• ryathal@sh.itjust.works
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    9 months ago

    Being a millionaire is just saving a portion of income for 30 years and you can easily hit a net worth of a few million dollars.

    Being a billionaire requires some level of absurdly lucky success, fraud, exploitation, and rich parents.

      • BlueMagma@sh.itjust.works
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        9 months ago

        Have you tried to have your parents buy you a house when you were 18 ? Many people forget to do this simple step. /s

        • gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          9 months ago

          Funny enough I actually did get parental help to buy a house a couple years back. Just a bit extra on our down payment to ensure we got this house rather than 3 more months of hunting for a good deal, but help is help

          And even with an expensive Californian house added to my net worth I’m not even halfway to a millionaire and wouldn’t be able to save money to get there like was suggested. A million dollars is a fuck load

          • BlueMagma@sh.itjust.works
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            9 months ago

            Haaa, but you missed out on the most important point, you need your parent to get you a house as soon as you stop living in theirs, that way you never pay rent, by the time you are 30 you would have saved 12 YEARS of rent, so probably enough to invest, create a business, buy houses to rent to other people (or whatever else rich people do to steal money from the workers).

        • Honytawk@lemmy.zip
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          9 months ago

          Silly me, they only bought me a mansion. Guess I missed the boat if I’m past 18 now huh?

      • Roekoee@kbin.social
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        9 months ago

        I mean, that would be considering there is no interest at all. Yes if you would put it under a mattress, sure. If you would put it in s&p for instance, even on the low end you’d be getting about 6%. At that interest compounded monthly, you’d be able to be a millionaire at about $1000 a month, or $12000 a year. Still a buttload, but not unfeasible for dual earners without children, depending on where you’re located and in what industry of course.

      • tlf@feddit.de
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        9 months ago

        If you were saving it. Actually you would be investing it so no need to actually save up 1 million. 30 years is on the optimistic side though. The more common problem seem to be low wages, as those leave nothing to be safed (for 30+ years) at the end of the month.

      • ryathal@sh.itjust.works
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        9 months ago

        It is between retirement savings and a. Net worth includes a home, that crazy expensive half million dollar house is going to seem cheap 30 years from now and is likely going to be a million dollars on it’s own.

      • AFK BRB Chocolate@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Those are the numbers of you’re not investing your savings. You can use an investment calculator to see what it is if you’re investing it, with an assumption of average returns. Non trivial to get a million dollars in 30 years, but way less than $33k.

    • WalrusDragonOnABike [they/them]@reddthat.com
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      9 months ago

      Bring able to save a significant portion of your income more than the US poverty line for 30 years without some black swan life event happening to drain it also partly depends on being lucky or/and not having children. The median US household makes plenty to become millionaires for maintainkng a reasonable QoL if there aren’t any such black swan events or children involved.

      For my mom, it was a custody battle for children that initially wiped her life savings. She since has often worked 100 hours weeks at a job that pays above average for a blue collar job to make enough to back up to retire (plus happens to have worked at the same company long enough to get a pension, something they phased out for anyone less senior than her), but that’s not something anyone should be expected to do be able to retire, so I’m not quick to judge people for not having accumulated money.

      But a lot of people waste money on convenience in ways that definitely add up cumulatively over the decades. $5/day adds up to $150k after adjusting for inflation over 30 years. A $10/month subscription is $10k over 30 years. Reducing costs like that in a few places can cumulatively get you to at least theoretically being on track to be a millionaire.

      • meliaesc@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        The QoL aspect is extremely important though. If I can’t have one $10/mo subscription… what’s the point of being a millionaire in some hypothetical future if I spend my prime years depraved and depressed?

        • frezik@midwest.social
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          9 months ago

          That’s been a point of discussion in financial independence circles. You can rearrange your whole life so you’re saving 60% of your income, and some people have. Are they happy? Often not, and some of them have backed off when they realized they shouldn’t give up so much happiness now for the prospect of being happy later.

        • WalrusDragonOnABike [they/them]@reddthat.com
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          9 months ago

          Sure, but at the median income in the US, you don’t need to be depraved or depressed. At least not for monetary reasons. I’m not saying you need have to cut all subscriptions. A lot of people have much more than one reoccurring charges or spending habits that could either be reduced or cut completely with little to no effect on QoL.