pushed out too far. Regardless, one year is unrealistically too short. Twenty years is depressing. So pick something in between.
- babyboy808 16y ago
  Good question. But why not 3 years? As we all know, let's say if we are given an assignment for college to do and we are given a week to complete it, almost always, I will start the assignment about 3/4 days into the week and then as the deadline looms closer, the real work happens! So in answer to your question, if I said 10 years, I would be focused on 10 years :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinson%27s_Law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinson%27s_Law
  - nostrademons 16y ago
    I've found this doesn't apply if you remove the deadline entirely. If given a task and a week to complete it, I will start the task on the night of the 6th day. However, if just given a task, I'll start the task immediately - or at the very least, as soon as I finish what I'm currently working on. Whether I complete it within the week depends on whether it's a week's worth of work, but I can be fairly sure that I'll end up putting in more work than if I had the original deadline, and I'll probably have something equivalent in quality to the deadline-work after about a day or two.
  - nandemo 16y ago
    The analogy doesn't hold. The problem is not so much that your school assignment is 1 million times easier. There's also: 1) There's not such a huge variation in the time necessary to complete an assignment. Your professor knows that some people can finish it in a couple of days but others need a whole week. But it's much harder to estimate the time to get $1M. 2) You can finish a school assignment on your own. Assuming you have access to the necessary resources (books, net, etc) it depends only on you. You don't need any luck to finish it. But to get rich you need favorable market conditions, meeting the right investors, hiring the right people, the government not screwing you up, etc, i.e. "luck".
deleted 16y ago
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jasonlbaptiste 16y ago
I'm going to go and replace 3 years with a "short time frame". Some things to focus on: - Market opportunity- a million dollars isn't a lot in the grand scheme of things, but it certainly is a lot if the market opportunity is not large enough. Even if you put Bill Gates and Steve Jobs as founders in a new venture with a total market size of 10 million, there is no way they could become too wealthy without completely changing the business (ie- failing). - Inequality of information- find a place where you know something that many undervalue. Having this inequality of information can give you, your first piece of leverage. - Leverage skills you know- You can go into new fields such as say Finance, but make sure you're leveraging something you already know such as technology and/or product. Someone wanted to start a documentary with me. I said that would be fun, but it would be my first documentary regardless of what happened. There was a glass ceiling due to that. If I do something leveraging a skill I know, I'm already ahead of the game. - Look in obscure places- We're often fascinated with the shiny things in the internet industry. Many overlook the obscure and unsexy. Don't make that mistake. If your goal has primarily monetary motivations, look at the unsexy. - Surround yourself with smart people- smart people whom are successful usually got there by doing the same and have an innate desire to help those do the same. it's the ecosystem that's currently happening with the paypal mafia and can be traced all the way back to fairchild semiconductor. - Charge for something- Building a consumer property dependent upon advertising has easily made many millionaires, but it isn't the surest path. It takes a lot of time and scale, which due to cashflow issues will require large outside investment probably before you are a millionaire. Build something that you can charge for. - Your metric shouldn't be dollars- If you're going after a big enough market and charging a reasonable amount, you can hit a million dollars. Focus on growth, customer acquisition costs, lifetime value of the customer, and churn. - Get as many distribution channels as possible- There is some weird sense that if you build something they will just come. That a few like buttons and emails to editor@techcrunch.com will make your traffic explode + grow consistently. It fucking won't. Get as many distribution channels as possible. Each one by itself may not be large, but if you have many it starts to add up. It also diversifies your risk. If you're a 100% SEO play, you're playing a dangerous dangerous game. You're fully dependent upon someone else's rules. If Google bans you, you will be done. Replace SEO with: App store, facebook, etc. - Go with your gut and do not care about fameballing- Go with what your gut says, regardless of how it might look to the rest of the world. Too often we (I) get lost in caring about what people think. It usually leads to a wrong decision. Don't worry about becoming internet famous or appearing on teh maj0r blogz. Fame is fleeting in the traditional sense. Become famous with your customers. They're the ones that truly matter. What they think matters and they will ultimately put their money where their mouth is. - Be an unrelenting machine- Brick walls are there to show you how bad you want something. Commit to your goals and do not waver from them a one bit regardless of what else is there. I took this approach to losing weight and fitness. I have not missed a single 5k run in over a year. It did not matter if I had not slept for two days, traveling across the country, or whatever else. If your goals is to become a millionaire, you need to be an unrelenting machine that does not let emotions make you give up / stop. You either get it done with 100% commitment or you don't. Be a machine. - If it's a "trend", it's too late- This means the barriers to entry are usually too high at this point to have the greatest possible chance of success. Sure you could still make a lot of money in something like the app store or the facebook platform, but the chances are significantly less than they were in the summer of 08 or spring of 2007. You can always revisit past trends though. - If you do focus on a dollar amount, focus on the first $10,000- This usually means you've found some repeatable process / minimal traction. ie- if you're selling a $100 product, you've already encountered 100 people who have paid you. From here you can scale up. It's also a lot easier to take in when you're looking at numbers. Making 1 million seems hard, but making $10,000 doesn't seem so hard, right? - Be a master of information- Many think it might be wasteful that I spent so much time on newsyc or read so many tech information sites. It's not, it's what gives me an edge. I feel engulfed. - Get out and be social- Even if you're an introvert, being around people will give you energy. I'm at my worst when I'm isolated from people and at my best when I've at least spent some time with close friends (usually who I don't know from business.) - Make waves, don't ride them- There was a famous talk Jawed Karim gave from youtube. He described the three factors that made youtube take off. I think they included (1- emergence of flash, so no codecs required 2- one click upload 3- ability to share embed). Find those small pieces and put them together to make the wave. That's what youtube did imho. The other guys really just rode the wave they created (which is okay). - Say no way more than you say yes- I bet almost every web entrepreneur has encountered this: You demo your product / explain what you're doing and someone suggests that you do "X feature/idea". X is a really good idea and maybe even fits in with what you're doing, but it would take you SO FAR off the path you're on. If you implemented X it would take a ton of time and morph what you're doing. It's also really really hard to say no when it comes from someone well respected like a VC or famous entrepreneur. I mean how the fuck could they be wrong? Hell, they might even write me a check if I do what they say!!!!! Don't fall for that trap. Instead write the feedback down somewhere as one single data point to consider amongst others. If that same piece of feedback keeps coming up AND it fits within the guidelines of your vision, then you should consider it more seriously. Weight suggestions from paying customers a bit more, since their vote is weighted by dollars. - Be so good they can't ignore you- I first heard this quote from Marc Andreessen, but he stole it from Steve Martin. Just be so good with what you do that you can't be ignored. You can surely get away with a boring product with no soul, but being so good you can't ignore is much more powerful. - Always keep your door/inbox open- You never know who is going to walk through your door + contact you. Serendipity is a beautiful thing. At one point Bill Gates was just a random college kid calling an Albuquerque computer company. - Give yourself every opportunity you can- I use this as a reason why starting a company in silicon valley when it comes to tech is a good idea. You can succeed anywhere in the world, but you certainly have a better chance in the valley. You should give yourself every opportunity possible, especially as an entrepreneur where every advantage counts. - Give yourself credit- This is the thing I do the least of and I'm trying to work on it. What may seem simple+not that revolutionary to anyone ahead of the curve can usually be pure wizardry to the general public, whom is often your customer. Give yourself more credit. - Look for the accessory ecosystem- iPod/iPhone/iPad case manufacturers are making a fortune. Armormount is also making a killing by making flat panel wall mounts. Woothemes makes millions of dollars a year (and growing) selling Wordpress themes. There are tons of other areas here, but these are the ones that come to mind first. If there's a huge new product/shift, there's usually money to be made in the accessory ecosystem. - Stick with it- Don't give up too fast. Being broke and not making any money sucks + can often make you think nothing will ever work. Don't quit when you're down. If this was easy then everyone would be a millionaire and being a millionaire wouldn't be anything special. Certainly learn from your mistakes + pivot, but don't quit just because it didn't work right away. - Make the illiquid, liquid- I realized this after talking to a friend who helps trade illiquid real estate securities. A bank may have hundreds of millions of assets, but they're actually worth substantially less if they cannot be moved. If you can help people make something that is illiquid, liquid they will pay you a great deal of money. Giving you a 20-30% cut is worth it, when the opposite is making no money at all. - Productize a service- If you can make what might normally be considered a service into a scaleable, repeatable, and efficient process that makes it seem like a product you can make a good amount of money. In some ways, I feel this is what Michael Dell did with DELL in the early days. Putting together a computer is essentially a service, but he put together a streamlined method of doing things that it really turned it into a product. On a much smaller scale, PSD2XHTML services did this. It's a service, but the end result + what you pay for really feels like a product.
rubing 16y ago
There's a type of salsa from ecuador called aji. It is outstanding! I am amazed that nobody has jarred it yet and started selling it. So much better than mexican salsa! You could make millions from that in 3 years, no doubt!!!!
SandB0x 16y ago
1) Get on a reality TV show like Big Brother. 2) Do something ridiculous that will get you in the news. Leave your dignity at the door. 3) Get a publicist and milk your infamy for a couple of months.
- Terry_B 16y ago
  You forgot the sex tape.
  - mkramlich 16y ago
    I'm pretty sure that's covered by his (2).
    - Terry_B 16y ago
      No, I think it's moved on from ridiculous and just become a mandatory step at this point.
Rantenki 16y ago
Steps: 1. Learn to come up with your own ideas. 2. ... 3. Profit!
- donaq 16y ago
  2. And then a miracle happens.
  - donaq 16y ago
    Really? No one's seen this? http://blog.stackoverflow.com/wp-content/uploads/then-a-miracle-occurs-cartoon.png http://blog.stackoverflow.com/wp-content/uploads/then-a-mira... I'm not positive on this, but I think my comment's parent was actually referencing it.
    - mindviews 16y ago
      No, this looks like the Underpants Gnomes formulation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnomes_(South_Park) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnomes_(South_Park)
Anon84 16y ago
"Start by being a Billionaire" -- Sir Richard Branson, on how to become a millionaire in the aviation industry)
- bvi 16y ago
  Ok. So how do you become a billionaire?
  - sliverstorm 16y ago
    Enter the stock industry as a multi-multi-billionaire. (Of course, you already ruined my entrance: "How do you make a small fortune in the stock market?" "Start with a large one." )
lisper 16y ago
My advice: forget the deadline. Imposing a deadline on a result that is largely beyond your control will serve no constructive purpose. You should only set deadlines on things that are within your power to control, e.g. I will finish X by time Y. But putting a deadline on the market to respond is just silly. If you want to be a millionaire, here's the procedure: 1. Pick an activity that you think will make you a millionaire within a reasonable time frame. 2. Engage in that activity for that time frame. 3. Are you a millionaire? If so, you're done. If not, figure out what you did wrong in step 1 based on the information you acquired while engaged in that activity. (Often this turns out to be some kind of mistaken assumption about market dynamics, sometimes about your abilities.) 4. Iterate. This procedure is not guaranteed to terminate. But it does tend to converge.
- babyboy808 16y ago
  Thanks for the reply, good points. I disagree with the following though: "Imposing a deadline on a result that is largely beyond your control will serve no constructive purpose". True - that the goal is way beyond my control, but I think it forces me to take action and make it happen.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- megablast 16y ago
  Yes, but picking a deadline means that you put a time limit on the effort, and have a good guide on when you should just give up. If it is not working for you, you should give up and try something new, but when you are involved heavily in something, it can seem like the payout is just around the corner.
  - nostrademons 16y ago
    You have way more information on whether the effort is likely to succeed when the deadline rolls around than when you initially set the deadline. If the payout really is just around the corner, it's silly to give up on it just because an arbitrary deadline rolled around. I found it's much better to establish firm hypotheses when I begin a project, and then as I plan out the project, make sure that the hypotheses will either be validated or falsified along the way. If the premises under which I began the project have been proven false, then it's time to quit and do something else. But if all the premises hold yet it just takes twice as long to do everything as expected (which is fairly typical), it's worth sticking with it until the end.
onan_barbarian 16y ago
Start with $5M. Invest in a bunch of Web 2.0 startups, preferably ones blessed by Y Combinator. If you are lucky, you will still be a millionaire at the end of it.
- hajrice 16y ago
  +1 for making me laugh.
iamelgringo 16y ago
Make something people want.
- mkramlich 16y ago
  Yes and to refine that notion: * make a $1 priced thing that 1 million people want -or- * make a $1 million priced thing that 1 person wants
  - alexitosrv 16y ago
    make a thing of $1 of profit that 1 million people want make a $1 million of profit selling a thing that 1 person wants
    - mkramlich 16y ago
      thanks, but yes, that was assumed, and speaking in rough terms to convey the core idea ;)
- cabalamat 16y ago
  Ideally something that's scalable. I.e. you can make it once, and sell it lots of times.
henryw 16y ago
gotta love the ambition. here's a possible plan: 1) develop a skill, ie code a lot 2) try out a bunch of ideas quickly and find one that can make you rich. ideally, you want to find out if an idea will or will not work asap, ie 1 to 4 weeks. expect this to take many trials, like 10+. it doesn't matter when one don't work, you'd gained experience. the key is to find out quickly and not waste your whole 3 years on it. 3) when you find that one that works, juice it like no other. 4) get rich or [keep] trying
- babyboy808 16y ago
  Number 2 is an interesting point, thank you!
fjania 16y ago
Make enough money so you can save $333,333.34 each year.
- alexitosrv 16y ago
  Saving is highly underrated, so that actually will help...
- patrickk 16y ago
  It doesn't have to be $333,333.34 if you know how to invest. Or pick a high-interest savings account if you don't :)
chrisbennet 16y ago
Why? Why do you want to be millionaire? A little introspection and self knowledge might lead you to your real goals more directly. I've always been wildly successful at my goal - which was to be happy.
- mkramlich 16y ago
  Being happy won't buy a car, a house, health care for you and your family, happy won't buy vacations or trips (though they in turn do buy more happy & health), etc. Happy is good. Wealth + happy is even better. :)
  - rane 16y ago
    I personally don't think happiness works that way. http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy.html http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy.h...
- tjmc 16y ago
  This is a very legitimate question and it's disappointing to see it modded down. The people in our industry who only care about the money have names like Balmer and Ellison. Are they running the kinds of businesses that people here aspire to? Do you look to these people as your inspiration? How boring.
- alexro 16y ago
  If I'm already happy but just want to expand my horizon, isn't it bad to wish for 1 mln ?
clark-kent 16y ago
First thing you need to do, is determine how much income you want to be making. Are you happy with $1M net worth (in stocks and real estate) or do you want to make $1M USD annual income. I would rather have $100,000 monthly income than a $1M net worth on paper. I am not a millionaire yet. I would like my annual income to exceed $1M. I don't care much about net worth. Once you determine how much income you want to make, you can then decide how you are going to do it. Best way is a startup in a sizable market. Just my thoughts.
- chc 16y ago
  This got downvoted, but I think it's pretty insightful. If you're wiling to live in abject poverty, just work any six-figure job and you will be a millionaire in under a decade. If you want it in three years, make sure the job pays more than $300k.
  - perpetuity 16y ago
    True but the chances are slim that one can obtain a position at this pay scale. We are talking about ~.5% or so of all earners? In the world!
far33d 16y ago
Get a job on Wall Street. If wealth is the only goal, that's the easiest way.
ct 16y ago
One way is not by working for someone else ... unless you get very very lucky and the company is the next Google and IPOs. http://www.marshallbrain.com/million.htm http://www.marshallbrain.com/million.htm
waivej 16y ago
Don't make something people want. Instead take away a problem that people don't want to deal with. The uglier and stinkier the problem, the better. Then price very high and look for markets where people have more money.
- ojbyrne 16y ago
  Can you name some ugly, stinky problem that we haven't already farmed out to the third world?
inmygarage 16y ago
"Be so good they can't ignore you- I first heard this quote from Marc Andreessen, but he stole it from Steve Martin." I'm pretty sure this is also a reference to Ender's Game.
Alex3917 16y ago
If all you care about is making a million dollars in three years, just franchise three or four restaurants.
- starkfist 16y ago
  You would need to already have a million dollars to qualify to franchise three or four restaurants.
  - Alex3917 16y ago
    Yeah, but it doesn't have to be your money.
- cellis 16y ago
  You need millions and years of cutting red tape to set a franchise before you even see 1 red cent in profit. This: 1) Will take longer than 3 years to make 1 million. 2) Is probably not this man's expertise
ddemchuk 16y ago
Come up with your own Acai Weight Loss Rebill with good affiliate payouts and connect with a network. You're going to be beat up with chargebacks and product manufacturing issues, but you can make a million dollars a week if you get enough affiliates.
cellis 16y ago
Looking for incredibly boring, yet painful problems in industries like healthcare, oil/gas, real estate, and ecommerce. Build a solid product using .NET or Java. Charge massive consulting fees and hire some slick salesmen. I know several people who got rich doing this, but they were straight up businessmen, and thrived on solving boring, yet lucrative problems.
- bosment 16y ago
  Any pointers on how to find these incredibly boring, yet painful problems in industries?
  - BrandonM 16y ago
    Talk to people. Work in those industries. Be ever-vigilant for inefficiency. Et cetera.
SamReidHughes 16y ago
1. Devote your life to golf for 3 years. 2. Win the 2013 U.S. Open.
- Tichy 16y ago
  Ah, but it is generally accepted wisdom that it takes 10 years to become really good at something.
  - biosoup 16y ago
    not 10 years but 10 000 hours of practice
pfedor 16y ago
Get a job as a software engineer at a large company. Rent a small room, don't own a car, don't eat out, don't go to Hawaii for vacation, whatever it takes to save $250k in three years. Then go to Vegas and put everything on red twice. (Metaphorically speaking -- I don't know if they'd allow a $500k bet in Vegas. But in the wonderful world of contemporary financial markets, there are instruments to make any kind of bet one might desire, and probably the house's cut will be even lower than in roulette.) The obvious downside of this strategy is that it only works with the probability slightly less than 25%, otherwise you end up broke. But quite frankly, I doubt other ideas presented in this thread (make something people want, get on a TV show etc.) have better success rates. If there was a sure-fire way of getting from $0 to $1M in three years everyone would be doing it. If you're OK not only with ending up broke in case of a failure, but even being in debt, then you can increase you odds of success even further by using leverage.
- nl 16y ago
  This method is by far the best here. Not only does it make sense, but it allows you to see exactly what your odds of success are. Everyone acknowledges that both the "get famous" and the "do a startup" method have an element of luck, but this method allows you to quantify it. Also, if you did it there a non-zero chance that you could get famous and become rich though your fame (even if the Vegas bets failed).
  - starkfist 16y ago
    Except he'd have to first find a software engineering job that paid $150K/yr.
- gaborcselle 16y ago
  Your method works, but even if successful, you'll end up at $1M pre-tax, out of which $750 are gambling income. Gambling income is taxable in the US. If you win that much you might have to pay estimated taxes on that, so you'd only actually have $1M for a few months.
  - 16y ago
shalmanese 16y ago
Start with 10M, become an angel investor with 9M of it.
ww520 16y ago
What do you have to start with? - Your talent? - Your experience? - Your capital? - Your connection? Once you have a good assessment of yourself, we can talk.
johnl 16y ago
I would not even think business, takes longer. Think infomercial. For example: That star wars sword thingy was just a flash light on the end of a plastic tube and made the guy a million so I heard.
Tichy 16y ago
Move to Zimbabwe.
- poundy 16y ago
  This was a brilliant idea but unfortunately they no longer use Zimbabwean Dollar anymore, instead the economy has fully moved to USD (now they are legally allowed to do so).. Previously you would get paid in billions.. Zimbabwe's $100 billion banknote could buy you 3 eggs on its release date.
  - Tichy 16y ago
    Ah, too bad :-)
ErrantX 16y ago
> How to become a millionaire in 3 years? I've said this before: statistically speaking you are highly unlikely to achieve this. In fact in my experience those who set out to earn discrete amounts in a discrete time with no idea how to do it are those most unlikely to achieve it. The truth hurts. Others have said that setting a deadline is a good idea; which it usually is. Here is just limits your scope - very few things can earn you an initial $1Million in 3yrs, and most of them rely on luck or a lot of skill (and if you have that skill why are you here asking the question). With that out of the way there are sure fire ways to make a million: - work in corporate of finance positions, you can be on $100K+ in a few years with minimal effort and on bonuses shortly after. By living frugally you can earn $1Million in 5-8years no problem - find someone willing to "invest" $1 Million in you. Making another $1 Million with that is fairly easy if you are smart. But, ultimately, I think this falls well into the category of pipe dream :)
- nobutyestoo 16y ago
  Asking is a strong way of pursuing things. If you are able to ask yourself and others like you then you are doing it right. Don't be afraid of those who think that this is impossible. Ask yourself how to avoid thinking that it is impossible as a first step to make it possible.
  - ErrantX 16y ago
    > If you are able to ask yourself and others like you then you are doing it right. Maybe. In a very small number of cases. Most of the time it is people either a) struggling to come up with ideas or b) trying to figure out a way to solve their dream with minimum effort. > Don't be afraid of those who think that this is impossible. It's not technically impossible. But setting out to make $1Million in 3 years is generally a non-optimal approach. I'm a realist in the sense that I figured out a long time ago that truly impossible goals are worthless and, generally, counter productive. Here's an example of how to fix that; one of my long term goals is to go into Space. This is technically feasible now, but to do it I'd need a few million $'s - so that's a good hack, I can work to achieve my goal through some means and the money should be incidental to that. But it is not limiting because I may find another way to achieve this goal without the cost.
paolomaffei 16y ago
I don't want to become a millionaire but if there's one advice I can give you is stop reading HN and JFDI
tgoing 16y ago
Great question. I believe that almost everyone here in HN is trying to reach the same goal. I don't have $1M, but can't imagine that you would reach this goal (I suppose of having $1M available, meaning that you paid already your apartment and car) without learning how stocks work. I would say that you should learn do be "one day trader" first, and once you master that you could start investing in the long term, with a portfolio of stocks, bonds and other investments. This is how I imagine that one could have that sum of money. Anyone agree?
switch 16y ago
Your desire to not answer the question on why you want the money, your choosing a relatively ambiguous goal (millionaire), and the rather short time frame (3 short years) makes it really difficult to answer the question. How many million exactly would you want? what are '3 short years'? Would you be willing to put in 5?would you be willing to put in 10? What would you do after you had this money? Is it conceivable that you could make your millions doing what you 'dream' of doing right now instead of waiting for after you've made your money? Why do you have such a weak way of putting it - 'just want to hear people's thoughts about the idea'? Are you committed to it or not? Final question - Would you like to make a ton of money without working hard? actually that should have been my first question. Unless you start asking different questions you're setting yourself up for failure.
jagjit 16y ago
Do something you like. Life is too short not to spend on stuff that makes you happy. I believe chances are stuff you like will also pay you reasonably. 3 years is a long time to waste chasing a million dollars doing something you do not like.
rameshnid 16y ago
Wall street is the only way. If money is the goal, then LEVERAGE is important. The highest leverage given to a mans brain today is the Wall Street. In every other endeavor you have to personally do a lot of things right to even dream of the same leverage. But I guess, if u get the other things(Jason covers all of the things that I can come up with) maybe technology offers a similar leverage.
jacquesm 16y ago
Find something in one field and apply it to another. Disciplines tend to put up barriers to knowledge flowing in from other disciplines, if you are 'cross domain' you can easily capitalize on that. Becoming a millionaire in three years seems 'doable', after all it's only 300K per year or thereabouts, that's a little over $900 per day. You have to factor in taxes though, and that's where the catch is.
santacruz 16y ago
go trading -> go prop trading
norswap 16y ago
This I wonder : are there many millionaire who planned to become a millionaire ? Or is it just something that happens to people who pursue other (healthiers?) goals ?
shareme 16y ago
A slightly different approach: !. Marry Warren Buffet 2. Divorce Warren Buffet But all kidding aside, 3 years is too unrealistic.. Most do it in 5 to ten years..that is Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Steve Jobs, etc
vessenes 16y ago
If you are starting with '0', or even say 50k, you have one option: get lucky. There are no legitimate (meaning non-lucky, legal) investment returns available that will get you to $1mm in three years. Sorry! Time honored 'get lucky' options that make you look brilliant: 1) Options trading 2) Buy highly (say 100%) leveraged real estate just before a boom Now, let's say you have no money, but great social capital: awesome trading skills, and good connections, we can add an option: 3) Become a trader, running other people's money. Make good money. Now let's say you have awesome entrepreneurial skills, good social capital, and no money. We can add an option: 4) Buy a business with other people's money, taking a smallish cut. Grow the business / tart it up for sale. Sell it. There is a very rarely successful variant on this, which is 'buy someone's idea, and build it out and launch it with other people's money.' This is called doing a startup. Think of it as 4a. For most people, it's equivalent to just getting lucky. Now, let's say you're hot and super sexy, and you have a thing for the older guys/gals. We can add what is pretty much the final option if you aren't going to inherit: 5) Marry it.
nobutyestoo 16y ago
If you are able to convince others that you know the secret to become millionaire in 3 years, you can sell it to yours readers and do it real. You can bet that you will get 1 million in 3 years.
nobutyestoo 16y ago
You could make a web game that guarantees someone to be millionaire in 3 years. You have to make the game in such a way that you will be the one to get the price. That is you must be able to plan de game and how to take control of it. Some hidden seed can be the initial advantage to win.
hariis 16y ago
In the first year, save up 100K. In the same year, learn Options and Futures Trading from Pros and Paper Trade religiously for the first year. If you do well there, then start with real money in the second year and see how far you go.
- gxti 16y ago
  thinkorswim is an excellent broker for this specifically -- they not only have an excellent options trading platform, but you can sign up for free and papertrade with a 15m delay. It's all Java-based so it works great on Linux. That said, don't force it. It takes talent and dedication to beat the market. You will probably fail. I lost quite a bit of money trading single options, but I never traded money I needed and never borrowed money that wasn't closely guarded so I came out unscathed. I still suck but without a doubt a few people reading this post can succeed.
deleted 16y ago
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adrianwaj 16y ago
Work at a startup on a founding team. So not as founder or cofounder, but person #3 or #4. If the startup sells for $20M then you've made $1M, assuming equity of 5%. You'd have to prove to the founders that you're on their level, in passion and a combination of domain knowledge, contacts or skill/intelligence/talent, and that you're willing to go the long haul. Why not do a startup yourself? Risk, time and momentum. If making a million is like reaching the top of a building, you'll have to start climbing stairs. Find some people that have already created an escalator, and then with them create an elevator. These are some YC Startups, http://workatastartup.org/ http://workatastartup.org/ but you could just as easily go through crunchbase (eg the new additions) or something similar (a launch blog) to see what excites you.
dmurko 16y ago
It's funny how a lot of people say it's not possible, though there are hundreds of thousands of people on the internet who've done it (and I don't mean just exceptions). For example: affiliate marketing and the whole internet marketing scene is making teens millionaires. I've been in London on this guy's conference: http://www.georgemontagubrown.com/ http://www.georgemontagubrown.com/ He's become a millionaire in 2 years, starting when he was 17. Sure, he is somewhat "special", but I've been following internet marketing and there are 15 year olds that are making 5k$ /month just with affiliate marketing. You think you're at least as capable as 15 or 17 year old? I sure think I am. Though there is a bitter taste to it all - the above guy made 100k$ with a method, then he sold the method to the public and made himself a millionaire. Browse a little through IM scene and you'll see it's a totally different world. But it might not be your cup of tea. ;)
- ashconnor 16y ago
  You wasted your money going to his conference. He is obviously playing on the get rich quick mentality that many people seem to possess.
jg2009 16y ago
Excellent !! Tag me. All right ? Thanks,