HighOnLife
Dryer sheet aficionado
Who is the richest person you have known? How did they build their wealth?
The first person who comes to mind is a peer of mine from my early twenties. I may have known wealthier people over the years, but considering his age I'd say he wins. He didn't flaunt his wealth but was obviously a millionaire many times over by his early twenties and earned all of it. You couldn't fake his level of living through consumer debt. I once attended a party at his mansion in Chicago, and I remember a lot of spoiled rich wives at the party. He sort of politely laughed at his wife's teacher salary, and hoped she would one day get a real job. This guy was a professional futures trader. He worked for large companies who entrusted large sums of money to his care, and he made it grow by investing in commodities all day long. He had done it since his teens and obviously loved it. Having toyed with trading commodity options already, I once asked him how a person learns to be a successful trader. He replied that yes a person can learn, but really shouldn't try it until he can afford to lose about $100k. I was probably making $6k/year at the time, so we may as well have been discussing how large is the sun. He retired at maybe 26 and now is a philanthropist. Good guy, solidly nice and trustworthy all the way. His age and skill level, and what he did with it, left an impression--of what I *should* be doing with my life.
I also have a few extended family who became financially independent through direct real estate investing--one who retired at 35 from a general labor position, another who does RE plus God knows how many side businesses and runs a megachurch in a large city...has his fingers in many pots, so to speak. I've also known a billionaire heiress (who was insane)--granddaughter of the founder of what is now a major public company. And an ex brother in law who owned two Seven Elevens and was a tinkerer--an early adopter of online P2P lending, wouldn't surprise me if he got into bitcoin; he was very interested in lots of different things, and would try them (including an "embarrassing" amount of direct real estate), but his initial money came from the 7-11 business which he took on some risk & debt to get into. I've also seen one of my dad's friends go extremely far with the same business my dad and I are both in. He is a model for business success, although oddly enough the execution of product is something I do better despite his large staff. He's part of the Chicago yacht club and goes into the office about one afternoon per week, and from what I gather spends a fair amount of time giving speeches and accepting awards--while most of the people I know in the industry are mcmansion level street hustler workaholics.
So, business and real estate.
The first person who comes to mind is a peer of mine from my early twenties. I may have known wealthier people over the years, but considering his age I'd say he wins. He didn't flaunt his wealth but was obviously a millionaire many times over by his early twenties and earned all of it. You couldn't fake his level of living through consumer debt. I once attended a party at his mansion in Chicago, and I remember a lot of spoiled rich wives at the party. He sort of politely laughed at his wife's teacher salary, and hoped she would one day get a real job. This guy was a professional futures trader. He worked for large companies who entrusted large sums of money to his care, and he made it grow by investing in commodities all day long. He had done it since his teens and obviously loved it. Having toyed with trading commodity options already, I once asked him how a person learns to be a successful trader. He replied that yes a person can learn, but really shouldn't try it until he can afford to lose about $100k. I was probably making $6k/year at the time, so we may as well have been discussing how large is the sun. He retired at maybe 26 and now is a philanthropist. Good guy, solidly nice and trustworthy all the way. His age and skill level, and what he did with it, left an impression--of what I *should* be doing with my life.
I also have a few extended family who became financially independent through direct real estate investing--one who retired at 35 from a general labor position, another who does RE plus God knows how many side businesses and runs a megachurch in a large city...has his fingers in many pots, so to speak. I've also known a billionaire heiress (who was insane)--granddaughter of the founder of what is now a major public company. And an ex brother in law who owned two Seven Elevens and was a tinkerer--an early adopter of online P2P lending, wouldn't surprise me if he got into bitcoin; he was very interested in lots of different things, and would try them (including an "embarrassing" amount of direct real estate), but his initial money came from the 7-11 business which he took on some risk & debt to get into. I've also seen one of my dad's friends go extremely far with the same business my dad and I are both in. He is a model for business success, although oddly enough the execution of product is something I do better despite his large staff. He's part of the Chicago yacht club and goes into the office about one afternoon per week, and from what I gather spends a fair amount of time giving speeches and accepting awards--while most of the people I know in the industry are mcmansion level street hustler workaholics.
So, business and real estate.
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