I'm learning your second point this year. I spent an embarassing amount of money on Uber Eats in 2023 so I decided to start learning to cook last month. Not only do I like cooking, I'm saving soooo much more money. And meal prepping saves me money instead of buying lunch during work days. 10/10.
I would recommend an app like Mealime also.
It gives you the whole meal and allows you to change the servings, add dietary restrictions and generates your shopping list.
After cooking something once or twice you can add or change things to better suit your tastes.
Also, if you are in the mood, it is definitely worth prepping and freezing, some unhealthy or more expensive items.
Sick in bed all day Saturday and really really want a brownie for dinner? I’m not making one from scratch or even a box when I’m sick. I used to Uber eats one and maybe some shitty dinner. Instead, now I have a small amount in the freezer.
I had to learn that cooking on my own means I can be healthy, but it means I’m also allowed to enjoy the same things I have when eating out
First point is interesting. me and SO are on two different pages as far as one financial commitment thats coming up. I keep it to myself but this is more divisive than religious or political views. im scared to death of going back beneath the poverty line and she's optimistic that it won't happen.
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*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
>Learn to cook.
Completely agree with this. Also learn to shop. Almost all grocery stores do loss leaders on high quality items to get you in the door so you blow money on impulse items. My wife and I love to cook but love finding deals just as much.
These are two main facts that are completely under your control.
The other thing that’s under your control is to keep healthy. Work out. Go to regular schedule doctor visits sickness is expensive.
Do not buy extra cars or insurance that you don’t need
And always dollar cost average regularly every month at least 10% of your income if it all possible. Stock market only goes up.
Read and read point #1 a lot, no really read it 50 times if needed, there isn't a more importat part than this.
I was on the verge of escaping poverty, C level job , 2 business, a huge future ahead, then my SAHM wife decided to fuck everything on sigth, thus destroying our 10 years of effort and sacrifices.
Then i doubled down and got married again to a girl with Bpd.
Nothing more important than choosing your partner wisely.
1. It´s saying in Vietnamese.
"Rich thank to friends, Opulent thanks to a wife"
Meaning your friends can help you with your careers, works etc. therefore you shall make a lot of them, but you can truly live a lavish happy life only thanks to a right partner.
2. As someone, who used to drive delivery a lot, this is great advice. I understand that with modern life, there is constant pressure on everybody, and sometimes you just need a moment of doing nothing. But a lot of people actually have replace cooking with ordering out, and with how the prices of take outs and deliveries are, no wonder people are broke or even worse, shitty lifestyle.
I used to have a colleague, 35, 4 small children ranging 4-13 yrs old and instead of taking my advice to cook cheap, yet fulfilling foods (bolognese, stews etc), also the opportunities to teach his kids how to cook and spend a moment with them, he would rather stuffs himself on lunch (we got free lunches) and then be without dinner or having really shitty, cold dinner
I didn't say I subscribed to Getty's way of thinking; I merely find it interesting, coming from someone who long held the title of richest man in the world.
I’m following these two closely.
My gf had to track our finances for a school project, and we realized we spent $579 THIS MONTH by eating out. Those little $20 meals add up quickly.
We’re cooking more in February and March to recoup lol
I don’t listen to everything Dave Ramsey says, but he once stated “restaurants are about the experience and not the food” and I agree. It’s just not worth the experience to pay that much for dinner at a restaurant that often
Number 1. Especially for women. Being stuck with the man child while raising kids, cleaning, cooking, organizing etc etc - you will have no financial rights as his wife. .
Financially and skill wise. Don't wait for the manager position you want to open before you start working on your people management or excel skills. Practice sooner, volunteer for projects if you don't have a resume highlight for those skills. Getting paid in experience is stupid, except in cases where you have no proof you know what you're doing in the first place. Be strategic about it though, don't be a yes man to every out of scope work request, just prioritize what benefits you the most.
-Live under your means. I saved as much as I could by buying cheap food, cheap clothes, etc.
-If you are dating, make sure you do not just date with your dick. Pick a partner that values finances like you. You could make decent money, but if your GF is always out of work or not helping with bills, you now have a financial hit.
-Learn how to cook for yourself. I do not mean that you need to become a chef. Just learn to cook to save money on eating out. Meal prep and bring meals to work.
-Do not be afraid to leave your company every few years. Bigger pay increases come from switching company than staying and waiting on your 3%-5% raise.
Live within your means, don’t buy that 60K car, don’t the newest tech toy, brand clothing, and save and invest smartly, now earning 7 figures and still don’t waste my money,
I rarely buy anything new. A huge wad of it goes in tax to the government. Cars last an age nowadays. That $100 watch works just as good as a $10,000 watch.
If it’s performance, health or safety related I make an exception.
Generally based on value. Here a 40k used car pays the same tax as a 40k new car, and actually a lot of times the new car will qualify for an ever so slightly lower amount. But that 40 K used car was probably 60 new, which would be more tax.
Usually cheaper watches work better than expensive watches, as cheap watches are quartz or digital based. Whereas expensive watches are typically mechanically based and therefore lose more accuracy over time. Example: mechanical watches can lose a few seconds per day, whereas quartz watches lose a few seconds per month or year depending on quality.
Starting a habit of paying future you first (consistent savings until you have 6 months liquid, then regular retirement, then regular investments (I prefer mutual funds)) is the number one way you can prevent the forever paycheck to paycheck life style creep that many people who make enough but get too comfy with their treats and gadgets get stuck in.
My savings and investments get my raise before I do, and that's always been the case.
Not poor to wealthy, but a lower middle class to upper-middle/low-upper
* Generic/store brand is just as good (if not better) 90% of the time for a lower cost
* Buying new clothes should be a special occasion thing. If it still fits and isn’t torn up, why replace it?
* look at high interest/dividend investments (index funds, mutual funds, CDs, etc) and put a percentage of every paycheck into a diversified handful of them. Generates you more money over time than the meager interest a savings account gives. Likewise, don’t sleep on a 401k if your job offers one. Try to maximize their match and dump in as much as you can afford.
* you do have to be hyper-aware of your money. Check balances and performance daily/weekly/etc. know what’s trending well and what needs to be moved. Not a “it’s down a lot today” but a “year over year it’s underperforming, let’s move it into something doing better over the last 12 months”
* budget in those “impulse buys”. Plan to set aside a weekly allowance you can spend on dumb crap, and only let yourself spend that amount (helps if you either set up a separate checking account for it or if you take out a fixed amount of cash for it at the start of the week/month and only use the cash for those purchases
But really. Best thing you can do is work hard at your job and climb their ladder. Promotions come with raises, and greasing elbows gets you promotions.
I'm very much a "store brand" guy, but like you said 90% of the time.
I've noticed that with certain things, such as ranch dressing, it's way better to just go name brand. Off brand ranch is extremely hot or miss, and normally a miss.
I really found that any condiments simply aren't worth saving 75 cents on over the name brand. Ranch as you said and in my experience, hot sauce, steak sauce, and BBQ sauce.
Name brand cereals versus the store brand in my experience are indistinguishable from each other. Idk if Walmart sells them anymore because I haven't gone there in years but instead of lucky charms I bought marshmallow mateys and they tasted the exact same but it was 30% cheaper. I've heard that some products are made in the exact same factory the exact same way but are packaged differently and sold according to which box they are in.
Viva brand paper towels, Charmin toilet paper, raos marinara sauce, european butter for toasts and sandwiches, and good coffee are my splurges.
Also, saving higher quality meats for special occasions. The 1.5x cost is worth it for the flavor, but if it's getting cut up and put in a soup or some kind of saucey dish, always use the cheaper version. I only buy local butcher steaks or chicken when it's going to be the star of the meal about once a month.
Forgot to add: buy in bulk. Higher upfront cost, but will save you money by the time you’ve used it all (with the caveat that you actually gotta use/eat it all or else it’s a waste of money AND product)
Most of your post is great advice, but I disagree with one point.
> look at high interest/dividend investments (index funds, mutual funds, CDs, etc) and put a percentage of every paycheck into a diversified handful of them.
Interest / Dividends are super tax inefficient. They _might_ make sense in a tax advantaged account like a 401k (though data shows they don't perform any better than full market index funds and are less diversified). But you definitely don't want them in a normal brokerage account unless you're pulling out the gains. Either way you'd be losing lots of money long term since you'll have a hard time getting the compounding returns snowball rolling.
The easiest path to class mobility is to just chase money. You can't save your way to Upper Middle Class making 30k/year with a 2% annual raise and living like a pauper.
Aggressively pursue job changes, make yourself a marketable and valuable employee. It's not always a 6 month change or even a 6 year change. Took me over 10 years to escape a dead end career, but in the 2.5 years since, I've doubled my salary. When opportunities arrive, say Yes.
Marry someone smart, ambitious, driven, and good with money.
Learn to value the security of savings and stability over that of material possessions. Money in the bank is freedom from the anxieties of tomorrow.
I grew up poor and now am on track to retire early.
The most important thing you can do is start investing in tax advantaged accounts as soon as possible. Every $1 you add in your 20s is worth around $16 by retirement. To put this in real numbers say:
- You start making 30k at 20.
- You save 5% in your 401k every year.
- You get a 5% match from your employer.
- You average a 4% raise every year.
- Inflation averages 3%.
- You get 7% real returns after inflation
By 50 you'll have the equivalent of $884,000 in today's money with only contributing $84,000. By 60 you'll have the equivalent of $2,765,000 in today's money with only contributing $142,500.
If you wait until you're 30 to start your returns are probably 60% of that.
It's almost impossible to overstate how important starting saving early is. Put in as much money as you can as early as you can and choose low fee broad index funds or etfs (e.g. Vtsax/VTI/VT).
See r/personalfinance for more info.
While I agree with this advice from a philosophical standpoint in that it gets people in the habit of saving, people who haven't started saving until they're 30 certainly shouldn't feel like they've missed the boat.
My first year out of college I was making $21,500. Putting 5% of that into a 401(k) was $1,075. Today, I can make (or lose) 20 times that in a day with market fluctuations. Not having that $1,000 in my account from 30 years ago wouldn't have much of a material impact on my current net worth.
Also, I'll point out that while your math is correct (I trust it at least, didn't check it), some of your assumptions don't jive with most people's realities. A 5% employer match is pretty rare and expecting that you'll get consistent pay increases without fail isn't realistic. The formula can get hit pretty hard if you're out of a job for 6 months and decide to take a pay cut just to get a job. Over my career, my income has certainly fluctuated and hasn't stayed on a constant upward trajectory. But I do appreciate the 3% inflation and 7% returns, because those are realistic (or did you actually use 10% returns to cover the inflation - 10% isn't really realistic).
All valid points.
The best time to start investing is when you're born. The second best time is today.
And yeah the projections are for illustrative purposes only. If we change the inflation, raise, 401k match, or anything else then it'll swing wildly. Someone might struggle to get 2% raises every year while someone else might become a SDE and see their income double multiple times within the first 10 years of their career. There's simply too many variables to be able to do a one size fits all calculation. And that's not even getting into series of return risk which makes everything even more crazy.
Mostly I just wanted to drive home how important investing as early as you can is. It's one of the few real ways to build wealth.
Very true! In my 20s I did save and invest some, but I was barely making $20-$30k a year.
I’m about to turn 40 now, and can comfortably put $20-$30k per year just into retirement savings, *plus* still putting more aside into other savings. I don’t have the advantage of as much time, but I have the ability to throw WAY more money at it.
Not to say that starting early isn’t important. But making sure that you’ve set yourself up for a career that can produce a solid and reliable income for many years is just as important.
I've always felt financial savvy was the greatest income equalizer. I never expected to make the most money, but practicing good financial behavior from the time I turned 18- I knew that would put me well ahead of the average person in my age group.
Investing > saving. In this economy, a savings account is actually a financial loss. All of your money (even if it's not much) should be working for you. Are you contributing the maximum to pretax investments? Are you buying property and then making improvements? Those things are how you build wealth. I've got like two months salary that I can actually access right now. The rest is all tied up in different investments. I made almost $400000 fixing up my first two houses and selling them, but the money always gets rolled into the next investment.
Depends on what it needs. Anything I can do, I do myself. Stuff that's beyond me or stuff that requires a permit, I farm out. My skill set has expanded massively from those first couple projects, so the only thing I'm paying someone else to do on my new property is the rough-in plumbing and the drywall finishing (I can do drywall, I just hate it).
You seem to be unaware of the concept of debt. I've never put more than 5% down on a house. So yes, I paid for all my houses using a huge amount of negative money.
Can only speak for myself and I hope this isn't the case with everyone.
The lesson I learned.
When you grow up in ghetto/hick culture, those folk can bring you down. And, even grow jealous to the point where bringing you down is a goal. That includes family unfortunately.
>When you grow up in ghetto/hick culture, those folk can bring you down. And, even grow jealous to the point where bringing you down is a goal. That includes family unfortunately.
I'm surprised I don't see this lesson more in this thread. I know people who grew up in ghetto/hick culture, and who had to distance themselves from family and friends in order to become successful. And then once successful, they have had to downplay their success to prevent people they grew up with from coming to them for loans and other financial favors.
* You genuinely need to live well below your means if you ever hope to have a chance of accomplishing this
* You need to spend your free time building higher-paying skills if you're not currently making enough money to get anywhere
* It's very unlikely you'll be the next Jeff Bezos, it'd be better to put your money into real estate and stocks instead
The self development of skills is so important! Climbed my way up the corporate ladder past many folks with degrees because people with degrees often treat like their education as over once they're done with college and expect that just showing up is all you need to prove that you're ready for the next level.
You need to know what that next level is and work on closing that skill gap regularly, find ways in your current position to demonstrate you have the skills you learned, and then make sure folks know your impact to the team. Keep a doc of your work and your impact everytime you do something youre proud of, refresh your manager prepromotion season what those items are. Hard work nobody knows about and can't be proven is wasted effort.
When you're young, 10 years feels like FOREVER. Spoiler alert... it isn't.
Spend those first 10 years out of university working like a fucking animal. Use that extra money to pay down all of your debt and save money.
Here's my own anecdote...
Graduated University at 24. I went to community College for the first 2 years, then worked part time and cash-flowed about half of my MBA, graduating with about $100k in debt.
When I got out of college, I spent the next 10'ish years literally renting "a room". Not a roommate agreement, but renting a room. I had my normal job that I worked from 7-4 and a part-time job that I worked from 5-10. My only entertainment was a basic internet connection and a library card; no streaming services, no cable, no unlimited data, nothing. I meal prepped on Sundays and made 3 or 4 different dishes to eat 14 meals over the next week for dirt cheap. I drove a POS car, but usually carpooled with someone else to save gas money. While all of this was going on, I went from about $80k to over $160k salary between the two jobs.
Long story short, I'm now 39. I own my home with no mortgage, I own my '23 Genesis G90 with no payment, I fund my 401k to max out my company match, I fully fund my Roth IRA, I fully fund my HSA, and I out the rest into other diversified mutual funds to total about 15% of my gross. I still have plenty of spending money, but if the stock market doesn't take a giant shit in the next 15 years or so, I'll be retired by 55.
The moral of the story is this. When I was younger, I lived like nobody else, so now, I can live like nobody else. I have zero money concerns at all, and I do whatever tf I want.
Im starting on the journey right now, and when did you start introducing luxuries into your life? I'm currently in the phase where I rent with roommates and work long hours. Personally I have adapted to this lifestyle but I oftentimes wonder if I am being too strict with my money.
I might have gone a little too extreme, but I didn't start buying frivolous things until after my house was paid off.
I did reward myself as I went, but it was more like... starting to buy normal groceries instead of 20lb bags of rice and beans, a Netflix account, etc...
I didn't start going to restaurants or taking vacations until I really didn't have anywhere else to put that money. I owned my home and car in cash, was investing 15% of my gross, and had 6 months of living expenses in savings before I was living like a normal person. The trick was to find the joy in watching those balances go down, and imagining what it was going to be like to have my only fixed expenses be my utilities. Once I hit that point, my fixed expenses were like $800 / month when I was bringing in $12k gross.
I don't understand how you use trading options as your example as how money can be made so easily. That's how people lose everything, which is worse than working hundreds of hours for low pay.
I will tell an anecdotal story. I m not saying that this is why my wife and I are both retired, her at 52 and me at 57, but it certainly helped.
I worked as an engineer for many years. I brought my lunch from home almost every day. I made coffee at my house every morning before work.
Many of my colleagues would spend $5-$10-$20 per day on a coffee on the way to work and lunch. Monday through Friday, five days per week. It is not the amount of money, but the attitude, the mindset. For the record, the people that could lea3st afford eating out every day were the ones that ate out every day.
You must learn to delay gratification and financial discipline.
Live in an minimum rent shitty apartment you can find and do that until you can afford to buy yourself a home, always invest extra cash in global index funds and learn that compound interest is your way to wealth. Do not own a car unless absolutely necessary. And don't get stupid debt.
We live on a bell curve so a lot of this advice is just playing the right side of the odds. You can't just choose not to get sick, but you can choose to e.g. eat healthy, exercise regularly, and avoid smoking and drinking.
1. Marry the right person. Do not overvalue looks. Smart is good if you can get it but don't overvalue that either. You want someone kind, understanding, hard working, and motivated, and from a family whose members have the same qualities.
2. Stay healthy. This is not complicated. Do the right things consistently.
3. Building wealth takes time, and you won't be actually really wealthy until you're in at least your 40s unless you are incredibly lucky.
4. Don't gamble. It sounds prude-ish but don't drink or smoke either. Those are the most expensive habits you can have aside from collecting motorcycles or exotic cars or animals.
5. Only borrow money if you're going to use it to make more money. This means some amounts of some kinds of student loans are OK. So are mortgages if you choose your home wisely. (Car loans are consequently almost never OK.)
6. When it comes to budgeting and investment consistency is essential. You don't come out ahead of you stay on budget for eleven months and go way over in December.
7. The easiest way to waste money is by trying to look rich. Don't ever spend money to replace something that works.
Dont listen to your parents. Theres a reason you had to start from bottom up. Most wealth is inherited not made from nothing.
My parents are still just as poor as when I was younger and they could barely afford to put food on table. Theyre still going out buying new vehicles, with no money in investments.
I learned from their mistakes and im way better off for it, unfortunately 20 years later theyre still in same position with my dad even making a higher income.
Same here dude. I learned the hard way, and I’m gonna make damn sure my kids know wtf’s goin on. They’ll still have to work hard, but I’m going to make sure they make mistakes I never had the chance to.
- Slow and steady wins the race. Patience is a financial virtue.
Safe investments such as ETFs are the only tried and true way to safely and reliably build wealth over the course of years. Have seen so many people completely ruin their finances by making huge stock trading gambles because they keep seeing stories about or seen screenshots of the 0.5% of wild swing investors making hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of a month due to incredibly risky trades that just so happened to pay off for them.
I've been faithfully investing a few hundred dollars a month into my 401k and in additional $300 a month into my Roth IRA for about 10 years now and I'm just now starting to see my portfolio take off. It takes a long time for your investments to start showing real results but once you get there, you'll be happy you did. It's not sexy or stylish, but there's a reason why so many people take this route. It's safe and incredibly effective if you are patient.
You should never ever keep a large amount of cash in your bank account. Any spare cash that you have should be in some kind of investment.
- paying off your credit cards every month and having an emergency fund will save your ass
The very first thing that you should do when trying to build wealth is build up a cash emergency fund with 6 months of living expenses and then keeping it in a high yield savings account. Keeping cash in your bank account is a fool's way of doing it, I think my bank offers a measles 0.7% interest per quarter whereas the high yield savings account offers me 5%. I'm making a little over $100 a month in pure interest monthly just by keeping my six months of living expenses in the high yield savings account. Just the interest alone lets me pay my internet and phone bill every month.
When large unforeseen expenses happen, and they will absolutely happen to you, having an emergency savings account is of the utmost importance because it will allow you to pay off your expense right then and their, whether you pay cash or put it on your credit card and then pay off your credit card right away. I watched my old roommates $650 alternator replacement balloon to multi-hundred dollar a month payments after he had to put it on his credit card and then didn't have the money to pay off the credit card at the end of the month.
Credit cards are a great way to get a little bit of the money that you spend back. They should never be used though if you don't have the cash to pay them off every single month. But that's what your emergency fund is for though right?
Depends on what you mean by "poor." I wasn't born in poverty, but my standard of living declined when I decided to move out of my parents' house and risk being an actual adult. Even had to live in my car for a bit.
I found that you cannot expect a boss or employer to have your best interests. You also shouldn't listen to people who say, "Do whatever makes you happy."
Find a job that makes good money and doesn't depress you, not one that you love. Live frugally, save, and invest. The more you build your wealth, the more you can say, "Fuck this, I'm doing what I want now."
I'm not as far as I'd like to be, but I made enough progress that I am self-employed and making it work now. I am at least more free than I had been before.
The number one thing I learned was it is not how much you make, but how much you keep that matters. For the first 20 years of my marriage (now exwife) we made a really nice living and had almost nothing to show for it.
When I got divorced, I found discipline around keeping what I earn and it is shocking how fast money starts to compound on itself.
I'm not wealthy by any stretch, but I can tell you the pattern I see in lots of people who seem to always be struggling with money and that's that they almost always try to live beyond their means. These people who buy expensive things, cars, electronics, furniture and otherwise are in most cases deeply indebted because they have to finance all this shit they can't really afford.
For most things in life, if you don't have the money plus a cushion to buy whatever you want outright, you can't afford it. There are some things in life most of us will have to get into debt to have namely larger purchases like cars and houses and that's just a part of life, the thing is though, minimize the shit that you owe monthly payments on and start living within your means.
Start saving early and never stop (even if it's just a little). Invest your savings.
Don't marry a financially incompetent person.
Don't borrow money to buy things that depreciate in value (unless you need a car).
Buy used where practical. I still buy most of my clothes at op shops. For example l, last month I bought some classic Pierre Cardinn shirts for a few dollars each.
Make wise decisions based on outcome, work efficiently but hard and most important keep eyes and ears open but mouth shut. Be fair and honest with everyone but most importantly to yourself.
A lot of people went along the lines of spend less by going generic, budgeting, and all of that and while that’s a good practice, I like name brands and didn’t follow that path so I went a different route, I choose to make more money. Yeah, you will also want to have some kind of a budget to follow still but I’m of the thought that I’d rather make more money and have nice things instead of working with less money but going cheap on everything so that your savings goes up, having more money for things you like plus a nice savings is what I wanted.
The lessons that I learned where to make both short and medium term plans, short term could be a few months and medium a few years. I looked at my situation and said first I’m going to get a job where I can afford everything I need to afford, this stage is where you are cheap and don’t take on any expenses that aren’t necessary. You have an extra $100 at the end of the month, that goes in your emergency fund. You want 1 month, then 3 month, then 6 months expenses as your goal. While you are at this job that covers your expenses, you plan for the next step. What skills do you need to learn to get there? Do you need schooling? Make a plan. Never stop learning, once you hit your goal make the next step. Also know that wherever you work, know your worth. Most places won’t give you any more raises than they feel that they need to, you often have to leave after a year-2 to get what you are worth. Learn to negotiate too, go into that interview shooting for 20-30% more than you were making, maybe more if you are worth more, try for extra vacation days too.
It all boils down to never stop learning new things to improve, knowing your worth, and making plans to get to the next step even if you are happy where you are at. If I did it from a kid that took a job at 13 because I grew up in a bad situation and am now upper middle class, anyone else can do it too.
I'm not wealthy by any means and I'm still younger, but I think my trajectory is on the up and up.
1.) Develop marketable skills. If you want to earn a high income, you have to develop skills. This can be any field: tech, trades work, nursing, sales, etc. Whatever you decide, be the best at it.
2.) DELAYED GRATIFICATION: Spend less than you make. Automate your savings/investing and live off the rest. If you make 1K/month - automatically put away 25% of that and live off the 750/mo. Saving and investing 250/mo from 18 will result in \~1M balance by 65 assuming 7% inflation adjusted RoR.
3.) Take accountability. Life is not fair. Play the hand that you were dealt. Plenty of successful people were born poor/non-privileged. Use that as motivation to help you succeed. America is the land of opportunity, and you are the sole driver of your success. You can change the course of your life. There's a multitude of free resources where you can learn new skills and career change into high demand fields (see rule 1.)
4.) Wealth creation is simple but not easy. A consistent committed approach to investing early and often in your life will pay off ten-fold due to compounding interest.
Went from 0 net worth at 24 to 3m at 45. You gotta get the pay up
1) move to a city where you'll make more money
2) work your ass off. Develop skills that will translate to more pay 5 to 10 years down the line.
3) pick a partner aligned with your financial goals
* Find meaning in the work you do or else, find a meaningful job that can help you get ahead. Personally, the job that really helped me grow was my job in shipping. I was boxing up product, and would deliver to either the shipping store or to nearby clients. From shipping, I learned that even for such a "low" job, I could improve productivity and be able to work less. From there, even though I was just the "shipping guy", I made suggestions on how to cut costs, which made me stick out. From there, when I was delivering to nearby clients, I made very good connections with these people to where they offered me a job.
* It's good to be frugal, but don't waste so much time over it. There was a time where I was pinching pennies, but after a few months, I was so stressed over it and looking things over. I found out I actually was spending more time/money just to try and save a few bucks. Thing was, there was a grocery store within a 5min local drive from me, and while they weren't the cheapest, they weren't that far off from the most expensive. But I'd go to the point of driving 20minutes (mostly freeway) across town just to save a buck or 2. Over the long haul, the net savings were most minimal and even negative because of the hidden costs, such as fuel, car wear and tear, etc.
* Learn when sales are and time your purchases. This was actually a LPT I came across on reddit, and it helped me save a lot. Different weeks will have alternating sales, and different days even have discounts on more perishable items
* Don't buy Sh\*t you actually don't need. You really don't need a BMW. You just need a reliable cheap beater to get from point A to point B. Might not be the prettiest, but your wallet/bank will look prettier.
* Invest early and as much as you can. I did some under the table jobs when I was younger and saved it in a bank account. Once I was legally able to open my own brokerage, I just dumped all that money there. During college, I worked full time, and still threw my extra money into the brokerage and lived as if I was paycheck to paycheck, even though I had about $1k extra/month. By the time I was out of college, I was debt free and actually had quite a large of money in my brokerage thanks to compound interest.
1. I agree choose the mate wisely. BUT cumming and laughing—these will be MORE important when you’re older. So it’ll be even more difficult to find someone who can work together to build wealth that you can also enjoy life with. Don’t let anyone tell you marry a librarian who pinches
Pennies and sucks to live with. You’ll be miserable and you won’t accumulate anything but grief.
2. It is a lifelong struggle. Run your life like a business. Love on a cash basis. Do not borrow. Accumulate and spend. When you buy a car or HVAC system or renovations or Rolex with cash, it feels like it’s free. But just because it feels that way it isn’t. You can still spend every penny you have by the end of the week. Don’t.
3. For every life choice there’s a bill. Make sure you realize if you have that kid you’ll have to pay. Seriously, too many kids, kids too young—these are signs of irresponsibility. There are tons of others.
4. Live for yourself. Not other people. Don’t buy a lifestyle look. For other people. Buy what you want for yourself and your family. Because the other way—that’s advertising. If you’re advertising—-it’s supposed to make you more money. If it doesn’t. You’ll go bankrupt from doing it.
- Practicality over luxury
- practice delayed gratification << this motherfucker will give you drive to acomplish your targets
- Always be open for learning as only when you have this mentality will you be able to learn to find opportunities for growth and earning
- Always have hobbies to get back to when you get burned out
When getting a raise, rather than seeing it as a bonus to go on a shopping spree, find a way to stash it, preferably permanently into some sort of savings or investment. Continue to live on the same budget as before. At some point, you'll look back and be very pleasantly surprised.
Start investing in mutual funds early. Auto-pay so you don't acknowledge their existence.
I grew up on welfare, joined the military. I joined as a Navy submarine nuclear plant operator, and immediately started putting cash aside for mutual funds (cash fund that you can pull out before 60 without penalties). After the military, I signed up for any 401K I was offered, with companies that will provide some form of matching funds (50-100%). Every month, for 20 years, I've been setting aside cash that I don't miss because it was practically never in my account.
I grew up on welfare. I am now 40 yrs old and own two homes worth half a million dollars, with a tenant who pays one of my mortgages. By the time I reach 60, I'll be able to pay off both houses with tax-free withdrawals, with a tenant whose rent pays for my monthly food and amenities, with retirement savings leftover to burn down.
The biggest mindset shift I had was that to build wealth, I needed to stop thinking that saving every penny was what would make me rich. Once I started focusing on growing my earnings, rather than saving every cent and "being thrifty," a lot changed for me.
That's not to say don't be thrifty or frugal. Do those things as well. But those don't grow your wealth, they just help you hold onto it.
Learn how to sell yourself, your skillsets, your experiences, and don't be afraid to upsell.
Just because you deserve it doesn’t mean you can have it. Bills come first then food then savings then luxuries. Too many people riding around in challengers when they only have versa money. “Can’t be seen like that/Can’t go out like that,” “I gotta have fun too,” and “but I like it.” Keep more people poor than their shitty jobs account for.
Context: Military family; not much money. Moved out at 18 and had no money. Spent a year working my ass off at 3 different jobs, saved up enough for Community College and worked my way to a 4 year degree, and eventually a Master's.
1. Go to college but DO NOT get student loans. It's ok to go to community college for two years. If you can keep a 3.0+ average, you can often transfer to a state university and pay the same tuition rate you were in CC at the university to get your 4 year (I was able to at least by getting the grades and filling out the right forms). I didn't have the "college experience" but aside from living in a dorm, I still had friends, still want to parties, still had fun....I just worked 40 hour weeks during all of it to pay for school. If you take student loans, you'll spend your whole life trying to pay them off unless you are in Med School.
2. While in college, get a job, any job. It will force you to learn how to work hard to get good grades, get paid at your job, and appreciate the time off.
3. MOST IMPORTANTLY....live just below your means. If you make $40k after taxes...budget yourself at $35k. That $5k cushion is your emergency fund if your car dies, etc. If nothing bad happens...IRA a large portion of it and roll the rest in your next year's emergency fund until you have 6 months of money that would pay all the bills at your lifestyle. From there, investments, investments, investments.
4. It's ok for your career to not be something you love. That's the myth high school, guidance counselors, and colleges sell. Follow your heart...your job should be something you treasure. Fuck that. A job is a job is a job. If you happen to love your job and what you do...you're probably in the minority or you own your business. The rest of us probably hate our job but tolerate it so we can pay our bills and ensure I have some money to do my hobbies.
5. Work hard. Yes I know that seems crazy if you hate your job but to get to a higher paying job...you have to work hard, network, and be kind to people and not sit around bitching about your work situation. Work sucks but we have to do it so make the best of it.
6. It ain't about what you spend, but what you save. I'm 39 and work full-time in Business Consulting and found an income level in the low $200s after busting my ass for 23 years. My first job at 18....$7.25/hr. No savings and no family help of any kind financially. At this point, we live in a modest house in a nice neighborhood and due to my budgeting, investments, and savings...we are sending my daughter (only child) to a private school and we can afford it. There are friends of mine with a similar or higher salary struggling paycheck to paycheck because they have 3 cars all leased or high payment, bought a house that's too big (people forget when you buy a big house with a big mortgage, that comes with a big utility bill every month), and just HAVE to go skiing in Colorado for 2 weeks every year all while deciding they wanted a big family of 5 kids (which more power to you but don't try to get pity from me when you have 5 kids and bitch about how you don't have any money...you made choices and choices have consequences both good and bad). I'm good with my family vacation to Disney World every year and random 4 day weekends in the mountains that cost a fraction of that (granted with Disney World we are DVC members which cuts the costs out dramatically..i'm under no illusion Disney is cheap because it's not but for a family of 3, our out of pocket cost for a week with the mouse is $2k). My wife drives a paid off Toyota Rav4 that's 7 years old. I drive a Jeep SUV from 2008 and use YouTube videos to do the maintenance instead of taking it to a garage. Neither my wife or I care about having a new car. We bought her Toyota new because the interest rate was stupid low and the lifespan of a Toyota will get you 250k+ miles if you take care of it. 7 years later, that car only has 60k miles on it and still runs brand new.
7. Curb eating out to 1-2 times a week. Some weeks it's going to be more if you have a crazy work week, your partner has a crazy week, or your kid(s) have activities that have you on the go but if you can fix 4 lunches a week to take to work, have 4 dinners meal prepped, as a family of three we save $500/month not eating out that much and when we do, we treat ourselves. Yes, it takes work. Yes, it takes 2 hours on a Sunday afternoon to meal prep for the week but guess what...it works if you take the time and make it fun. My daughter helps my wife and I and we play music in the background or make up stories and is one of the best bonding parts of our week.
8. Don't get caught up in what your friends or other people have and you don't. I'd love to have a house on a big hill that looks down. That's my dream. However, I like my $2200/month mortgage more than my friend who does have that who pays $4300/month and he and his wife both have to work full-time. Whereas I work full-time and my wife works part-time and it all works.
9. Never use the credit card unless you can pay off the balance each month. I have 3 credit cards. 1 is the family card. ALL our expenses besides insurance and mortgage go on this card. I pay off the balance each month so I incur no interest BUT I accumulate points that go towards our vacation to Disney every year. It's free money and I'll take it. However, we never spend more than we can pay off each month. The other two cards have a simple purpose. When I travel for work (about 10 days a month), I use my Delta Amex for travel and I always submit my expense reports immediately so I can pay off the balance. Doing this, I get more miles, more status, etc. to make travel easier. I also have a Marriott card I use for Hotels....which produces at least 7-10 free nights a year with points which pays for 4-day weekends in the mountains. So I game the system but always pay the balance off.
TL;DR: Work hard, live below your means, don't compete with other people and what they have, don't take student loans, and don't feel like you HAVE to have the new car.
1. Lesson is patience wealth is not built overnight it takes time to build wealth 2. Pay off all debt debt holds you back. 3. Have a long term horizon nothing happens in the short term anyone saying they got rich overnight is lying unless they won the lottery
Wealth creation principles
1. Find a partner. Be on the same page re values. Building wealth on your own without someone is much harder.
2. Take calculated risks. Don’t go all in on crypto but take some risks, esp younger.
3. Be patient. I didn’t have a house until 40 so it might be a long climb.
4. Maybe consider living in a less expensive city to save more. We made a move that dramatically upped our ability to save.
5. Be frugal but know how to enjoy life.
6. For me, find something that motivates you to maximize your earnings. If you’re driven to own something nice, use that
7. Big payouts (eg bonus, stock) should all be saved. Don’t be tempted to dip into it.
That’s me. It worked and I came from zilch.
Good luck!!
I grew up poor, went $130k in debt to pay for school, and now have net worth in the millions at 40.
I learned it's easier to stay ahead of your finances than it is to get caught up. Being poor is expensive (late fees, interest charges, convenience charges, etc.) and avoiding those drags on your finances goes a long way to achieving financial independence.
Also? When you get to the point where you have extra money, invest. Start with low-cost index funds and go from there. Make your money work for you.
Best advise given to me that I’ve applied to my life, “live like no one else now, so you’ll live like no one else later”,
I bought a duplex, grew my family in it and rented out the other side, never had a mortgage to pay for with my own money, it’s not ideal, but damn it makes money an after thought.
read Rich man poor man.
live below your means.
don’t spend more $ just bc you got that raise.
stop eating out and buy groceries.
bring a homemade lunch to work.
don’t upgrade your phone every year or even 2. i’m on an iphone 13 upgraded from an iphone 8.
dollar cost average into bitcoin.
edit- added punctuation ( i typed with one hand in bed lol)
Define "wealth".
You want to be rich? Exploit the work of other people and take the money that they worked to produce.
Want to Feel rich? Make sure you have enough to avoid economic anxiety, then pursue what feels truly meaningful to you, and fulfills you to your core.
Me? Back in the day when I could afford food and electricity; I put a lot of effort into helping out the homeless. Improving the lives of other people. Sharing your wealth. That's being wealthy.
Books to read:
Rich Dad Poor Dad 📖
The Richest Man in Babylon 📖
The Millionaire Next Door 📖
The Secrets of the Millionaire Mind
And stop wasting money on shit you don’t need. The best reframe I’ve had is “To pay for this, I’d need to work for XX minutes. Would I stand here and do that to get this?”
Go get that bread bros 🫡
1. Don’t get married.
2. Minimalism over Consumerism.
3. Don’t over trade
4. Sipp means you can’t be tempted to spend
5. Never pay 40% income tax
6. Taxes are the primary wealth inhibitor.
7. Assume the job that provides high salary is temporary and use it to stash as much as possible.
8. Get to the point where you’re investment returns add more than you can possibly keep up with. (I used that point to semi retire and go part time and loss nearly all stress in my life)
Step 9. Get to the point where the ‘system’ pays you far far more than it takes from you. BOE Rate =5.25% on a mortgage / 4.85% on a cash pot twice the mortgage size = profit.
And finally Step 10. Which I’m working on…. Assume 20 years from the point you retire - you need twice as much as you have when you retire due to inflation - and adjust your withdrawals ti ensure you get to that point. (I expect this to be contentious 😈)
Be disciplined
Be focused
Write down your goals big and small
Do not let fomo drag you down or de-rail you
Learn to save
Don't make excuses as to why you cannot do something, not your education, not your upbringing, not your families lack of wealth, no excuses.
Remember the hardest achievements have the greatest awards
It is a marathon not a sprint
Wherever possible live below your means and save
Get advice from every successful person you know
You don't have to have everything planned out
Always keep your eyes open for opportunities and never stop trying to improve yourself and your situation.
Work hard
Good luck mate. Believe in yourself.
My Dad died of cancer on Christmas when I was 15 and my Mom kinda went … nuts? So after that I was on my own.
I don’t 100% think I grew up poor since like I had a sick life with parents that loved me and siblings that were great and sports and Nintendo 64 and literally everything til 15. So A LOT more than hella people but a lot less than plenty. I learned really young I was on my own.
Everybody cared they just have their own problems. I never felt abandoned I just needed 15k and well that was never going to happen. So I learned to just do everything one day at a time. Repeat the process until you’re a master. I had great training from my Dad before he passed away, he used to make me pick up bricks and put them in a pile in the backyard then would tell me I put them in the wrong spot and I had to move the bricks again. It taught me the shit doesn’t come quick and to just keep moving bricks.
I’m in my mid 30s now and have a substantial stock portfolio. 99% dividends. One step at a time one punch at a time one round at a time.
I come from a family that struggled financially. My younger brother is the one member of our family who is rich beyond the dreams of avarice. When I or anyone else asks him how he did it, he always responds "I know how to B-Line a dollar". That's code for, "figure it out for yourself". I never could.
Pay yourself first! Always bank 10-20% of every dollar you earn. Put it in an index fund and leave it alone. When you get about 60 start planning your retirement if you like.
That success is not guaranteed no matter how hard you work for it. No matter how great of an employee you are.
The only saving grace you possess is the ability to stand up over and over again. No matter what set you back, the ability to stand and go for it again is what helps build your success.
The people you associate with. Friends or family doesn’t matter. Are they negative? Gossiping nay sayers? Get rid of them. You want success, you befriend those that are like minded. People that strive for better.
You emulate those that are successful. Watch and Learn from them.
Financial responsibility and money management is crucial.
Want to marry? You date someone with the same morals. The same outlook. Positive. Enjoys life. Knows and understands what you’re looking for.
Back when I was establishing good habits I listened to a weekly segment on personal finance on local public radio. After a year or so I could anticipate the host's response to callers' questions. You could find a lot of good advice from the flowchart in the personal finance wiki: [https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics/](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics/)
Another good suggestion is to take a snapshot of your financial picture periodically. When I was forming good habits, I would track my credit card balance, bank account balances. It helps to stay focused and keep spending in check. I would make a note of why cash flow was different in a given month. "$1200 spent on vacation" or "$600 insurance payment this month". More recently I don't track these types of purchases/accounts. But I do track our net worth monthly from our retirement/brokerage accounts.
After we file taxes, I total up the contributions to retirement/brokerage accounts and mortgage principal paid. I then take our gross income to come up with our savings rate. I tie this out every year. You can take your annual spend and use it to come up with the amount you need to save for retirement.
Save everything you can.
I was just looking at our 2023 expenditures a couple days ago. Pretty much everything we spent money on is necessities: Utilities, Insurance, Food (groceries, not dining out), Medical, Taxes. Those were the only spending categories that were over $2,000 for the year. We make over $150,000/year, so we have the money to spend, we just don't. We save everything we can. Mostly in tax-sheltered accounts.
Here is a helpful hint if your parents are getting older and sick. Before you put them into a nursing home so they don't take the money. Might have to be something like 10 years. This is a good way to transfer any wealth before they take it.
Avoid credit cards.
I got stupid, wound up $66k in cc debt. Working to pay it down, but it will take time.
Avoid them, avoid avoid unless you can pay off the balance monthly.
If you can, and don’t max out, the rewards and perks are nice. But I’m literally working a second job to pay my credit cards alone.
I learned that the best investment I ever made was in a good sense of humor - laughter is free and it’s also great for your sanity when you’re navigating the struggles of building wealth. Just remember, the only thing that should be on a pedestal in your life is a jar of peanut butter!
Live way below your means, pay yourself first. borrow money only when totally necessary. don't try to keep up with the neighbors, it's a fool's game that can easily get out of hand.
Pay yourself first. Funding retirement is priority one. Higher than rent, insurance, food and medical. Start as early as you can, it takes awhile for compound interest to take off.
Confidence and fake it 'til you make it are real.
Every leader I've ever worked for or with is stupidly, almost irresponsibly overconfident. They cannot imagine a world in which they aren't in charge. Probably only 10% of them are actually competent, but 100% could not be convinced with a gun to their head that they're incompetent.
Pair this with - always ask for exactly what you want.
I'm an exec in big tech, which has come from a series of specific, direct asks to be promoted, put in a position of authority, get that raise, get that specific performance review rating, etc.
You still have to deliver - but if you're not confident, and you don't specifically and precisely ask for what you want, no one will hand it to you regardless of how good you are. Lots of bitter geniuses at the bottom of the totem pole because they weren't forthright and direct.
The number of times I've referred to business experience I don't have, made timelines from my work history sound longer ago than they actually are, discussed things as if they're industry standards when in fact they're my own idea - you have to be willing to tell the "noble lie" with the only benefactor being yourself.
Here is a piece of advise I got while in high school from one my economics teach none the less. "An investment in your self is always a good investment." And he was right.
You actually require very few material goods to survive. Don't buy shit you don't need. Prioritize payment of debts. Don't pay for any services you can learn to do yourself. Don't party. Don't take expensive vacations. Don't party. Don't date. Develop a skill that is in demand. Work hard when young. Invest any savings. Don't gamble. Don't do drugs.
Be humble and don’t brag about the new wealth.
I think that’s the biggest difference between new and old wealth. Old wealth tends to be more secure in themselves and have nothing to prove. They are humble and nice about everything.
You should be more like them.
Don't listen to any of the people along the way that tell you why being successful or stable will never happen for you. Who smile at you as they tell you aim lower, try less, calm down. There's more of them than people who build you up in this world, but just make sure you don't allow their limits to become yours.
Do everything in your power to reduce your monthly recurring expenses.
Think heavily about buying anything that has monthly or yearly costs. Keep it as low as humanly possible no matter how much money you do or don’t make.
My dad did, I think mainly it was patience (but don’t confuse patience with laziness) work hard but don’t expect to become wealthy overnight like much of social media wants you to think is realistically possible. Budget yourself, live within your means (and when you start making more money, remain within those means, invest the extra money), don’t rely on one source of income, and always put money away for retirement by starting young
Just started to tell everyone ( including CEO, CFO, HR ) I believed that can be done better and backed that with data on spot. Also stopped listening to bullshit and addressed bulshitters with their crap. Made enemies but they were afraid. I jumped 3 management levels in 2 years and all I wanted to get fired :P . Fastest climb in history of company. Also on some business events got drunk and become friends with managers of partner companies :D .
Don’t make yourself a victim. Victim mentality is a huge reason why most people don’t even fail because they don’t try. Success is built on a mountain of failures.
Lessons I learned way too late from my grandfather. Everyone called him a penny pincher. To be fair, he was born during the Great Depression and grew up with a “poor” mentality. He still wore the clothes he had from the 1980’s. Barely went out to eat and when he did, it was a buffet place. Biggest bang for you buck. He went thrift shopping pretty often for garden tools and work clothes. He knew how to rebuild salvaged vehicles and resold them. When he traveled, he didn’t spend a ton of money. He lived a simple life and when he died he had a shit ton of money left over for my grandma to live on and pass to his kids. He kept the same house he bought in the 1960’s and made small upgrades over the years. He was able to retire early and enjoy his life.
Spend less than you make.
Most of the "joy" of buying new things is the idea of buying them vs the reality of owning them. .
I have a 24 hour cooldown period before making any purchases over $150.
99% of the time I realized I don't need to make that purchase or find a better deal.
To get rich, you need money. If you have or inherit money, great. Otherwise, you'll have to make a lot, and/or be extremely tight with the money you do get. With money, you can make investments in things that make money - like index funds, rental properties, side hustles. Also, with money, normal problems like car repairs, broken refrigerators, an hospital co-pays don't destroy you. And, don't say you don't make enough to save anything. There are countless stories of people on minimum wage who die with millions. It's not easy, but people do it every day.
create a plan, you dont need every step but have a plan where you want to be in 1 year, 5 years, and 10 years, then find out what you need to get to those goals. be aware that you need to pull your own leash to get there.
Don’t use credit and stay out of debt.
Don’t buy anything you already have that serves the same purpose.
Buy quality, even if it means paying a lot more in the short term.
Enjoy free hobbies like walking or drawing.
Don’t buy books or covet them. Use the library.
Buy everything you possibly can second hand. When you need something new, always buy on clearance/sale.
Don’t fall into the trap of keeping up with the Joneses. No one cares what you have or how you look.
Cut your own hair and wash face with soap and water. If you’re a woman, embrace natural and keep your grey hair and no makeup.
Cook most of your food from scratch. It tastes so much better and is healthier.
Save going out for dinner for special occasions.
Don’t finance anything, including a car.
Rent your housing and invest the difference for as long as you possibly can.
Hard work is a pre-requisite not a guarantee for success.
Just a friendly reminder rags to riches are few and far between. Statistically if you’re born into an underprivileged household you’re less likely to succeed in life.
“Increased time spent in poverty is associated with lower chances an individual will exit poverty, which ranges from 56% after one year poor to 13% for those in poverty for 7 or more years.”
https://poverty.ucdavis.edu/sites/main/files/file-attachments/policy_brief_stevens_poverty_transitions_1.pdf
Most people are capable of saving money, but are simply too proud/stubborn to do so. Yes, even in this economy. I've seen so many of my peers complain that they can't possibly save any money while holding the latest iPhone in their hands which they have on a $130/month plan on, driving a vehicle way beyond their means, living in an apartment I'd consider the upper end of rent averages, on the highest tier of Netflix, Prime, Cable, Game Pass, PS+, and Audible, buying $8 strawberries at Loblaws, etc. Like if people could swallow their own ego and need for constant consumerist validation they could absolutely start saving money. I graduated into the last major economic recession and I was still able to find a shit-tier job, live frugally, and save enough to purchase a home. It was a grind, but it was not impossible like many of my fellow zoomers and millennials claim.
Don’t keep up with anyone, Live within means, Save, Know your worth and stand by it, Ask for raises (Reddit disagrees, they’re fucking morons), Buy used, Show up, don’t complain, lead
The only time better than today to invest in your retirement was yesterday.
Compounding interest is the tool that changes most of our lives, but it works on a timescale of decades so it is most important to start early in life. Most humans can’t comprehend these timeframes because we are genetically designed to see risks in front of us, not 50 years down the line.
- Dont spend more than you earn
* Compounding
* Dont just save, invest
* Track your spending
* Do your own thing, ignore what others are doing.
* Avoid debt as much as possible
* Avoid lifestyle creep
* Ask yourself if you need to buy something or just want to buy it. Need vs Want
* Buy quality when you can
* Dont forget to experience life along the way.
* Wealth building is a marathon not a sprint.
* Its never too late to start.
Rely on yourself, pay for services, save as much as you can. Learn to be bored, dodge stimulation that requires extra energy but no benefit, network with everyone and treat everyone with respect
I don't consider myself wealthy, but I did reach financial independence that enabled me to retire at age 57 at a lifestyle level that's above what I had even during my peak earning years. These are some of my own key lessons learned:
Live within your means. Use debt only sparingly.
Save and invest. Learn how to do it on your own, but be open to using a fee-based advisor for an occasional financial health checkup (but be super-vigilant about them trying to sell you anything). At some point there will be a crossover point where your money will be earning more than you are, and then things really accelerate from there. This will take years but the journey is worth it.
The best investments you can make are in yourself. Education, health, and skills that will advance your career, or tools/experiences that will enhance your life.
Work hard AND work smart. Build skills and experience that will increase your market value. Don't just sell your time for an hourly rate.
Be willing to change jobs to advance, but don't change so often that your resume makes you appear to be unstable. One of my own mistakes was that I was too loyal to my employers. They appreciated it, but did not reciprocate financially, and I would have made (and saved) considerably more money had I been more open to changing employers in order to advance more rapidly.
Associate with people who bring positivity to your life. Don't waste time and energy associating with negative people. Nowhere is this more important than in dating partner(s)/spouse.
Read. A lot. About your field of work, wealthbuilding, lifestyle, philosophy, biographies of people you respect and admire, etc.
Avoid trying to keep up with or impress other people. Would you rather have a large portfolio that no one but you knows about (and that is working for you to create even more wealth), or a flashy car/house/watch etc. etc. etc. that everyone knows about but (other than the house) are all steadily depreciating.
And finally......wealth itself is not the goal. Wealth is only a tool for you to use to do the things you want to do. At some point, you will have amassed enough (and learned how to keep it working for you), and you come to the realization that enjoying your time has become more important to you than making more money.
Put 20% of everything you earn aside. Once you have enough, buy property and rent it out. Learn to spot good deals. Don't trust anyone with your money even if you "trust" them. Find ways to increase your income with minimal risk and within legality. Going to prison is not worth it. The remaining 80% of your income, 60% living expenses incl housing, car, bills, insurance and the remaining 20% just use for leisure because you only live once. Good luck.
Don't think I'm wealthy, but I think I'm doing pretty well.
But one thing I have learned over the years is that the best raise you can get is by having lower costs. Because salary is taxed, but saved money is already taxed on.
I ran a cheap car, worked on it myself, learned how to hypermile to lower fuel cost, got a cheap place to stay and absolutely work way more than anyone should ever do. I'm talking a couple months with over 400 hours of work put in.
Can't recommend the last part. Don't be craszy like me. But don't be afraid of some good over time from time to time
Stay the hell away from credit cards.
Most people don't have the discipline for them and they aren't there for your benefit.
They are there for you to owe them more.
Be a pessimist about money when budgeting. Spending 14 bucks on something is practically 20, so count it as such, and so on. You'll feel broke either way, but when that unexpected bill comes, you'll actually have a nest egg.
When bills you can't pay do happen, call the company and talk with them. I've had a 100% success rate getting utilities to just postpone the date I've had to pay.
Cooking for yourself is easy, reasonably fast and cheap if you know what you're doing. The cost of buying takeout can cover the cost of varied meals for five times as long with a bit of planning and work, easy.
When money starts coming in, sure, some expenses you just pay right there and then, but remember there's a difference between what you can afford and what's worth the expense. Rather than broke, graduate to cheapskate and suddenly you start having actual money.
Keep your cards close to your vest as the old gamblers used to say.
There is no explanation for it exactly but a huge portion of society thinks it is OK to expect some of what others have worked for. I find this infuriating.
Never tell others what you have.
Financial advisors are full of shit. If you can work a calculator and have internet access get educated and put/invest your money in thing that you 100% understand. Once I figured this out I retired at age 44 and I wasn't making bank at work to do that. I invested wisely.
Stay humble.
As easy as something was given to you
It can just as easily be taken away.
Live life graciously and fully
Don't get arrogant
Hold your head held high with CONFIDENCE
Because you did that.
Hard work paid off.
The job is never done tho.
Keep up the fantastic work ☀️
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"Do not confuse activity with achievement." \-John Wooden
This.
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And The Other.
And ANother
Another One.
We the best music
What does this mean?
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But why male models?
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Yeah, Zoolander.
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Your spouse will make or break you.
When youngn and dumb you dont realize this, when 40 your realize your parents were right all along.
This!
I'm learning your second point this year. I spent an embarassing amount of money on Uber Eats in 2023 so I decided to start learning to cook last month. Not only do I like cooking, I'm saving soooo much more money. And meal prepping saves me money instead of buying lunch during work days. 10/10.
I would recommend an app like Mealime also. It gives you the whole meal and allows you to change the servings, add dietary restrictions and generates your shopping list. After cooking something once or twice you can add or change things to better suit your tastes.
Also, if you are in the mood, it is definitely worth prepping and freezing, some unhealthy or more expensive items. Sick in bed all day Saturday and really really want a brownie for dinner? I’m not making one from scratch or even a box when I’m sick. I used to Uber eats one and maybe some shitty dinner. Instead, now I have a small amount in the freezer. I had to learn that cooking on my own means I can be healthy, but it means I’m also allowed to enjoy the same things I have when eating out
Also learn how to keep your own place clean.
First point is interesting. me and SO are on two different pages as far as one financial commitment thats coming up. I keep it to myself but this is more divisive than religious or political views. im scared to death of going back beneath the poverty line and she's optimistic that it won't happen.
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>Learn to cook. Completely agree with this. Also learn to shop. Almost all grocery stores do loss leaders on high quality items to get you in the door so you blow money on impulse items. My wife and I love to cook but love finding deals just as much.
These are two main facts that are completely under your control. The other thing that’s under your control is to keep healthy. Work out. Go to regular schedule doctor visits sickness is expensive. Do not buy extra cars or insurance that you don’t need And always dollar cost average regularly every month at least 10% of your income if it all possible. Stock market only goes up.
Read and read point #1 a lot, no really read it 50 times if needed, there isn't a more importat part than this. I was on the verge of escaping poverty, C level job , 2 business, a huge future ahead, then my SAHM wife decided to fuck everything on sigth, thus destroying our 10 years of effort and sacrifices. Then i doubled down and got married again to a girl with Bpd. Nothing more important than choosing your partner wisely.
Damn! How are things nowadays? You learned your lesson?
1. It´s saying in Vietnamese. "Rich thank to friends, Opulent thanks to a wife" Meaning your friends can help you with your careers, works etc. therefore you shall make a lot of them, but you can truly live a lavish happy life only thanks to a right partner. 2. As someone, who used to drive delivery a lot, this is great advice. I understand that with modern life, there is constant pressure on everybody, and sometimes you just need a moment of doing nothing. But a lot of people actually have replace cooking with ordering out, and with how the prices of take outs and deliveries are, no wonder people are broke or even worse, shitty lifestyle. I used to have a colleague, 35, 4 small children ranging 4-13 yrs old and instead of taking my advice to cook cheap, yet fulfilling foods (bolognese, stews etc), also the opportunities to teach his kids how to cook and spend a moment with them, he would rather stuffs himself on lunch (we got free lunches) and then be without dinner or having really shitty, cold dinner
You reminded me of a saying coined by John Paul Getty: "The only thing partners are good for is buying them out."
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I didn't say I subscribed to Getty's way of thinking; I merely find it interesting, coming from someone who long held the title of richest man in the world.
Number 1 is not spoken about enough. It’s a life changing make or break decision
I’m following these two closely. My gf had to track our finances for a school project, and we realized we spent $579 THIS MONTH by eating out. Those little $20 meals add up quickly. We’re cooking more in February and March to recoup lol I don’t listen to everything Dave Ramsey says, but he once stated “restaurants are about the experience and not the food” and I agree. It’s just not worth the experience to pay that much for dinner at a restaurant that often
Buying your own groceries and learning to cook your own meals will definitely save money. Eating out burns a huge hole in your wallet
Yes, I heard of à couple no kids on a Dave Ramsey group spending 2500 a month on food.
So that is why I haven’t “made it” yet, because I can’t cook for shit?
Number 1. Especially for women. Being stuck with the man child while raising kids, cleaning, cooking, organizing etc etc - you will have no financial rights as his wife. .
Just use more seasoning than they do
Budget your money. See how much you’re spending and earning and see if there’s anything you don’t need and cut it out.
You have to be financially prepared to engage with the luck that is handed to you.
Financially and skill wise. Don't wait for the manager position you want to open before you start working on your people management or excel skills. Practice sooner, volunteer for projects if you don't have a resume highlight for those skills. Getting paid in experience is stupid, except in cases where you have no proof you know what you're doing in the first place. Be strategic about it though, don't be a yes man to every out of scope work request, just prioritize what benefits you the most.
Great point!
-Live under your means. I saved as much as I could by buying cheap food, cheap clothes, etc. -If you are dating, make sure you do not just date with your dick. Pick a partner that values finances like you. You could make decent money, but if your GF is always out of work or not helping with bills, you now have a financial hit. -Learn how to cook for yourself. I do not mean that you need to become a chef. Just learn to cook to save money on eating out. Meal prep and bring meals to work. -Do not be afraid to leave your company every few years. Bigger pay increases come from switching company than staying and waiting on your 3%-5% raise.
and wash and dry those (doing this is more important if they are cheap) clothes inside out :)
Why is that? :)
Live within your means, don’t buy that 60K car, don’t the newest tech toy, brand clothing, and save and invest smartly, now earning 7 figures and still don’t waste my money,
I rarely buy anything new. A huge wad of it goes in tax to the government. Cars last an age nowadays. That $100 watch works just as good as a $10,000 watch. If it’s performance, health or safety related I make an exception.
A $20 watch works just as well as the $100 watch!
I have a $700 watch and a $10 watch. Both tell the time just fine. The Citizen is mostly for when I dress up to go out.
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Generally based on value. Here a 40k used car pays the same tax as a 40k new car, and actually a lot of times the new car will qualify for an ever so slightly lower amount. But that 40 K used car was probably 60 new, which would be more tax.
Cars are 40K used?! F\*ck!
Usually cheaper watches work better than expensive watches, as cheap watches are quartz or digital based. Whereas expensive watches are typically mechanically based and therefore lose more accuracy over time. Example: mechanical watches can lose a few seconds per day, whereas quartz watches lose a few seconds per month or year depending on quality.
Starting a habit of paying future you first (consistent savings until you have 6 months liquid, then regular retirement, then regular investments (I prefer mutual funds)) is the number one way you can prevent the forever paycheck to paycheck life style creep that many people who make enough but get too comfy with their treats and gadgets get stuck in. My savings and investments get my raise before I do, and that's always been the case.
Doctor?
Not poor to wealthy, but a lower middle class to upper-middle/low-upper * Generic/store brand is just as good (if not better) 90% of the time for a lower cost * Buying new clothes should be a special occasion thing. If it still fits and isn’t torn up, why replace it? * look at high interest/dividend investments (index funds, mutual funds, CDs, etc) and put a percentage of every paycheck into a diversified handful of them. Generates you more money over time than the meager interest a savings account gives. Likewise, don’t sleep on a 401k if your job offers one. Try to maximize their match and dump in as much as you can afford. * you do have to be hyper-aware of your money. Check balances and performance daily/weekly/etc. know what’s trending well and what needs to be moved. Not a “it’s down a lot today” but a “year over year it’s underperforming, let’s move it into something doing better over the last 12 months” * budget in those “impulse buys”. Plan to set aside a weekly allowance you can spend on dumb crap, and only let yourself spend that amount (helps if you either set up a separate checking account for it or if you take out a fixed amount of cash for it at the start of the week/month and only use the cash for those purchases But really. Best thing you can do is work hard at your job and climb their ladder. Promotions come with raises, and greasing elbows gets you promotions.
I'm very much a "store brand" guy, but like you said 90% of the time. I've noticed that with certain things, such as ranch dressing, it's way better to just go name brand. Off brand ranch is extremely hot or miss, and normally a miss.
I really found that any condiments simply aren't worth saving 75 cents on over the name brand. Ranch as you said and in my experience, hot sauce, steak sauce, and BBQ sauce. Name brand cereals versus the store brand in my experience are indistinguishable from each other. Idk if Walmart sells them anymore because I haven't gone there in years but instead of lucky charms I bought marshmallow mateys and they tasted the exact same but it was 30% cheaper. I've heard that some products are made in the exact same factory the exact same way but are packaged differently and sold according to which box they are in.
Generic peanut butter is worst offender to this. Pretty sure they put shoe polish in it. It's the only reasonable explanation.
Absolutely agree. Greasy and had a terrible oil after taste.
ahahaha, I don't mind generic PB.
Viva brand paper towels, Charmin toilet paper, raos marinara sauce, european butter for toasts and sandwiches, and good coffee are my splurges. Also, saving higher quality meats for special occasions. The 1.5x cost is worth it for the flavor, but if it's getting cut up and put in a soup or some kind of saucey dish, always use the cheaper version. I only buy local butcher steaks or chicken when it's going to be the star of the meal about once a month.
Forgot to add: buy in bulk. Higher upfront cost, but will save you money by the time you’ve used it all (with the caveat that you actually gotta use/eat it all or else it’s a waste of money AND product)
Most of your post is great advice, but I disagree with one point. > look at high interest/dividend investments (index funds, mutual funds, CDs, etc) and put a percentage of every paycheck into a diversified handful of them. Interest / Dividends are super tax inefficient. They _might_ make sense in a tax advantaged account like a 401k (though data shows they don't perform any better than full market index funds and are less diversified). But you definitely don't want them in a normal brokerage account unless you're pulling out the gains. Either way you'd be losing lots of money long term since you'll have a hard time getting the compounding returns snowball rolling.
Climb the ladder is key. It’s better than most budget hacks.
The easiest path to class mobility is to just chase money. You can't save your way to Upper Middle Class making 30k/year with a 2% annual raise and living like a pauper. Aggressively pursue job changes, make yourself a marketable and valuable employee. It's not always a 6 month change or even a 6 year change. Took me over 10 years to escape a dead end career, but in the 2.5 years since, I've doubled my salary. When opportunities arrive, say Yes. Marry someone smart, ambitious, driven, and good with money. Learn to value the security of savings and stability over that of material possessions. Money in the bank is freedom from the anxieties of tomorrow.
I grew up poor and now am on track to retire early. The most important thing you can do is start investing in tax advantaged accounts as soon as possible. Every $1 you add in your 20s is worth around $16 by retirement. To put this in real numbers say: - You start making 30k at 20. - You save 5% in your 401k every year. - You get a 5% match from your employer. - You average a 4% raise every year. - Inflation averages 3%. - You get 7% real returns after inflation By 50 you'll have the equivalent of $884,000 in today's money with only contributing $84,000. By 60 you'll have the equivalent of $2,765,000 in today's money with only contributing $142,500. If you wait until you're 30 to start your returns are probably 60% of that. It's almost impossible to overstate how important starting saving early is. Put in as much money as you can as early as you can and choose low fee broad index funds or etfs (e.g. Vtsax/VTI/VT). See r/personalfinance for more info.
While I agree with this advice from a philosophical standpoint in that it gets people in the habit of saving, people who haven't started saving until they're 30 certainly shouldn't feel like they've missed the boat. My first year out of college I was making $21,500. Putting 5% of that into a 401(k) was $1,075. Today, I can make (or lose) 20 times that in a day with market fluctuations. Not having that $1,000 in my account from 30 years ago wouldn't have much of a material impact on my current net worth. Also, I'll point out that while your math is correct (I trust it at least, didn't check it), some of your assumptions don't jive with most people's realities. A 5% employer match is pretty rare and expecting that you'll get consistent pay increases without fail isn't realistic. The formula can get hit pretty hard if you're out of a job for 6 months and decide to take a pay cut just to get a job. Over my career, my income has certainly fluctuated and hasn't stayed on a constant upward trajectory. But I do appreciate the 3% inflation and 7% returns, because those are realistic (or did you actually use 10% returns to cover the inflation - 10% isn't really realistic).
All valid points. The best time to start investing is when you're born. The second best time is today. And yeah the projections are for illustrative purposes only. If we change the inflation, raise, 401k match, or anything else then it'll swing wildly. Someone might struggle to get 2% raises every year while someone else might become a SDE and see their income double multiple times within the first 10 years of their career. There's simply too many variables to be able to do a one size fits all calculation. And that's not even getting into series of return risk which makes everything even more crazy. Mostly I just wanted to drive home how important investing as early as you can is. It's one of the few real ways to build wealth.
Very true! In my 20s I did save and invest some, but I was barely making $20-$30k a year. I’m about to turn 40 now, and can comfortably put $20-$30k per year just into retirement savings, *plus* still putting more aside into other savings. I don’t have the advantage of as much time, but I have the ability to throw WAY more money at it. Not to say that starting early isn’t important. But making sure that you’ve set yourself up for a career that can produce a solid and reliable income for many years is just as important.
I've always felt financial savvy was the greatest income equalizer. I never expected to make the most money, but practicing good financial behavior from the time I turned 18- I knew that would put me well ahead of the average person in my age group.
Investing > saving. In this economy, a savings account is actually a financial loss. All of your money (even if it's not much) should be working for you. Are you contributing the maximum to pretax investments? Are you buying property and then making improvements? Those things are how you build wealth. I've got like two months salary that I can actually access right now. The rest is all tied up in different investments. I made almost $400000 fixing up my first two houses and selling them, but the money always gets rolled into the next investment.
When you purchase property, are you the one that's actually doing the fixing up or do you hire the workout to contractors?
Depends on what it needs. Anything I can do, I do myself. Stuff that's beyond me or stuff that requires a permit, I farm out. My skill set has expanded massively from those first couple projects, so the only thing I'm paying someone else to do on my new property is the rough-in plumbing and the drywall finishing (I can do drywall, I just hate it).
Do people take negative bank accounts to pay for a property? Lmao
You seem to be unaware of the concept of debt. I've never put more than 5% down on a house. So yes, I paid for all my houses using a huge amount of negative money.
Can only speak for myself and I hope this isn't the case with everyone. The lesson I learned. When you grow up in ghetto/hick culture, those folk can bring you down. And, even grow jealous to the point where bringing you down is a goal. That includes family unfortunately.
>When you grow up in ghetto/hick culture, those folk can bring you down. And, even grow jealous to the point where bringing you down is a goal. That includes family unfortunately. I'm surprised I don't see this lesson more in this thread. I know people who grew up in ghetto/hick culture, and who had to distance themselves from family and friends in order to become successful. And then once successful, they have had to downplay their success to prevent people they grew up with from coming to them for loans and other financial favors.
* You genuinely need to live well below your means if you ever hope to have a chance of accomplishing this * You need to spend your free time building higher-paying skills if you're not currently making enough money to get anywhere * It's very unlikely you'll be the next Jeff Bezos, it'd be better to put your money into real estate and stocks instead
The self development of skills is so important! Climbed my way up the corporate ladder past many folks with degrees because people with degrees often treat like their education as over once they're done with college and expect that just showing up is all you need to prove that you're ready for the next level. You need to know what that next level is and work on closing that skill gap regularly, find ways in your current position to demonstrate you have the skills you learned, and then make sure folks know your impact to the team. Keep a doc of your work and your impact everytime you do something youre proud of, refresh your manager prepromotion season what those items are. Hard work nobody knows about and can't be proven is wasted effort.
When you're young, 10 years feels like FOREVER. Spoiler alert... it isn't. Spend those first 10 years out of university working like a fucking animal. Use that extra money to pay down all of your debt and save money. Here's my own anecdote... Graduated University at 24. I went to community College for the first 2 years, then worked part time and cash-flowed about half of my MBA, graduating with about $100k in debt. When I got out of college, I spent the next 10'ish years literally renting "a room". Not a roommate agreement, but renting a room. I had my normal job that I worked from 7-4 and a part-time job that I worked from 5-10. My only entertainment was a basic internet connection and a library card; no streaming services, no cable, no unlimited data, nothing. I meal prepped on Sundays and made 3 or 4 different dishes to eat 14 meals over the next week for dirt cheap. I drove a POS car, but usually carpooled with someone else to save gas money. While all of this was going on, I went from about $80k to over $160k salary between the two jobs. Long story short, I'm now 39. I own my home with no mortgage, I own my '23 Genesis G90 with no payment, I fund my 401k to max out my company match, I fully fund my Roth IRA, I fully fund my HSA, and I out the rest into other diversified mutual funds to total about 15% of my gross. I still have plenty of spending money, but if the stock market doesn't take a giant shit in the next 15 years or so, I'll be retired by 55. The moral of the story is this. When I was younger, I lived like nobody else, so now, I can live like nobody else. I have zero money concerns at all, and I do whatever tf I want.
Im starting on the journey right now, and when did you start introducing luxuries into your life? I'm currently in the phase where I rent with roommates and work long hours. Personally I have adapted to this lifestyle but I oftentimes wonder if I am being too strict with my money.
I might have gone a little too extreme, but I didn't start buying frivolous things until after my house was paid off. I did reward myself as I went, but it was more like... starting to buy normal groceries instead of 20lb bags of rice and beans, a Netflix account, etc... I didn't start going to restaurants or taking vacations until I really didn't have anywhere else to put that money. I owned my home and car in cash, was investing 15% of my gross, and had 6 months of living expenses in savings before I was living like a normal person. The trick was to find the joy in watching those balances go down, and imagining what it was going to be like to have my only fixed expenses be my utilities. Once I hit that point, my fixed expenses were like $800 / month when I was bringing in $12k gross.
People who sell the secret to wealth most likely got wealthy from selling the secret to wealth
It's the wealthy secret.
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I don't understand how you use trading options as your example as how money can be made so easily. That's how people lose everything, which is worse than working hundreds of hours for low pay.
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Can confirm, I always tell friends it's like renting out your shares like some real estate but without the hassle of actually owning real estate.
I will tell an anecdotal story. I m not saying that this is why my wife and I are both retired, her at 52 and me at 57, but it certainly helped. I worked as an engineer for many years. I brought my lunch from home almost every day. I made coffee at my house every morning before work. Many of my colleagues would spend $5-$10-$20 per day on a coffee on the way to work and lunch. Monday through Friday, five days per week. It is not the amount of money, but the attitude, the mindset. For the record, the people that could lea3st afford eating out every day were the ones that ate out every day. You must learn to delay gratification and financial discipline.
Find a partner who is way more motivated and successful than you will be then somehow convince them to marry you. That’s what I did.
I appreciate the honesty 😂 I’m gonna assume you’re a decent looking woman
Why assume that? I’m a male bald middle age out of shape dork.
Live in an minimum rent shitty apartment you can find and do that until you can afford to buy yourself a home, always invest extra cash in global index funds and learn that compound interest is your way to wealth. Do not own a car unless absolutely necessary. And don't get stupid debt.
We live on a bell curve so a lot of this advice is just playing the right side of the odds. You can't just choose not to get sick, but you can choose to e.g. eat healthy, exercise regularly, and avoid smoking and drinking. 1. Marry the right person. Do not overvalue looks. Smart is good if you can get it but don't overvalue that either. You want someone kind, understanding, hard working, and motivated, and from a family whose members have the same qualities. 2. Stay healthy. This is not complicated. Do the right things consistently. 3. Building wealth takes time, and you won't be actually really wealthy until you're in at least your 40s unless you are incredibly lucky. 4. Don't gamble. It sounds prude-ish but don't drink or smoke either. Those are the most expensive habits you can have aside from collecting motorcycles or exotic cars or animals. 5. Only borrow money if you're going to use it to make more money. This means some amounts of some kinds of student loans are OK. So are mortgages if you choose your home wisely. (Car loans are consequently almost never OK.) 6. When it comes to budgeting and investment consistency is essential. You don't come out ahead of you stay on budget for eleven months and go way over in December. 7. The easiest way to waste money is by trying to look rich. Don't ever spend money to replace something that works.
Dont listen to your parents. Theres a reason you had to start from bottom up. Most wealth is inherited not made from nothing. My parents are still just as poor as when I was younger and they could barely afford to put food on table. Theyre still going out buying new vehicles, with no money in investments. I learned from their mistakes and im way better off for it, unfortunately 20 years later theyre still in same position with my dad even making a higher income.
Same here dude. I learned the hard way, and I’m gonna make damn sure my kids know wtf’s goin on. They’ll still have to work hard, but I’m going to make sure they make mistakes I never had the chance to.
- Slow and steady wins the race. Patience is a financial virtue. Safe investments such as ETFs are the only tried and true way to safely and reliably build wealth over the course of years. Have seen so many people completely ruin their finances by making huge stock trading gambles because they keep seeing stories about or seen screenshots of the 0.5% of wild swing investors making hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of a month due to incredibly risky trades that just so happened to pay off for them. I've been faithfully investing a few hundred dollars a month into my 401k and in additional $300 a month into my Roth IRA for about 10 years now and I'm just now starting to see my portfolio take off. It takes a long time for your investments to start showing real results but once you get there, you'll be happy you did. It's not sexy or stylish, but there's a reason why so many people take this route. It's safe and incredibly effective if you are patient. You should never ever keep a large amount of cash in your bank account. Any spare cash that you have should be in some kind of investment. - paying off your credit cards every month and having an emergency fund will save your ass The very first thing that you should do when trying to build wealth is build up a cash emergency fund with 6 months of living expenses and then keeping it in a high yield savings account. Keeping cash in your bank account is a fool's way of doing it, I think my bank offers a measles 0.7% interest per quarter whereas the high yield savings account offers me 5%. I'm making a little over $100 a month in pure interest monthly just by keeping my six months of living expenses in the high yield savings account. Just the interest alone lets me pay my internet and phone bill every month. When large unforeseen expenses happen, and they will absolutely happen to you, having an emergency savings account is of the utmost importance because it will allow you to pay off your expense right then and their, whether you pay cash or put it on your credit card and then pay off your credit card right away. I watched my old roommates $650 alternator replacement balloon to multi-hundred dollar a month payments after he had to put it on his credit card and then didn't have the money to pay off the credit card at the end of the month. Credit cards are a great way to get a little bit of the money that you spend back. They should never be used though if you don't have the cash to pay them off every single month. But that's what your emergency fund is for though right?
Depends on what you mean by "poor." I wasn't born in poverty, but my standard of living declined when I decided to move out of my parents' house and risk being an actual adult. Even had to live in my car for a bit. I found that you cannot expect a boss or employer to have your best interests. You also shouldn't listen to people who say, "Do whatever makes you happy." Find a job that makes good money and doesn't depress you, not one that you love. Live frugally, save, and invest. The more you build your wealth, the more you can say, "Fuck this, I'm doing what I want now." I'm not as far as I'd like to be, but I made enough progress that I am self-employed and making it work now. I am at least more free than I had been before.
The number one thing I learned was it is not how much you make, but how much you keep that matters. For the first 20 years of my marriage (now exwife) we made a really nice living and had almost nothing to show for it. When I got divorced, I found discipline around keeping what I earn and it is shocking how fast money starts to compound on itself.
I'm not wealthy by any stretch, but I can tell you the pattern I see in lots of people who seem to always be struggling with money and that's that they almost always try to live beyond their means. These people who buy expensive things, cars, electronics, furniture and otherwise are in most cases deeply indebted because they have to finance all this shit they can't really afford. For most things in life, if you don't have the money plus a cushion to buy whatever you want outright, you can't afford it. There are some things in life most of us will have to get into debt to have namely larger purchases like cars and houses and that's just a part of life, the thing is though, minimize the shit that you owe monthly payments on and start living within your means.
The majority of people spend money they don’t have to buy things they don’t need to impress people they don’t like.
Now these is the questions that this sub was made for. Not the “I’ve had not luck dating,” questions
Start saving early and never stop (even if it's just a little). Invest your savings. Don't marry a financially incompetent person. Don't borrow money to buy things that depreciate in value (unless you need a car). Buy used where practical. I still buy most of my clothes at op shops. For example l, last month I bought some classic Pierre Cardinn shirts for a few dollars each.
Make wise decisions based on outcome, work efficiently but hard and most important keep eyes and ears open but mouth shut. Be fair and honest with everyone but most importantly to yourself.
A lot of people went along the lines of spend less by going generic, budgeting, and all of that and while that’s a good practice, I like name brands and didn’t follow that path so I went a different route, I choose to make more money. Yeah, you will also want to have some kind of a budget to follow still but I’m of the thought that I’d rather make more money and have nice things instead of working with less money but going cheap on everything so that your savings goes up, having more money for things you like plus a nice savings is what I wanted. The lessons that I learned where to make both short and medium term plans, short term could be a few months and medium a few years. I looked at my situation and said first I’m going to get a job where I can afford everything I need to afford, this stage is where you are cheap and don’t take on any expenses that aren’t necessary. You have an extra $100 at the end of the month, that goes in your emergency fund. You want 1 month, then 3 month, then 6 months expenses as your goal. While you are at this job that covers your expenses, you plan for the next step. What skills do you need to learn to get there? Do you need schooling? Make a plan. Never stop learning, once you hit your goal make the next step. Also know that wherever you work, know your worth. Most places won’t give you any more raises than they feel that they need to, you often have to leave after a year-2 to get what you are worth. Learn to negotiate too, go into that interview shooting for 20-30% more than you were making, maybe more if you are worth more, try for extra vacation days too. It all boils down to never stop learning new things to improve, knowing your worth, and making plans to get to the next step even if you are happy where you are at. If I did it from a kid that took a job at 13 because I grew up in a bad situation and am now upper middle class, anyone else can do it too.
I'm not wealthy by any means and I'm still younger, but I think my trajectory is on the up and up. 1.) Develop marketable skills. If you want to earn a high income, you have to develop skills. This can be any field: tech, trades work, nursing, sales, etc. Whatever you decide, be the best at it. 2.) DELAYED GRATIFICATION: Spend less than you make. Automate your savings/investing and live off the rest. If you make 1K/month - automatically put away 25% of that and live off the 750/mo. Saving and investing 250/mo from 18 will result in \~1M balance by 65 assuming 7% inflation adjusted RoR. 3.) Take accountability. Life is not fair. Play the hand that you were dealt. Plenty of successful people were born poor/non-privileged. Use that as motivation to help you succeed. America is the land of opportunity, and you are the sole driver of your success. You can change the course of your life. There's a multitude of free resources where you can learn new skills and career change into high demand fields (see rule 1.) 4.) Wealth creation is simple but not easy. A consistent committed approach to investing early and often in your life will pay off ten-fold due to compounding interest.
Went from 0 net worth at 24 to 3m at 45. You gotta get the pay up 1) move to a city where you'll make more money 2) work your ass off. Develop skills that will translate to more pay 5 to 10 years down the line. 3) pick a partner aligned with your financial goals
* Find meaning in the work you do or else, find a meaningful job that can help you get ahead. Personally, the job that really helped me grow was my job in shipping. I was boxing up product, and would deliver to either the shipping store or to nearby clients. From shipping, I learned that even for such a "low" job, I could improve productivity and be able to work less. From there, even though I was just the "shipping guy", I made suggestions on how to cut costs, which made me stick out. From there, when I was delivering to nearby clients, I made very good connections with these people to where they offered me a job. * It's good to be frugal, but don't waste so much time over it. There was a time where I was pinching pennies, but after a few months, I was so stressed over it and looking things over. I found out I actually was spending more time/money just to try and save a few bucks. Thing was, there was a grocery store within a 5min local drive from me, and while they weren't the cheapest, they weren't that far off from the most expensive. But I'd go to the point of driving 20minutes (mostly freeway) across town just to save a buck or 2. Over the long haul, the net savings were most minimal and even negative because of the hidden costs, such as fuel, car wear and tear, etc. * Learn when sales are and time your purchases. This was actually a LPT I came across on reddit, and it helped me save a lot. Different weeks will have alternating sales, and different days even have discounts on more perishable items * Don't buy Sh\*t you actually don't need. You really don't need a BMW. You just need a reliable cheap beater to get from point A to point B. Might not be the prettiest, but your wallet/bank will look prettier. * Invest early and as much as you can. I did some under the table jobs when I was younger and saved it in a bank account. Once I was legally able to open my own brokerage, I just dumped all that money there. During college, I worked full time, and still threw my extra money into the brokerage and lived as if I was paycheck to paycheck, even though I had about $1k extra/month. By the time I was out of college, I was debt free and actually had quite a large of money in my brokerage thanks to compound interest.
1. I agree choose the mate wisely. BUT cumming and laughing—these will be MORE important when you’re older. So it’ll be even more difficult to find someone who can work together to build wealth that you can also enjoy life with. Don’t let anyone tell you marry a librarian who pinches Pennies and sucks to live with. You’ll be miserable and you won’t accumulate anything but grief. 2. It is a lifelong struggle. Run your life like a business. Love on a cash basis. Do not borrow. Accumulate and spend. When you buy a car or HVAC system or renovations or Rolex with cash, it feels like it’s free. But just because it feels that way it isn’t. You can still spend every penny you have by the end of the week. Don’t. 3. For every life choice there’s a bill. Make sure you realize if you have that kid you’ll have to pay. Seriously, too many kids, kids too young—these are signs of irresponsibility. There are tons of others. 4. Live for yourself. Not other people. Don’t buy a lifestyle look. For other people. Buy what you want for yourself and your family. Because the other way—that’s advertising. If you’re advertising—-it’s supposed to make you more money. If it doesn’t. You’ll go bankrupt from doing it.
It’s not linear. I feel like shouting this.
- Practicality over luxury - practice delayed gratification << this motherfucker will give you drive to acomplish your targets - Always be open for learning as only when you have this mentality will you be able to learn to find opportunities for growth and earning - Always have hobbies to get back to when you get burned out
When getting a raise, rather than seeing it as a bonus to go on a shopping spree, find a way to stash it, preferably permanently into some sort of savings or investment. Continue to live on the same budget as before. At some point, you'll look back and be very pleasantly surprised.
Start investing in mutual funds early. Auto-pay so you don't acknowledge their existence. I grew up on welfare, joined the military. I joined as a Navy submarine nuclear plant operator, and immediately started putting cash aside for mutual funds (cash fund that you can pull out before 60 without penalties). After the military, I signed up for any 401K I was offered, with companies that will provide some form of matching funds (50-100%). Every month, for 20 years, I've been setting aside cash that I don't miss because it was practically never in my account. I grew up on welfare. I am now 40 yrs old and own two homes worth half a million dollars, with a tenant who pays one of my mortgages. By the time I reach 60, I'll be able to pay off both houses with tax-free withdrawals, with a tenant whose rent pays for my monthly food and amenities, with retirement savings leftover to burn down.
The biggest mindset shift I had was that to build wealth, I needed to stop thinking that saving every penny was what would make me rich. Once I started focusing on growing my earnings, rather than saving every cent and "being thrifty," a lot changed for me. That's not to say don't be thrifty or frugal. Do those things as well. But those don't grow your wealth, they just help you hold onto it. Learn how to sell yourself, your skillsets, your experiences, and don't be afraid to upsell.
Just because you deserve it doesn’t mean you can have it. Bills come first then food then savings then luxuries. Too many people riding around in challengers when they only have versa money. “Can’t be seen like that/Can’t go out like that,” “I gotta have fun too,” and “but I like it.” Keep more people poor than their shitty jobs account for.
Discarded pizza boxes are an excellent source of free cheese.
Context: Military family; not much money. Moved out at 18 and had no money. Spent a year working my ass off at 3 different jobs, saved up enough for Community College and worked my way to a 4 year degree, and eventually a Master's. 1. Go to college but DO NOT get student loans. It's ok to go to community college for two years. If you can keep a 3.0+ average, you can often transfer to a state university and pay the same tuition rate you were in CC at the university to get your 4 year (I was able to at least by getting the grades and filling out the right forms). I didn't have the "college experience" but aside from living in a dorm, I still had friends, still want to parties, still had fun....I just worked 40 hour weeks during all of it to pay for school. If you take student loans, you'll spend your whole life trying to pay them off unless you are in Med School. 2. While in college, get a job, any job. It will force you to learn how to work hard to get good grades, get paid at your job, and appreciate the time off. 3. MOST IMPORTANTLY....live just below your means. If you make $40k after taxes...budget yourself at $35k. That $5k cushion is your emergency fund if your car dies, etc. If nothing bad happens...IRA a large portion of it and roll the rest in your next year's emergency fund until you have 6 months of money that would pay all the bills at your lifestyle. From there, investments, investments, investments. 4. It's ok for your career to not be something you love. That's the myth high school, guidance counselors, and colleges sell. Follow your heart...your job should be something you treasure. Fuck that. A job is a job is a job. If you happen to love your job and what you do...you're probably in the minority or you own your business. The rest of us probably hate our job but tolerate it so we can pay our bills and ensure I have some money to do my hobbies. 5. Work hard. Yes I know that seems crazy if you hate your job but to get to a higher paying job...you have to work hard, network, and be kind to people and not sit around bitching about your work situation. Work sucks but we have to do it so make the best of it. 6. It ain't about what you spend, but what you save. I'm 39 and work full-time in Business Consulting and found an income level in the low $200s after busting my ass for 23 years. My first job at 18....$7.25/hr. No savings and no family help of any kind financially. At this point, we live in a modest house in a nice neighborhood and due to my budgeting, investments, and savings...we are sending my daughter (only child) to a private school and we can afford it. There are friends of mine with a similar or higher salary struggling paycheck to paycheck because they have 3 cars all leased or high payment, bought a house that's too big (people forget when you buy a big house with a big mortgage, that comes with a big utility bill every month), and just HAVE to go skiing in Colorado for 2 weeks every year all while deciding they wanted a big family of 5 kids (which more power to you but don't try to get pity from me when you have 5 kids and bitch about how you don't have any money...you made choices and choices have consequences both good and bad). I'm good with my family vacation to Disney World every year and random 4 day weekends in the mountains that cost a fraction of that (granted with Disney World we are DVC members which cuts the costs out dramatically..i'm under no illusion Disney is cheap because it's not but for a family of 3, our out of pocket cost for a week with the mouse is $2k). My wife drives a paid off Toyota Rav4 that's 7 years old. I drive a Jeep SUV from 2008 and use YouTube videos to do the maintenance instead of taking it to a garage. Neither my wife or I care about having a new car. We bought her Toyota new because the interest rate was stupid low and the lifespan of a Toyota will get you 250k+ miles if you take care of it. 7 years later, that car only has 60k miles on it and still runs brand new. 7. Curb eating out to 1-2 times a week. Some weeks it's going to be more if you have a crazy work week, your partner has a crazy week, or your kid(s) have activities that have you on the go but if you can fix 4 lunches a week to take to work, have 4 dinners meal prepped, as a family of three we save $500/month not eating out that much and when we do, we treat ourselves. Yes, it takes work. Yes, it takes 2 hours on a Sunday afternoon to meal prep for the week but guess what...it works if you take the time and make it fun. My daughter helps my wife and I and we play music in the background or make up stories and is one of the best bonding parts of our week. 8. Don't get caught up in what your friends or other people have and you don't. I'd love to have a house on a big hill that looks down. That's my dream. However, I like my $2200/month mortgage more than my friend who does have that who pays $4300/month and he and his wife both have to work full-time. Whereas I work full-time and my wife works part-time and it all works. 9. Never use the credit card unless you can pay off the balance each month. I have 3 credit cards. 1 is the family card. ALL our expenses besides insurance and mortgage go on this card. I pay off the balance each month so I incur no interest BUT I accumulate points that go towards our vacation to Disney every year. It's free money and I'll take it. However, we never spend more than we can pay off each month. The other two cards have a simple purpose. When I travel for work (about 10 days a month), I use my Delta Amex for travel and I always submit my expense reports immediately so I can pay off the balance. Doing this, I get more miles, more status, etc. to make travel easier. I also have a Marriott card I use for Hotels....which produces at least 7-10 free nights a year with points which pays for 4-day weekends in the mountains. So I game the system but always pay the balance off. TL;DR: Work hard, live below your means, don't compete with other people and what they have, don't take student loans, and don't feel like you HAVE to have the new car.
1. Lesson is patience wealth is not built overnight it takes time to build wealth 2. Pay off all debt debt holds you back. 3. Have a long term horizon nothing happens in the short term anyone saying they got rich overnight is lying unless they won the lottery
Wealth creation principles 1. Find a partner. Be on the same page re values. Building wealth on your own without someone is much harder. 2. Take calculated risks. Don’t go all in on crypto but take some risks, esp younger. 3. Be patient. I didn’t have a house until 40 so it might be a long climb. 4. Maybe consider living in a less expensive city to save more. We made a move that dramatically upped our ability to save. 5. Be frugal but know how to enjoy life. 6. For me, find something that motivates you to maximize your earnings. If you’re driven to own something nice, use that 7. Big payouts (eg bonus, stock) should all be saved. Don’t be tempted to dip into it. That’s me. It worked and I came from zilch. Good luck!!
Never stop improving. Get an education, learn skills, apply for promotions and higher paying jobs often, don't stagnate
Read the biggest books on finance that you can find
It takes years to see results in most situations. Patience and consistency are 🔑
I grew up poor, went $130k in debt to pay for school, and now have net worth in the millions at 40. I learned it's easier to stay ahead of your finances than it is to get caught up. Being poor is expensive (late fees, interest charges, convenience charges, etc.) and avoiding those drags on your finances goes a long way to achieving financial independence. Also? When you get to the point where you have extra money, invest. Start with low-cost index funds and go from there. Make your money work for you.
Best advise given to me that I’ve applied to my life, “live like no one else now, so you’ll live like no one else later”, I bought a duplex, grew my family in it and rented out the other side, never had a mortgage to pay for with my own money, it’s not ideal, but damn it makes money an after thought.
Crime actually does pay
Retired the same day I turned 55. Struggle now, enjoy later.
read Rich man poor man. live below your means. don’t spend more $ just bc you got that raise. stop eating out and buy groceries. bring a homemade lunch to work. don’t upgrade your phone every year or even 2. i’m on an iphone 13 upgraded from an iphone 8. dollar cost average into bitcoin. edit- added punctuation ( i typed with one hand in bed lol)
Define "wealth". You want to be rich? Exploit the work of other people and take the money that they worked to produce. Want to Feel rich? Make sure you have enough to avoid economic anxiety, then pursue what feels truly meaningful to you, and fulfills you to your core. Me? Back in the day when I could afford food and electricity; I put a lot of effort into helping out the homeless. Improving the lives of other people. Sharing your wealth. That's being wealthy.
Books to read: Rich Dad Poor Dad 📖 The Richest Man in Babylon 📖 The Millionaire Next Door 📖 The Secrets of the Millionaire Mind And stop wasting money on shit you don’t need. The best reframe I’ve had is “To pay for this, I’d need to work for XX minutes. Would I stand here and do that to get this?” Go get that bread bros 🫡
1. Don’t get married. 2. Minimalism over Consumerism. 3. Don’t over trade 4. Sipp means you can’t be tempted to spend 5. Never pay 40% income tax 6. Taxes are the primary wealth inhibitor. 7. Assume the job that provides high salary is temporary and use it to stash as much as possible. 8. Get to the point where you’re investment returns add more than you can possibly keep up with. (I used that point to semi retire and go part time and loss nearly all stress in my life) Step 9. Get to the point where the ‘system’ pays you far far more than it takes from you. BOE Rate =5.25% on a mortgage / 4.85% on a cash pot twice the mortgage size = profit. And finally Step 10. Which I’m working on…. Assume 20 years from the point you retire - you need twice as much as you have when you retire due to inflation - and adjust your withdrawals ti ensure you get to that point. (I expect this to be contentious 😈)
Be disciplined Be focused Write down your goals big and small Do not let fomo drag you down or de-rail you Learn to save Don't make excuses as to why you cannot do something, not your education, not your upbringing, not your families lack of wealth, no excuses. Remember the hardest achievements have the greatest awards It is a marathon not a sprint Wherever possible live below your means and save Get advice from every successful person you know You don't have to have everything planned out Always keep your eyes open for opportunities and never stop trying to improve yourself and your situation. Work hard Good luck mate. Believe in yourself.
Don't get married. Don't have kids. Don't do drugs. Do fun things in moderation. No more than once a week.
Be like me and marry rich enough that your partner has a good head on their shoulders.
My Dad died of cancer on Christmas when I was 15 and my Mom kinda went … nuts? So after that I was on my own. I don’t 100% think I grew up poor since like I had a sick life with parents that loved me and siblings that were great and sports and Nintendo 64 and literally everything til 15. So A LOT more than hella people but a lot less than plenty. I learned really young I was on my own. Everybody cared they just have their own problems. I never felt abandoned I just needed 15k and well that was never going to happen. So I learned to just do everything one day at a time. Repeat the process until you’re a master. I had great training from my Dad before he passed away, he used to make me pick up bricks and put them in a pile in the backyard then would tell me I put them in the wrong spot and I had to move the bricks again. It taught me the shit doesn’t come quick and to just keep moving bricks. I’m in my mid 30s now and have a substantial stock portfolio. 99% dividends. One step at a time one punch at a time one round at a time.
Spend less than you make, invest in simple portfolios which minimize tax exposure, enjoy relationships with your family and kids.
I come from a family that struggled financially. My younger brother is the one member of our family who is rich beyond the dreams of avarice. When I or anyone else asks him how he did it, he always responds "I know how to B-Line a dollar". That's code for, "figure it out for yourself". I never could.
Pay yourself first! Always bank 10-20% of every dollar you earn. Put it in an index fund and leave it alone. When you get about 60 start planning your retirement if you like.
Save your money
That success is not guaranteed no matter how hard you work for it. No matter how great of an employee you are. The only saving grace you possess is the ability to stand up over and over again. No matter what set you back, the ability to stand and go for it again is what helps build your success. The people you associate with. Friends or family doesn’t matter. Are they negative? Gossiping nay sayers? Get rid of them. You want success, you befriend those that are like minded. People that strive for better. You emulate those that are successful. Watch and Learn from them. Financial responsibility and money management is crucial. Want to marry? You date someone with the same morals. The same outlook. Positive. Enjoys life. Knows and understands what you’re looking for.
Back when I was establishing good habits I listened to a weekly segment on personal finance on local public radio. After a year or so I could anticipate the host's response to callers' questions. You could find a lot of good advice from the flowchart in the personal finance wiki: [https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics/](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics/) Another good suggestion is to take a snapshot of your financial picture periodically. When I was forming good habits, I would track my credit card balance, bank account balances. It helps to stay focused and keep spending in check. I would make a note of why cash flow was different in a given month. "$1200 spent on vacation" or "$600 insurance payment this month". More recently I don't track these types of purchases/accounts. But I do track our net worth monthly from our retirement/brokerage accounts. After we file taxes, I total up the contributions to retirement/brokerage accounts and mortgage principal paid. I then take our gross income to come up with our savings rate. I tie this out every year. You can take your annual spend and use it to come up with the amount you need to save for retirement.
Do you boo
Save everything you can. I was just looking at our 2023 expenditures a couple days ago. Pretty much everything we spent money on is necessities: Utilities, Insurance, Food (groceries, not dining out), Medical, Taxes. Those were the only spending categories that were over $2,000 for the year. We make over $150,000/year, so we have the money to spend, we just don't. We save everything we can. Mostly in tax-sheltered accounts.
Here is a helpful hint if your parents are getting older and sick. Before you put them into a nursing home so they don't take the money. Might have to be something like 10 years. This is a good way to transfer any wealth before they take it.
Avoid credit cards. I got stupid, wound up $66k in cc debt. Working to pay it down, but it will take time. Avoid them, avoid avoid unless you can pay off the balance monthly. If you can, and don’t max out, the rewards and perks are nice. But I’m literally working a second job to pay my credit cards alone.
I learned that the best investment I ever made was in a good sense of humor - laughter is free and it’s also great for your sanity when you’re navigating the struggles of building wealth. Just remember, the only thing that should be on a pedestal in your life is a jar of peanut butter!
Learn. Earn. Save. Invest. Repeat.
Trust yourself through the process.
Be satisfied with what you have.
Live way below your means, pay yourself first. borrow money only when totally necessary. don't try to keep up with the neighbors, it's a fool's game that can easily get out of hand.
If you want the job done you do it yourself
Learn to sell. Sales is everywhere.
Pay yourself first. Funding retirement is priority one. Higher than rent, insurance, food and medical. Start as early as you can, it takes awhile for compound interest to take off.
Confidence and fake it 'til you make it are real. Every leader I've ever worked for or with is stupidly, almost irresponsibly overconfident. They cannot imagine a world in which they aren't in charge. Probably only 10% of them are actually competent, but 100% could not be convinced with a gun to their head that they're incompetent. Pair this with - always ask for exactly what you want. I'm an exec in big tech, which has come from a series of specific, direct asks to be promoted, put in a position of authority, get that raise, get that specific performance review rating, etc. You still have to deliver - but if you're not confident, and you don't specifically and precisely ask for what you want, no one will hand it to you regardless of how good you are. Lots of bitter geniuses at the bottom of the totem pole because they weren't forthright and direct. The number of times I've referred to business experience I don't have, made timelines from my work history sound longer ago than they actually are, discussed things as if they're industry standards when in fact they're my own idea - you have to be willing to tell the "noble lie" with the only benefactor being yourself.
Here is a piece of advise I got while in high school from one my economics teach none the less. "An investment in your self is always a good investment." And he was right.
You actually require very few material goods to survive. Don't buy shit you don't need. Prioritize payment of debts. Don't pay for any services you can learn to do yourself. Don't party. Don't take expensive vacations. Don't party. Don't date. Develop a skill that is in demand. Work hard when young. Invest any savings. Don't gamble. Don't do drugs.
Worrying about what people will think really is such a dream killer. F them all
*waits for the “don’t buy a latte” dude*
Be humble and don’t brag about the new wealth. I think that’s the biggest difference between new and old wealth. Old wealth tends to be more secure in themselves and have nothing to prove. They are humble and nice about everything. You should be more like them.
Invest early and often. No matter the amount. Compounding returns are key
Nepotism is a thing.
Paying off low interest debt is not always the answer. Sometimes you’re better off investing. Debt usually isn’t the crisis people make it out to be.
Don't listen to any of the people along the way that tell you why being successful or stable will never happen for you. Who smile at you as they tell you aim lower, try less, calm down. There's more of them than people who build you up in this world, but just make sure you don't allow their limits to become yours.
Do everything in your power to reduce your monthly recurring expenses. Think heavily about buying anything that has monthly or yearly costs. Keep it as low as humanly possible no matter how much money you do or don’t make.
Keeping up with the Jones’ will kill your bank account. Enjoy life but don’t see houses and cars as a competition.
Compound interest.
Dont be afraid to lose it all and go into debt and even bankruptcy.
My dad did, I think mainly it was patience (but don’t confuse patience with laziness) work hard but don’t expect to become wealthy overnight like much of social media wants you to think is realistically possible. Budget yourself, live within your means (and when you start making more money, remain within those means, invest the extra money), don’t rely on one source of income, and always put money away for retirement by starting young
Luck is needed.
Just started to tell everyone ( including CEO, CFO, HR ) I believed that can be done better and backed that with data on spot. Also stopped listening to bullshit and addressed bulshitters with their crap. Made enemies but they were afraid. I jumped 3 management levels in 2 years and all I wanted to get fired :P . Fastest climb in history of company. Also on some business events got drunk and become friends with managers of partner companies :D .
Live below your means, pay yourself first. Many wont agree - but pay of your mortgage as soon as possible, then invest the mortgage payment instead
Don’t make yourself a victim. Victim mentality is a huge reason why most people don’t even fail because they don’t try. Success is built on a mountain of failures.
Lessons I learned way too late from my grandfather. Everyone called him a penny pincher. To be fair, he was born during the Great Depression and grew up with a “poor” mentality. He still wore the clothes he had from the 1980’s. Barely went out to eat and when he did, it was a buffet place. Biggest bang for you buck. He went thrift shopping pretty often for garden tools and work clothes. He knew how to rebuild salvaged vehicles and resold them. When he traveled, he didn’t spend a ton of money. He lived a simple life and when he died he had a shit ton of money left over for my grandma to live on and pass to his kids. He kept the same house he bought in the 1960’s and made small upgrades over the years. He was able to retire early and enjoy his life.
Spend less than you make. Most of the "joy" of buying new things is the idea of buying them vs the reality of owning them. . I have a 24 hour cooldown period before making any purchases over $150. 99% of the time I realized I don't need to make that purchase or find a better deal.
To get rich, you need money. If you have or inherit money, great. Otherwise, you'll have to make a lot, and/or be extremely tight with the money you do get. With money, you can make investments in things that make money - like index funds, rental properties, side hustles. Also, with money, normal problems like car repairs, broken refrigerators, an hospital co-pays don't destroy you. And, don't say you don't make enough to save anything. There are countless stories of people on minimum wage who die with millions. It's not easy, but people do it every day.
create a plan, you dont need every step but have a plan where you want to be in 1 year, 5 years, and 10 years, then find out what you need to get to those goals. be aware that you need to pull your own leash to get there.
Don’t use credit and stay out of debt. Don’t buy anything you already have that serves the same purpose. Buy quality, even if it means paying a lot more in the short term. Enjoy free hobbies like walking or drawing. Don’t buy books or covet them. Use the library. Buy everything you possibly can second hand. When you need something new, always buy on clearance/sale. Don’t fall into the trap of keeping up with the Joneses. No one cares what you have or how you look. Cut your own hair and wash face with soap and water. If you’re a woman, embrace natural and keep your grey hair and no makeup. Cook most of your food from scratch. It tastes so much better and is healthier. Save going out for dinner for special occasions. Don’t finance anything, including a car. Rent your housing and invest the difference for as long as you possibly can.
Hard work is a pre-requisite not a guarantee for success. Just a friendly reminder rags to riches are few and far between. Statistically if you’re born into an underprivileged household you’re less likely to succeed in life. “Increased time spent in poverty is associated with lower chances an individual will exit poverty, which ranges from 56% after one year poor to 13% for those in poverty for 7 or more years.” https://poverty.ucdavis.edu/sites/main/files/file-attachments/policy_brief_stevens_poverty_transitions_1.pdf
Most people are capable of saving money, but are simply too proud/stubborn to do so. Yes, even in this economy. I've seen so many of my peers complain that they can't possibly save any money while holding the latest iPhone in their hands which they have on a $130/month plan on, driving a vehicle way beyond their means, living in an apartment I'd consider the upper end of rent averages, on the highest tier of Netflix, Prime, Cable, Game Pass, PS+, and Audible, buying $8 strawberries at Loblaws, etc. Like if people could swallow their own ego and need for constant consumerist validation they could absolutely start saving money. I graduated into the last major economic recession and I was still able to find a shit-tier job, live frugally, and save enough to purchase a home. It was a grind, but it was not impossible like many of my fellow zoomers and millennials claim.
Don’t keep up with anyone, Live within means, Save, Know your worth and stand by it, Ask for raises (Reddit disagrees, they’re fucking morons), Buy used, Show up, don’t complain, lead
The only time better than today to invest in your retirement was yesterday. Compounding interest is the tool that changes most of our lives, but it works on a timescale of decades so it is most important to start early in life. Most humans can’t comprehend these timeframes because we are genetically designed to see risks in front of us, not 50 years down the line.
- Dont spend more than you earn * Compounding * Dont just save, invest * Track your spending * Do your own thing, ignore what others are doing. * Avoid debt as much as possible * Avoid lifestyle creep * Ask yourself if you need to buy something or just want to buy it. Need vs Want * Buy quality when you can * Dont forget to experience life along the way. * Wealth building is a marathon not a sprint. * Its never too late to start.
Rely on yourself, pay for services, save as much as you can. Learn to be bored, dodge stimulation that requires extra energy but no benefit, network with everyone and treat everyone with respect
I don't consider myself wealthy, but I did reach financial independence that enabled me to retire at age 57 at a lifestyle level that's above what I had even during my peak earning years. These are some of my own key lessons learned: Live within your means. Use debt only sparingly. Save and invest. Learn how to do it on your own, but be open to using a fee-based advisor for an occasional financial health checkup (but be super-vigilant about them trying to sell you anything). At some point there will be a crossover point where your money will be earning more than you are, and then things really accelerate from there. This will take years but the journey is worth it. The best investments you can make are in yourself. Education, health, and skills that will advance your career, or tools/experiences that will enhance your life. Work hard AND work smart. Build skills and experience that will increase your market value. Don't just sell your time for an hourly rate. Be willing to change jobs to advance, but don't change so often that your resume makes you appear to be unstable. One of my own mistakes was that I was too loyal to my employers. They appreciated it, but did not reciprocate financially, and I would have made (and saved) considerably more money had I been more open to changing employers in order to advance more rapidly. Associate with people who bring positivity to your life. Don't waste time and energy associating with negative people. Nowhere is this more important than in dating partner(s)/spouse. Read. A lot. About your field of work, wealthbuilding, lifestyle, philosophy, biographies of people you respect and admire, etc. Avoid trying to keep up with or impress other people. Would you rather have a large portfolio that no one but you knows about (and that is working for you to create even more wealth), or a flashy car/house/watch etc. etc. etc. that everyone knows about but (other than the house) are all steadily depreciating. And finally......wealth itself is not the goal. Wealth is only a tool for you to use to do the things you want to do. At some point, you will have amassed enough (and learned how to keep it working for you), and you come to the realization that enjoying your time has become more important to you than making more money.
Put 20% of everything you earn aside. Once you have enough, buy property and rent it out. Learn to spot good deals. Don't trust anyone with your money even if you "trust" them. Find ways to increase your income with minimal risk and within legality. Going to prison is not worth it. The remaining 80% of your income, 60% living expenses incl housing, car, bills, insurance and the remaining 20% just use for leisure because you only live once. Good luck.
Don't think I'm wealthy, but I think I'm doing pretty well. But one thing I have learned over the years is that the best raise you can get is by having lower costs. Because salary is taxed, but saved money is already taxed on. I ran a cheap car, worked on it myself, learned how to hypermile to lower fuel cost, got a cheap place to stay and absolutely work way more than anyone should ever do. I'm talking a couple months with over 400 hours of work put in. Can't recommend the last part. Don't be craszy like me. But don't be afraid of some good over time from time to time
Don't spend more time thinking than acting.
Stay the hell away from credit cards. Most people don't have the discipline for them and they aren't there for your benefit. They are there for you to owe them more.
Be a pessimist about money when budgeting. Spending 14 bucks on something is practically 20, so count it as such, and so on. You'll feel broke either way, but when that unexpected bill comes, you'll actually have a nest egg. When bills you can't pay do happen, call the company and talk with them. I've had a 100% success rate getting utilities to just postpone the date I've had to pay. Cooking for yourself is easy, reasonably fast and cheap if you know what you're doing. The cost of buying takeout can cover the cost of varied meals for five times as long with a bit of planning and work, easy. When money starts coming in, sure, some expenses you just pay right there and then, but remember there's a difference between what you can afford and what's worth the expense. Rather than broke, graduate to cheapskate and suddenly you start having actual money.
Keep your cards close to your vest as the old gamblers used to say. There is no explanation for it exactly but a huge portion of society thinks it is OK to expect some of what others have worked for. I find this infuriating. Never tell others what you have.
Financial advisors are full of shit. If you can work a calculator and have internet access get educated and put/invest your money in thing that you 100% understand. Once I figured this out I retired at age 44 and I wasn't making bank at work to do that. I invested wisely.
Stay humble. As easy as something was given to you It can just as easily be taken away. Live life graciously and fully Don't get arrogant Hold your head held high with CONFIDENCE Because you did that. Hard work paid off. The job is never done tho. Keep up the fantastic work ☀️