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Being frugal is the biggest baloney to wealth. People like you and I obsess over it because $COST_OF_LIVING is the one variable of the Income Wealth Equation we

Being frugal is the biggest baloney to wealth. People like you and I obsess over it because $COST_OF_LIVING is the one variable of the Income Wealth Equation we can control. You want to become wealthy? Affect millions.

jacquesm 9y ago
Well, change frugal to 'don't be wasteful' then if that makes more sense to you. A friend of mine has four holidays per year, lives in an 800K euro house, has a whole pile of other interesting expenses and wonders out loud to me why he has no money left over. And that's with both him and his wife pulling in six figure salaries...
- ForRealsies 9y ago
  Sounds like your friend sacrificed the future for the today. But far, far too many of us are guilty of sacrificing today for a tomorrow 40 years from now. Get rich slow when you're 70, or get rich fast by working your ass off and being accountable for your wealth.
sliverstorm 9y ago
It's a two step process. 1) Make lots of money 2) Don't spend it all You need to succeed at both steps to be wealthy. However doing well at either step will still improve your circumstances.
- ForRealsies 9y ago
  Yes! You need an incredible flow of income to become wealthy (selling your company, book you wrote becomes a hit, etc). You cannot accomplish step 1 through a job. Rich people telling you to invest in mutual funds and treasuries to become wealthy are frauds. That's what you do to MAINTAIN wealth, not to generate wealth.
  - jacquesm 9y ago
    > You cannot accomplish step 1 through a job. Well, as the linked article and the various blog posts show, that isn't exactly true, especially not for people in IT. In IT you can accomplish step 1 through a job.
    - ForRealsies 9y ago
      You cannot scale yourself. You cannot demand a 200% raise from your boss. You can control your $COST_OF_LIVING, you can job hop to increase your income, but it is bounded. Just as a doctor can increase his number of patients but cannot work more than 60 hours a week.

jacquesm 9y ago

Well, change frugal to 'don't be wasteful' then if that makes more sense to you. A friend of mine has four holidays per year, lives in an 800K euro house, has a whole pile of other interesting expenses and wonders out loud to me why he has no money left over. And that's with both him and his wife pulling in six figure salaries...

ForRealsies 9y ago
Sounds like your friend sacrificed the future for the today. But far, far too many of us are guilty of sacrificing today for a tomorrow 40 years from now. Get rich slow when you're 70, or get rich fast by working your ass off and being accountable for your wealth.

sliverstorm 9y ago

It's a two step process. 1) Make lots of money 2) Don't spend it all You need to succeed at both steps to be wealthy. However doing well at either step will still improve your circumstances.

ForRealsies 9y ago
Yes! You need an incredible flow of income to become wealthy (selling your company, book you wrote becomes a hit, etc). You cannot accomplish step 1 through a job. Rich people telling you to invest in mutual funds and treasuries to become wealthy are frauds. That's what you do to MAINTAIN wealth, not to generate wealth.
- jacquesm 9y ago
  > You cannot accomplish step 1 through a job. Well, as the linked article and the various blog posts show, that isn't exactly true, especially not for people in IT. In IT you can accomplish step 1 through a job.
  - ForRealsies 9y ago
    You cannot scale yourself. You cannot demand a 200% raise from your boss. You can control your $COST_OF_LIVING, you can job hop to increase your income, but it is bounded. Just as a doctor can increase his number of patients but cannot work more than 60 hours a week.