There is a famous (many claim infamous) person who uses catch phrases like "don't live below your means, expand your means" and "savers are losers." He purpose

There is a famous (many claim infamous) person who uses catch phrases like "don't live below your means, expand your means" and "savers are losers." He purposely uses hyperbole, possibly to break through the established messages being broadcast far and wide by the institutional investment consortium. Or maybe he just enjoys being a contrarian and having people sling hate at him, I do not know him personally, so I have no idea. Every time I use his name at HN I get down-voted, but I also know that SOME of his recommendations work. Such as "the best investment you can make is in your self/mind/thinking." He definitely rubs many people the wrong way, but just like when I read someone whom I think is a poor author but has a message to convey that contains truth, I find underlying reasoning/principles that work, or can be made to work for me, YMMV. For example, as stated in other comments here, multi-family rentals can be profitable, and are fairly straight forward to me, now that I have done the research. My wife and I are slowly accumulating properties that cash flow - They produce more in income than they require in expenses and debt service. Likewise arbitrage in paper assets and commodities is another way to structure gains - Having your money work for you, also called investing, in the more traditional sense of the word. I am currently studying Stock Options as a method for investing with insurance (hedging) and doing so with some leverage (buying a stock=1 to 1 - Buying an option is a ratio, like 1.50 to 100, depends on the option). The biggest rewards come from starting a business that can be grown to be so successful that it gets to IPO stage (financial exit), or is able to continue without the founders, if they so choose (royalty/profit distributions). That is the frequent path of the majority of contributors to HN, based on my reading. But all of it requires significant knowledge, the equivalent of another job. Knowing what/who to study is a challenge, mentors and coaches can speed up the processes significantly. If my conservative planning goes correctly, I expect to be earning more in passive income within 10 years than I have expenses to consume. Then, "work" takes on that optional quality. I will not stop working, but which projects I take may change drastically. I do not say this to toot my own horn, but to just state that it can work, if the person is sincere. All of that said, if you want to know more, please post such and I will answer any questions I can, what little I can offer, I have only been studying and doing this for about 5 years. An Internet search should definitely find who I am talking about, because as I said earlier, there are many who really dislike this author, but a number (like me) who have taken something away from him that works for them, and many people post. Again, YMMV.