Comment by dariusmonsef | Hacker News Reader

Comment by dariusmonsef | Hacker News Reader

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"What kind of argument is that?"

Not a very strong one. I wasn't trying to argue, but rather suggest a new perspective. That out of the very few who strike it rich founding startups, there are many more who have earned a good salary and saved away a good amount of money while working their way up the corporate ladder.

"Rich" is a moving target for most people. As I noted, mine is different than most in the startup / bay area. I've been enough 3rd world countries to know what I need for comfort and happiness in my own life.

To have a few hundred $k in your bank account liquid is meaningful wealth. If you think in only sports cars and large houses, then yes... that goes quickly. If you think about it as the ability to travel, have leisure time, afford quality foods, etc. Then it is a quality of life that most in the world can't enjoy.

I agree with your last point to never do any kind of work just to get rich. Work on what you love, as a founder or employee.

FWIW, I'm pretty sure it's a bad argument.

Most rich folks are self-made, full stop. Here's some data: http://www.benefitspro.com/2012/07/20/fidelity-finds-86-perc...

However, I think you're dead on with most of your points. Being self-employed is in the "necessary but nowhere near sufficient" category on the road to wealth. The vast majority of self-employed folks never get rich. The vast majority of them work harder and earn less than their employed counterparts (there's good data on this, but I'm too lazy to Google it).

Short answer: work hard. Be self-employed because it makes you happy and more satisfied, not because you want to get rich.

Two issues.

1. The definition of "rich". I've responded here that I mean a level of comfort that is better than 99% of the rest of the world. Not necessarily millions of dollars.

2. Yes, a large percentage of millionaires are self-made... But were they self-made thousand-aires? Or did they earn the seed capital they started their businesses with? There are no doubt, those that had not a penny to their name but went and started collecting cans for the refund and used that to invest into a food cart or something... But I think most of those self-made people were able to create their businesses because they had a certain level of comfort that could be defined as rich to most in the world. (ie, if you even have access to get a loan for $100k to start a business, you're rich compared to a huge part of the world population.)

We can say that most rich people (as most Americans think of it) were self made or born into it. I think you're right that people should have better perspective on wealth. You should be able to find happiness with more wealth than 99% of the planet. On the other hand, a person earning $50k in New York City is making more money than 99% of the world. But I don't think either of us would call him rich. Context matters. A LOT. Source: http://www.globalrichlist.com/

Re: #2... I bet you're right. I bet many (most?) of them had pretty well-to-do parents, a free college education, easy access to credit, friends-and-family investors at their fingertips, etc. It's not a fair game by any stretch, but I think that's a different discussion.

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