Get Out of the Middle Class
The middle class mindset is essentially derived by mainstream propaganda, indoctrination during college and through branding and insecurity. | November 3, 2014 by Wall Street Playboys
We are unaware of a post that addresses the issues of the middle class mindset. We’re going to try and tackle this.
The middle class mindset is essentially derived by mainstream propaganda, indoctrination during college and through branding and insecurity. The trick to keeping the middle class in the middle class? Focus their attention away from themselves. Force them to focus outward, base their lives on the opinions of others, and ignore their own intrinsic value. If that is not disturbing enough take a look at the points below and begin ridding yourself of each mindset/action.
1) Talk the Least: Just one week ago during a short business trip, an uber driver who makes $120K per year with his current job and his uber side hustle was explaining how to invest in equities. The conversation was interesting, not because of the underscored point above, but because he gave every single detail about his life… For free. If you’re going to move up in life you have to be getting more information than you are giving.
For simplicity, if you are obtaining more information than you are giving throughout the day, you’re going to hold onto more information to give to higher powers than you. There is no point in giving any information out unless you see a mutually beneficial outcome. It really is that simple. Play it cool and let them do the talking, two ears one mouth. The ratio should always be the same.
To drive home the point, think through your most successful interview. Have you ever landed a job where you explained how great you were for 2/3 of the time while the other 1/3 of the time you allowed the interviewer to speak? The answer of course, is no. If you carefully choose your words and times to interject, the interviewer will come to the conclusion that you are bright. If you’re actually good at X task, other people will tell them. Not you.
2) Don’t Trade Time for Money: We got a lot of questions about what this means. Although, the repeated question is likely the same user logging into different IP addresses, we’re going to knock this one out of the park right now.
If you are earning the *majority* of your income based on a Salary or Hourly wage you are trading time for money.
If you are earning the *majority* of your income based on performance based incentive compensation and passive income, you are NOT trading time for money.
It really is that simple. People don’t understand that Sales, Wall Street, Equity in Silicon Valley and Businesses do not trade time for money. This is simply because they cannot rewire their brains. You want to trade your money for time.
Yes if you work for a large corporation in sales, Wall Street or otherwise, you will be paid a salary as a **Part** of your total compensation. Make no mistake. If your salary > bonus, you don’t matter to the firm… At all.
Finally, since everyone has asked for an example of how you can avoid trading time for money, below is the clearest and cleanest way to think about buying time with money.
Advertising.
If you spend $10,000,000 a year on advertising are you wasting money? The answer of course… is it depends. If you spend $10,000,000 a year on advertising that leads to $20,000,000 in net income… The answer is no. By advertising you are buying a person’s time (getting them to look at your product/service) and ideally convince them to buy… Without you doing a thing. Correct? Correct. Below is a typical week of business advertising spend (no, not for this blog of course).
3) Compete With Yourself: Another growing trend for the middle class is to “compete with everyone”. This is actually a poverty mindset more than it is a middle class mindset… Yet you see this belief growing in the middle class nowadays. Go to a middle or upper middle class area and people are sizing each other up like they are going to get into the ring for a 12 round boxing match. It is comical.
Why is it comical? It is comical because if you are competing with someone, you have some belief that the person you’re seeing is better than you. If you believe the average person in the bar or club is better than you, it means you’re not very successful yourself. Only people who are broke believe they are in a competition with everyone or believe people are competing with them. To say the least? It is a joke.
If you need further proof of this, simply look at the top performers in any industry. They do not compete with people who are below them. You won’t see the #1 tennis player in the world getting on twitter to smack talk the #500 player in the world. If anything, he will try to find ways to give him pointers to improve his game.
Instead? They compete with themselves. If you are at the top of your game you are competing with your previous year. If it’s money you’re after, you’re comparing your next year to the previous year’s earnings and nothing else. Take a page from the elite and emulate them. You are only competing with yourself.
When you meet a new person you should search for information and ask yourself “can we both win by working together?”. If the answer is not a yes, simply move on. There is no reason to compete with someone if they are not going to be in your lane.
4) Cut Alcoholism: If you are still blacking out from your drinking adventures and you are over the age of 22, you should be ashamed of yourself. In addition, you have a serious drinking problem. There is no exception to this rule.
Alcohol is a great substance for celebration and should be taken seriously. If you got your first $100K+ bonus check as a hedge fund associate, feel free to have some drinks and a nice dinner. However… You should not black out and get kicked out of a club/bar.
There is no glory in being able to “crush 10 drinks in a night”. All you are saying is that you’re trying to escape your normal life.
5) Prestige is a Trap: We talked about this on our FAQ page and it needs to be revisited. The only thing that prestige is good for, is if it is the beginning of your career. Here is how the prestige trap works.
Head Hunter: Hello associate at Barclays, we have a position open at Goldman Sachs that we are looking to fill. Are you interested?
Naive Junior Banker: Absolutely it’s Goldman Sachs!
Head Hunter: Great send me your resume and we will be in touch (click – giggles on the other line because you are about to make $10K extra to restart the entire political process while the headhunter collects a nice fee)
The headhunters are getting more creative these days and are even convincing people to move from potential promotions to “the buy side” where they will make the exact same amount but work extra hours. It is a trap. Before you make a jump you should make sure that you are not making it due to prestige. We’ve said it before and we will say it again.
“F**K Prestige. Get MONEY”
This highlighted point brings us to the next part of the middle class mindset…
6) Chase Responsibility: This is where most people fail to jump out of the middle ranks. Many people prefer that steady $120-140K base salary and $100-120K bonus for life. This is career death. You need to take a risk and chase the pie, without the pie there is no income growth.
Most people in the middle class enjoy following rules and regulations because it is how they moved up to their cushy positions. This is not going to serve them well once they approach the age of 30. You’re going to have to find a way to get a piece of the pie. If you want a cliff notes explanation of how following the rules won’t work… Here you go.
Managing Director: Hey you’ve done a great job for us, if you want to stay on long-term we will take care of you no worries.
Sr. Associate/Jr. VP: Well you have taken care of me before, i believe this is a great slot and want to continue being part of the team.
—- 1 year passes, **record numbers** —
Managing Director: Hey we had another great year here’s your bonus of $100K (flat from last year)
Sr. Associate/Jr. VP: Well, numbers were up why is my income flat?
Managing Director: Well we don’t know if you contributed *that* much so we felt that paying you at the top of the class would be fair.
Now you are wondering, well how do you get out of this situation?! How do you avoid being in the support role for the rest of your life? How do you avoid the flat line of $150-250K for the rest of your life?!
Just like everything else in life, the answer is simple. Take risk.
At this point, you need to analyze your firm. Find the weak spots and see if you can find a way to *increase the size of the pie* (also known as the bonus pool). Once you are able to prove you can increase the size of the pool through revenue generation (yes you may need to step on toes here) you’re going to be able to haggle for a slice of the pie. It is simple, yet incredibly difficult to pull off.
7) Think BIG: Most people see that phrase and believe it means “Think about making your ego huge”. This is entirely wrong. What does think big mean? It means you need to think of ways to leverage your skills to maximize returns.
People keep emailing us about how to use their 401K’s. We have the same answer. Who cares. Please stop emailing with these questions.
While you should max it out (tax purposes) and at a minimum get the Company match (free money), if you are even thinking about your 401K beyond a couple of clicks on the computer screen, you’re wasting time. Not a single person in the history of mankind got rich off their 401K with time to enjoy it and no one ever will… by definition. If you’re worried about perfect allocation of a few hundred thousand dollars, you don’t see the point and you’re wasting your own time.
Even if you contribute $17,500 per year for the next 30 years. That is $525K. Lets go ahead and 4x that just to make you feel richer. That’s $2M. The catch? You’re 60.Oh and by the way? Due to inflation that $2M is only worth $1M in today’s dollars.
If you do not believe that a million or two by 60 is not an accomplishment, go and volunteer at a hospital. It is a great experience. It is a disturbing experience. Every single “rich” person you meet will tell you they wish they lived their lives for themselves and not for other people… saving and waiting for the perfect time to enjoy life… That never happened. Try to keep that bubbly smile on your face as you realize these men and women have money but no way to enjoy it.
… What does this have to do with thinking big? Everything.
Once you realize that you only have 30 years to live. Ages 25-55, you’re going to start building real skills. Time is not on your side. Once you really understand that this is the only time frame for fun and enjoyment, you’re not going to worry about missing your friend’s bachelors party or missing the next sporting event, you’re worried about maximizing you. Finally, once you realize the clock is always ticking, you’re going to start thinking in terms of scale and leverage instead of time and wages.
The paragraphs above will unlikely stick with anyone who reads it. They will simply nod and agree and go back to reading about the latest sporting event, celebrity gossip, or swiping on tinder. All this means for the people who get it? There is no competition.
8) Read for Information NOT Motivation: This is going to strike a cord with a lot of readers and people. Motivation based reading is the biggest ponzi-scheme in the world. Not only is it a ponzi-scheme but it is a LEGAL one at that. Don’t make us laugh. Here is how it works in simple steps
Step 1: Write extremely emotional posts/texts on the internet to force a readers to “feel like they can be somebody”
Step 2: Write a book or sell a product that convinces people to “take action”, anything you can do that gets them out of their comfort zone
Step 3: Once you sell 100+ units, 10-20 success stories roll in and they will foolishly claim “THE product changed their life”(For some reason they don’t realize they changed their own lives and the product did nothing)
Step 4: Author takes success stories (ignores failure stories of course, that would be bad marketing!) and then uses that to validate the product
Step 5: Slowly raise prices of product as people who were on the fence to buy it, see the prices rising and then decides to buy it as well! If the prices are going up it must be good! (See point 5 about prestige and branding being a trap)
Step 6: Take the success stories that roll in (a few will always be successful) and reiterate
There you go. Now you know how the motivation ponzi-scheme works. Smart people realize this scheme and only buy information based products, not feel good motivation based products. If the product is based on motivation or “go get em” type hype, you know it is a way to create a recurring revenue stream based on emotion.
To those that don’t believe this, you’re being scammed. If you are able to put yourself outside of your comfort zone ON YOUR OWN, you already had the skills necessary to succeed. Do not hold up some book and claim it was the holy bible to your success. It wasn’t. Your success was based on your own internal motivation and don’t let anyone else take claim for it. They are just going to use you for marketing.
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Hopefully this gives the readerbase a lot to think about.
1) Are you trying to prove to the world how good you are through your words to new acquaintances? Stop.
2) Are you trading all of your time for money? Find a way to leverage your time.
3) Do you think everyone is competition, or that people are trying to compete with you? Neither will be of value.
4) Are you still getting drunk every weekend? Hope you just sealed a big transaction that night.
5) Are you choosing prestige over money? Foolish.
6) Are you moving positions for the brand? When responsibility leads to a piece of the pie, choose responsibility.
7) Do you think you’re going to live an amazing life at 60? Go volunteer at a hospital.
8) Are you buying motivational products? You’re the product.
Lazer says
November 3, 2014 at 12:43 am
4) Cut Alcoholism
A glass of wine while working late into the evening helps me focus, be more creative, and drift off to sleep better, but I get the point. I run into “normies” all the time in their 30s and 40s who just want to get drunk and watch the game.
What are you thoughts on avoiding television, video games, and movies?
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Wall Street Playboys says
November 3, 2014 at 12:55 am
We have covered this before. After highschool (actually middle school), you should spend next to zero time on all of those.
An hour or so a month is more than enough.
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Jane Doe says
November 3, 2014 at 1:47 am
Unless your ambition is to be a writer. In that case it’s market research
James Hunt says
November 3, 2014 at 4:36 pm
From time to time, I find the need to have some “downtime” because I have been working so hard even though I have not reached my stress threshold. I used to watch Netflix for downtime, but there came a period of time where I did not do it for a while because I was busy. Now after months of abstaining (not on purpose just by virtue of being busy), I try to go back to Netflix to see if there is anything interesting. For the love of God, I can’t even watch it even if you put a gun to my head. It feels like it takes “more effort” to hold concentration on some dumb TV show, than it is to do school work. I know it sounds paradoxical. “Use it or lose it” works both ways, but in this case it is advantageous. Abstain from a habit for a particular period of time, and it will drift off into oblivion. Sometimes I think “what’s wrong with me I don’t even like to watch movies anymore?” Not only do you save money by cutting cable, ditching video games, buying new HDTV’s, you also just saved a ton of time in the buying process and consumption of these goods. With that said, make sure you still have an outlet to blow off steam, but in a creative or productive manner. Being a square bear workaholic 24/7 will lead to neurosis or burnout.
Wall Street Playboys says
November 3, 2014 at 5:23 pm
Yep this is why physical activities are good. It clears your mind and keeps your body healthy.
No one wants to be a social weirdo. Take up swimming, dancing, weight lifting, there are quite a few options to have social time hat is also good for you.
Anon1 says
November 3, 2014 at 1:46 am
>Although, the repeated question is likely the same user logging into different IP addresses,
LOL
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Wall Street Playboys says
November 3, 2014 at 1:48 am
Ha glad you liked it. It’s not that complicated, if it doesn’t make sense and the person still doesn’t understand the concept… Then they are better off finding a high paying wage job by picking up a trade.
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Wall Street Playboys says
November 3, 2014 at 2:54 am
Yep point 8 was hard to write.
“Buy my product it will take you from potential to real success!”
Then just regurgitate bullshit success quotes. The guy would be successful without the pump up if he simply took action anyway.
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Anonymous says
November 3, 2014 at 5:11 am
In medical school now, so I’m not sure how to apply #2.
I am going to focus on implementing #1 and #3.
Sick article though…lot to think about.
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Michael Knox says
November 3, 2014 at 5:17 am
Good post. The middle class mindset has been on my mind a lot lately too. First time I even realized what it was was listening to ‘rich dad poor dad’
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Young kid says
November 3, 2014 at 5:22 am
Hypothetical question.
If cash flow is better than cash and the only window of enjoyment is 25-55 yr old, then when is enough enough? Like if I turn 55 wih a business, should I sell it and take the cash or find a way to keep the cash flow and continue working until I’m unable to walk?
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Wall Street Playboys says
November 3, 2014 at 2:11 pm
Most successful guys start getting into maitenence mode at around the age of 35-40.
All aspects of your life should be in order so it makes sense to flat line it out a bit.
Ie: clients/business should be on cruise control.
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Zendevil blog says
November 3, 2014 at 5:54 am
What is entertainment? Giving your time away so someone else can make money because you don’t know what to do with your own life.
Many don’t just waste their time during the entertainment, but they stay awake late for some shitty shows also sacrificing the quality of their future time.
Average men are all time whores, giving their precious time away without any restraint – whether it is for the women or marketers.
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Wall Street Playboys says
November 3, 2014 at 2:10 pm
This is a great comment. Entertainment really is for those who don’t know what they want (majority of the time).
As long as you have a few select hobbies you enjoy for entertainment, sitting around watching 70 episodes of some show is a colossal waste of time.
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Zendevil blog says
November 4, 2014 at 5:48 am
The “entertainment” also has its purposes:
– I weight lift because it also increases my appearance, dominance, health, testosterone and general capability.
– I go “have fun” in many social ways to make new contacts, learn from someone etc.
The entertainment like this is pure, not escapism. Average people will try to shame you though because the pragmatism of your life goes beyond their cognitive abilities.
TwoBuckChuck says
November 3, 2014 at 4:10 pm
I busted my ass in my 20s, been making $250k a year for the past 10 years, but with no upside potential. Now I am in my early forties wanting to fall in love and have kids. I tried learning game, but being a generally anxious guy with below average social skills I never got good at it. I get laid but with average girls that I cannot see myself with long term.
I can try to spin a side business to make more money, or just coast on my stable income working 45 hours a week. But I still feel empty without a cool girl or a family. Any advice for someone in my situation?
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Wall Street Playboys says
November 3, 2014 at 4:20 pm
First no one “needs” a woman. This alone is a limiting belief that is subconsciously hurting your interactions with women.
Second, you answered your own financial questions. If you have no upside and you have seen no improvement in quality of life (women, lifestyle etc.), the answer is to leave. Start your own side business or AT minimum start working part time. Go travel to countries with the type of women you like where they will respect a man who made a million or two already.
Time for a change after a decade. Especially if you are unhappy.
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Zendevil blog says
November 4, 2014 at 5:43 am
> First no one “needs” a woman. This alone is a limiting belief that is subconsciously hurting your interactions with women.
This is true – these men who feel like they need a woman are actually not living their life the way they want to because they still feel like they need someone to feel “complete”.
It is funny… all the truly successful guys and people who act like MEN realize that unless a woman treats you like a king and helps you on your “mission”, she has nothing to give to you. You don’t need sex, companionship or “love”. You may want them, but not need em.
2BuckChuck says
November 8, 2014 at 4:16 am
Whether I want or need a woman is not the question. What is living it up anyways? I’ve traveled to many parts of the world. I’ve parties in Ibiza, Burning Man, Thailand, Mykonos. I drive a nice convertible. I live in a condo with a view. I can eat at any nice restaurant whenever I want. Maybe not the Michelin star one, but who really cares. I have free time to work out 4-5 times a week. I’ve banged a few girls from bars and clubs. All my guy friends are married or have kids, and it’s harder to get people to hang out. What’s really there to do anyways? No, I don’t “need” women, but I want a cool companion, a wife, a mother to my child. It’s the circle of life. The desire to procreate is a human instinct just like the desire to be alpha is a masculine instinct. When one lives in alignment with his human nature he feels more free.
2BuckChuck says
November 8, 2014 at 4:18 am
I do agree maybe I should travel to Eastern Europe or something. I am giving US a shot for another years or 2. In the mean time I will do some research before I go explore the world in a new way.
William says
November 3, 2014 at 8:09 pm
I 100% agree with the methodologies in this post. A large portion of the mentality of my website is focused on mindset and maximizing the choices and time you have right now.
It’s good to realize that so many people are unwilling to sacrifice in their younger years. Less competition is ideal. Sometimes when I miss out on social opportunities I wonder if it’s all worth it. This is the superficial realization most people come to when thinking about missed opportunities, but dig a little deeper and you realize that you are working now to have more opportunities in the future. It is a trade-off: work now and enjoy it later, or have all the fun now and then play catch-up.
And yes talking less is the smarter choice. Used to be a big talker myself.
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Wall Street Playboys says
November 3, 2014 at 11:22 pm
Agree, find the balance. People who believe in living it up in their 20s are dead wrong and people who believe they will live it up at 60 are also dead wrong.
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Ed Latimore says
November 3, 2014 at 11:10 pm
#4 Cut Alcoholism.
This one is the single biggest thing holding back most people in their 20’s and beyond. Robs you of energy, constantly distracts you, risks legal trouble. There is zero upside. Purely a social thing, which ain’t bad, if you’ve earned some relaxation time. I’ve been dry for 11 months and have made leaps and bounds in all areas of my life. For a person in their 20’s this will change everything–if for any other reasons–because you won’t have many reasons to go out and you can get shit done.
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Wall Street Playboys says
November 3, 2014 at 11:20 pm
Drinking in moderation is fine (2-3 drinks for a celebration/post accomplishment). Once you ask yourself “who am I drinking with” your interest in drinking will decline fast. Most people “out in the scene” are not people worth knowing.
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Jay says
November 4, 2014 at 3:21 am
Thanks for this post. My parents are middle class and I’ve sworn not to end up like them. My mom just sent me a recent pic of both of them and I got scared for the first time in months. Scared that I’d end up fat, ugly stressed out and worried about trivial matters while holding onto irrational beliefs when I was in my early 50s.
Not much filial piety here but I want to get out of the middle-class trap more than I want to be rich. I’ve seen what ‘middle-class values’ (translation – ‘lets not get rich beliefs’) have done to my parents. They were good-looking, intelligent and full of drive ~20 years ago. Today, they’re saving for ‘retirement’.
In a sense I’m lucky because I have access to guidelines to stay out of the middle-class trap. Will make the maximum use of it, thanks a lot.
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Jay2 says
November 4, 2014 at 3:51 am
#2, and #6 are the most challenging to internalize for me. #1 also seems hard to pull off in practice because I seriously don’t know how I can be of great value to anyone socially because I already do the same “dumb” things (It’s even easier to do as a 19 year old comp. engineering student wearing a hoodie). I don’t know what I can offer socially to potential friends (Am I fun and exciting? No. And unfortunately, fun is what young people value.) and that’s why I don’t bring much social value to the table hence having very little amount of friends. Strangely, I do succeed with people at career fairs and have great conversations there because it is a lot easier for me to stand out in a more formal/professional environment where nobody knows me and the people are more mature (Thanks to being a little “dumb” and not stuck up about trying to impress). Unfortunately, most college situations aren’t formal and so how would I do #1 correctly?
In regards to #2 and #6, I am currently predicting myself to get a tech job at a big company after graduation, in which I will be very replaceable and the bonuses/equity will be nothing compared to my base salary. And #6 also shows that I won’t have responsibility until I reach mid 30s, maybe even 40s if I ever break into management successfully.
Now I got an interest in finance and even the skills (If I just take a few accounting classes), but I seem to be a bit weak on networking because I know a couple of people that just *magically* meet the right people and I just couldn’t get myself to get invited to events that aren’t publicly listed (See #1 for why). I’m also quite afraid that I am a bit deep in the tech world atm to switch to finance (In your front office ways) and networking to investment banking is going to be borderline impossible. I just don’t know what I should do with my life right now since I do have the capability to code well, but my free time always consists of looking up what’s happening in the financial markets and thinking in the shower how low oil prices will boost the economy, not learning new languages or coding simple applications which is what I *should* be doing in my free time. Help? Thanks WSPB.
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Jay2 says
November 4, 2014 at 5:32 am
Sorry this got long, maybe it’s because I’m studying parts of my major that I’m not very interested in (Signal processing and discrete math, ugh). This isn’t set in stone, but how can an engineer best get more leverage in his career? Startups seem too risky and if you don’t make it with all the hard work you’ve done, you get nothing. Management is competitive, but I may have the skills to get into that but I don’t know yet since I’m only 19.
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Wall Street Playboys says
November 4, 2014 at 1:51 pm
Come back when you decide what sector you want to work in. Going to work for Google is not the same path as trying to go to Wall Street.
Recent graduate says
November 4, 2014 at 3:46 pm
Jay, your degree isn’t end all be all.
I graduated with a degree in chemical engineering from a top 10 chem. Eng school. However, in my junior year, I had already decided not to work for anyone.
Luckily, my parents are restaurant owners so I decided to grind it out and work in the restaurant. Work is tough: ~11 hrs/day and no days off except for major holidays. I choose to not take too much salary except for a meager 2000/month, which is prob less than minimum wage. But all my living expenses are payed by the restaurant (tax deductable) so I’m okay.
There are so much to learn and honestly, you won’t fully understand the things WSPB mention until you live the life because imagination and creativity happens AFTER you work not while you sit under a tree and think. You will never know where life will take you until you live life.
What I want to gain from working in the restaurant isn’t money, but rather the experience from running a successful business. Like the fact that most rich people think alike, most successful businesses are run on similar core principles.
What I hope is that when I get my million dollar light bulb moment, I’ll be ready to take it to the bank. Until then, I’m going to “stop worrying and start living” – a Dale Carnegie book.
Wall Street Playboys says
November 4, 2014 at 4:11 pm
Agreed. Not a single person has found their life purpose by sitting on a rock under a tree with their chin on their fist.
Go live life. Try each item, learn about it. When you find that you’re excited to learn more about it, you’re several steps closer to finding a career/business you enjoy.
Steve P. says
November 4, 2014 at 6:18 pm
So the goal is to get out of the middle class. Is that even possible for some people?
It’s obviously not the core readership here, but someone who’s in their early 30s, whittling away in corporate america as a manager, pulling in just over $100k, probably married, probably kids, with no killer instinct, middle of the road skills, and no appetite for risk from a ‘go start a business’ perspective…do they even have a chance of leaving the middle class?
I think it’s more of a demographics question, but have you ever seen that success story play out?
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Wall Street Playboys says
November 4, 2014 at 7:21 pm
With this backdrop (no killer instinct, factually mediocre) the answer of course is no.
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Deltime says
November 6, 2014 at 4:48 am
All that I can say is thank you for posting…One of the best yet
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c2w says
November 6, 2014 at 11:19 pm
>”Due to inflation that $2M is only worth $1M in today’s dollars.”
The typical 401k would be in securities, no? Wouldn’t that adjust with inflation?
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Wall Street Playboys says
November 6, 2014 at 11:32 pm
Make your own assumptions and do the math yourself. If you assume 7% growth that needs to be adjusted down by 3% to reflect inflation.
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Gino says
November 8, 2014 at 2:32 am
This type of thinking is incredibly refreshing to read. I’m in the Navy, and so many people here in my age group (20-29), waste their money on #4 specifically. The ironic and depressing part is that many are in careers (rates) that would set them up for a great civilian career if they’d study instead of imbibing alcohol on a nearly hourly basis. My question to you all is as follows:
I’ve been offered the opportunity to become an Officer. As you know, they make a significantly higher amount of money, and promotion is virtually guaranteed so long as you perform well, which isn’t an issue for me, as I possess that killer instinct you’ve mentioned multiple times. However, my friend says that given my current job (IT) and my skills, he can get me a job at Google when I leave the service with a fair amount of networking. One pays higher, but the other one is more stable. They both have attractive pensions after a significant amount of time. Which do you think would be the better decision financially?
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Wall Street Playboys says
November 8, 2014 at 2:42 am
With no numbers we can’t help you.
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Gino says
November 8, 2014 at 3:00 am
As an Officer, if I go that route, within the first 2-3 years I’ll be making at the very least 75-80K, barring what I make on the side with hustles of course. With Google, starting at 85K-90K, but with less opportunity, I’ve been told, for advancement and raises. With the military I can retire in 20 years making 4K-5K a month with a pension. With Google, I’m not sure, but I’m assuming after 30 years.
Wall Street Playboys says
November 8, 2014 at 3:03 am
Easy. Choose the one with the least hours.
With those numbers you’ll never be financially independent early enough to have fun.
Take the lower hours job, live in a cheap spot, start a smal side businesses/consulting work.
Gino says
November 8, 2014 at 5:56 am
Thank you. Ya’ll are what the young “men” of our generation need to follow.
2BuckChuck says
November 8, 2014 at 4:26 am
Just found out this kid in my high school donated $1 million to my school. Friggin hedge fund manager. Must be worth $50-100 million to be able to spare that kind of donation. I feel so lame. To be fair though, he was a quiet guy but always have a steely look in his eyes. He was always friends with cool people, plays point guard in basketball even though I felt I was more athletic than him.
Question – Maybe you guys can write more about
1 – leadership
2 – making friends with more senior/important/alpha people
Those my 2 big deficiencies that have limited my career success. I always get intimidated by my seniors and guys with more power. I could never socialize with them as equals.
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Wall Street Playboys says
November 8, 2014 at 4:29 am
Sounds like you’re suffering from “one more year syndrome”. If you’re already well off as you stated the Michelin restaurant vs the regular one won’t make a difference.
We would suggest taking a year off.
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In terms of networking, it makes no sense as you mentioned not to go up the chain. There are millionaire CEOs who ruin their companies but still make $10M, if they can get paid 8 figures to bankrupt companies they are no better than you.
Don’t insult them, just get them to like you and let the connections flow.
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Jay2 says
November 8, 2014 at 10:16 pm
Lol the problem is how to get them to like you when so many people are competing to get the same CEOs to like them. Well made people tend to know the networking process a whole lot better and are therefore “immune” to the “strategies” of connection building. And especially when you don’t have enough value to back yourself to make yourself somehow useful to them.
Wall Street Playboys says
November 9, 2014 at 1:07 am
CEOs are people, successful people are human.
It sounds like the “strategy” is to be a schmoozer, which doesn’t even work on average people.
Find a connection point of interest unrelated to backwardly begging for a position.
Steve P. says
November 12, 2014 at 8:01 pm
So based off your tweet, $100k isn’t being a lot of money/year in any place you’d want to live. Else you’ll be living the middle class lifestyle.
But say you’re in NY, SF, Philly, DC, Boston, etc. What’s your rough budget? Does most everything go into a nice place to live? Travel? Booze/parties/party favors/social events? Clothes? Cars (seems crazy in NY)?
Exclude investments. What do you spend on consumption?
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Wall Street Playboys says
November 12, 2014 at 8:16 pm
$100K is nothing in those cities.
$17.5K for the 401K to reduce your tax rate (also worst case scenario and does not mean you will ever be financially independent)
82.5K left… That’s about $4,500 a month after medical dental and of course, taxes etc.
$2,250 for rent takes half of it
$1,000 on food
$250 on laundry, utilities, phone etc
You only have $1000 a month. That assumes you do nothing but breathe air. Again, to reiterate, even maxing your 401K you have no chance at financial success at any point in your life with those numbers.
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Steve P. says
November 12, 2014 at 8:51 pm
Great – so that’s a breakdown of the 100k. My question may have been unclear. I’m not asking for income numbers, but I’m assuming you all make more than the stated 100k.
What’s your personal consumption like?
Doesn’t sound like you guys drink/party like crazy. Vacations likely wouldn’t be long enough to be that elaborate and expensive. I’ll assume your rent is significantly higher, etc.
More just curious where you spend the time/money beyond base living.
Wall Street Playboys says
November 12, 2014 at 9:31 pm
Ahh. That is honestly an “it depends” answer.
Personalities differ so you spend it on your own hobbies. Could be new businesses (can be fun), could be real estate for others, could be sports/sporting events, could be art/music and it could be travel.
That’s much too broad as it depends entirely on your personality. (This comment applies to the writers here)
David says
November 14, 2014 at 10:16 pm
You wrote this, right?
http://www.theonion.com/articles/unambitious-loser-with-happy-fulfilling-life-still,33233/
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Sim says
December 9, 2014 at 3:59 am
fantastic article
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f says
December 19, 2014 at 3:39 pm
I’m going to be honest. Sometimes while grinding all day a motivational video does help.
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Riz says
February 3, 2015 at 1:46 am
The other problem with alcohol is not only are you wasting money and time partying, (when not celebrating a massive success) – the next-day hangover completely ruins you.
Try waking up at 6 am, getting tons of work done, hitting the gym, dealing with a bitchy client, etc. when half-zombie. It won’t happen.
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smith says
April 11, 2015 at 10:11 pm
what skills would you recommend young men learn before the age of 30 besides selling??
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Wall Street PlayboysWall Street Playboys says
April 11, 2015 at 10:17 pm
If you can sell that’s all you need.
The question doesn’t make sense because if you can sell in industry X you’re going to develop expertise in that industry by default which snowballs on itself.
So the key is finding a product you have no problem selling (you believe in it) and the rest falls into place.
Most people are too lazy to 1) find a product to sell and 2) are too lazy to learn how to sell.
There is literally no competition out there at all! World is yours.
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In short, once you can sell in industry X you’re going to learn skills due to necessity specific to that space.
Ex: if you work in enterprise software sales, you should learn the basics about different operating systems and features/functionalities of 100s of product lines. That’s simply how it works to become a better salesman