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How hard was making Your first $100K and how did you do it?

West Texas CEO

GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief and Nosiest Dildo Archeologist
I'm hoping to pass $100,000 net worth by the end of 2025.

I've often heard people say that the first 100k is the hardest and it only gets easier from there... Basically it's where the magic of compounding begins, etc.

I was wondering if anyone had any statistical support for this or if it's more of a cerebral victory.

My first job was at age 16, back then the first $500 saved was the hardest. Following that, it became $1K, then 10K.

Thanks in advance!
 

West Texas CEO

GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief and Nosiest Dildo Archeologist
Someone stole my lunch, i'm hungry.
yeah, I'm, uh... Sorry about that.

break-pizza.gif
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
Barring a dramatic escalation in income, I don't really think the first 100K is much different than the first million, it's just dogged persistence and time. Max the 401K and a side IRA if you can (say 2K/mo total put away) and that usually gets you to a mill in 20 years.

The real challenge is to avoid a massive LOSS, usually called divorce or prolonged unemployment. But avoiding expensive cars & lavish vacations, small savings with groceries/household expenses, and just getting lucky with real estate certainly helps. Otherwise, unless you have a large lump sum to seed your investment, it's consistent input AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE that really gets you the big growth.
 

West Texas CEO

GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief and Nosiest Dildo Archeologist
Max the 401K and a side IRA if you can (say 2K/mo total put away) and that usually gets you to a mill in 20 years.
I remember my first paycheck at my first real job after college. I had signed up for 401k withholding. Looking at pay stub thinking “Ah man. This $27 401k contribution will never add up”.

Was able to consistently save and increase those regular contribution amounts and it has helped greatly. I’m not rich, but not doing too badly either.
 

Pagusas

Elden Member
first 100k took 6 years to get to. Getting to the first million has taken longer and has been harder honestly (life, marriage, death, all things take a tolll and fiscal hits). But we're already in our dream home we build from the ground up in Dallas, our property equiety and retirements are doing great. I think I projected mid next month we'll cross the 1 million networth point, so 16 years to go from $1500 in my savings right out of college to 1 million in net worth while living a good life, with 2 full big vacations a year, new car every 7 years and new phone ever 2 years (meaning I don't sit back and penny pinch, but I also don't go crazy and blow every dollar).
 
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jason10mm

Gold Member
I remember my first paycheck at my first real job after college. I had signed up for 401k withholding. Looking at pay stub thinking “Ah man. This $27 401k contribution will never add up”.

Was able to consistently save and increase those regular contribution amounts and it has helped greatly. I’m not rich, but not doing too badly either.
Yeah, the mental game for a 20 year old is to think of $20 saved NOW as being "x2 =40 x2 = 80 x2 =160 x2= $360!!!!" when they hit 60 with even a modest rate of growth. Then you can defer that case of beer and save the $20 much more easily I think. For me I can only hope to double anything saved now before I'd want to start drawing on it in retirement. I'd LOVE to go back in time and smack my younger self for a lot of dumb shit bought as a 20 something that coulda been invested instead.

But of course I might have been hit by a bus or shot by a jealous husband back then as well, so you do gotta live a little :p
 

Alebrije

Member
first 100k took 6 years to get to. Getting to the first million has taken longer and has been harder honestly (life, marriage, death, all things take a tolll and fiscal hits). But we're already in our dream home we build from the ground up in Dallas, our property equiety and retirements are doing great. I think I projected mid next month we'll cross the 1 million networth point, so 16 years to go from $1500 in my savings right out of college to 1 million in net worth while living a good life, with 2 full big vacations a year, new car every 7 years and new phone ever 2 year life (meaning I don't sit back and penny pinch, but I also don't go crazy and blow every dollar).
No kids?
 

Pagusas

Elden Member
No kids, lots of animals though! We found out we couldn't have kids after trying for a few years, and havnt decided if we'll try adoption yet.

Honestly the net worth growth has been primarily just from great salary growth, prioritizing investments and savings (always pay yourself first), and knowing how to play the credit game responsibility to make it work for us. Plus being smart about the houses we buy and having my own side business that I use to pay for vacations and hobbies. I strongly believe in the Jay Leno way of handling money, always have 2 sources of income.
 
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jason10mm

Gold Member
first 100k took 6 years to get to. Getting to the first million has taken longer and has been harder honestly (life, marriage, death, all things take a tolll and fiscal hits). But we're already in our dream home we build from the ground up in Dallas, our property equiety and retirements are doing great. I think I projected mid next month we'll cross the 1 million networth point, so 16 years to go from $1500 in my savings right out of college to 1 million in net worth while living a good life, with 2 full big vacations a year, new car every 7 years and new phone ever 2 years (meaning I don't sit back and penny pinch, but I also don't go crazy and blow every dollar).
See, then the trap is "I have a million now, but if I let it grow another 7 years it will be TWO million!" and you just keep working working working and never actually stop. I'm at the point where I really need to pick a number, calculate what I need to get that number, and then commit to punching out when I get there.

It's also possible that I've been on r/FIRE too much lately :p
 

Billbofet

Member
Don't ever carry a balance on a credit card. Outside of an emergency - of which you should have an emergency fund - carrying a balance on a credit card means you can't afford whatever you bought.
I would even say if you need to finance a car, you can't afford it, but I know that is extreme and difficult for a lot of people.
Once you build up debt, it is hard to overcome and pay off and this all sets you back long-term.
When you get into a pattern of saving and setting up passive channels for income through investments, dividends, etc. it gets much easier.
 

Pagusas

Elden Member
See, then the trap is "I have a million now, but if I let it grow another 7 years it will be TWO million!" and you just keep working working working and never actually stop. I'm at the point where I really need to pick a number, calculate what I need to get that number, and then commit to punching out when I get there.

It's also possible that I've been on r/FIRE too much lately :p

I have a number in mind I'm trying to get us too so we can just live off the interest. Once we hit that number, we'll both be retiring (hopefully in our early 50's) but I'll keep my side businesses that I enjoy and try to live off that income while the investment income continues to increase on its own till needed.
 

Hugare

Member
I got to $100k in 3 years by having a pretty decent job + living with my parents and not being crazy with my money.

Now I live with my girlfriend and shit hit the fan. Her job isnt great, so I do the heavy lifting with the bills. And man, so many monthly expenses. In a good month we are able to save $2k, but doesnt happen often.

So I think I'll have a hard time reaching $200k anytime soon
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
Don't ever carry a balance on a credit card. Outside of an emergency - of which you should have an emergency fund - carrying a balance on a credit card means you can't afford whatever you bought.
I would even say if you need to finance a car, you can't afford it, but I know that is extreme and difficult for a lot of people.
Once you build up debt, it is hard to overcome and pay off and this all sets you back long-term.
When you get into a pattern of saving and setting up passive channels for income through investments, dividends, etc. it gets much easier.
I don't think this is necessarily true. The game isn't to have NO debt, but to MANAGE debt appropriately.

If you can buy stuff with 0% financing, then you are MUCH better off doing that than paying up front with YOUR CASH, because that money could be in an account earning you interest while the loan isn't. Obviously you can over leverage yourself and have 20% credit cards or whatever, but just the concept of debt isn't inherently evil. Plus something could happen to the vehicle and it might be better that a bank owns it (the burned out wreck of it, anyway) than you.

A $40K new car at 1% interest for example, may be a WISE choice than a 10 year old paid off car that has maintenance costs and could break down, impacting your work. Financing $40K at 1% over 4 years is better than taking $40K out of a 5% HYSA. Now a $90K car with high operating costs is likely a financial death trap as well unless you have $90k in your petty cash slush fund.

Same applies to a house. Paying off a 3% mortgage early is financially less prudent than putting those extra payments in an investment account. Does feel good to get out of a mortgage/debt though, can't deny that.
 

Pagusas

Elden Member
Don't ever carry a balance on a credit card. Outside of an emergency - of which you should have an emergency fund - carrying a balance on a credit card means you can't afford whatever you bought.
I would even say if you need to finance a car, you can't afford it, but I know that is extreme and difficult for a lot of people.
Once you build up debt, it is hard to overcome and pay off and this all sets you back long-term.
When you get into a pattern of saving and setting up passive channels for income through investments, dividends, etc. it gets much easier.

I semi agree, semi dont. Debt has its place, and utilizing the tools around you once you have a good savings is important. Like last year alone I made 15k in credit card rewards.

My rules are:

1. Pay yourself first. Savings goals always take priority until you hit an emergency liquid asset goal. For us, its 50k needs to be available at any time in a interest barring savings account.
2. Never pay any interest on credit cards ever. Pay your statement balance in full every month, if you cant, ALL SPENDING STOPS IMMEDIATELY and you take care of that issues asap. Mac and cheese for you next month!
3. No standing debts other than your mortgage that can't be paid off immediately if need be. AKA at no point should I have debts that would destroy my savings if I needed to pay it all off immediately.
4. Credit is king, never miss a payment, never short a contractor, never do anything that will damage your credit rating. My wife and I always sit over 800 and I'll do everything I can to make sure we always do.
5. Take care of your family. AKA, make your wills, get a term life insurance policy (I have one, because my wife makes less than I do and I want to make sure she wouldn't suffer if something happen to me) and make sure your family understands how to invest and handle money.
6. Honestly this should be #1 - TRACK EVERYTHING. I use Quicken, I have sense I was 18. I can tell you where every dime I've ever spent has gone. Knowing what you have, whats coming and a plan of action will allow you to hit WAY above your fiscal weight.
 
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StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
I'm trying to think when abouts I hit $100,000 of equity.

I know the first 3 years roughly working FT out of school I was breaking even monthly and didn't have a lot of money in investments. But in my first 10 years (those 3 starting years + 7 more), I changed jobs and got promoted a few times and I banked money as my spending habits were basically the same on a daily basis. I moved twice too where I banked some modest real estate gains (this was before real estate ramped up like crazy in the 2010s) where each time I banked maybe $25k on avg and the price of the new place to live wasnt really any more than I sold. So I tried not to increase my mortgage as I moved. During that time I invested more, had enough cash to buy an investment property (which failed as 2008 global crisis wiped it out so I got my money back), and bought stocks. By that time the companies I worked at also contributed to retirement funds.

So I'm going to ballpark maybe 6-7 years. Ballparking it, half was real estate gains, the other half getting promoted and banking the salary increases. My starting car was my bro's used Chevy which was a piece of shit. Then I bought a Civic and milked that car for a while.

As Billbofet said above, debt is terrible. Granted, I've got a mortgage and at the beginning I financed my Civic, but aside from that I never get into CC debt. Any place or car I own, I ensure I pay it off comfortably. Hindsight is 20/20 because technically anyone my age coulda maxed out their real estate debt as much as possible and fast forward to 2024 you'd have a nice house worth $3M you bought for cheap. But I did it more slowly going from condo to condo and then a house which I could bought for half price if I tried maxing out my mortgage earlier in my career. Some friends I know did that living like paupers buying a house 15 years ago for $800,000. But now it's worth like $2.5M. Lucky bums! Well, risk and reward. It could had happened the other way and it dropped to $500,000 and they'd be screwed the whole time.

As a general rule of thumb for me, I never move to a place where my mortgage will be over $350,000 in modern day. I'd be lower earlier in my career. But I know at that kind of mortgage based on what I make I can pay it off easy even if rates go up like now. The only time mortgages were tight pay stub to pay stub was at the beginning when I wasnt making a lot at my first condo.

For all of the investment condos I dabble with, I always make sure to be able to cover the down payments, and the rent charged is at minimum covers the expected monthly costs (mortgage, maintenance fees, utilities etc...). The worst thing for a landlord is to be in negative monthly cash flow. Dont forget about property taxes. And negative cash flow can be greatly increased if you get deadbeats who dont pay which I had one time and lost around $4000 in rent + another $1500 in lawyer fees. She literally did the sterotypical thing and moved out middle of the night and left half her junk my buddy and I cleared out all afternoon. Amazingly, at least she left the keys with front desk security. Wow thanks.

Tip fo all landlords or landlord wannabes: Never be the nice guy saying "Ya, just pay me next month". Trust me, it'll drag on to every month and then two months and then see ya! Hold firm to the first and last months rent kind of thing.
 
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HoodWinked

Member
Seems like we are stuck in the same algorithm group.

Id like to test this. I've never seen this guy's channel or video nor even knew about this first $100k concept. But watched it for the first time a couple hours ago and now see a post on the same thing about it. You didn't happen to see the same video?

 
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I bought my home in August ‘21 at 40 years old. Between that and my retirement and savings, my net worth was around $300k. I ended up losing my job that I was making $60k a year and struggled for some time to find work. I ended up having to settle for much less money in a new job and tapped through a lot of my retirement and savings money to make ends meet. One thing I made sure not to do, was dig a financial hole by taking loans or using all credit while I was struggling. Yes, it was tough and got tight, but I made it and it builds resilience. I’m back up to about $200k net worth and managed to keep my house and was on time with all my payments (somehow). It was an incredibly eye opening and difficult time for me, but I am glad it happened, because now I know I am not invincible or above losing everything at any given moment.
 
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Barring a dramatic escalation in income, I don't really think the first 100K is much different than the first million, it's just dogged persistence and time. Max the 401K and a side IRA if you can (say 2K/mo total put away) and that usually gets you to a mill in 20 years.

The real challenge is to avoid a massive LOSS, usually called divorce or prolonged unemployment. But avoiding expensive cars & lavish vacations, small savings with groceries/household expenses, and just getting lucky with real estate certainly helps. Otherwise, unless you have a large lump sum to seed your investment, it's consistent input AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE that really gets you the big growth.
Yep, the surprise prolonged unemployment is what did me in.
 

Reckheim

Member
you still need to do something with that 100k net worth. If you don't leverage it then you might as well be at the start.

I probably got 100k when I was 23 (got lucky and bought a condo before the boom).
 

Billbofet

Member
I don't think this is necessarily true. The game isn't to have NO debt, but to MANAGE debt appropriately.

If you can buy stuff with 0% financing, then you are MUCH better off doing that than paying up front with YOUR CASH, because that money could be in an account earning you interest while the loan isn't. Obviously you can over leverage yourself and have 20% credit cards or whatever, but just the concept of debt isn't inherently evil. Plus something could happen to the vehicle and it might be better that a bank owns it (the burned out wreck of it, anyway) than you.

A $40K new car at 1% interest for example, may be a WISE choice than a 10 year old paid off car that has maintenance costs and could break down, impacting your work. Financing $40K at 1% over 4 years is better than taking $40K out of a 5% HYSA. Now a $90K car with high operating costs is likely a financial death trap as well unless you have $90k in your petty cash slush fund.

Same applies to a house. Paying off a 3% mortgage early is financially less prudent than putting those extra payments in an investment account. Does feel good to get out of a mortgage/debt though, can't deny that.
Totally agree. I was speaking in more general terms. Managing debt can be super advantageous for sure.
I think a 3% mortgage and 0% car loan are rarities nowadays, but I haven't bought a house or financed a car in many years.
 

West Texas CEO

GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief and Nosiest Dildo Archeologist
Seems like we are stuck in the same algorithm group.

Id like to test this. I've never seen this guy's channel or video nor even knew about this first $100k concept. But watched it for the first time a couple hours ago and now see a post on the same thing about it. You didn't happen to see the same video?


I didn't see the video, but I did read an article on Charlie Munger, which prompted this thread.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Totally agree. I was speaking in more general terms. Managing debt can be super advantageous for sure.
I think a 3% mortgage and 0% car loan are rarities nowadays, but I haven't bought a house or financed a car in many years.
Mortgages are about 6% now in Canada and US (give or take pending which bank and option). Since the 2008 crisis, mortgages should had been around 2-3% for most people. Mine was under 2% for a while bottoming at 1.2% right during covid.

The key to big shit like mortgages is also to track it as you can renew early lock in good rates. I know lots of people who saw inflation perking up and locked in a 2% rate in 2021 which they can now coast for 5 years. One guy locked in a 10 year mortgage at I think 2.3% or whatever. I didn't know you could even get a term that long as most banks promote 1-5 year mortgages. But hey, all you got to do is ask.

Car loans on TV seem cheap again. A lot of places have 1.9% I see. Then again, maybe they are just hooking people in with jacked up prices and fine line terms where they get you a different way.
 
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jason10mm

Gold Member
Planb predicts 500k btc this cycle, 5m btc next cycle(2028-2029). If true 1/5th of a bitcoin, that is around 12,500 will turn into 1 million in a few years.
I just can't do crypto. Like most of us, I'm sure I heard about bitcoin back when it was 1 dime for a BTC or whatever (whenever Rogan first talked about it, I think) and if I had just dropped $50 on it then I woulda been a crypto-millionaire now. But would I have sold it at $5/BTC? Or lost the thumbdrive? Forgot the password? Lost it in an exchange robbery?

TBH I think I'm happier knowing I NEVER bought crypto than I "coulda" had 50 million but lost/mistimed it somehow.

Or I could be on a yacht right now, being fed grapes by e-thots and debating if I wanna do another year of Gafgold or just buy it outright :p
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Planb predicts 500k btc this cycle, 5m btc next cycle(2028-2029). If true 1/5th of a bitcoin, that is around 12,500 will turn into 1 million in a few years.
I remember hearing Bitcoin $1M years ago. Hasnt come close. Watch out for sketchy investments and rumours.

When weed stocks were the rage back in 2018, I remember articles coming out saying in the next 10 years it'll be a $250 billion industry where every big and small producer should be raking it in. Not even close. Most of the weed companies already shuttered their doors, merged due to staying alive, losing tons of money an are literally penny stocks.

Just be careful.
 
Totally agree. I was speaking in more general terms. Managing debt can be super advantageous for sure.
I think a 3% mortgage and 0% car loan are rarities nowadays, but I haven't bought a house or financed a car in many years.
I got lucky in ‘21 and am rocking 2.75% on my mortgage rate. My car I just paid off though, was 10%. But that was really my first loan I ever took.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
I just can't do crypto. Like most of us, I'm sure I heard about bitcoin back when it was 1 dime for a BTC or whatever (whenever Rogan first talked about it, I think) and if I had just dropped $50 on it then I woulda been a crypto-millionaire now. But would I have sold it at $5/BTC? Or lost the thumbdrive? Forgot the password? Lost it in an exchange robbery?

TBH I think I'm happier knowing I NEVER bought crypto than I "coulda" had 50 million but lost/mistimed it somehow.

Or I could be on a yacht right now, being fed grapes by e-thots and debating if I wanna do another year of Gafgold or just buy it outright :p
Supposedly the first BTC purchase ever was a pizza where the shop charged 10,000 BTCs. lol
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
I got lucky in ‘21 and am rocking 2.75% on my mortgage rate. My car I just paid off though, was 10%. But that was really my first loan I ever took.
Yeah, my wife pressured me into buying a house in early '21 and we scored a ridoculously low rate. So low that she now wants to move and I'm all HELL NO because the rate hike alone would make any equivalent or more expensive house catastrophically expensive.
 
Yeah, my wife pressured me into buying a house in early '21 and we scored a ridoculously low rate. So low that she now wants to move and I'm all HELL NO because the rate hike alone would make any equivalent or more expensive house catastrophically expensive.
That’s what I was just going through in my head. I considered selling because my house has increased in value by 25% since ‘21, but then I remembered my rate…I quickly talked myself out of it lol
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
That’s what I was just going through in my head. I considered selling because my house has increased in value by 25% since ‘21, but then I remembered my rate…I quickly talked myself out of it lol
Yeah, it's not quite being "house poor" (just the opposite, I guess) but kinda feels the same. Probably why there is so much house reno going on, cheaper to redo the house than move to one that has what you want already.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Yeah, my wife pressured me into buying a house in early '21 and we scored a ridoculously low rate. So low that she now wants to move and I'm all HELL NO because the rate hike alone would make any equivalent or more expensive house catastrophically expensive.
Ya. Avoid that shit as you'll get hit with a new mortgage at current terms.

Best time to move for anyone with the guts and time to was during the heart of covid. Rates were rock bottom and despite home sales dropping as people didn't want to do that during germ warfare, there were deals scored. I know many coworkers who packed up and moved far from the office by dumping their home in the meteo area and either trading up to a bigger house at the same price, or similar kind of house and bank like $300,000. My work is pretty good with WFH so as long as they only have to come in 1-2 a week they are good with that.

The sticking point is if my work asks them to come in 3-5 times a week pronto, they are fucked as I know they said forget it. They'd rather get another job than commute that much (1.5 to 2 hours away).
 
Yeah, it's not quite being "house poor" (just the opposite, I guess) but kinda feels the same. Probably why there is so much house reno going on, cheaper to redo the house than move to one that has what you want already.
That’s exactly it too…legit cheaper just to completely renovate with the mortgage rates and home prices now.
 

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
I was making $200k a year at 27 after starting at $50k at 20 (but jumped to $75k within a year.)

As far as $100k net worth, pretty fast but not as fast as I could have if I was never single or a party fiend.

It took an insane amount of hard work TBH. And being a bit of a genius with a big ol’ dick.
 

HeisenbergFX4

Gold Member
My first job at the age of 15 was digging 4' x 4' x 4' holes with a shovel for satellite dish installs of the giant spun aluminum dishes in 1982 for $2.00 an hour :)

My first $100k net worth came early in my life simply because I could throw a Baseball really hard and was drafted in 1987 and cracked that $100k soon afterwards

First 1 million net came at my first big contract extension in the middle 90s

Thing is keep your eyes on the prize and never stop griding.

This last tax evaluation I am at 72 million net and it has been increasing around 10% yearly
 
I just can't do crypto. Like most of us, I'm sure I heard about bitcoin back when it was 1 dime for a BTC or whatever (whenever Rogan first talked about it, I think) and if I had just dropped $50 on it then I woulda been a crypto-millionaire now. But would I have sold it at $5/BTC? Or lost the thumbdrive? Forgot the password? Lost it in an exchange robbery?

TBH I think I'm happier knowing I NEVER bought crypto than I "coulda" had 50 million but lost/mistimed it somehow.

Or I could be on a yacht right now, being fed grapes by e-thots and debating if I wanna do another year of Gafgold or just buy it outright :p
Now we have bitcoin etfs, stocks that can be bought in 401k and roth iras as well as normal investment accounts.

Calculations show 1% bitcoin 99% cash position beats 100% sp500 iirc.

edit

One Bitcoin May Be Worth $1 Billion by 2038, Fidelity Says​


I remember hearing Bitcoin $1M years ago. Hasnt come close. Watch out for sketchy investments and rumours.

When weed stocks were the rage back in 2018, I remember articles coming out saying in the next 10 years it'll be a $250 billion industry where every big and small producer should be raking it in. Not even close. Most of the weed companies already shuttered their doors, merged due to staying alive, losing tons of money an are literally penny stocks.

Just be careful.
Crazy people
PlanB predicted 100k last cycle, it reached 69k. Of course there was covid and vast fear in market which probably handicapped potential.

Right now we have 11 bitcoin etfs buying, soon there will be many etfs in hong kong too, with over 1 Billion chinese buyers. Trillion dollar funds are looking to put part of their assets in bitcoin. The halving is in 7 days. Every cycle it's basically done 400% price at halving. That'd take it to 280,000.
 
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Not too hard--just took time. Paid off all my debts early except the house, and have been putting what was going towards debt towards savings/investments ever since. Avoid lifestyle creep that way.

Kind of stupid how so much of my net worth was just good timing on buying a house and holding it since ~2015. I worked so much less for THAT hypothetical money compared to my salary. It's kind of disillusioning.
 

Venom Snake

Member
If money makes money, then more money makes more money, simple as that. But i never allow myself to think that each milestone will be easier than the last.
If your achievements require less and less effort, your mind can lead you into a trap.

My parents never gave me money on my request. I had to work for it, sometimes digging trenches for cables on the construction sites of single-family houses for several days in a row. As a kid from primary school. It taught me the value of money tho.

Even though i've come a long way from collecting bottle caps to collecting ancient Japanese swords, i still have a strong work ethic, avoiding unnecessary shortcuts. It helps me not only continue to stay afloat, but also to have joy of my financial achievements instead of the morbid drive for more and more.

Expand on what makes you happy in life, never devalue it.
 
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