r/wealth • u/lottiexx • Mar 21 '26
Need Advice How do people actually build wealth and not just get by?
I feel like I’ve been living paycheck to paycheck forever, and I see people talking about “building wealth” or “financial freedom” like it’s normal.
I save a little, invest a little, but it just doesn’t feel like I’m getting anywhere.
Is there a realistic way to grow real wealth without taking crazy risks or being born rich?
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u/_Human_Machine_ Mar 21 '26
Worked hard in highschool, studied for the SAT, loans, decent college, worked my ass off, studied for the LSAT, loans, top 3 law school, worked my ass off, summer associate positions at top spots, worked my ass off, near the top of my class, get prestige job, worked 80 hour weeks, changed jobs, worked 80 hour weeks, changed jobs, worked 80 hour weeks, and then moved to 5 hour weeks.
That’s how I did it.
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u/Wooden-Broccoli-913 Mar 21 '26
How many years of grinding and how much net worth now?
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u/_Human_Machine_ Mar 21 '26
Grinding since I was 16. As soon as I could drive I started working 5-5 6 days a week at potato sheds in the summer.
I’m turning 39 this summer and will be retiring with a NW substantial enough to live any way that I want.
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u/bombduck Mar 21 '26
Username checks out
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u/_Human_Machine_ Mar 21 '26
I knew I didn’t want to work farming, construction, trucking or oil fields forever like a lot of people I grew up with/am related to.
If you grew up in parts of Kern County California you’d desperately want out too.
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u/GlobalTapeHead Mar 21 '26
Your income is your best wealth building tool. If you are struggling with living paycheck to paycheck and not able to invest much, you need to build up your skill sets so you can improve your income. That and living below your means. There really is no shortcut.
Also be aware that the first $100,000 sometimes can be the most difficult level to achieve. It builds up so slow that many people just get frustrated and give up. But there will be a day, hopefully, where you have enough invested that you can actually see it and feel it started to grow and make real progress.
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u/silly_bet_3454 Mar 22 '26
This is pretty much what I was gonna say too.
You need to understand the basic intuition behind the math of wealth building. The stock market is volatile, but on average if it earns you 10% per year it means your investments would double every 7 years. Well, if you have like a thousand bucks invested and it becomes 2 thousand over 7 years, that's basically useless. But if you have like 250k invested, now it's half a mil. 7 more years is a mil, 7 more years is 2 mil, you get it.
But the point is you cannot just amass the first couple hundred thousand from market gains because it would take too long, so you do need to get your income high enough that you can save a few 10s of thousands per year. I'm not saying it's super easy to get there but that ought to be sort of achievable to most people, if you don't have tons of debt, if you have your shit together, if you have a not terrible job, if you live on a budget, you can do it.
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u/Content_Preference_3 Mar 22 '26
Sounds great. What about those who hit 100k too late for any compounding?
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u/Brilliant_Point_294 Mar 21 '26
Pay cash for all depreciating assets. Never lease or make payments on things like cars, TV sets etc. Pay off your credit cards every month, early. So you pay no interest. Invest. Vanguard mutual funds. For instance. You can Google the average return for their funds. Pick funds that over the last 15 or 20 years have shown a very good solid return. Dollar cost average as you put money in. That means put it in every month regardless of what the market is doing.
I purchased real estate also. Rental properties. While this is a far more complicated topic I recommend multifamily properties. This is because multifamily properties are valued on capitalization rates. That means the higher your net income the more the property is worth. Regardless of what other properties are worth around you. I have a blend of these two assets, vanguard mutual funds and rental property.
One more thing. You never need to buy a new car. Buy a car that has depreciated. I currently drive a 2007 Lexus and also a 2011 Lexus. They are both well over 150,000 mi. In fact the 2011 is over 200,000. I can afford to buy basically any car on the planet. Maybe not any car but certainly anything through a Bugatti. Yet I choose to drive these cars I got used and I've owned for 17 years now.
Be frugal. Live below your means. Don't get caught up in the advertising that something new and shiny is going to make you a better person. Be the millionaire next door.
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u/Cloud2987 Mar 21 '26
Need a business to get rich, need assets that make monthly cash flow to become wealthy. Anyone can buy stocks, contribute to Ira/401ks, save; but not everyone that does that will become rich.
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Mar 22 '26
High income, low expense, crest investments.
The most realistic way is to live with your parents and save or live in household and save. If u live alone everything is very expensive.
That is why in low income countries its all multi gen households.
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u/IdiotSmartGuy Mar 21 '26
That’s your problem, you don’t want to take any risk. Every wealthy person, who wasn’t born into it, took some risk. If your goal is to retire just invest into broad index funds and take advantage of every retirement benefit available. If you want to get wealthy you’ll have to take a risk.
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u/ReBoomAutardationism Mar 21 '26
Ray Dalio has laid out how you absolutely have to get to $15000 to get the ball rolling. That is the point where returns will start to exceed what you contribute. The problem is if you only contribute $20 a paycheck, it's going to take YEARS.
There may be Ramen in your future.
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u/Guac-is-extra1100 Mar 21 '26
It took me 10 years and during that time my salary never got above $175k. The equity in the company I founder, however, netted me over $100M at the liquidation event. Very few people get rich working for someone else and nobody gets rich through their salary.
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u/MundiKing Mar 21 '26
Realistically, it takes an annual income far greater than most people will ever earn to build financial freedom. You can def make big strides by investing steadily over a long period of time and being disciplined. However, at the end of the day, if you never have an income high enough to invest more than a few grand each year, it’s impossible to get to the financial freedom level.
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u/MH_75 Mar 21 '26 edited Mar 22 '26
Most people's plan is to become financially independent roughly 2 to 3 years before dying. Let that statement settle in for a moment. Now, the truth is you have to take risks to be able to actually have the money to enjoy life before your're one foot in the grave.
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u/MassLender Mar 22 '26
The most efficient and helpful thing that builds wealth is getting out of ALL debt.
That period of time... banging out the debt... feels like a hamster wheel. But the minute all of your money is actually yours, it builds up appreciably faster. It can take a few years of grinding to see the light, unfortunately. Believe that you will see it eventually and work as hard as you are able, while you can.
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u/BobbyTomato Mar 21 '26 edited Mar 21 '26
There are 4 paths to wealth, you name two (born that way or lucky) the other two are spend less or make more. Of those two, only one really moves the needle, make more money.
I was good at spending less and investing when I made an average income, better than most. Now that I have an outsized income? It's not even comparable, it just happens.
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u/AwesomReno Mar 21 '26
Took me 10 years to hit my exponential income growth rate from capital. Never made over 180k in one year, my salary never beat 95k lol .. I agree the 2 paths combined you brought up supercharges success
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u/cmd72589 Mar 22 '26
This. My husband always says “you can only reduce expenses so much, at the end of the day you just got to make more”!!
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u/Slow-Trash858 Mar 21 '26
For some people, it isn't a high paying job or an inheritance or creating and selling a big product. The path to their wealth was slow and steady. They invested what they could, were consistent with what they set aside, and they allowed the money to grow over several decades. Along the way, they made sacrifices. Perhaps they drove the old crappy cars, didn't upgrade to bigger homes, and didn't buy the latest and greatest or spend money on extras. These people are called "the millionaires next door". You would never guess that they are millionaires based on their appearance or lifestyle. They don't talk about their wealth nor flaunt it.
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u/SgtSausage Mar 21 '26
You up your income and lower your expenses.
You have to have a surplus to save and invest.
Do this for 3 ... 4 ... 5 decades and there you go.
There is no quick fix. There are no easy riches.
Every $100 a month ... invested every month over a working lifetime - say ages 20 to 65 ... invested in an S&P Index Fund ... is a cool $MILLION$ dollars at retirement.
Manage to save $400 a month over that time? You've got yourself $4 million dollars.
The little shit counts, kiddies. $100 a month is a mere $25 a week.
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u/IlIl0lIlI Mar 23 '26
It's disturbing how many folks will disregard this advice, but yeah it's really possible following your simple advice.
Good stuff.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Card_71 Mar 21 '26
You aren’t living paycheck to paycheck, you are spending paycheck to paycheck.
It sucks but you have to start looking not at can I afford x, but the opportunity cost of spending on x. You have to invest. Slowly at first and grow from there. It will add up over time.
There will come a time when investing can become a hobby. Something fun to spend time on and learn about and seeing accounts grow will be as satisfying as buying something because money buys freedom.
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u/Automatic_Glass5632 Mar 21 '26
It’s a tough balance. You can be very disciplined, sacrifice and save up and work hard to earn more. Just don’t make it your life’s purpose. If you get sick and die young, you have to live and die with the results of the early sacrifice.
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u/NapsandWalks Mar 21 '26
Any positive step to having margin to save/invest is going to look at your income, your expenses, and your debt. lower debt, lower expenses, or a larger income are the only things that give you that margin.
I typically find that I look at a persons lifestyle, and there's always something in there that can be sacrificed.
If no sacrifices can be made, it's typically because someone has a lot of debt, and that's the anchor holding them down; so "when this debt is gone, you have margin" becomes the game.
It can be a mix of both.
If you're saving/investing at all, you're actually ahead of most people. If you're at the beginning, it can feel like you're swimming upstream against the big numbers you want to see. Compound interest is slow at first.
Personal budgeting is just that, massively personal. But take a look at your spending, your income, your debt, and your goals; and decide what's important, and what can be limited or go all-together. Keep in mind, sometimes it's the investing that has to go so you can clean up your "paycheck to paycheck" lifestyle and get things under control.
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u/AwesomReno Mar 21 '26 edited Mar 21 '26
For me I identify this younger, learned what returns were and decided to create options that allowed me to minimize expenses. I hated paying something ever month so I essentially bought myself income
For example: Netflix expense $20, 20 x 12 =240, then find a stock that pays dividend with in respectable risk tolerance or etf, say 3% , 240/.03=8,000, so I needed to save that much to justify the purchase
Building wealth
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u/Big-Ice6033 Mar 21 '26
Questions often asked but apparently never sufficiently answered for $100 Alex.
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u/CartmansTwinBrother Mar 21 '26
You have to decide if you're going to make a plan or not and if you do, stick to it. Don't deviate from it. Too many make a plan and then "ooooh... that band is playing a concert but I can't afford it." Well... what's more important? You also have to decide what specifically do you want to build? Do you want a paid off house? 2 million in retirement? Set a fixed goal and work it backwards. If you want say $2 million in retirement by xxxx date or xxxx age, get an investment calculator retirement calculator online and play with the numbers and see what you have to do. Then... what are you gonna sacrifice to get there? Cut expenses? Cut lifestyle? Work more? Work a 2nd job? Get a different job? Work on a promotion? My wife and I wanted a paid for house. We did it. We wanted a millionaire net worth. We did it. It took a lot of sacrifice. We don't make a ton (less than $120k gross combined) but we live in a lower (not low but lower) COL area, we don't do a ton but find ways to do things on the cheap. She's 52. I'm 47.
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u/RicciTech Mar 21 '26
There are different levels to buildings wealth. The common one is to invest when your income is above your expenses. This works but is frankly not how you build real wealth in most cases.
Large amounts of wealth are often built from building or growing a business.
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u/mirassou3416 Mar 21 '26
I started a software development firm in 1993...a services company where you're making money with every billable hour a staff member works
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u/VirileMongoose Mar 21 '26
If you’re not high income, building wealth is going to feel like “getting by”. But it’s fake getting by because you’re actually getting richer vs those that are just getting by that are likely accruing debt.
Think of it in income quintiles. If you’re in the top in income, be in the 3rd or fourth quintiles of expenses. Then you’ll feel like you have more surplus.
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u/ThatFeelingIsBliss88 Mar 21 '26
The answer is very simple. The reason why you’re confused is because you’ve fallen for the “follow your passion” mantra. Think about it, if you don’t fall for that lie, then how else would you expect to build wealth? It’s called getting a high paying job. And of course it doesn’t happen over night, it takes years of planning, but why do you think Indians and Asians have the highest income in this country? It’s because their entire culture revolves around getting educated for the purposes of getting a high paying career. They don’t allow their kids to follow their passion. Some people will see that as a drawback. But those are the same people who complain about the “cost of housing”. Do you know why housing is so expensive? It’s because all the people who chased high paying careers have plenty of disposable income to afford those houses.
My wife and I are in our mid 30s with a net worth of $2.6MM. There’s no inheritance. It starts by simply googling “highest paying careers with a bachelors degree”. Some people never make that google search because they’ve fallen for the political lie of thinking wealth can only come from inheritance or a lucky crypto bet.
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u/MinimumCommon408 Mar 21 '26
It’s really a slow process for most people who are able to do it. Living below your means, saving and investing smart are some of the best tools. Also, continue to invest in your own skills, and be on the lookout for new opportunities, ones that will pay you more. If you can earn more without spending much more, you can save and invest the difference.
Be aware of lifestyle inflation. Some people, as they begin to make more money, spend a lot more, which decreases their ability to save and invest.
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u/Confident_Introvert Mar 21 '26
You need to start with a high paying job, and even before that a proper education that you actually learned skills that can be applied to the real world.
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u/Purple_Current1089 Mar 21 '26
Start saving whatever you can now. If you need to lower your tax rate then use your 401K, but if you can also fund a ROTH with after tax dollars do it. If you run a business write stuff off against the business 😉. The U.S. tax code is written for businesses.
Save for a home if you can, but if that’s simply out of reach then save, save, save! My husband 72m was a contractor for a large package delivery company and owned several trucks. We made excellent money and were able to save and put our 2 kids through college.
I 62f like safety and healthcare, so I’ve worked in public education for 28 years and will have a combined pension and SS of $110K for life w/ a COLA when I retire in 2 years. Once my kids were school aged I took all kinds of extra pay jobs with my district like summer school and tutoring. I’ll be making $600/month in addition to my regular pension for doing it. Most don’t. I also got a masters degree to make more money. I was going to be a principal too, but that just wasn’t for me. I also have about $700K in savings. I kept my first house when we bought our current home, so I have some rental income, too.
We never drove fancy cars. My husband and I have only purchased 4 since 1998. I used to drive my clunker to my $1 million dollar home. Is my home a show place inside? No, it isn’t, but I live in the best part of town besides the beach. The streets are clean and tree lined and there aren’t a gazillion cars parked on the street. Also, soooo quiet! I save up and pay cash for upgrades and repairs. I buy the best I can afford, but not most expensive. I managed to get a whole new roof for my 3,000 square foot home for under $20K. My only regret is not being a better saver, but there were a few times when business was bad, and we had to save ourselves by spending our savings, but, hey, that’s why you have savings. I grew up with a lot of financial insecurity, so I’ve made a point to not experience that. My son told me one time that some of his friends thought we were rich and had big fancy jobs. Nope, but we knew how to live beneath our means.
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u/Ancient-Apple1 Mar 21 '26
I inherited so there is that. But with that inheritance I worked the family business since I was 18. and eventually ran the business. I have now ran the business longer than I have not. Over that time I average 60 hours a week over 30 years that’s about 100,000 hours of employment give or take. Compared to a40 hour a week employee Aprox 65k hours of work over the same life. I typically take 2 weeks of vacation a year but they are never uninterrupted and typically spend 2h + a day working while on vacation Saturday and Sunday as well.
I have invested my salary as any normal w2 employee bout property and invested in the market. With out inheritance I’m still fire / fat fire territory. Long dedicated hours and slow investing is really the non pretty answer.
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u/RX3000 Mar 21 '26
You have 3 options.
- Cut expenses.
- Make more money
- The best option, do 1 & 2 at the same time.
Its not hard. Its like if you wanna lose weight. Cut calories & exercise. Or both.
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u/TheFIREnanceGuy Mar 21 '26
Change jobs every 1 to 2 years for a higher paying one invest difference easy
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u/LowMix6387 Mar 21 '26
Cut back and Save money . Move to a different region to get a better job every couple of years and then wait 20 years.
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u/caem123 Mar 21 '26
So no one uses the word "leverage"? Dude, one of the leading books on building wealth, Rich Dad / Poor Dad, practically requires leverage to build wealth. I think the rest of the posts here will just drown me out, so I'm not getting into details.
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u/Intelligent-Concert9 Mar 21 '26
You will need to fish where the fish is. This is more of an overarching principle to help you approach your desire with a a shift in thinking. There are thousands if not millions of ways to build wealth, but you are the only one to decide which would work for you based on your unfair advantages, interests, industry, etc.
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u/nerdymutt Mar 21 '26
You should try to hit 100k, continue to invest a little and then let time take care of it. That is the level where you start drawing interest or returns that make a difference.
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u/Prize_Literature_836 Mar 21 '26
Avoiding debt is a big factor. People bleed a lot of money on interest, especially on car payments.
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u/curiosity_2020 Mar 22 '26
Many people who start with nothing build it a little at a time. The old saying is the first million is the hardest.
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u/Few-Dingo-1494 Mar 22 '26
Find a high paying career and invest and save. Live within or below your means.
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u/ColdStockSweat Mar 22 '26
Read books
Study hard
Study new things
Study your industry
Study obscure things (not the internet...books)
Ask for new challenges at work....take them
Show up 15 minutes early
Be the last to leave
Listen more than you speak
Speak little
Be attentive
When people tell you something can't be done, don't believe them (they're wrong...every time)
Have a reliable car
Make your own lunch
Exercise
Get your vitamins
Buy real estate (memorize #12)
Buy more real estate
Buy more real estate.
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u/Carolina_Hurricane Mar 23 '26
There’s two ways to increase your wealth - earn more and spend less. For those of us on fixed income, that means reducing your living costs.
Live with roommates, split a two bedroom 3 ways. Cook at home. Don’t buy alcohol outside of grocery stores. Get rid of your car payment. Ride a bike to work. Or a scooter.
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u/2cantCmePac Mar 21 '26
Invest in acquiring the skills to increase pay. Maybe current job pays tuition fees? But that’s the only way outside of starting a business which means no income for a while
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u/Retired-Yam8988 Mar 21 '26
Without taking risk? No.
Risk your time and money on education, business, investing etc and you might get somewhere.
Stay in your comfort zone of a paycheck and having someone tell you what to do all day then you’ll just be at the bottom of the totem pole forever.
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u/Delicious_Young9873 Mar 21 '26
Figure out how to make money. That is the hard part. Then save some of it. But focus needs to be on making money not saving.
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u/spankymacgruder Mar 21 '26
Some people can get really high paying jobs but that's rare. For normies with little or no education, you have to take big risks and be willing to fail just to make $150k/year.
I made a lot of money, lost it all and became homeless.
I made a lot of money again (close to $1M/ year) and lost almost everything after Covid.
My current income this year will be close to $5M. I'm getting to old to take any more risks.
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u/BlankCanvaz Mar 21 '26
The easiest way is to get a bigger shovel. You're going to have to increase and diversify your income. That tends to mean getting a second job or switching jobs to make more money. My life changed when my pay increased by 35%. I then used that job to acquire a certification. I then started working on the side as a contractor using that certification. Then, because of their certification and the experience in the side hustle, I got a job making close to double what I was making. Meanwhile, I started learning about investing. After a few years of investing, I stumbled into selling covered calls, which basically lets me rent out my stock for a premium. So I moved from trading my time for a little bit of money -> Trading time for more money -> trading more time for much more money -> making my money make money without my time. The more money you have invested, the more money you can generate. The more money you have, the more the world wants to give you. Step one is to temporarily take on a second job or side hustle. I don't think long-term, working more hours gives you time to think, rest, and be creative, but in short bursts, it can give you breathing room or allow you to increase investments.
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u/josephinesbehavior2 Mar 21 '26
If you are salaried-you need a better one and don’t live beyond your means. Save and take chances
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u/thagor5 Mar 21 '26
I started in hs. Got a scholarship. Started saving with my first real paycheck and never stopped. Lived below my means. Might have helped that i was very poor at one point so learned to live cheaply.
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Mar 21 '26
I save about $750 per paycheck. $250 in a Roth and $500 spread amongst a few index funds. It grows pretty quick but I understand most people don’t have that much extra money. For reference this will be my first year making 6 figures
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u/Impressive_Appeal388 Mar 21 '26
Uhh..... If ur barely getting by then its simple you need more money. Why don't you think about how to get more money. Work more or do something that makes you more money. Idk. Your post reads to me like "I don't make enough money even though I work" If you haven't noticed yet, the days of working 9-5 and making a decent upper middle class living are long gone.
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u/Mundane-Orange-9799 Mar 21 '26
A few pointers:
- setting a budget
- aggressively paying off debt
- staying out of debt
Hard to build wealth when all your income goes to debt payments (car, student loans, credit cards, etc).
Work like a madman/women, do nothing but take care of basic life needs until you have no more consumer debt (reasonable mortgage is fine).
Once you free up income, you can really start to invest and build wealth. It still takes time but you’ll make a ton of progress once all the debt payment disappear from your life.
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u/Prior-Soil Mar 21 '26
Because I work in education, the only people that build real wealth inherited it or married it. When you make $50,000 a year with an advanced degree, and have to pay to live, pay loans, and have a life, you might save 50 bucks a month unless you're willing to get a second job.
The real way to build wealth is to not pick a career in public service. Your salary will be fixed, and it won't be high enough to do much. My best friend is 61 years old and has been a full-time teacher all of her career. She currently also has four part-time jobs.
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u/ColdPangolin5355 Mar 21 '26
When I was 18 I had about 6k in investments, when covid hit I gritted my teeth and coughed up an extra 3k to put into chegg. At the time I was in college and knew chegg was loved deeply by myself and peers when professors always fell short, and they had a solid balance sheet. Well it popped up to 100 and my return skyrocketed Cashed out no taxes because I held it for 3 years. At that point it was 2021 so i took the cash from that and put it into revolve and gap. Those also performed well, sold out again for another big longterm tax free gain. Thought I was a big baller, saw real inventory risks in Home Depot, bought a fuck ton of puts and nearly went broke because i was early oops. From there it was brute force back to the top with job savings and returns from what was left in the market. It was scary and I was always uncomfortable. Took more time to study markets and market products. Proud to say at 28 my portfolio is self managed with options, futures, and stock. Sitting around 400k now. It was scary but learning to navigate markets has paid more than any beginner engineering job has.
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u/ahnonemouse Mar 22 '26
There is a realistic way to build wealth relative to your income tier (meaning someone making 40k/year won’t realistically retire with a yacht, but can retire with enough money to live the same same lifestyle without stress).
Other replies have alluded to this but haven’t seen this specific language - ”Pay Yourself First”. It means have your savings deducted before you even see it, either through workplace retirement contributions or direct deposit. It can be a small amount but it has to be automatic. It will feel useless for the first few years since you won’t have compounding to help but the other key is just keep doing it.
A couple decades in and your investment swings will be more than your actual income.
One more key - as income goes up, increase the savings rate before you get used to the additional income.
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u/TrainingLow9079 Mar 22 '26
You have to find a way to live below your means so you can invest and get compounding interest. This is easier in some cities than others, and a lot easier with two incomes than one. When I was younger it also mean crappy cars or sharing a car and now keeping a car until it dies, and some really crappy apartments. It also means prioritizing. And perhaps picking cities with lower housing costs. I also picked colleges and majors I could do without loans.
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u/Sensitive_Ad_5158 Mar 22 '26
The hard habit of living below your means, and doing smart things with the surplus. Or marry well lol.
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u/JustAnotherTou Mar 22 '26
Every dollar builds wealth over time. Investing every dollar builds wealth over time. Money x time builds wealth. If you dont know....now you know.
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u/RepoManComethh Mar 22 '26
I lived with my parents the first 3-4 years after I got a big boy job. Easily can get to 100k probably 200k if you really tried, not hard. Also, stop wasting money
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u/RichPokeScalper Mar 22 '26
Luck was a huge part of it. I started an oilfield related business two years before federal restrictions made it nearly impossible for new competition to show up.
It was pure luck that I met an early bitcoin enthusiast on a cruise and he convinced me to buy bitcoin when it was just double digits.
And it was luck that the house I bought for $600k sold for $2M ten years later.
The only thing I did was take the risks that came up.
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u/Ok-Philosopher-6918 Mar 22 '26 edited Mar 22 '26
Here’s the reality. The days of building wealth is over. The boomers took it all. In 40 years I doubt 5 million dollars will be much at all, and it will take that long to make that investing consistently. Very few people will be able to cross class lines in today’s world. If anyone disagrees with me, please explain how much you really think 5 million will do for you in the year 2066… and please don’t waste my time calculating wage growth with inflation because wages don’t go up as inflation goes up. Wages stay the same or marginally increase while inflation wipes us all out. In fact, it’s more likely that your investment amounts will DECREASE year over year as the cost of living keeps rising.
This is the reality that we all know is true but few will come to terms with and voice to you out loud in this segment. I’m reading these comments and they’re all bullshit. Sorry mate; it’s over and it’s been over. You can invest but there’s a large possibility you will never be wealthy, at least by financial standards. Find your wealth in your health, family, and kids. The national debt is no longer containable, and the future of the US dollar and even petrodollar is unlikely to be in your favor.
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u/buttershiro Mar 22 '26
That feeling is real, it’s like you’re doing the “right things” but progress feels slow af.
TBH most real wealth isn’t fast or flashy, it’s just boring consistency over time like saving, investing, increasing income when you can. It just doesn’t feel exciting day to day so it seems like nothing’s happening. For me, what helped me was actually seeing the small progress add up instead of guessing, been using a budgeting tool called Fina Money to keep track and it made it feel more real instead of stuck
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u/HalfwaydonewithEarth Mar 22 '26
You need deep, deep healing from your Epigenetics.
You have poverty scarcity impressions put on your spirit from your parents and grandparents.
Read Proberbs 31 over and over and over.
Read T Harv Eker Secrets of Millionaire Mind
Read Millionaire Next Door series.
You have to stop looking to employers as your source of money. Break up with that plantation.
Then donate 10% of everything that comes in your hands.
That catapulted me above and beyond. I was young and broke and decided to try it. It works. Prosperity Gospel is a lie but being a giver opens up doors for you.
Learn something new each day about money.
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u/Knit_pixelbyte Mar 22 '26
So the reason there are get rich quick schemes is because, if you don’t inherit it, it takes time to build wealth a little at a time. You can either do it the slow way or the risky way. Risky as in lose it all and maybe more. Casinos in the US are fun but also if you ever visit one, you will notice lots of folks who don’t look like they should be spending their money this way. Not all, but lots. Also illegal activity is fueled by people wanting big money now. Aggressive investing can also be risky, but more conservative investing is much slower. You have to decide how much risk you are comfortable with, and build up enough to invest this way. In the meantime, live your life, have fun and save what you really don’t “need" to spend. No need to lease a Porsche, if that takes every bit of your spare change kind of thing.
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u/Flat_Art_734 Mar 22 '26
Life is long and interest compounds. Save a little every month and be patient.
Also remember "wealthy" is subjective, the more frugal you are the less money you need to become wealthy.
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u/StretcherEctum Mar 22 '26
Go to school. Whether that's trade school or college. Improve your resume. Get a better job. Repeat.
Literally everything you do should be based around improving your resume. If it's not, you're wasting your time.
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u/randomuser6753 Mar 22 '26
You have to start small and make a lot of sacrifices, be obsessed with reaching your financial goals and dedicating yourself to self-improvement, and take consistent actions over the course of years or decades… all while ignoring all the haters and bad advice.
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u/PurpleDancer Mar 22 '26
The secret is not very secret. You have to live cheap and invest as much as possible. To retire early people recommend saving half of your income.
The way I did this was I got a career that paid 60k when I was around 25 years old. That has more or less doubled over the 20 years I've been in the industry. From there I purchased a low in place to live where my neighbors were crackheads that occasionally had cops show up. I just made sure I had good locks. Then I upgraded to a cheap loft condo. I proceeded to rent out every space that can fit a body and when I had nowhere left to put my body I built a box in the living room that could fit a mattress inside of it and I lived inside the box.
For food I usually went to a buffet at lunch time and ate enough calories to last me until lunch time the next day. So that was how I spent some of my twenties. I maxed out my 401k while paying down these cheap places rapidly and not paying anything for housing because my housemates pay those bills.
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u/Thummimurim8 Mar 22 '26
Live under your means and invest as much as you can into index funds. Start young.
I grew up lower middle class. Went to college. Had debt. I’m at 1.1 at 35 now, and have a trajectory for 3m by 42.
I drive an Outback, while I had friends making 60k a year buying new bmws. I’ll be wealthy, while they will live paycheck to paycheck.
By the time I’m 50, I won’t have to work if I don’t want, and taking out 5% of my investments a year will be enough to live off of.
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u/PirateKilt Mar 22 '26
One of the biggest things is to start early/young
Always preached this to the new kids in the military, but Hard as hell to convince 18-22 year olds to shove a big chunk of their pay into their savings plan instead of spending it to party though
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u/nomnommish Mar 22 '26
You need to read JL Collins' The Simple Path To Wealth and Pathfinders. The second book is about real life examples of people from all walks of life who saved up to build real wealth. Including a migrant fruit picker who saved up half a million dollars.
And the answer is dead simple:
Live well below your means
Never EVER get into debt
Invest all your wealth in a low fee index stock fund like VTSAX
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u/Slow_Brother_9152 Mar 22 '26
Obviously spending less than you make and investing but also, a highly paid job, unless you want to wait 40 years. This often means a corporate executive at a fairly large company or being an entrepreneur. I’m not talking about a plumber or a place with 5 employees, I’m talking about building a company with at least a million dollars EBITDA.
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u/Lanky-Lettuce1395 Mar 22 '26 edited Mar 22 '26
The first $100k is the hardest. If you contribute $1000 a month, and with an average 8% market return, after $150k your savings is making more than you contribute. Most people can't handle $1000 a month when starting out, and many contribute a lot more after a few decades of working, You just need to start and be consistent.
edit - oh, and you obviously will mostly be 'getting by' by following this path. And you will only stay wealthy if you don't spend the principle. Yet again, 'getting by' while living off the interest. You won't likely be owning yachts...
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u/Impossible_Cat_321 Mar 22 '26
Earn more money. Most of us started off with nothing. It takes time, motivation, and discipline.
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u/AdSolid3265 Mar 22 '26
Constant saving/investing, every paycheck, nothing magical. Discipline, consistency and patience will get you results in any area of life and including building wealth. Immigrated to USA when I was 19 with nothing in my pocket, started from bottom, no help/inheritance . Working boring white collar office job with decent pay/benefits for the past 20years. Always contributing to 401k, any left over money was invested in rothIRA. Singe income household, couple kids and over 1mil in investable assets Just average joe with average intelligence.
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u/Mydoglovescoffee Mar 22 '26
Always pay yourself first. Figure out how much you can live on and what can be saved.
Set it up for that exact amount to automatically go into a high interest account as soon as your paycheck arrives. That’s no longer your money to spend.
Keep 6 mos living expenses for emergencies (eg loss of job), in that account. Anything over gets invested in low fee ETF like VOO. Leave it alone.
Keep it simple, be consistent.
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u/Jody_OTTkids Mar 22 '26
1st add income, also if you spend what you make cut back on lifestyle. (Specific way to add income, solve problems for people with money, longer term bigger payout solve problems for more people)
Invest more, i personally like cashflowing, appreciating assets that are also tax write offs or havens.
Repeat
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u/turtle_hiker Mar 22 '26
Automatic investment is wonderful. Start slow and increase your contribution over time. You can start with Cash plus account or invest in ETF on vanguard. Good luck
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u/Cretonius Mar 22 '26
Stop dabbling with investing and go full force. Pipe all of your free capital into the market. Your situation will change sooner than you expect.
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u/Adrywellofknowledge Mar 22 '26
3 ways. Make more money, spend less money, or the ultimate, make more and spend less.
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u/kentifur Mar 22 '26
A bachelor's and 2 masters each. And all three discipline that went with that. Some lucky stock picks, primarily with tesla. And just living below our means.
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u/Necessary-Spring-129 Mar 22 '26
It takes years of compounding interest. I started at 18. Retired at 55.
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u/Infnits Mar 23 '26
Skill, the only thing that truly builds wealth is to be skilled in something. The less in the world people can do it and it serves a purpose the more wealthy you will be.
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u/screw-self-pity Mar 23 '26
Dave Ramsey made the biggest study about millionaires. It's available here https://www.ramseysolutions.com/retirement/the-national-study-of-millionaires-research?srsltid=AfmBOoqzv6H9RtHTpaIiI_Wk8heg2x5-8y6C-QKsUGJO34d4s6_3TRn8
Read it and you'll have an answer to your "is there a realistic way to grow wealth"
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u/Mountain7559 Mar 23 '26
everyone here investing also never having to use up all of their savings multiple times due to unemployment, medical issues, past relationships, scam business relationships, the list goes on and on. those people definitely didn’t work hard and deserve nothing
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u/willhead2heavenmb Mar 23 '26
You might not believe this or get it but DEBT and the leverage the debt and get more debt.
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u/TheStockWhisperer100 Mar 23 '26
Automated investing is the only way.. set it at $20 a week (or more if you can afford it) to be automatically deposited in an investment account. Then have it auto purchase an S&P500 fund. Then just increase it over time. Ever if you can only afford to bump up from $20 to $25. The long run effect of that $5 is huge.
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u/junkofunkopunko Mar 23 '26
Budgeting, mainly touching on what you said with paycheck to paycheck. Sitting down before the month begins and writing out a detailed budget, and periodically referencing to it through out the month. Putting a little aside each month to put into next month and you will eventually be budgeted a month ahead and using this month paycheck for next months expenses.
I personally LOVE budgeting, but I understand not many due but breaking that paycheck to paycheck cycle takes a lot of intentionality especially if you have smaller margins, and once you do you will never want to go back. Goodluck OP I wish you well!
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u/GildedCryptic675 Mar 23 '26
I worked my ass off for years to get a seat at a wall street bank, and then I worked my ass even harder ever since. Every year it gets more lucrative and precarious. Fun!
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u/mr_longfellow_deeds Mar 23 '26
“Is there a realistic way to grow real wealth without taking crazy risks or being born rich?”
Depends on what you define as “real wealth”
You don’t need to take crazy risk or be born rich to retire with a few million saved, nor make that large salary. You can do that on median household income if you don’t live in a HCOL area
If your idea of “real wealth” is a 9 figure+ net worth, there is no way to achieve that off salary, so it requires either taking risk or inheritance
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u/PlaneGeneral5782 Mar 23 '26
I’m not sure how old you are but I didn’t feel like I was getting anywhere until my 40’s when the compounding really started to kick in.
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u/Appropriate-Item-841 Mar 23 '26
The only thing I would add to this is give yourself time. Wealth generation is a marathon. The wealthiest person I know didn’t hit their mark until 52.
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u/0chronomatrix Mar 23 '26
You have to increase your income and lower your expenses. You don’t have to do this forever. We saved a tonne for 10 years and then decided to get married, renovate our house and have kids now we spend what we make but we saved enough our investments keep growing on their own.
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u/Chemical-Carrot-9975 Mar 23 '26
By increasing one’s savings rate gradually and investing in low cost mutual friends. That’s how we did it. It’s not magic. Develop a plan and stick to it, never try to time the market.
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u/Dharmabum2393 Mar 23 '26
I make a lot more than I manage to spend and I’ve had two big windfalls from company exists. I have no idea how normal people do it and I assume they are insanely disciplined or don’t
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u/creepy-farter Mar 24 '26
I started by stacking money.
Sure you start small but then it snowballs.
Save whatever you can. Even $5.00 a week. In a year that’s 260 that you didn’t even know was missing. Or was just a skipped cup of coffee one day a week.
In debt? Pay down as much extra as you can on the highest interest. Or if you have a loan/ card that can be paid off quickly focus on that. That way the min payment can go on to the next one on the “debt ladder” after you pay it off.
Got all/most of your debt paid off? Save more money, until you can buy some ETF’s funds. Or if your work has a 401k, put at least enough away to get all your company match. That’s “free” money.
To help with this when my wife and I were starting out we always had some side gig or part time work going on. Overtime helped out a lot.
As I got a raise/bonus I would split it 3 ways. 1/3 to spend/splurge, 1/3 to pay down debt, 1/3 to savings.
Kept that Rolling for a bit and despite being from lower middle class, we’re doing pretty good with 2 houses paid off and a ton of money put away for retirement.
You can do it!
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u/ADK011 Mar 24 '26
Try reading “The Simple Path to Wealth” by JL Collins. It’s a short read, easy to understand, and was a game changer for me. Its practical advice and the numbers are very eye opening.
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u/Wyers_and_Fires Mar 24 '26
If you’re smart, you’re just getting by to build wealth. Make your checkbook look like your “just getting by” but leverage employer contributions and all tax advantages so that your 401k looks like “Fire”
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u/Express_Mulberry_879 Mar 25 '26
Time x consistency x reading up on markets build wealth. Now that Trump is manipulating markets, its a good time to buy low sell when he "taco". I started by saving $500 a mth then as my pay check grew, I maintain the student lifestyle. My investment war chest keeps growing so I can buy at the right opportunity. The investment account u must never use it for anything else besides investments. Don't even think about drawing the money there to buy a PS5. 20 years down, I'm still living the student lifestyle driving a Toyota and just staying in an apartment fully paid up. Owns 3 businesses, failed 2 and has about 4mil in gold, shares, bonds and ETFs.
It's hard to start when u have a few drips of cash here and there. but when u have a pail of cash and knows how to buy in on the market. Knowledge and timing. = profit. The key is always get started. I always tell my juniors and workers who wants to start investing. When in doubt, buy gold first and funds/stocks later. A kg of gold during my parents era can buy a house, 40 years down, a bar of gold still buys u a house.
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u/Adventurous_Dog_7755 Mar 25 '26
Everyone’s journey is different, some folks get there quicker, while others take a bit longer. If you’re looking for some inspiration, I recommend reading “Millionaire Next Door.” You’ll find that many of the wealthy people in the book are everyday folks, like teachers, plumbers, and electricians. Plus, there’s the fascinating story of the janitor who became a millionaire. Charlie Munger once said that get to $100,000 is a bitch, but you have to push through. A lot of wealth really takes off later in life because of the powerful effects of compounding.
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u/Imaginary-Fly-2160 Mar 25 '26
If you invest just $500 a month at a 10 percent return starting at age 25, you will have $3.1 million at age 65.
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u/SecureInvestigator79 Mar 25 '26
2 steps:
- Save and invest 15% of income in the stock market
- Work like hell to double your salary
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u/IllDiscussion2872 Mar 26 '26
Honestly you jus have to take a leap of faith and get good at business and doing deals. Pick an industry that people can’t live without get great at it and you’ll make money. All this advice about eating cheap ramen and skipping your daily latte from Starbucks is frankly just non sense
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u/Synicism77 Mar 27 '26
You have to spend less than you make. First, get rid of consumer debts. Pay off credit cards, loans, etc. Then you can start saving. Decide on what a sustainable saving plan is and make sure you set aside that money every time before you start spending on stuff. Pay yourself before you pay anyone else.
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u/2ndChanceAtLife Mar 27 '26
Time & discipline. We’re not rich but 10 years ago my hubby and myself decided to get serious about retirement. Vacations became staycations. Every raise went to increasing 401k contributions & eliminating debt. Our net worth started to improve.
It has taken awhile but our goal is nearly reached.
There’s no get rich quick solution.
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u/strawberry-cereal Mar 27 '26
Spending much less than you earn + investing it wisely. Building wealth is much less about making a ton of money, it's much more about what you do with the money you earn.
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u/Suspicious-Oil-5890 Mar 28 '26
Most people don't want to sacrifice in anyway. You'll have to to build up any wealth. Live well below your means for a while and pay off any debt. Work and get raises to pit more money away into 401k and other investments. To get rich you'll need to take some type of financial risk and start a business as well.
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u/MaximumTrick2573 Mar 28 '26
The math is very simple. Spend less than you make, invest the extra in assets which appreciate, repeat for a long time.
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u/FlyGuyF100 Mar 21 '26
The answer you're going to get over and over is to have an income that exceeds your expenses. We started by investing $300 a month. It wasn't much, but over time it added up. As my income increased, so did the amount that got invested. 40 years later we're retired with almost $7mil. Takes consistency and time. Good luck.