Best ways to get rich?

[james.hendrickson]

This topic is has been a favorite of mine for years. I wanted to put this out there because I'd like the forum's input on this.

Ken Fisher basically says there are 10 ways to get rich:

1. Build your own business (“the richest road”) – and to build it either to sell or to last
2. Become a CEO
3. Become a “ride along” – a trusted second in command the CEO needs and trusts who profits with the firm
4. Become excellent and successful at what you do (sport, writing, music) and famous – or better yet manage a portfolio of other people who are excellent and famous
5. Marry really really well
6. Steal it legally – become a Plaintiff Lawyer
7. Manage other people’s money well, and both win
8. Invent income – create an ongoing income stream you own, from an invention, a song, a merchandising line, movie rights to stories, and other means
9. Become a real estate Baron
10. Save and invest wisely, consistently and effectively (“the road most traveled”)

Are there others, what do you guys think?

[bjl584]

11) Pure luck. Win the lottery

[rennigade]

Depends what kind of life you want to have. Work life vs personal life.

For me...ill take the slow and steady route.

My wife and I started investing when we were young and will continue to invest as much as we can. Hopefully by the time we want to retire we will have accumulated enough that we will no longer worry about building a nest egg.

For the 99.99% of us who arent going to be rock stars, pro athletes or ceo's...I would recommend maxing 401k/roth and investing in low cost index funds. Its one of the more easy ways to grow money. It takes very little time, it only requires a computer and internet connections...once or twice a year you can rebalance if need be and it can be started with very little money.

[DaveInPgh]

Steal it Illegally

[TexasHusker]

This topic is has been a favorite of mine for years. I wanted to put this out there because I'd like the forum's input on this.

Ken Fisher basically says there are 10 ways to get rich:

1. Build your own business (“the richest road”) – and to build it either to sell or to last
2. Become a CEO
3. Become a “ride along” – a trusted second in command the CEO needs and trusts who profits with the firm
4. Become excellent and successful at what you do (sport, writing, music) and famous – or better yet manage a portfolio of other people who are excellent and famous
5. Marry really really well
6. Steal it legally – become a Plaintiff Lawyer
7. Manage other people’s money well, and both win
8. Invent income – create an ongoing income stream you own, from an invention, a song, a merchandising line, movie rights to stories, and other means
9. Become a real estate Baron
10. Save and invest wisely, consistently and effectively (“the road most traveled”)

Are there others, what do you guys think?

All depends on how you define rich. Most people in America already are rich by the world's measure.

[james.hendrickson]

All depends on how you define rich. Most people in America already are rich by the world's measure.

Net worth greater than 1 million USD.

[97guns]

All depends on how you define rich. Most people in America already are rich by the world's measure.

when most everyone in the world sees an american they assume he is rich, maybe by their measure we are but by our standards most americans are poor. the funny thing is that they play the part of rich through credit so of course the foreigner thinks they are all super wealthy


same thing goes for california, a lot of people assume californians are wealthy but there is a lot of poverty here

[TexasHusker]

Net worth greater than 1 million USD.

You can get to that number by stuffing your mattress and buying a home at age 25 and keeping it until you retire.

[snafu]

DH kindly listened to a review of our third quarter financial status last weekend. We acknowledge we have a different viewpoint than our friends and colleagues and base our successes on...

1. keep negative opinions to yourself, never dis others, take a positive attitude to work and enjoy your work and your colleagues as much as possible
2. happy wife [partner] happy life; what did you do today to make SO smile
3. pay yourself first, 10% of every dollar, whatever the source, initially goes to savings.
4. create a spending plan, 'give every dollar a job.'
5. set targets and timelines; 'a wish without a plan is merely a dream
6.creative planning to reduce interest costs and 'fees' as much as possible
7. mindful spending, meal planning, limit eating out to a special occasion
8.within safety and skill set, try DIY fix it, make it, decorate, learn new skills
9. understand your investments and associate costs; pay attention to economy
10. it takes a lot of energy to be negative. You have to work at it. But smiling is painless [fellow cancer survivor]

[clatoden99]

Start a business, build its volume, sell it. Benjamin Franklin did this with his printing business and was then able to devote the rest of his life to science and politics. In the 1970s I worked with a print shop owner. He didn't take home much income but accumulated a lot of inventory and receivables. He actually cashed out by closing the business. Today your chances of getting rich in the printing business aren't so high. But you don't have to invent something brand new..You can get rich providing a service people need if you do it well and reliably at a reasonable price.

A variation of this is building up a real estate "empire" by starting with one distressed rental property, fixing it up, raising the rents, selling at a profit (because valuation is based on rental income), then repeating. Lots of books have been written about this but I don't think writing the book will make you rich.

An enabler for these is having skills that are at least relatively rare. My printer friend could print jobs faster than anyone who worked for him. And you would probably have to fix up those rental properties yourself to make much profit. Similarly, scarce skills in well-paid fields (science, engineering, computers, finance, medicine, law) can provide the income to "get rich slowly" by saving and investing.

Of course, every success story includes hard work, long hours and sustained focus.

[JBinKC]

My quote in the high school yearbook. Buy low sell high marry bread.

[JBinKC]

Net worth greater than 1 million USD.

Actually to make it into the top 1% your annual income has to exceed 450k and your net worth exceeds 16 million.

[smartspiritualincome]

Hey guys, I am a firm believer that anyone can build a net worth of greater than $1M. It all depends on your starting point, however. Take the following scenario as an example:

John, a 25 year old accountant, and Jim, a 35 year old engineer have recently realized the importance of investing. They each decide to invest $300/mo. until they retire at age 65. If each receive an 8% rate of return, by age 65 John will have accumulated about $1,007,212 while Jim would only have $440,445!

Timing is key when it comes to investing. Now, the good news for Jim is that he can still reach $1M by age 65, but he will have to be more methodical and pursue additional streams of income.

Why is this example so important?

Regardless of your income level, you can still accomplish your goals. You just have to keep this one thing in mind: know your number! If your goal is to build a retirement of $1M or greater by age 65, find out where you are now and what it takes to get there. Then, start setting goals and taking action steps on getting there. You will run into roadblocks and setbacks along the way, but those who stick to the plan are the ones who succeed. The beauty of it is anyone can do this!

Let me know your thoughts about this post. Was it helpful?

[DaveInPgh]

Hey guys, I am a firm believer that anyone can build a net worth of greater than $1M. It all depends on your starting point, however. Take the following scenario as an example:

John, a 25 year old accountant, and Jim, a 35 year old engineer have recently realized the importance of investing. They each decide to invest $300/mo. until they retire at age 65. If each receive an 8% rate of return, by age 65 John will have accumulated about $1,007,212 while Jim would only have $440,445!

Timing is key when it comes to investing. Now, the good news for Jim is that he can still reach $1M by age 65, but he will have to be more methodical and pursue additional streams of income.

Why is this example so important?

Regardless of your income level, you can still accomplish your goals. You just have to keep this one thing in mind: know your number! If your goal is to build a retirement of $1M or greater by age 65, find out where you are now and what it takes to get there. Then, start setting goals and taking action steps on getting there. You will run into roadblocks and setbacks along the way, but those who stick to the plan are the ones who succeed. The beauty of it is anyone can do this!

Let me know your thoughts about this post. Was it helpful?

Absolutely. Welcome to the forum. Looking forward to more of your posts.

[sv2007]

Net worth greater than 1 million USD.

It isn't too difficult to reach that, but $1m net worth isn't rich by most people. For example, the average 30+ years old house here costs more than that (oh heck, my house is 40+ yrs old and costs more than that).

But if you only want $1m, you can get that much just by using the SP500 with a monthly contribution of $2000, and in less than 20 years, you'll have $1m assuming SP500 returns 8%.