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> soaking up as much knowledge and relationships while you're in school

A family friend was recently admitted to a magnet school - it's not like an Ivy League level institution, but it's fairly prestigious in the area, and not easy to get to. I need to make sure to remind him that while it's good that he's feeling academically challenged, he should also focus on building friendships with people who are statistically likely (much as he is, tbh) to be successful in life - they can help pull him up when he's down, and he can do the same for them.

I didn't get that much out of college, academically - but the relationships I built there got me my first two jobs, and I still treasure the friends I made there.

Aristotle said friendships were the best example of happiness in life - not fame or success which rarely lead to happiness or even social benefit. Friendship is the best example because that's the only way to not only exercise your curiosity and virtues, but do so in knowing concert with people who understand and appreciate what you're doing, who are entirely different beings. I would hope that even high-achieving friendships can be built not on mutual utility but on common interest and expression.

Also "the standard way to get rich"... It's much easier to get rich by getting hired at a FAANG than starting your own company.

You only get rich by starting your own company if you win the startup lottery. Otherwise you're better off getting a high paid job.

That depends entirely on your definition of rich.

PG's definition of rich is probably 100x what yours is.

My point is that the probability of getting that rich is really low. You need to combine hard work with incredible luck. A very few percentage will get 100x richer than a FAANG engineer.

A typical founder, 10 years in, is less rich than he could have been if he had taken a high paid tech job.

But anyway, PG is saying the same thing he's been saying for years. He wants people to launch startups, and he wants them to shoot for the moon with VC money. He has no interest in bootstrapped companies. Because he's a VC, so he's talking in his own interest first and foremost.

I agree with you, but PG’s definition of rich in the article is people worth $10 billion dollars plus.

I don’t think he’s being malicious. I think he genuinely just doesnt see a $5-10m NW as rich.

There are very different definitions of "rich."

Take the old comparison between Gates and Jordan. "If Jordan saves 100% of his income for the next 450 years, he'll still have less than Bill Gates has today."

You can become wealthy and comfortable working for a salary. But, the canonical way to get "FU money" is to win the lottery.

It's all about managing yourself and expectations.

Can a janitor save enough money to rival Gates? No. Not even close.

But the same janitor could save enough money to have "FU money" later in life, and only continue working as a janitor if he chose to do so.

> But the same janitor could save enough money to have "FU money" later in life, and only continue working as a janitor if he chose to do so.

That is exceedingly doubtful

I agree, and the reason is housing. If housing in this country wasn't fucked up I think it would be possible. As of now, to do this as a janitor you would need to live with roommates or family. You would also need to avoid smoking, alcohol, gambling, and any other money sinks. Then you would need to invest all your savings for years.

Housing cost is the single defining factor in retirability now and if you're a janitor, you seriously need to consider where you are living, because moving from a VHCOL state to a lower one could be all you need.

Sure the pay is lower, but the housing costs are substantially lower.

I would love to do the math on this.

The average Janitor I salary in the United States is $34,623 as of February 26, 2024.

Average home price in the United States: $417,700.

Monthly payment for 30-year mortgage is $2,950.

Monthly gross pay is $34,623 / 12 = $2885.25...

Hm...it's literally not doable.

> I think it's also a good idea to keep in mind the general HN guideline of "Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says."

"strongest" is highly subjective. I also don't think we should make things up and pretend the other person said them, which is much more commonly used to strawman, but steelmanning involves the same process.

you can steelman and still be explicit that you're steelmanning and how you're interpreting what you think they meant