4 ms·

I've learned that despite earning in the 98th %ile, working a job will likely not make me rich. I define rich as ~5M in assets including primary residence. Thus

I've learned that despite earning in the 98th %ile, working a job will likely not make me rich. I define rich as ~5M in assets including primary residence. Thus taking a "career" is a non-starter and I would advise everyone considering working for someone else to either 1) resign themselves to a distinctly middle class life or 2) reconsider and start a business. Careers that reliably earn > 500k could be considered equivalently good. Notably this excludes most STEM careers.

kjeetgill 7y ago
I'm struggling to find the balance between the life I'd like to lead eventually without over-compromising the life I'm leading now. Delayed gratification is one thing if there's a near guarantee of the goal in sight. (eg. college now, travel in a year or two). I think that's why you hear a lot of stories about people who regret trading passions for some unreached goal. Or maybe those are just more compelling/comforting stories we need to tell ourselves.
tonyedgecombe 7y ago
reconsider and start a business There was an interesting chart linked from here a couple of months ago, sadly I didn't bookmark it. It showed that the bottom decile of entrepreneurs earned less than the bottom decile of employees. The top decile eared a lot more than the top decile of employees. Everybody else was roughly equivalent. It seemed most of the entrepreneurs were happy with this, business wasn't a get rich scheme for them, rather a way to avoid traditional employment.
- quickthrower2 7y ago
  To me the lure of money is in the nit having to go to work. Work becomes a choice. 5mill might do that but a good side hustle might also have the same effect and be a lot easier to achieve.
  - prometheus76 7y ago
    I have a couple of family members who fall in the category you're talking about here, and here's what I've seen from them: 1) when you have a lot of assets, you still need to keep your eyes on them and have a system for monitoring and managing them quickly. But you never really get to the point of "set and forget". 2) You might be at a point where your income is essentially guaranteed for the rest of your life, and very adequate. But you probably only have a few (if any) friends in the same financial situation. That means that you might be able to stop working and just travel or do things you find interesting, but you will probably find that those things are only interesting for a short time when you are doing them alone. So you start a little side project for fun and for something to do, and it is successful and starts to grow quickly and now you are working again, because permanent vacation is honestly pretty boring.
- truth_be_told 7y ago
  Please do try and find the article/chart/video. I think it is very important to give it wider publicity. The reason is that, contrary to what the media might sell, "Small Businesses" make up the majority of Entrepreneurship (particularly in the Developing Nations) and this data might shed some insight on it. Entrepreneurship does NOT mean "go big or go home". It is basically setting an acceptable and steady level of income which gives one the necessary autonomy over one's own life. All mom-and-pop businesses fall under this category. I would love to look at some data on the size of this "Economy" which is often ignored completely.
  - muzani 7y ago
    Here's the closest I could find on it: https://80000hours.org/2016/02/what-the-literature-says-about-the-earnings-of-entrepreneurs/ https://80000hours.org/2016/02/what-the-literature-says-abou... It's not as drastic as I expected. It's mostly unincorporated income that's worse (freelancers, hairdressers, corner shops). They're mostly people who try to escape work even if it means a lower salary. The incorporated businesses earn more money across the board.
news_hacker 7y ago
Agreed, what makes this worse is that the tax system is not set up to benefit those who work jobs.
sethammons 7y ago
I understand that being an owner will have potential greater upside than being an employee almost ever will. I cannot think of a business idea for anything (at least, nothing with the possibility of profits, haha).
- amerine 7y ago
  I learned a lesson to solve this years ago: you are not talking to enough people. Start conversations. Ask questions. Don’t boast. Let people share their problems with you. Also, if you really can’t think of something start copying something you like, tonight, but worry about all of it from the start. How will you sell? How will you market? Write that shit down, and start copying.

kjeetgill 7y ago

I'm struggling to find the balance between the life I'd like to lead eventually without over-compromising the life I'm leading now. Delayed gratification is one thing if there's a near guarantee of the goal in sight. (eg. college now, travel in a year or two). I think that's why you hear a lot of stories about people who regret trading passions for some unreached goal. Or maybe those are just more compelling/comforting stories we need to tell ourselves.

tonyedgecombe 7y ago

reconsider and start a business There was an interesting chart linked from here a couple of months ago, sadly I didn't bookmark it. It showed that the bottom decile of entrepreneurs earned less than the bottom decile of employees. The top decile eared a lot more than the top decile of employees. Everybody else was roughly equivalent. It seemed most of the entrepreneurs were happy with this, business wasn't a get rich scheme for them, rather a way to avoid traditional employment.

quickthrower2 7y ago
To me the lure of money is in the nit having to go to work. Work becomes a choice. 5mill might do that but a good side hustle might also have the same effect and be a lot easier to achieve.
- prometheus76 7y ago
  I have a couple of family members who fall in the category you're talking about here, and here's what I've seen from them: 1) when you have a lot of assets, you still need to keep your eyes on them and have a system for monitoring and managing them quickly. But you never really get to the point of "set and forget". 2) You might be at a point where your income is essentially guaranteed for the rest of your life, and very adequate. But you probably only have a few (if any) friends in the same financial situation. That means that you might be able to stop working and just travel or do things you find interesting, but you will probably find that those things are only interesting for a short time when you are doing them alone. So you start a little side project for fun and for something to do, and it is successful and starts to grow quickly and now you are working again, because permanent vacation is honestly pretty boring.
truth_be_told 7y ago
Please do try and find the article/chart/video. I think it is very important to give it wider publicity. The reason is that, contrary to what the media might sell, "Small Businesses" make up the majority of Entrepreneurship (particularly in the Developing Nations) and this data might shed some insight on it. Entrepreneurship does NOT mean "go big or go home". It is basically setting an acceptable and steady level of income which gives one the necessary autonomy over one's own life. All mom-and-pop businesses fall under this category. I would love to look at some data on the size of this "Economy" which is often ignored completely.
- muzani 7y ago
  Here's the closest I could find on it: https://80000hours.org/2016/02/what-the-literature-says-about-the-earnings-of-entrepreneurs/ https://80000hours.org/2016/02/what-the-literature-says-abou... It's not as drastic as I expected. It's mostly unincorporated income that's worse (freelancers, hairdressers, corner shops). They're mostly people who try to escape work even if it means a lower salary. The incorporated businesses earn more money across the board.

news_hacker 7y ago

Agreed, what makes this worse is that the tax system is not set up to benefit those who work jobs.

sethammons 7y ago

I understand that being an owner will have potential greater upside than being an employee almost ever will. I cannot think of a business idea for anything (at least, nothing with the possibility of profits, haha).

amerine 7y ago
I learned a lesson to solve this years ago: you are not talking to enough people. Start conversations. Ask questions. Don’t boast. Let people share their problems with you. Also, if you really can’t think of something start copying something you like, tonight, but worry about all of it from the start. How will you sell? How will you market? Write that shit down, and start copying.