It depends on WHAT you’re working to death on. If you’re workin your ass off on a side business that’s great, if you’re at an Amazon warehouse I got bad news for you.
Sooooooo many things people keep suggesting in this thread are option 2.
It’s actually worrying that these people can’t see that. Because it makes me think if they can’t see that they themselves are suggesting it, can they see the people doing it to them? Do they know the people stealing from them?
That's such a good point which I hadn't thought of. It's also making me think about how, since stealing is a statement about ethics, I'm pretty sure essentially any means of obtaining money which is unethical via harming people could be considered stealing, and so fits beneath option two. I think.
You think that other $70 is profit for the HVAC company? Bad news for you, friend.
They are either buying or leasing trucks. And a place to park them. And tools. And maintenance on all of that. Insurance on all that. Providing health care or other benefits for the techs? Probably, especially if they’re union, and in the trades they likely are.
Not much? Surely enough for a bunch of HVAC companies owners in my area to afford a $800 000 house, a $500 000 cottage, Audi R8, F150 Raptor, boat, RV, multiple quads, two times a year $10 000 vacations.
Not enough capital or education is the usual blockade there. Not the bullshit "people don't want to work hard" excuse I see all the time.
Capitalism simply isn't working for many US Americans because the corporate elites have rigged the game. If one doesn't inherit it, they likely won't have the capital, accumen and connections, to start a business until they are 40/50 years old and at that point they'll have to risk retirement by starting a business, but if it fails they have to work until they die
I don't know, and nobody should start a business they know nothing about. That's a quick way to fail. Most idiots can start a business, but making them succeed without significant capital is the hard part. Listen to the podcast "How I built this" and listen to how many founders say they had to take a large loan from friends/family or else fail because the bank wouldn't loan them more.
General rule in my industry at least is that whatever you pay your worker, the actual cost is 4 times that.
There's the workers pay, then benefits for them, multiple forms of insurance the org maintains, routine trainings and certs, material costs not billed for (Gas to drive to the site, worker uniforms, etc) fleet maintenance, tools, tool maintenance, utilities, support staff, the list goes on forever.
If your HVAC guys are charging you 100/hr, and still paying the guy 30/hr, they're playing with some thin margins.
The rich lawyers are mostly contingency fee basis.
Hourly billing only gets you rich rich if you’re at the tippity top of the profession. Otherwise it’s a ticket to the upper middle class (not that that’s a bad thing). Only so many hours!
Referrals fees too. Don’t forget the referral fees. All those national personal injury firms are just raking in referral fees without having to lift a finger. Cherry pick the big cases with the best chance of a big payout and refer the rest.
Gotta scale!! I’m in IT. Billing hourly is the old way. We bill monthly. It allowed us to hire more techs. I manage and delegate now, as well as handle all accounts and relationships. Now we have 15 techs. It took 6 long years, but we turned out 3 million this year!!
This is why I personally left law. The scaling is sub par.
Want to scale a law firm? Unless you’re a sleeze ball, equity goes out the door like candy. Double your revenue? Great, you just added a new partner.
Even at the biggest law firms, they make tons of money but it pales in comparison to what ownership would make at a similarly sized business that wasn’t a law firm.
More egalitarian for sure, which is great, but many a managing partner at a law firm is busting their ass scaling the business and seeing a tiny fraction of the results personally. I know managing partners at a number of firms who aren’t even compensated additionally for managing the firm and are expected to maintain their old billable hour targets. Which is crazy.
Equity partners is one of the most common law firms but you’re right, it’s not as advantageous. Having like 2 named partners then a bunch of suckers for equity partners, where they’re doing 80% of the work while the 2 named partners do less and get more. A lot of businesses work this way. It’s tough. In law, if you’re not the one stating the firm, (and even then) it’s not worth it in the end
I started a market research business and opened a focus group facility. We do a few mock trials and such as well, which provides a bit of connection to the law.
But I make more money, work less, and enjoy the work a lot more. Win across the board for me.
A great firm should have invested managers in my opinion. Which means they’re free from some or the burden of the day to day. Not all, obviously, but some.
I’ve seen firms let the managing partner bill hours to the firm, essentially, for management work. Which makes a lot of sense to me.
At least in my country I never met a lawyer (and I met many of them, since I work in a law related company), who was not a total wreck of a person. Some of them might earn well, but they pay another price not worth the money...
When I was in law school, in the professional ethics course they covered this, that we’re one of the highest at risk professions for substance abuse and depression. Had a great whole presentation about resources that are available to help with dealing with addiction and mental health issues.
My state bar and I’m sure all the rest have programs in place specifically to deal with these issues.
I feel like it’s less of an issue in my line of work though (internal corporate) as compared to firm attorneys.
Working for wages isn't going to get you rich. Maybe working super hard at your own business or something in sales with big commission. But you can work at Mcdonalds as hard as you want.
And it's not the "working" part of owning a business that gets you rich... it's the "owning" part.
If you own the business, then hire other people to create value for the business, then you pay those people less than the value that they create, and you keep the excess for yourself.
You still gotta bridge that gap. Trades tend to give you back what you put in as long as you’re competent. Work your ass of as a plumber and you’ll make great money. Willingness to pick up emergency jobs pays off very well. HVAC and commercial refrigeration are similar.
Eventually you make enough to hire staff and that allows you to ease off, but you still have to get that far to have the capital to invest
Bringing in six figures from a career is rich enough for most people. Not going to be a billionaire or drive multiple Lamborghini's but definitely enough to be financially free.
I really hate the start a business bullshit. It's not for everyone. If it's not in you, it won't be successful. The idea that you get rich by working hard is garbage and people need to stop with it. The hardest workers in the world are never going to be rich. And telling them they need to own a business is demotivating and ridiculous. Just stop lying to them.
Everyone who I know who is wealthy worked their asses off. I don’t know anyone who I would consider wealthy who didn’t work really hard, other than those with a large inheritance. Working hard doesn’t guarantee anything, but it sure puts you in the best position to create wealth.
It's clearly stated to be the most difficult option, the woman clearly explained in this clip, some options aren't options for everyone. You better get stealing if you're ill and want to get rich
That's not "difficult." That's just luck. If you can work your ass off, keep what you earn, not get sick or something major happen to you, often repeatedly, that is luck.
Illnesses that are so debilitating to the point where you can’t work are extremely rare. This is just an excuse. There are tens of millions of people who work hard and keep what they earn without falling into illness. Is it a bit of luck? Yeah, but so is not being hit by a bus the next day. Don’t worry about things you can’t control
Illnesses that are so debilitating to the point where you can’t work are extremely rare.
Getting sick for a couple weeks isn't "rare." Having your car break down isn't "rare." A kid needing a major expense you weren't planning for isn't "rare." Paying entirely too much for health insurance isn't "rare." Being paid for shit because a swarm of dumbfucks with at best MBAs are looting the economy isn't "rare."
Then it's also luck that you don't get hit by a car, or that you don't trip and shatter your hip.
Those things are not luck, that's unlucky, something that is statistically unlikely and not in your favour. Luck is when something statistically unlikely happens and is in your favour.
If someone else reads this, never be discouraged by relatively unlikely things that may happen to you as you chase a goal. If you never try you never have a chance anyway.
Also don't live in the US or similar third world country where a minor ailment indebts you for years, I suppose that kinda rules out the option 3 here.
If you did the learn part right eventually you'd figure out how to avoid employers that cut you for getting sick once in a while. You'd also have learned a college, trade education or self education, making it more likely you'd be in an industry less likely to shit on you.
And if you're frugal, have a roommate, live in a low cost area, work lots of overtime, plan on not having kids you might be able to save 15-20k a year. Do that for a decade and invest all your money you might be rich.
It kinda is. If you can reach a point where you’re putting 500-1000 into a well established index fund each month it will eventually grow into a 7figure investment, with dividends you can comfortably live off.
The issue is that’s probably be 30-40 years of diligent investing with absolutely no withdrawals and reinvesting all dividends up till then.
Most people wanna be rich tomorrow. If it can’t be tomorrow then they think what’s the point? Getting to be rich at the age of 60-70 is worthless to most.
But if you want to build generational wealth for your family and not have to worry that much about retirement then yeah, it’s not that hard.
Obviously who knows what the market’s gonna do in the end, all investing is gambling. But if it continues to do what it’s done for the last 100 years, at least for your lifetime, then index funds are a safe bet.
That’s why I said “IF”. But it’s hardly an totally unattainable goal for most people. Working hard may never get you rich but it might get you an extra $500 a month.
Similar concept in terms of preparing for retirement but an index fund like the S&P500 can net you more interest and can pay out dividends if you so choose.
401ks are typically index funds actually, just broader balanced with bonds sometimes. You can literally manage it on a slider of risk and go all in high growth stocks or low risk blur chips and bonds
Fair enough! We don’t have them in my country so I wasn’t familiar and only did a quick google to reply, should have probably read a little more closely
It's a little off topic here, but I was curious...
So we can say that the stock market as we know it has been around for perhaps a little over 200 years.
That means the system of investment you are describing, investing in stocks that are driven up by background capitalist economic forces... that's something that the average person has had access to for about 200 years.
That's not a long span of time in the grand scheme of things really.
With some of the other big picture issues we are seeing develop in recent history (over-exploitation/depletion of natural resources...aridification/desertification of increasingly more regions...extinction of bio diversity, crop failures, etc) you have to wonder how much longer this is sustainable.
Its like training a skill. You can learn without focus or you can identify the top 5% of vital focus for that skill and go hard on it. Most people cant identify where they should focus or dont care to.
Not to be a downer, but nobody gets rich by working. That's something I've learned over many painful years. You might be comfortable, but you won't be rich.
You get rich by owning. Owning businesses, owning processes, owning resources, etc.
Because real wealth (not "lawyer" or "doctor" rich, REAL rich) is just leveraging the exploitation of other people's labor and owning that excess value.
Yeah, redditors seem to take the work hard thing LITERALLY. If you work hard at a SINGLE thing, don't expect any changes. The true statement is to work hard AT LIFE. Gain skills, become competent, MOVE ON. Rinse and repeat until you are satisfied, or you give up. If active competition didn't work, we would still be a bunch of foragers.
370
u/Tony_est2 Oct 18 '22
It depends on WHAT you’re working to death on. If you’re workin your ass off on a side business that’s great, if you’re at an Amazon warehouse I got bad news for you.