[DesuMaiden]

It is really simple. You need to do a job that not many people can do. An example of job that does not make you rich is a cashier. Cashiers are poor because there are too many people who can become cashiers. Cashiers are too easily replaceable.

An example of a job that makes people very rich is a professional basketball player in the NBA. The reason basketball players in the NBA are super rich is because there are very few professional NBA basketball players and they all generate a huge amount of revenue/profit. The huge amount of revenue/profit that they generate is divided amongst a small number of basketball players. Hence each basketball player can make a huge income and therefore be very rich.

Another way you can become rich is by becoming a CEO or the owner of a very successful business. The reason the owner of a very successful business is very rich is because he has a bunch of wage slaves work for him. These wage slaves generate a huge amount of profit/revenue, and this immense amount of profit/revenue makes the owner of the business very rich.

Of course, it is unlikely you will ever become a basketball player in the NBA or the owner of a very successful business, so let's be realistic. How do you make a decent income but not necessarily become rich? Most people accomplish this by going to university to learn a marketable skill. Then they get hired by someone else who pays them a decent income.

But you can't become rich by going to university. In order to become rich you need to either a) become a sports superstar (like Michael Jordan), become a pop star (like Lady Gaga) or become a famous actor/actress (like Brad Pitt). Or b) you become the owner of a highly successful business like the owner of Walmart. There is really no other way you can become rich, I'm sorry to tell. Anyways, that's all I got to say for today. Peace out and have a nice day.

[KingM]

You don't get rich through any sort of job, you get that way from extracting the labor from other people's work. Even in your richest job, as described above, compare the multimillionaire athletes with the billionaire owners of the sports franchises.

This has been the path to wealth since before the pharaoh used it to make himself a god.

[Subjectivist]

Thomas Edison. Bill Gates. Rush Limbaugh.
What do these people have in common? All are or were very wealthy. None had or have a University Degree.

[Timo]

My plan to get rich is to sue the pants off of Dos XX for advertising their product by featuring the Most Interesting Man in the World without my permission!

[Timo]

In short, you have to be pampered and ruthless.

Shut up! Get back to work! And give your money to me!

[Outcast_Searcher]

You don't get rich through any sort of job, you get that way from extracting the labor from other people's work. Even in your richest job, as described above, compare the multimillionaire athletes with the billionaire owners of the sports franchises.

This has been the path to wealth since before the pharaoh used it to make himself a god.

First, define "rich". You don't bother to do that.

Then, define "any sort of job". You don't bother to do that either.

Counterexmples to your incorrect statement:

1). Top pro athletes do become multi-millionaires, if they just manage to do some saving/investing. Michael Jordon stands out as an example. I consider being a pro athlete a "job", obviously.

2). Professionals in the sciences who pursue a career and save a lot of money can become multi-millionaires. I did this myself by working at IBM for over 26 years, and saving a huge proportion of my salary, living simply, and investing what I saved, and reinvesting ALL the earnings off what I saved.

And when things got "nasty" for me in IBM at age 47, I "retired" and walked away. (To me, being "rich" is being able to support yourself and your loved ones without worrying about every nickel. It is NOT about being able to buy anything you can imagine anytime you want. Then again, I'm happy with an old car as long as it runs well, and buying my clothes at Walmart.)

...

But go ahead -- regale us with your false tales on how it is impossible to get rich from any job. And tell us why the job creators need to pay more taxes since life is so "unfair" (as is the agenda from the vast majority of those of your ilk).

[Keith_McClary]

A guy I went to high school with became a Computer Science professor. A couple of his students (Larry and Sergey) had a crazy idea for an "Internet search engine" business. He invested $100,000 in it and became a billionaire.

[Sixstrings]

A guy I went to high school with became a Computer Science professor. A couple of his students (Larry and Sergey) had a crazy idea for an "Internet search engine" business. He invested $100,000 in it and became a billionaire.

Wow cool story, and smart professor.

This whole internet age we've lived through.. I swear I kick myself in the pants.. it's like.. surely I could have thought up something like ebay? I mean, that whole field was so wide open wtf was I wasting my time on at the time.

It's one "why didn't I think of that" thing, after another.

Right now there is some *obvious* idea that would be great for a phone app or website, but we are just not thinking of it, and those with the inventor kind of mind will think it up.

The oldest way to "get rich:"

Don't spend your money. People that don't spend money are the ones that have money.

Here's a really simple thing you can do: get into buying condos. All you have to do is start with one, and rent it out. Build equity, then tap that to buy another, then three, then four and so on and you can keep doing that slowly over many years and then before ya know it you can just retire and live off rental income.

I have a friend that did that. He also goes to goodwills twice a week and buys stuff and sells it on ebay. He just has a knack for it, stupid crap like just shirts and whatnot, he just knows what he can buy and list on ebay for twice as much. He makes a thousand a month off that alone.

A definite sure way to get rich: mutual funds.

If someone starts at age 20, and puts a certain amount in there religiously every month for next 20 years, then he will be "rich" by the age of 40. It's the magic of compounding interest. But of course, no 20 year old has that kind of foresight or consistency and that's the trick you need to start early.

Another way to "get rich:" study in university something that actually will pay you well afterward. So, that's financial sector #1. Go work for a hedge fund, they get paid a lot. Or be a broker. On the trades, get into medical -- nurses make a lot. Just don't catch ebola.

I wish I could go back in time, and give myself all this good advice.

(Desu if you are 24 then that is the best thing you could do for yourself, a mutual fund, and put the money in every month and never miss a month even if you must work two extra jobs or no matter what is going on in your life.

You can google up compounding interest tables / mutual fund advice to give you an idea of what you need to put in every month to have a lot of money in twenty or thirty years.)

[Shaved Monkey]

Best way to be rich is to have rich parents.
Dont know if the old investment advice is going to cut it in the brave new world though.

[KingM]

Best way to be rich is to have rich parents.
Dont know if the old investment advice is going to cut it in the brave new world though.

Maybe not, but since I joined 10 years ago my traditional investments are up about 10X, while the Peak Oil aware stuff has only been treading water.

[Keith_McClary]

Best way to be rich is to have rich parents.
Dont know if the old investment advice is going to cut it in the brave new world though.

Maybe not, but since I joined 10 years ago my traditional investments are up about 10X, while the Peak Oil aware stuff has only been treading water.

I didn't even try to make PO aware investments, just left my money in managed funds.

In retrospect, what would have been a good PO aware investment strategy 10 years ago?

[Newfie]

Read 'Outliers: The Story of Success' by Malcolm Gladwell. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates achieved his extreme wealth the Beatles became one of the most successful musical acts in human history, because they had the luxury to practice 10,000 hours.

Then listen to KingM and read ‘David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants’ by the same author. In short, you have to be pampered and ruthless.

I dunno. It that 10,000 hour thing.

I've been lying to my Wife for at least 10,000 hours, and she still catches me every time!

[DesuMaiden]

You don't get rich through any sort of job, you get that way from extracting the labor from other people's work. Even in your richest job, as described above, compare the multimillionaire athletes with the billionaire owners of the sports franchises.

This has been the path to wealth since before the pharaoh used it to make himself a god.

That is exactly my point.