How did you make your money?
If you have over $2 million liquid and weren’t born into a wealthy family, I’m curious: how did you get your money? I would love to hear your specific story about what worked for you, not generalizations about how one might acquire money. How did YOU get it? How long did it take? What risks or sacrifices did you make? What world view or moral view did you have that helped? How old are you now? Were there lucky breaks or do you feel it was more skill or some combination of the two? What lessons would you tell a young person looking to emulate your success?
Working really hard, being very dedicated to the company, being extremely aligned with my manager, looking for projects with lots of opportunity for impact.
Working at big tech companies, and living a totally modest lifestyle. If I was happy spending 75k/year when I made 100, then when I made 500 I only increased my spend a little- like to 100. I’ve been putting away most of my takehome for years. That is made easier when pay is in RSU's rather than$$. Now I have “fuckit" money and can quit anytime. That makes it more obvious that working in this space is a choice Also, don't turn away big scary opportunities, ever. They can be massive. Also, I got lucky in joining Amazon before the stock went up 10x I'm also in my forties now. Probably retiring in the next couple years
I don’t have 2m liquid. I have 3.7m NW though so maybe my take counts I’m farm born & barn raised. Rural IN FTW, no family money. My path was RE. I used IT pay and side gigs and whatever was left after the dotcom crash to buy the initial properties. I was pretty low key at 1 property a year from 98 to 2008. IT in IN doesn’t pay as well as CA/WA Then the property crisis hit. And NW fell hard. Then Amex fucked me hard (long story, no lube used) by cutting my line of credit so.... I decided to roll the dice. Moved to OH. Went balls deep into RE. Sold everything to buy foreclosed properties. Cashed in 401ks. Worked labor gigs. The gamble worked out. My RE income will double my IT income this year. How long did it take? 23 years to FI What sacrifices? I love cars but never owned a fancy one. House was always modest till my recent (utterly insane) reno. I work some pretty insane hours too. Very physically demanding. Moral views? None. I’m bound by legalities. How old are you now? 43 Were there lucky breaks? Dotcom bubble (good), dotcom crash (bad), housing crash (really bad), market bubble (good), housing rebound/bubble (really good) TL;DR: skrimped, saved, invested & luck.
This is nearly identical to what I did. I’m 42 and also grew up on a farm in IN.
Lol. That’s totally awesome! Go Hoosiers! However I’m a Buckeye now so... Cavs over Pacs. Yea, yea, I’m not allowed home during this series.
Real estate, luck and more luck. Anyone who tells you work hard, it's partially BS, you need luck. Of course, need to be smart and save money early on.
I respectfully disagree. Some people work hard. There was a time in my life I was leaving my IT gig to work through the night to get a property ready for rental/flip. If you don’t consider that hard work, well... And that’s on top of a side hustle where I was teaching at the local college. Just saying.
Luck does matter. Whether you'd done that flip right before property boom or property crash, it would have had different outcomes.
Great stories here. thank you all for sharing.
Sold a company, invested a large portion of income. Short answer is not to work for others but have others work for you and be lucky. Better to be lucky than good anyday.
Most of us in tech in the last 10-15 years should retire close to 2 million if we plan right the next 0-10 years. We're all lucky. Sometimes I feel like we're essentially factory workers or coal miners if it's another era.
Factory workers or coal miners did not retire with 2m at any time in America’s history. What they got is a pension. And black-lung disease (for the coal miners).
Of course, but imagine if you were living in that era, what job so you think you'll be doing? For my background, I'd likely be some labor worker. We're just in an era where 3 months of bootcamp can get you retire earlier than many doctors.
Rental real estate.
Should add, not liquid, but correctly done is highly profitable.
Do you have specific tips on “correctly done” rental real estate?
The first million: buying a starter home in east bay, save and consistently invest in the stock market, join the right company with equity, and double income no kids. The subsequent millions: took equity out of the starter house and bought rental properties during the downturn, consistently save in stock markets, join the right companies (ie: Adobe was $20 when I joined them and was $220 when I left). Luck, market timing (recession is the best time to make money if you still have your jobs, join the right companies with equity).
Nicely done! Thanks for the specifics.
A lot of luck. Early FB, got some discretionary equity, invested all of it immediately while living a pretty modest life and it grew. It hasn’t changed much of my life though. I’d caution throwing everything into making money, a strong friendship or relationship is worth a lot more.
Date me 😂 JK.
Where did you invest?