There are two kinds of (rich) people
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I’m a little pissed that it took me so long to learn about the two types of rich people. I think if I had known about them sooner, and what made them different, I could have reverse engineered their wealth and been off to a better start myself. Although, all things considered, I also believe that my life experiences have prepared me for anything. I most likely would have pissed away anything that I’d earned earlier in life.
Type One: The “hard worker”
This is the type that, when asked, will tell you that the secret to their success is hard work and dedication. “You have to keep your nose to the grindstone,” they’ll tell you. What they don’t tell you is that most people that work hard their entire lives fail, and hard workers rarely make it to the top. There’s such an insignificant number of folks who really worked hard that have anything to show for it. The other thing they don’t tell you is that they either, 1. Got a huge inheritance or other early means to build wealth by investing, or 2. They got #1. Time and time again I’ve seen this play out. If you call them out on it, they get pretty pissed. They blame you for not working hard enough. They attribute all their success to the actions that they took. The truth is, it’s the shit side of the statistical probability game. The shit side meaning, of the people who consistently put in a similar amount of effort (or more), an extremely small percentage of people come out ahead. They usually come out ahead due to circumstances completely out of their control. They can’t admit it, because they don’t even know it. All they’ve ever seen is their own success, and other’s failures.
Type Two: The “silent and stealth”
These folks were raised by the first type. They learned all the tricks of the trade, so to speak. They know that rich people are rich…and stay rich because they buy income producing assets. In other words, they don’t blow their money on things that don’t make them more money. These things include property (houses, apartment complexes, trailer parks, farm land to rent, etc.), stocks, businesses, and things of that nature. There’s a good chance that they also got a hand out from their parents or grandparents. Who knows? Ask this type for advice on how to make money, and they’ll tell you, “Making money is easy,” and proceed to tell you how well their investment portfolio is doing, or how much money they made day trading in the past week. It’ll blow your mind, because it’s usually about what you might make in a couple of months.
My day trading findings
I’ve been studying, researching, and practicing day trading for a couple of months now. It amazes me to think that I’ve been profitable, and have the potential to make an incredible annual “salary” from this ridiculous endeavor. Today, in my paper trading, I made $1,000 in about 15 minutes. It’s so stupid, I can hardly stand it. This is the kind of shit that keeps poor people poor. They believe the lies that they’re spoon fed from birth about “working hard” and “getting a good job” and “getting a college degree.” I was today years old when I realized that it’s all bullshit to keep poor people poor. When you believe those things, you strive for things that will never build your wealth. My takeaway, is that you need to focus on getting out of debt, saving up some money, and learning how to become one of them. I’m onto you, rich people, and I’m coming.
Here are the steps that I recommend. I didn’t exactly follow the first one, because my employer was such a terrible place to work, and the environment was so toxic, I had to quit. Regardless, if you can keep your job for a while, do it.
- Don’t quit your day job…yet
- Start learning how to day trade and invest.
- There are countless websites, YouTube videos, etc. where you can learn everything you need to know for FREE. Don’t spend money. Do NOT spend money on stupid, bullshit “courses” that teach you how to do it, or that promise to give you daily trades, etc.
- Open a brokerage account with TD Ameritrade, or a similar reputable company.
- Start paper trading (that means trading in the broker’s simulator with fake money). This step is important.
- Get out of debt
- Save a few grand
- Create a trading plan (look this up). After back-testing the strategy in your trading plan, and determining that it’s profitable, start trading
- Only trade with SMALL amounts of money to start. Your maximum risk per trade should be $10 – $20. Increase your max risk as you become more confident and comfortable.
Good luck to everyone out there reading this. I truly hope you find the means to get this off the ground. I know how hard it is, and I’m fully aware that my situation is probably already 10 times better than most folks since I have no debt, no kids, and no real responsibilities besides a mortgage payment. That’s not to say that I started with anything useful. If you know anything about me, you know that I came from nothing, and have been crawling out of a hole for most of my life. Not only do I not have parents or grandparents to lean on, ALL of my immediate family has passed away, and I’m mostly estranged from my extended family. I’ve never had anyone to lean on financially. I’ve been working hard (at staying poor) my entire life, and I’m trying to change that now armed with this knowledge. The knowledge that wealth doesn’t come from a day job, or working hard. It comes from working smart and taking advantage of a ridiculous system.
If any of you are already trading, or practicing, I built this position size calculator for TD Ameritrade’s ThinkOrSwim platform. It’s pretty dope and I’m selling it for $1 because I think it’s worth that much. There’s another one on the market out there for over $100, and I’m just trying to undercut that nonsense.