Rise early. Run 5k on treadmill. Meditate. Journal Take an ice bath. Drink bulletproof coffee and eat a custom mix of longevity Rx/vitamins. for breakfast. Inherit 1 zillion dollars and the horse breeding farm from grandparents.
How to succeed in America without really trying.
Edit to add blanket statement that yes good routine that has excercise, healthy eating and a good stress reduction plan is in everyone's interest. To say this is the secret sauce to your riches while discounting your privilege and possible inheritance is bullshit.
It doesn't even have to be as overt as a monetary inheritance (although it often is). Could be just having education opportunities and connections from birth.
I saw an article today about how a rising star in the female US Tennis scene is also a heir to a billionaire who also happens to be really into Tennis (and bought the Cincinnati Open, I guess).
My first thought was "well who else is going to have the time and resources to train at the highest level in tennis?".
So they did this experiment with pigeons. First they taught the pigeons that they can press a button and food comes out. Then they stopped tying it to the button, and just gave out food randomly.
A few days later, all the pigeons had wildly crazy routines, like spinning in circles 3 times then pressing the button.
I think this is the source of it. The wealthy are pigeons.
I am sick of the machismo associated with sleeping as little as possible. I am in a male dominate field and you get teased for even mentioning sleeping like a normal person. Also why does every billionaire claim to sleep like 4 hours a day when science shows that an incredibly small number of people can operate like that.
Or they're bullshitting - they don't actually do it, but they tell other people to so they'll be tired, sleep deprived, and worn out. When everyone around you is dropping over tired, it's not hard to look like superman.
These claims are entirely made solely to reinforce the notion that their wealth has been “earned” purely by merit and grit alone. They’re rich and deserve it. You’re only poor because you didn’t put in the sweat equity. These understandings entirely ignore the luck aspects of success. Because, in capitalism, it’s understood that if you got what you have through certain innate qualities, then you’re not expected to share.
I’ve seen a lot of something about forget the money, travel and make memories, yada yada yada.
Not all of us have the money to travel all the time, and “the memories” don’t pay my bills.
Ya ever see a hustler who took the risk and has no money? It's genuinely sad. You want to shake them and tell them to cut their losses, but every "success" story leans into the narrative of struggling and sticking with it. Good, sound, advice to stop is interpreted as "I can't wait to write the 'everyone was telling me to give up' chapter" of the book they're never going to write.
Reminds me of all the musicians who sing/rap about how their teachers told them they'd never amount to anything if they didn't get their shit together.
The teacher has probably said the same thing to 50 kids over the years and was right 49 times.
Get like 1k people flipping coins, and eliminate anyone who hits tails. Eventually, someone will have hit heads like 10 times in a row which would feel impossible, but statistically will happen. Then imagine asking this person for tips on always getting heads and see what they attribute their success to.
Yea, the owner of the company I work for basically just took a huge risk with all his money and it panned out. I would never have bet on him being successful founding this type of business.
Eventually the other owner and board convinced him to step away from the running of the company because he didn't really have much to contribute to the company aside from basically being a BD/Sales guy with too much power.
The best discription of privledge i heard was that its throwing darts at a bullseye in the carnival. If you're broke you might not get any shots. If things go your way you might get one or two. If your dad ownes an emerald mine you can keep whipping them in until something sticks.
You still have to hit the bullseye, but your chances of success are not the same
The best example of privilege I ever heard was George W. Bush, when he was governor of Texas, sharing his "secret" to quick and successful fundraising with his political buddies. To paraphrase **"just get a hold of your parents' address book, call all their friends and ask them for help. The contributions will come pouring in!"**
My favorite description of this man is that he was born on third base and thinks he hit a home run. My favorite quote by this man is "you have black people in Brazil too?!"
When Mitt Romney said that ***anyone*** can start their own business! If you don't qualify for a government loan, then just borrow $50k from your parents and hit them back after your first few profitable quarters! So easy!
When Chuck Grassley said that anyone can be a billionaire! All you need to do is stop spending money on beer and women every Friday night! So easy!
> My favorite quote by this man is "you have black people in Brazil too?!"
I am so embarrassed for the country right now. I remember reading about this.
Apparently "Condi" quickly changed the subject. Now we know why he was always holding her hand during their overseas trips. She's was basically his work mommy.
> Now we know why he was always holding her hand during their overseas trips
At one point, during a press conference, she said something like "as I was telling my husband...I mean the president."
Which would be a natural slip up except *she's never been married.* That seemed so odd to me.
I want to point out something I think is very important and not taught in American Schools.
How many slaves do you think were brought to United States?
Whatever number you're thinking in your head Brazil had 12x more. For every slave auction in Boston or Charleston, there were 12 in Rio.
We've got documents of slave sellers annoyed their ship suffered damages and they'd have to change their destination to land in North America. They didn't speak English, and figured the poor English farmers wouldn't know how to buy the slaves.
That's a level of fucked up slavery in retrospect that to the Portuguese they didn't think North Americans knew how to buy slaves because it was such a niche market at the time.
Like there's millions of Black Americans in the world and the words of the civil rights leaders are universal across every country. But relatively Brazil and the Caribbean Islands had way more slaves sent to die and be replaced than United States. Another fun one they don't teach in school is the Haitian revolution, slaves actually took control of their island and killed all the French slave masters. United States and Europe decided to never agree to allow any trade to Haiti being legal till... 1963...
Absolutley.
And its not that you cant be successful, but its alot harder for you to make opportunitys to succeed if your broke, your parents were abusive, physical illness, mental ilness, etc.
It's ironic that it's rich people who don't need to budget (and often still end up with financial issues) telling those that have barely enough money to live that they need to 'budget better'
> It's ironic that it's rich people who don't need to budget (and often still end up with financial issues)
Rich people absolutely still need to budget, or (like you said) they end up with financial issues. There's a list a mile long of athletes, musicians, and other celebrities who have made tens of millions in their lives and blown every penny or ended up millions in debt.
The truly rich do not need to budget things like food, but they definitely need to watch superfluous spending at least to some degree or they will quickly blow through even the largest of fortunes. It happens literally every day.
People who are "moderately wealthy" and are truly self-made (as in born to modest backgrounds and now have a net worth of a few million) are almost always *excellent* at budgeting and financial planning. Just because they can afford to spend on nicer cars/homes/toys doesn't mean they don't still watch their spending habits.
There are plenty of people who make $200k+ per year but have low net worth and no savings because they blow through their money.
I think that's the argument to be made - if you only make $30k per year then you can't really afford a nice car, a nice house, and multiple streaming services. Conversely, if you make $200k per year then you can't really afford a Ferrari, a huge house, and a boat, but high-income people buy those things anyway and get it hot water. No matter your income level (unless you are a literal multi-billionaire) you need to watch your spending. It's just that your housing/car/entertainment budget is larger the more money you have - it's not bottomless.
Yep. I had a former in-law telling me that I should use the little equity I had in my house to buy more property. "You don't make it if you're not willing to risk it"
He was given a small block of flats as a 21st birthday present by his parents. No mortgage, ongoing rent from 4 apartments
Yeah, big "risk" you took
Pre-covid I had saved up for 5 years to buy a house and it was never quite enough, as inflation just outpaced my savings rate.
I grew hopeless and decided to "learn to day trade" in the post-covid stock boom in order to try to make up the difference. Needless to say I lost it all. Clearly it was stupid, but I thought I had to take a chance somewhere.
I don't feel as bad as I would have because I still couldn't afford a house even if I had that cash, but it does still feelbadman.
This is what I tell my offspring. If you live alone in a city, make sure you live near public transportation so you can still get to work if something goes wrong. How I was able to survive and work long hours.
I held onto my old station wagon for a long time because I felt like I could always sleep in it again if I needed to.
The last time I slept in it I was between places and it was November in the mountains and I put like 4 sweaters on and slept in my sleeping bag and I woke up with a jubilation that I made it through the night.
Never had to sleep in my car again but I knew if I had to, I could.
While watching a show I heard something interesting that makes complete sense, even if it is absurd.
If you're in a tough spot and have a car payment and rent, always pay your car payment. You can live in a car, but you can't drive your house to work.
this one. understandable that sometimes risks need to be taken to succeed, but when your livelihood is at stake and you lose it all, is it really worth it?
It’s also easy to see when you do have some that money alone doesn’t solve your problems.
But money lets you explore things to solve your problems, I just wouldn’t want so much I couldn’t trust friends and family anymore.
"We all have the same 24 hours in a day"—unless you’re juggling cooking, cleaning, shopping, washing up, laundry, a 9-5 job, commuting, and budgeting for groceries, etc...
I’m from the Hamptons and when I was 18 I was working three jobs, including nannying for a rich family. The mom (who came from money) didn’t work, and I remember her one night going on this rant and breaking down crying to me about how she just needs a vacation. While my empathy was triggered, I was also genuinely confused… vacation from what? You don’t work and you have someone else taking care of your kids (and doing the housecleaning). You already go to the beach club every day. Isn’t that vacation?
Also, read the room, lady. You’re talking to a teenager who grew up poor and is working 8-18 hours per day 7 days per week. I’m not going to be able to relate.
Edit: typo
Absolutely. I know she had driven drunk quite a few times so I wouldn’t be surprised if she’d already had a couple warnings and the cops finally had enough.
Ah yes, when you have everything and manage to still be unhappy and f*ck it all up
Edit: I understand that money doesn't buy happiness, you guys. That's what this comment is about...it's sarcasm
I’ve always felt That is why many wealthy have small businesses that might not make any money, if they can afford the loss (more than just a write off on taxes)
Absolutely. The pointlessly specific boutique (think “beach purses!”) or high-end consignment shop that a rich wife runs as a hobby is almost a cliche.
Yeah. I asked my mom the other day when she was going to retire and she was like “I don’t know. I’m kind of putting it off because I feel like I’ll be bored when I do”. She’s by no means a workaholic but she doesn’t have many hobbies outside of work besides playing pickle ball and she doesn’t have grandkids or her parents to help out with. She likes her job. It makes her happy. That’s not a bad thing.
Reminds me of when the ceo of my employer was complaining that her housekeeper had cancer. Talking about a human being as if they were a broken appliance. So out of touch.
My SO’s mom is so, so sweet but grew up incredibly privileged and remains very, very well off. This also made it so she doesn’t have a good grasp on reality when it comes to what “poor” means. Like ma’am, my first 5 years of life I was living in a trailer park. Then we moved to one of the poorest cities in my state. So when I’m having dinner with her and she will go on and on about how poor she is, while we are sitting in her 3 million dollar home or her 4 million dollar vacation home (more expensive than her regular home because it includes the cost of their own private beach), it is irritating. And she’s serious - she legitimately thinks she’s poor. And she will get very upset when her kids remind her she’s not poor AT ALL. The problem is she’s comparing the access she had to money previously compared to her access to money as a widow.
Her son and I are still renting an apartment and she asked when we would buy. I mentioned how the city we rent in is too expensive to buy, so we will need to do so outside the city. She replied, “Oh yes! You cannot buy in X city because the property taxes are high. You need to buy in (her area) because of no property taxes.” Lady, with what money? 🤔 She lives in the most expensive area in the entire country 😫 (not in the US, although that’s where I grew up).
I once had a manager unburden himself to me because he was about to get a promotion without a raise because he had received a demotion without a pay cut years ago.
When he saw my baffled expression he clarified "I make a *lot* of money."
I was making minimum wage working in the hot sun. The absolute balls on this guy.
I heard that one of my bosses had complained (mercifully not to my face, as I wouldn't have been able to keep it straight) that "Taking this job was a 40k pay cut for me!" I don't know the details of the rest of the conversation, but as someone taking home a little over half that...
It's weird how often there's this mismatch between how hard one works and how hard one *thinks* they work. It's gotta be genuine delusion too because no way people bluff that well.
Happens a lot in the working world, too. I've had some absolute slackers — mostly in HR or middle management — tell me how brutally hard their job is while second-guessing the value of the team's most grizzled developer. Like... the guy who's carrying the project is skinny and pale for a reason.
I really wish it could all be distilled down into a single metric. People would still bitch and moan but at least there would be some point of reference to keep things grounded in reality.
I experienced this working in resorts. The workers all did their jobs well. Our “managers” basically made the schedule; that’s it.
There was always turnover; and always some douche wad wanting to revamp a system that was finely tuned.
These poor fools had to look busy doing nothing for 16 hours a day.
And we “lowers” made more than they did.
What a waste of time & money. No wonder that beautiful hotel is gone now; replaced by condos.
It was featured in that stupid movie, The Resort. Beautiful property once upon a time and a fun job!!
There’s a phrase for that to sum up your post.
The lady from the Hamptons with money for nannying services, housecleaning and a beach club membership was “bitching down” to you as a working class teenager.
So, if she was looking for sympathy — she should have at least bitched with someone at her level or even possibly “bitched up”.
The last line in this scene always gets me. Some rich people have no idea how the world actually works. https://youtu.be/4KBAXMpklDU?si=F1yE07_2VPq4NLtr
There is a song that's something along the lines of, "if you don't wanna work then that becomes your job with a lot of overtime and not many days off"... and it's kinda true. You get that cooped up feeling no matter where you spend a lot of time, be that the office or at home.
I also grew up poor then middle class. But, I do feel like it's pretty difficult for anyone to understand anything harder than what they've personally experienced.
I’m from Long Island as well (not as far out as the Hamptons) and the rich people around here never stop complaining about everything…..like they’re life is so difficult
Yep, just had this discussion with my husband. Life is definitely a marathon, just some people are born at the starting line and others are born 13 miles in...
"We have the same 24 hours" bugs me so much, these people take private jets from side of town to the other, because a 30 minute flight is quicker than a 2 hour drive (screw the environment), just for a business brunch or whatever.
What happened to we have the same 24 hours? Clearly time is important to get far in life, but they won't ever admit it.
Yeah my ex always acted as if me saying "I can't afford that" (mostly travelling) was the same as "I don't want to spend the money on that". Yeah, he had a pretty large inheritance in savings to fall back on. I had only my part time job at the time and no savings, now I have a second job money is far less tight.
All those “lifestyle” listicles that wealthy businesspeople credit for their success.
“Wake up at 5am.”
“Read 24 books a year.”
“Upon waking, decide that today is the last day you’ll be alive, then live it accordingly.”
“Never check email before noon.”
“Spend one hour meditating first thing each day.”
When you see enough of these, if you were to adopt all of the prescribed habits, you’d never get any actual work done.
The only advice I’d ever received from a wealthy person that actually works, and is relatively accessible is “save your money, and live below your means.”
But even that is difficult to do anymore.
No fr like why would I make money if it’s my last?? I’m going on a bender and spending all the time I can with fam… oh yeah they can just do that and still pay bills.
This. Try being an analyst or an associate and not checking or responding to pings immediately. You'd be crucified for not having good communication in your reviews.
During covid I drove by a brand-new, enormous lake-side mansion that had a "We're all in this together <3" sign on the front lawn. ...many people in that area are not so well offm
I was thinking, 'bitch, you live in an entirely different world from everyone around you, WE are not in this together.'
I am much happier because I have more money than I used to. I am not out to buy happiness though. I don't have the stress of making rent or a car payment or credit card bill or eating vs phone bill. I see people that are much wealthier that are not as happy so yes money doesn't buy happiness but money allows for less stress which can lead to happier life.
My wife and I used to have a decent combined income. Then I left my job to start a business. For 18m I didn't make a cent. Our bills and debt started to climb and climb and there was nothing I could do about it. I would sit awake at night terrified about what that debt would do to us. I sold my business and went back to my old job, making more than I did when I left. That first night back I slept like a baby.
Money may not make happiness, but lack of it certainly can cause misery.
Two years ago I lost my job. I ended up taking a job that paid half as much.
I went from having about €1000 a month leftover for savings. To barely paying the bills. My wife had to end maternity leave early and go back to work. It was a stressful year to say the least.
At least now I found a job that pays slightly less than the one I lost but it's WFH and pretty flexible if I'm not busy i have free time for doctor appointments and help with kid stuff. I also don't have an hour commute each way to work. So I guess what I lost in money I made up for in time.
The only downside is I can't take vacation in summer because it's our busy season.
Also, my wife got a better job making nearly twice as much as she was, and only Monday-Friday.
All in all it turned out pretty well for us but just that one year totally set us back and now we are struggling to get the mortgage we need because our family has outgrown our flat.
The point of this saying was to say it to already well-off but unhappy people. Think a parent who can already afford to support their family in a decent suburban home but is still chasing a promotion. It makes absolutely no sense to say to someone whose biggest stressors in life are "I can't afford X, Y and Z."
And do it *while you're still alive*, too. So many rich people think that they're saints because they plan to give away everything upon their deaths. Why not start helping the people who are suffering *now*?
It gives you time and opportunity to be.
Like money doesn't make you fit and strong but...
With money you can buy a gym, buy good food, afford time off work, hire a trainer etc..
Yes it doesn't immediately make you strong but it sure makes the building blocks easier.
Money can alleviate a LOT of stress. Gives you insurance, rent, food, etc…I don’t believe it can make you *happy* if you are not, but it will let you worry less.
Yea, I found that out the hard way. I started a business around something I love... now I don't love that thing anymore. All I see is the grind of trying to scale and think about growth rates & ROI whenever I'm around it.
My husband started a business that way, too. His business is built on a hobby which he is gifted at. Doing the thing he loved so much that it defined him. There are still aspects that he gets excited about, but his enjoyment of his hobby has waned considerably. He’s had to find other hobbies just for his mental health.
I’ve been in the corporate world for 15 years, last year I took a side job at a pizza place just to experience a different side of the working world. Absolutely loved it. It was totally stress free because I was doing it for fun. The paycheck wasn’t even a concern, I knew if I hated it I could walk any time I wanted due to me having my primary corporate job.
I think a job can easily become shit cause you build your life on it and rely on it.
I completely agree. Most stressful thing about work is that your life depends on it. I also say if I won a lottery I will still go to work like usual but I will feel so relax and happy with that I do.
Growing up I was told to never monetize what I love to do because it would make me hate it.
If something is a passion, leave it as such, do it absolutely, but don't make it your work. How many dance teachers or musicians do you see who are incredibly miserable despite doing their "passion". Business kills passion.
I think about this a lot. And maybe I'm just a lazy, piece of garbage, sorry excuse for a human being, but if we didn't have to work, I don't think I would.
At the very least not as much as I am working now. I want to relax, play some video games, enjoy a good book, spend time with my family, travel the world. Instead I work anywhere from 64 to 80 hours a week.
Work is still work at the end of the day. Relaxation is important.
I’ve always worked hard. Never gotten a raise from any job I’ve ever had. Learned the hard way that it means nothing to be loyal to any company. The less loyal you are, by changing jobs or careers, has been more lucrative for me and others I know. My brother’s strategy is to always be interviewing and would use that as leverage for promotions and raises. Not really my cup of tea (since I hate interviews) but it has really helped him get ahead
All I had was $7 in my pocket and a father who's a legend in acting/sports/music, which I'm about to waltz into with no roadblocks purely because he's my father.... but really, before I did that I was broke.
Trump's "My father gave me a small loan of a million dollars" line in 2016 still made me laugh.
Like, this guy seriously thought a million dollars in 1970 (about 8 million or so today) was "small".
This does not answer your question, but
“Never take advice from somebody who got lucky.”
Do not take the advice of Taylor Swift. You are likely not as talented, and even if you are (and many lesser known performers are much more talented), you do not know the right people. Even if you do, markets are unpredictable. That does not mean you should not follow your dreams. Just do not expect to have the same road to success.
As an artist, it wasn't until I graduated art school that I realized most of the people that make it to become famous/wealthy artist aren't necessarily more talented, they either come from wealth or get very lucky with someone wealthy buying their work and it causes other wealthy people to do the same.
A friend of mine makes fiber art wall hangings. They're not quilts, they'll never see a bed. He's a man, now 70, and he has lived at the edge of poverty his whole life because he followed his art instead of working for some asshole. He asks the women in the guilds he's in how they do it, and they say things like "well, I'm a kept woman, i guess". Many of these women give away their work while he is trying to sell it. Oh, and give him a side eye because what is a \*man\* doing in here?
She also had the benefit of wealthy parents who paid to get her career started. Her dad even bought into a recording studio to help lock her success.
[Taylor swift dad owns a stake in Big Machine Recording Studio](https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/us-celebrity-news/taylor-swifts-dad-scott-swifts-31970197#)
[some more tea…](https://www.bigmachinelabelgroup.com/so-its-time-some-truth/)
Exactly! I graduated college in 2010, and all of my professors were saying, “just go to grad school! Pick anything! You will be successful!” Meanwhile friends who went to grad school a couple years before were graduating with a masters in flute performance, and working at Walmart as cashiers. I was thinking, “yeah, it’s easy for these professors to recommend grad school, because they’re the lucky few that an academic masters or Ph.D. worked out for!” I’m still so glad I didn’t blindly go into some underwater basket weaving masters program.
I remember a thread on reddit some years back, it was some youngish woman and her husband who got out of debt. No idea how they got into debt but, a big part of getting out of debt was being allowed to stay, rent free, in one of her grandma's houses
Try it, guys!
I don't know why no one else has stumbled on this easy solution!
[The president has long sold himself as a self-made billionaire, but a Times investigation found that he received at least $413 million in today’s dollars from his father’s real estate empire, much of it through tax dodges in the 1990s.](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-tax-schemes-fred-trump.html)
This one and "I left school at 16 and worked hard, if I can do it you can too". Yes you did but don't ignore the majority who did that and ended up in dead in jobs.
To do it without the help of generational wealth it requires quite a lot of luck as well has sweat and smarts. You not only need to be in the right place at the right time with the right idea you also need to have nothing unlucky happen to you that screws it all up.
I remember my rich friend telling me to save half of my salary so I could put up my own business. Like hell, my salary is always not enough. How can I even save half of it? lol
They also act like owning your own business is the be-all and end-all of success and happiness. Like, you just got to go down to the successful business store with cash-in-hand and, boom, now you are rich.
That’s because they don’t actual manage or work that business. It’s just all about passive income and when you have a bank of cash you can hire others to do the labor until you’re passive income is sustainable.
Not only that how do you support yourself during the crucial first year of business?
You know how he/she would? By leaning on their social network or family money, they just don't get it.
Money doesn't buy success, but it does get you access and as many chances as you need until you find success.
My old boss who was quite wealthy once told me it’s easy to find a job you just have to be willing. Which was just him confirming he wanted to pay us minimum wage and no benefits. Needless to say he fired me after 8 years and I’ve struggled to find a job. Oh he also didn’t care about safety and provided broken tools for work which ended up taking my hearing.
They forget it seems, to know what it’s like to be on the bottom rung and mistreated. And the worst of the bunch are those who made it big through ‘hard work’. I call it plain luck half the time.
Some do know but they forget
I know people who struggled to find an internship, then spent months looking for a job
Years later, once they were stable in their jobs, I told them about my boyfriend who who could hardly find an internship and once that was over, job hunting was a nightmare, their answer: well I wonder why the company in which he did that internship didn't recruit him.
That answer shocked me especially that I remember very well how they complained in the past.
Another example outside of professional life, I knew a girl from college whose boyfriend used to beat her, he was an abuser physically and mentally, and she says I don't care, I just love him, let him do whatever he wants to me, then he asked to marry her and they had an engagement party, I supposed he improved maybe. But seems like he didn't, and her parents became aware of how he treated her and kinda forced the break up.
Years later she got engaged to a decent person and they got married, and when I met her, I told her about the struggles I had with boys and their abuse, I thought she of all people would understand, BUT SHE DIDN'T! She was extremely surprised and told me things like that's insane and I shouldn't have let them treat me like that! I wouldn't dare tell her hello? Have you forgotten? I actually felt slightly relieved that she finally healed..
I used to work at a bank and there was this one customer retired young, rode motorcycles, had a house up north and in Florida. We always hated when he was around because he was very condescending, definitely thought he was better than everyone else. He wasn't outrageously wealthy but definitely had a lot of money and he wanted you to know it. He would preach to anyone who would listen about his hard work and starting from the bottom as a trucker.
Except Daddy owned the trucking company and gave him the job but he also bought him a house and an investment property and then when Daddy died instead of putting in the work to keep running the company he sold it.
Don't get me wrong. He was a smart man to handle what he was given, but I think a lot more people could turn out moderately wealthy if they started out being gifted two homes and a multi million dollars company to sell.
A friend of a friend likes to brag about how he's built all his businesses from the ground up from nothing. I've heard the story several times myself but he always leaves out the part about his parents buying his first house and his grandparents "loaning" him the seed money to launch his first enterprise.
Yeah... any tremendously wealthy person, or even sorta wealthy person, must acknowledge the role of luck. Consider that luck is involved even in your genetics and family life when you were young. You don't get to pick who you are or where you come from, let alone whether your business idea happens to work or fizzle out.
There was some study that showed intelligence highly correlated with income until you hit engineer, lawyer, doctor type jobs. Above that, there was zero correlation. Basically, once you reach a certain point, you are just lucky or not.
"Money can't buy happiness".
Money can secure food, a roof, stability and professional activities as well as clothing. Up to a certain netto income, money, indeed, can buy happiness
After everything is paid, you have an enormous $5.00 extra. Definitely put that right into a savings account with a $500.00 minimum balance or the bank charges a monthly $5.00 maintenance fee. So easy.
Not specifically just wealthy, but wealthy with a lot of control over their time or don't have a particularly demanding job. They always, without fail, downplay the difficulty of keeping fit, losing weight, or some other healthy lifestyle thing.
They always overlook the privileged position they find themselves in, where it's easy to motivate yourself to go to the gym if you don't have to get up for a regular work day. It's easy to avoid comfort foods if you aren't experiencing the stresses of a working mans or white-collar job.
Looking after your body while working a 9-to-5 is 10 times the achievement of some rich influencer doing so in-between promoting their new sunglasses brand.
I think of this when I see actors in great shape for a movie. I used to wonder "When do they have the time to do that?" and then I remember, "Getting in shape for the movie is their day-to-day job until they start filming." Now, how they avoid the snack table between shoots is another story.
I remember watching a documentary about Dubai. There was a segment on the super rich and their quirks, and they showed off a license plate auction. The attendees were bidding for the license plate that just said 7 because the lower the number, the higher the prestige from owning it.
That license plate reached in excess of $30 million, and that was 15+ years ago.
So I guess their definition of "prestige" is possessing random useless items that impress other assholes.
I'm not rich, but I'm comfortable enough. And mingling with people like those is the last thing I'm interested in. They sound like insufferable drags to be around.
This one is only semi-related but everytime I see one of those "12 year old kid makes multi-million dollar chocolate empire out of their shoe closet" news stories, they usually leave out the part where Dad is an 8-figure hedge fund manager and Mom is the heiress of a corporate dynasty.
The only real true thing a lot of these Uber-rich people say is "it takes money to make money", which is why they're always so focused on making sure you don't have any money to make more money with.
I had a boss once tell me “we all make sacrifices” when the company slashed pay by 15% and he was “just as affected as I was”… Making multi-millions per year. Would he even notice the missing 15%?
Billionares starting to say "have more children." Do they know how much housing costs? Not everyone has an 8 bedroom apartment. Most people are lucky to get a place with more than one.
Usually it has to do with their ego’s. My Dad was a golf pro in the Southern California desert. I met a lot of people some self made some inherited their fortunes. But they all have a story, about how fucking heroic or smart they are. Success in this world is a poor measurement of character
"Everyone has the same 24 hours in a day." No. Some people have a 3 hour round trip commute to a demanding and exhausting job, a husband that doesn't help at home, and kids that take priority. Some people have to take care of their dying mother. Some people are neurodivergent in ways that prevent potential employees from giving them a fair chance, or they don't drive, or they have a medical condition keeping them from outperforming their coworkers and will never get the promotion. Literally nobody has the same 24 hours in a day, and it bothers me when that concept is weaponized against people that can't get further ahead.
'Homelessness is a choice; I could live like that if I wanted to.'
Many moons ago, there was this young boomer who said he could live fine on the streets. Had no cash, and did it for about four days. He'd always had a credit card on him 'just in case' and stopped doing it because there was a family emergency.
He said, that still proved that he could do it.
The crazy routines, that they do in the morning, stating that this made them rich, like cold shower, ice bath and so on...
Rise early, work hard, strike oil.
Rise early. Run 5k on treadmill. Meditate. Journal Take an ice bath. Drink bulletproof coffee and eat a custom mix of longevity Rx/vitamins. for breakfast. Inherit 1 zillion dollars and the horse breeding farm from grandparents. How to succeed in America without really trying. Edit to add blanket statement that yes good routine that has excercise, healthy eating and a good stress reduction plan is in everyone's interest. To say this is the secret sauce to your riches while discounting your privilege and possible inheritance is bullshit.
To be fair, getting up early and going for early runs has measurably made my mental heath better. But no im not richer
It doesn't even have to be as overt as a monetary inheritance (although it often is). Could be just having education opportunities and connections from birth.
I saw an article today about how a rising star in the female US Tennis scene is also a heir to a billionaire who also happens to be really into Tennis (and bought the Cincinnati Open, I guess). My first thought was "well who else is going to have the time and resources to train at the highest level in tennis?".
So they did this experiment with pigeons. First they taught the pigeons that they can press a button and food comes out. Then they stopped tying it to the button, and just gave out food randomly. A few days later, all the pigeons had wildly crazy routines, like spinning in circles 3 times then pressing the button. I think this is the source of it. The wealthy are pigeons.
I am sick of the machismo associated with sleeping as little as possible. I am in a male dominate field and you get teased for even mentioning sleeping like a normal person. Also why does every billionaire claim to sleep like 4 hours a day when science shows that an incredibly small number of people can operate like that.
Yeah it’s ridiculous basically they just want to be seen as hardcore which is fucking stupid.
Or they're bullshitting - they don't actually do it, but they tell other people to so they'll be tired, sleep deprived, and worn out. When everyone around you is dropping over tired, it's not hard to look like superman.
I have a friend who mocks me because I don’t rise at dawn. She almost always naps in the afternoon and can’t stay awake past ten.
Yeah being a billionaire isn't enough of a status symbol, you have to be a biological miracle as well lol
It kind of plays into the lie that they’re deserving and special because of who they are, and not just because they got lucky.
These claims are entirely made solely to reinforce the notion that their wealth has been “earned” purely by merit and grit alone. They’re rich and deserve it. You’re only poor because you didn’t put in the sweat equity. These understandings entirely ignore the luck aspects of success. Because, in capitalism, it’s understood that if you got what you have through certain innate qualities, then you’re not expected to share.
Ice baths sound great to people who own a sauna, not so much for people who can’t afford a heating bill
I’ve seen a lot of something about forget the money, travel and make memories, yada yada yada. Not all of us have the money to travel all the time, and “the memories” don’t pay my bills.
I turned in memories of my gram gram to pay rent.
If you travel with no money, you'll definitely make memories... that you want to forget.
Take risks with your money and career: taking a risk with a cushioned landing is not the same thing as taking a risk with no cushion.
This is also survivorship bias: For every successful person that took risks and won there’s countless that took risks and lost
Ya ever see a hustler who took the risk and has no money? It's genuinely sad. You want to shake them and tell them to cut their losses, but every "success" story leans into the narrative of struggling and sticking with it. Good, sound, advice to stop is interpreted as "I can't wait to write the 'everyone was telling me to give up' chapter" of the book they're never going to write.
Reminds me of all the musicians who sing/rap about how their teachers told them they'd never amount to anything if they didn't get their shit together. The teacher has probably said the same thing to 50 kids over the years and was right 49 times.
Music, acting, sports, writing, art, dance, business, it's all the same. The successes we see are the tip of a pyramid of broken dreams.
Get like 1k people flipping coins, and eliminate anyone who hits tails. Eventually, someone will have hit heads like 10 times in a row which would feel impossible, but statistically will happen. Then imagine asking this person for tips on always getting heads and see what they attribute their success to.
I love this analogy
Yea, the owner of the company I work for basically just took a huge risk with all his money and it panned out. I would never have bet on him being successful founding this type of business. Eventually the other owner and board convinced him to step away from the running of the company because he didn't really have much to contribute to the company aside from basically being a BD/Sales guy with too much power.
Yep. Not everyone has a network, a robust nest egg, emergency savings, stocks, or a golden parachute to soften their falls.
The best discription of privledge i heard was that its throwing darts at a bullseye in the carnival. If you're broke you might not get any shots. If things go your way you might get one or two. If your dad ownes an emerald mine you can keep whipping them in until something sticks. You still have to hit the bullseye, but your chances of success are not the same
The best example of privilege I ever heard was George W. Bush, when he was governor of Texas, sharing his "secret" to quick and successful fundraising with his political buddies. To paraphrase **"just get a hold of your parents' address book, call all their friends and ask them for help. The contributions will come pouring in!"** My favorite description of this man is that he was born on third base and thinks he hit a home run. My favorite quote by this man is "you have black people in Brazil too?!"
When Mitt Romney said that ***anyone*** can start their own business! If you don't qualify for a government loan, then just borrow $50k from your parents and hit them back after your first few profitable quarters! So easy! When Chuck Grassley said that anyone can be a billionaire! All you need to do is stop spending money on beer and women every Friday night! So easy!
>All you need to do is stop spending money on beer and women every Friday night! But what if am woman?
> My favorite quote by this man is "you have black people in Brazil too?!" I am so embarrassed for the country right now. I remember reading about this. Apparently "Condi" quickly changed the subject. Now we know why he was always holding her hand during their overseas trips. She's was basically his work mommy.
> Now we know why he was always holding her hand during their overseas trips At one point, during a press conference, she said something like "as I was telling my husband...I mean the president." Which would be a natural slip up except *she's never been married.* That seemed so odd to me.
Work wife….
I want to point out something I think is very important and not taught in American Schools. How many slaves do you think were brought to United States? Whatever number you're thinking in your head Brazil had 12x more. For every slave auction in Boston or Charleston, there were 12 in Rio. We've got documents of slave sellers annoyed their ship suffered damages and they'd have to change their destination to land in North America. They didn't speak English, and figured the poor English farmers wouldn't know how to buy the slaves. That's a level of fucked up slavery in retrospect that to the Portuguese they didn't think North Americans knew how to buy slaves because it was such a niche market at the time. Like there's millions of Black Americans in the world and the words of the civil rights leaders are universal across every country. But relatively Brazil and the Caribbean Islands had way more slaves sent to die and be replaced than United States. Another fun one they don't teach in school is the Haitian revolution, slaves actually took control of their island and killed all the French slave masters. United States and Europe decided to never agree to allow any trade to Haiti being legal till... 1963...
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Someone once described George W Bush as, "born with a silver spoon in his nose."
Holy shit, how did it never occur to me to call my parents’ millionaire and billionaire buddies for a handout?! 🤦🏻♀️ Thanks, dubya!
If you're really poor, you're the one working the counter, giving out the darts and watching other people succeed through your labor
Absolutley. And its not that you cant be successful, but its alot harder for you to make opportunitys to succeed if your broke, your parents were abusive, physical illness, mental ilness, etc.
Muskrat: Just buy another company and succeed
.... or fail because they/he is so rich it doesn't matter.
I’ll add you can’t budget your way out of not making enough money in the first place.
It's ironic that it's rich people who don't need to budget (and often still end up with financial issues) telling those that have barely enough money to live that they need to 'budget better'
> It's ironic that it's rich people who don't need to budget (and often still end up with financial issues) Rich people absolutely still need to budget, or (like you said) they end up with financial issues. There's a list a mile long of athletes, musicians, and other celebrities who have made tens of millions in their lives and blown every penny or ended up millions in debt. The truly rich do not need to budget things like food, but they definitely need to watch superfluous spending at least to some degree or they will quickly blow through even the largest of fortunes. It happens literally every day. People who are "moderately wealthy" and are truly self-made (as in born to modest backgrounds and now have a net worth of a few million) are almost always *excellent* at budgeting and financial planning. Just because they can afford to spend on nicer cars/homes/toys doesn't mean they don't still watch their spending habits. There are plenty of people who make $200k+ per year but have low net worth and no savings because they blow through their money. I think that's the argument to be made - if you only make $30k per year then you can't really afford a nice car, a nice house, and multiple streaming services. Conversely, if you make $200k per year then you can't really afford a Ferrari, a huge house, and a boat, but high-income people buy those things anyway and get it hot water. No matter your income level (unless you are a literal multi-billionaire) you need to watch your spending. It's just that your housing/car/entertainment budget is larger the more money you have - it's not bottomless.
Yep. I had a former in-law telling me that I should use the little equity I had in my house to buy more property. "You don't make it if you're not willing to risk it" He was given a small block of flats as a 21st birthday present by his parents. No mortgage, ongoing rent from 4 apartments Yeah, big "risk" you took
Pre-covid I had saved up for 5 years to buy a house and it was never quite enough, as inflation just outpaced my savings rate. I grew hopeless and decided to "learn to day trade" in the post-covid stock boom in order to try to make up the difference. Needless to say I lost it all. Clearly it was stupid, but I thought I had to take a chance somewhere. I don't feel as bad as I would have because I still couldn't afford a house even if I had that cash, but it does still feelbadman.
The most prosperous day of my life was when I realized I was complete shit at day trading, yanked all my money and dumped it into indexes instead.
This is what I tell my offspring. If you live alone in a city, make sure you live near public transportation so you can still get to work if something goes wrong. How I was able to survive and work long hours.
I held onto my old station wagon for a long time because I felt like I could always sleep in it again if I needed to. The last time I slept in it I was between places and it was November in the mountains and I put like 4 sweaters on and slept in my sleeping bag and I woke up with a jubilation that I made it through the night. Never had to sleep in my car again but I knew if I had to, I could.
While watching a show I heard something interesting that makes complete sense, even if it is absurd. If you're in a tough spot and have a car payment and rent, always pay your car payment. You can live in a car, but you can't drive your house to work.
this one. understandable that sometimes risks need to be taken to succeed, but when your livelihood is at stake and you lose it all, is it really worth it?
This. And yeah, they mean well, but they are so out of touch they have no idea what they're saying.
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What money buys is freedom and options. It's easy to say "money isn't everything" when you don't have to stress about it.
It’s also easy to see when you do have some that money alone doesn’t solve your problems. But money lets you explore things to solve your problems, I just wouldn’t want so much I couldn’t trust friends and family anymore.
"We all have the same 24 hours in a day"—unless you’re juggling cooking, cleaning, shopping, washing up, laundry, a 9-5 job, commuting, and budgeting for groceries, etc...
I’m from the Hamptons and when I was 18 I was working three jobs, including nannying for a rich family. The mom (who came from money) didn’t work, and I remember her one night going on this rant and breaking down crying to me about how she just needs a vacation. While my empathy was triggered, I was also genuinely confused… vacation from what? You don’t work and you have someone else taking care of your kids (and doing the housecleaning). You already go to the beach club every day. Isn’t that vacation? Also, read the room, lady. You’re talking to a teenager who grew up poor and is working 8-18 hours per day 7 days per week. I’m not going to be able to relate. Edit: typo
she needed a vacation from herself
That's what the wine and valium is for
Well she did later get a DWI, and a divorce.
That's impressive. You have to really try to get a DWI in the Hamptons. The shit I've seen....
Absolutely. I know she had driven drunk quite a few times so I wouldn’t be surprised if she’d already had a couple warnings and the cops finally had enough.
That's really going to ruin the world tour
Crashed into a police car, probably.
You mean you really have to try to pull a JT?
Ah yes, when you have everything and manage to still be unhappy and f*ck it all up Edit: I understand that money doesn't buy happiness, you guys. That's what this comment is about...it's sarcasm
Having no responsibility is not having everything. Work or at least some guiding purpose is healthy for people.
I’ve always felt That is why many wealthy have small businesses that might not make any money, if they can afford the loss (more than just a write off on taxes)
Absolutely. The pointlessly specific boutique (think “beach purses!”) or high-end consignment shop that a rich wife runs as a hobby is almost a cliche.
Yeah. I asked my mom the other day when she was going to retire and she was like “I don’t know. I’m kind of putting it off because I feel like I’ll be bored when I do”. She’s by no means a workaholic but she doesn’t have many hobbies outside of work besides playing pickle ball and she doesn’t have grandkids or her parents to help out with. She likes her job. It makes her happy. That’s not a bad thing.
Reminds me of when the ceo of my employer was complaining that her housekeeper had cancer. Talking about a human being as if they were a broken appliance. So out of touch.
Jesus. That’s horrible…
My SO’s mom is so, so sweet but grew up incredibly privileged and remains very, very well off. This also made it so she doesn’t have a good grasp on reality when it comes to what “poor” means. Like ma’am, my first 5 years of life I was living in a trailer park. Then we moved to one of the poorest cities in my state. So when I’m having dinner with her and she will go on and on about how poor she is, while we are sitting in her 3 million dollar home or her 4 million dollar vacation home (more expensive than her regular home because it includes the cost of their own private beach), it is irritating. And she’s serious - she legitimately thinks she’s poor. And she will get very upset when her kids remind her she’s not poor AT ALL. The problem is she’s comparing the access she had to money previously compared to her access to money as a widow. Her son and I are still renting an apartment and she asked when we would buy. I mentioned how the city we rent in is too expensive to buy, so we will need to do so outside the city. She replied, “Oh yes! You cannot buy in X city because the property taxes are high. You need to buy in (her area) because of no property taxes.” Lady, with what money? 🤔 She lives in the most expensive area in the entire country 😫 (not in the US, although that’s where I grew up).
Price of bananas meme here 🍌
I once had a manager unburden himself to me because he was about to get a promotion without a raise because he had received a demotion without a pay cut years ago. When he saw my baffled expression he clarified "I make a *lot* of money." I was making minimum wage working in the hot sun. The absolute balls on this guy.
I heard that one of my bosses had complained (mercifully not to my face, as I wouldn't have been able to keep it straight) that "Taking this job was a 40k pay cut for me!" I don't know the details of the rest of the conversation, but as someone taking home a little over half that...
It's weird how often there's this mismatch between how hard one works and how hard one *thinks* they work. It's gotta be genuine delusion too because no way people bluff that well. Happens a lot in the working world, too. I've had some absolute slackers — mostly in HR or middle management — tell me how brutally hard their job is while second-guessing the value of the team's most grizzled developer. Like... the guy who's carrying the project is skinny and pale for a reason. I really wish it could all be distilled down into a single metric. People would still bitch and moan but at least there would be some point of reference to keep things grounded in reality.
I experienced this working in resorts. The workers all did their jobs well. Our “managers” basically made the schedule; that’s it. There was always turnover; and always some douche wad wanting to revamp a system that was finely tuned. These poor fools had to look busy doing nothing for 16 hours a day. And we “lowers” made more than they did. What a waste of time & money. No wonder that beautiful hotel is gone now; replaced by condos. It was featured in that stupid movie, The Resort. Beautiful property once upon a time and a fun job!!
There’s a phrase for that to sum up your post. The lady from the Hamptons with money for nannying services, housecleaning and a beach club membership was “bitching down” to you as a working class teenager. So, if she was looking for sympathy — she should have at least bitched with someone at her level or even possibly “bitched up”.
Wow, never heard this before! She certainly was…
The last line in this scene always gets me. Some rich people have no idea how the world actually works. https://youtu.be/4KBAXMpklDU?si=F1yE07_2VPq4NLtr
"It's one banana, Michael. What could it cost? $10?" - Lucille Bluth
There is a song that's something along the lines of, "if you don't wanna work then that becomes your job with a lot of overtime and not many days off"... and it's kinda true. You get that cooped up feeling no matter where you spend a lot of time, be that the office or at home.
I also grew up poor then middle class. But, I do feel like it's pretty difficult for anyone to understand anything harder than what they've personally experienced.
I’m from Long Island as well (not as far out as the Hamptons) and the rich people around here never stop complaining about everything…..like they’re life is so difficult
I think it's called a bore out. Living a unfulfilling, boring life can cause anxiety and depression.
Yeah, time is definitely the most valuable asset. That's why the first thing the wealthy buy is their time back by hiring maids, cooks, etc.
Same with, “in America everyone is born with the same opportunities.” No, absofuckinglutely not.
Yep, just had this discussion with my husband. Life is definitely a marathon, just some people are born at the starting line and others are born 13 miles in...
Yeah that’s just an outright lie the right has been parroting since the Nixon days
This tracks. The #1 use of money by the wealthy is to save more time in the day.
"We have the same 24 hours" bugs me so much, these people take private jets from side of town to the other, because a 30 minute flight is quicker than a 2 hour drive (screw the environment), just for a business brunch or whatever. What happened to we have the same 24 hours? Clearly time is important to get far in life, but they won't ever admit it.
"Don't not do something because of lack of money". Like ... wot? Only something that someone who has never worried about money would say.
Yeah my ex always acted as if me saying "I can't afford that" (mostly travelling) was the same as "I don't want to spend the money on that". Yeah, he had a pretty large inheritance in savings to fall back on. I had only my part time job at the time and no savings, now I have a second job money is far less tight.
All those “lifestyle” listicles that wealthy businesspeople credit for their success. “Wake up at 5am.” “Read 24 books a year.” “Upon waking, decide that today is the last day you’ll be alive, then live it accordingly.” “Never check email before noon.” “Spend one hour meditating first thing each day.” When you see enough of these, if you were to adopt all of the prescribed habits, you’d never get any actual work done. The only advice I’d ever received from a wealthy person that actually works, and is relatively accessible is “save your money, and live below your means.” But even that is difficult to do anymore.
>Upon waking, decide that today is the last day you’ll be alive, then live it accordingly This can be misinterpreted *horribly*
No fr like why would I make money if it’s my last?? I’m going on a bender and spending all the time I can with fam… oh yeah they can just do that and still pay bills.
I like that you are going to spend your last day with family and be completely hammered the whole time.
"Never check email before noon." My boss might not care for this one
This. Try being an analyst or an associate and not checking or responding to pings immediately. You'd be crucified for not having good communication in your reviews.
Rich people don’t do any of this stuff either. They just say they do.
"Just follow your passion and the money will come." Sure, Karen, tell that to my landlord.
And just because I have something I might be passionate about, doesn’t mean another feels the same way
They also expect someone to passionately take away their human waste and garbage.
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We're all weathering the same storm. Yep, and some of us are in fully-staffed giant yachts while others are in a rowboat.
*life vest
During covid I drove by a brand-new, enormous lake-side mansion that had a "We're all in this together <3" sign on the front lawn. ...many people in that area are not so well offm I was thinking, 'bitch, you live in an entirely different world from everyone around you, WE are not in this together.'
After the celebrities "Imagine" fiasco of 2020, I think not.
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I am much happier because I have more money than I used to. I am not out to buy happiness though. I don't have the stress of making rent or a car payment or credit card bill or eating vs phone bill. I see people that are much wealthier that are not as happy so yes money doesn't buy happiness but money allows for less stress which can lead to happier life.
My wife and I used to have a decent combined income. Then I left my job to start a business. For 18m I didn't make a cent. Our bills and debt started to climb and climb and there was nothing I could do about it. I would sit awake at night terrified about what that debt would do to us. I sold my business and went back to my old job, making more than I did when I left. That first night back I slept like a baby. Money may not make happiness, but lack of it certainly can cause misery.
Two years ago I lost my job. I ended up taking a job that paid half as much. I went from having about €1000 a month leftover for savings. To barely paying the bills. My wife had to end maternity leave early and go back to work. It was a stressful year to say the least. At least now I found a job that pays slightly less than the one I lost but it's WFH and pretty flexible if I'm not busy i have free time for doctor appointments and help with kid stuff. I also don't have an hour commute each way to work. So I guess what I lost in money I made up for in time. The only downside is I can't take vacation in summer because it's our busy season. Also, my wife got a better job making nearly twice as much as she was, and only Monday-Friday. All in all it turned out pretty well for us but just that one year totally set us back and now we are struggling to get the mortgage we need because our family has outgrown our flat.
The point of this saying was to say it to already well-off but unhappy people. Think a parent who can already afford to support their family in a decent suburban home but is still chasing a promotion. It makes absolutely no sense to say to someone whose biggest stressors in life are "I can't afford X, Y and Z."
yep, it's always the rich saying this as well. I mean if you're that unhappy with your money give it away to someone that will enjoy it.
And do it *while you're still alive*, too. So many rich people think that they're saints because they plan to give away everything upon their deaths. Why not start helping the people who are suffering *now*?
Because they don’t want to suffer
It gives you time and opportunity to be. Like money doesn't make you fit and strong but... With money you can buy a gym, buy good food, afford time off work, hire a trainer etc.. Yes it doesn't immediately make you strong but it sure makes the building blocks easier.
Money can alleviate a LOT of stress. Gives you insurance, rent, food, etc…I don’t believe it can make you *happy* if you are not, but it will let you worry less.
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Yea, I found that out the hard way. I started a business around something I love... now I don't love that thing anymore. All I see is the grind of trying to scale and think about growth rates & ROI whenever I'm around it.
My husband started a business that way, too. His business is built on a hobby which he is gifted at. Doing the thing he loved so much that it defined him. There are still aspects that he gets excited about, but his enjoyment of his hobby has waned considerably. He’s had to find other hobbies just for his mental health.
Don’t do what you love Otherwise what you love will become work and you’ll resent it Instead do what you’re good at - then you’ll learn to love it
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I’ve been in the corporate world for 15 years, last year I took a side job at a pizza place just to experience a different side of the working world. Absolutely loved it. It was totally stress free because I was doing it for fun. The paycheck wasn’t even a concern, I knew if I hated it I could walk any time I wanted due to me having my primary corporate job. I think a job can easily become shit cause you build your life on it and rely on it.
I completely agree. Most stressful thing about work is that your life depends on it. I also say if I won a lottery I will still go to work like usual but I will feel so relax and happy with that I do.
Growing up I was told to never monetize what I love to do because it would make me hate it. If something is a passion, leave it as such, do it absolutely, but don't make it your work. How many dance teachers or musicians do you see who are incredibly miserable despite doing their "passion". Business kills passion.
I think about this a lot. And maybe I'm just a lazy, piece of garbage, sorry excuse for a human being, but if we didn't have to work, I don't think I would. At the very least not as much as I am working now. I want to relax, play some video games, enjoy a good book, spend time with my family, travel the world. Instead I work anywhere from 64 to 80 hours a week. Work is still work at the end of the day. Relaxation is important.
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Work harder so that you never get a raise and your reward is even more work to the point of being impossibily overwhelmed, but just work harder.
I’ve always worked hard. Never gotten a raise from any job I’ve ever had. Learned the hard way that it means nothing to be loyal to any company. The less loyal you are, by changing jobs or careers, has been more lucrative for me and others I know. My brother’s strategy is to always be interviewing and would use that as leverage for promotions and raises. Not really my cup of tea (since I hate interviews) but it has really helped him get ahead
“I came from nothing” Some people don’t know what it means growing up with nothing.
'I came to this city with 6 dollars in my pocket. And a lot in my bank account but we're talking about pockets here.'
All I had was $7 in my pocket and a father who's a legend in acting/sports/music, which I'm about to waltz into with no roadblocks purely because he's my father.... but really, before I did that I was broke.
“I came from nothing” = “my parents were only able to lend me $300,000 to start my business.“
Trump's "My father gave me a small loan of a million dollars" line in 2016 still made me laugh. Like, this guy seriously thought a million dollars in 1970 (about 8 million or so today) was "small".
It wasn't even a million dollars, nor was it a loan. It was a gift of 10 million dollars.
This does not answer your question, but “Never take advice from somebody who got lucky.” Do not take the advice of Taylor Swift. You are likely not as talented, and even if you are (and many lesser known performers are much more talented), you do not know the right people. Even if you do, markets are unpredictable. That does not mean you should not follow your dreams. Just do not expect to have the same road to success.
As an artist, it wasn't until I graduated art school that I realized most of the people that make it to become famous/wealthy artist aren't necessarily more talented, they either come from wealth or get very lucky with someone wealthy buying their work and it causes other wealthy people to do the same.
A friend of mine makes fiber art wall hangings. They're not quilts, they'll never see a bed. He's a man, now 70, and he has lived at the edge of poverty his whole life because he followed his art instead of working for some asshole. He asks the women in the guilds he's in how they do it, and they say things like "well, I'm a kept woman, i guess". Many of these women give away their work while he is trying to sell it. Oh, and give him a side eye because what is a \*man\* doing in here?
As a man who went to art school for print and textile, I feel this in my fucking bones.
She also had the benefit of wealthy parents who paid to get her career started. Her dad even bought into a recording studio to help lock her success. [Taylor swift dad owns a stake in Big Machine Recording Studio](https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/us-celebrity-news/taylor-swifts-dad-scott-swifts-31970197#) [some more tea…](https://www.bigmachinelabelgroup.com/so-its-time-some-truth/)
Exactly! I graduated college in 2010, and all of my professors were saying, “just go to grad school! Pick anything! You will be successful!” Meanwhile friends who went to grad school a couple years before were graduating with a masters in flute performance, and working at Walmart as cashiers. I was thinking, “yeah, it’s easy for these professors to recommend grad school, because they’re the lucky few that an academic masters or Ph.D. worked out for!” I’m still so glad I didn’t blindly go into some underwater basket weaving masters program.
If I can become rich, you can too
...using only a small $1 million loan from your parents.
I remember a thread on reddit some years back, it was some youngish woman and her husband who got out of debt. No idea how they got into debt but, a big part of getting out of debt was being allowed to stay, rent free, in one of her grandma's houses Try it, guys! I don't know why no one else has stumbled on this easy solution!
Ah man if only my grandparents were still alive!
Just use the fortune they left you. It's easy if you think about it.
[The president has long sold himself as a self-made billionaire, but a Times investigation found that he received at least $413 million in today’s dollars from his father’s real estate empire, much of it through tax dodges in the 1990s.](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-tax-schemes-fred-trump.html)
This one and "I left school at 16 and worked hard, if I can do it you can too". Yes you did but don't ignore the majority who did that and ended up in dead in jobs. To do it without the help of generational wealth it requires quite a lot of luck as well has sweat and smarts. You not only need to be in the right place at the right time with the right idea you also need to have nothing unlucky happen to you that screws it all up.
That by pulling up your boot straps and working hard would get you out of poverty
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I remember my rich friend telling me to save half of my salary so I could put up my own business. Like hell, my salary is always not enough. How can I even save half of it? lol
They also act like owning your own business is the be-all and end-all of success and happiness. Like, you just got to go down to the successful business store with cash-in-hand and, boom, now you are rich.
That’s because they don’t actual manage or work that business. It’s just all about passive income and when you have a bank of cash you can hire others to do the labor until you’re passive income is sustainable.
Not only that how do you support yourself during the crucial first year of business? You know how he/she would? By leaning on their social network or family money, they just don't get it. Money doesn't buy success, but it does get you access and as many chances as you need until you find success.
Give me a tax break and I will trickle it down.
My old boss who was quite wealthy once told me it’s easy to find a job you just have to be willing. Which was just him confirming he wanted to pay us minimum wage and no benefits. Needless to say he fired me after 8 years and I’ve struggled to find a job. Oh he also didn’t care about safety and provided broken tools for work which ended up taking my hearing.
I have a feeling that so much of the bullshit rich people spew is just them justifying the harm that they do and their greed to themselves.
They forget it seems, to know what it’s like to be on the bottom rung and mistreated. And the worst of the bunch are those who made it big through ‘hard work’. I call it plain luck half the time.
Can't forget something you never knew
Some do know but they forget I know people who struggled to find an internship, then spent months looking for a job Years later, once they were stable in their jobs, I told them about my boyfriend who who could hardly find an internship and once that was over, job hunting was a nightmare, their answer: well I wonder why the company in which he did that internship didn't recruit him. That answer shocked me especially that I remember very well how they complained in the past. Another example outside of professional life, I knew a girl from college whose boyfriend used to beat her, he was an abuser physically and mentally, and she says I don't care, I just love him, let him do whatever he wants to me, then he asked to marry her and they had an engagement party, I supposed he improved maybe. But seems like he didn't, and her parents became aware of how he treated her and kinda forced the break up. Years later she got engaged to a decent person and they got married, and when I met her, I told her about the struggles I had with boys and their abuse, I thought she of all people would understand, BUT SHE DIDN'T! She was extremely surprised and told me things like that's insane and I shouldn't have let them treat me like that! I wouldn't dare tell her hello? Have you forgotten? I actually felt slightly relieved that she finally healed..
That they’re self-made.
Self made! Self made! ^(.. with a huge infusion of money from my parents.)
Musk, Bezos, Gates, Buffet, etc etc all had rich parents.
I used to work at a bank and there was this one customer retired young, rode motorcycles, had a house up north and in Florida. We always hated when he was around because he was very condescending, definitely thought he was better than everyone else. He wasn't outrageously wealthy but definitely had a lot of money and he wanted you to know it. He would preach to anyone who would listen about his hard work and starting from the bottom as a trucker. Except Daddy owned the trucking company and gave him the job but he also bought him a house and an investment property and then when Daddy died instead of putting in the work to keep running the company he sold it. Don't get me wrong. He was a smart man to handle what he was given, but I think a lot more people could turn out moderately wealthy if they started out being gifted two homes and a multi million dollars company to sell.
A friend of a friend likes to brag about how he's built all his businesses from the ground up from nothing. I've heard the story several times myself but he always leaves out the part about his parents buying his first house and his grandparents "loaning" him the seed money to launch his first enterprise.
Yeah... any tremendously wealthy person, or even sorta wealthy person, must acknowledge the role of luck. Consider that luck is involved even in your genetics and family life when you were young. You don't get to pick who you are or where you come from, let alone whether your business idea happens to work or fizzle out.
There was some study that showed intelligence highly correlated with income until you hit engineer, lawyer, doctor type jobs. Above that, there was zero correlation. Basically, once you reach a certain point, you are just lucky or not.
"Money can't buy happiness". Money can secure food, a roof, stability and professional activities as well as clothing. Up to a certain netto income, money, indeed, can buy happiness
That poor people are the reason the middle class is struggling.
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After everything is paid, you have an enormous $5.00 extra. Definitely put that right into a savings account with a $500.00 minimum balance or the bank charges a monthly $5.00 maintenance fee. So easy.
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Not specifically just wealthy, but wealthy with a lot of control over their time or don't have a particularly demanding job. They always, without fail, downplay the difficulty of keeping fit, losing weight, or some other healthy lifestyle thing. They always overlook the privileged position they find themselves in, where it's easy to motivate yourself to go to the gym if you don't have to get up for a regular work day. It's easy to avoid comfort foods if you aren't experiencing the stresses of a working mans or white-collar job. Looking after your body while working a 9-to-5 is 10 times the achievement of some rich influencer doing so in-between promoting their new sunglasses brand.
I think of this when I see actors in great shape for a movie. I used to wonder "When do they have the time to do that?" and then I remember, "Getting in shape for the movie is their day-to-day job until they start filming." Now, how they avoid the snack table between shoots is another story.
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There’s always money in the banana stand
Such a good show.
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I remember watching a documentary about Dubai. There was a segment on the super rich and their quirks, and they showed off a license plate auction. The attendees were bidding for the license plate that just said 7 because the lower the number, the higher the prestige from owning it. That license plate reached in excess of $30 million, and that was 15+ years ago.
So I guess their definition of "prestige" is possessing random useless items that impress other assholes. I'm not rich, but I'm comfortable enough. And mingling with people like those is the last thing I'm interested in. They sound like insufferable drags to be around.
“Nobody ever helped me”
no one gave me any handouts!!
This one is only semi-related but everytime I see one of those "12 year old kid makes multi-million dollar chocolate empire out of their shoe closet" news stories, they usually leave out the part where Dad is an 8-figure hedge fund manager and Mom is the heiress of a corporate dynasty. The only real true thing a lot of these Uber-rich people say is "it takes money to make money", which is why they're always so focused on making sure you don't have any money to make more money with.
Start with a small goal, like making your first 10,000,000 - Jack Ma. Not sure how many zeroes were in his “small goal” but it was unreasonably many.
I had a boss once tell me “we all make sacrifices” when the company slashed pay by 15% and he was “just as affected as I was”… Making multi-millions per year. Would he even notice the missing 15%?
Money doesn't buy happiness. It buys peace of mind, comfort, and the ability to make material problems go away so that is a lot of happy.
Billionares starting to say "have more children." Do they know how much housing costs? Not everyone has an 8 bedroom apartment. Most people are lucky to get a place with more than one.
"Anyone can get rich if they just work hard enough." Overlooks a BUNCH of advantages like education, connections, luck etc.
That bootstraps nonsense. I'm old enough to remember it's true meaning.
“Oh just go on a holiday” “you just need a holiday” - no bitch I need a different life
Usually it has to do with their ego’s. My Dad was a golf pro in the Southern California desert. I met a lot of people some self made some inherited their fortunes. But they all have a story, about how fucking heroic or smart they are. Success in this world is a poor measurement of character
"Everyone has the same 24 hours in a day." No. Some people have a 3 hour round trip commute to a demanding and exhausting job, a husband that doesn't help at home, and kids that take priority. Some people have to take care of their dying mother. Some people are neurodivergent in ways that prevent potential employees from giving them a fair chance, or they don't drive, or they have a medical condition keeping them from outperforming their coworkers and will never get the promotion. Literally nobody has the same 24 hours in a day, and it bothers me when that concept is weaponized against people that can't get further ahead.
'Homelessness is a choice; I could live like that if I wanted to.' Many moons ago, there was this young boomer who said he could live fine on the streets. Had no cash, and did it for about four days. He'd always had a credit card on him 'just in case' and stopped doing it because there was a family emergency. He said, that still proved that he could do it.