Comment by whateveracct
6 months ago
It's funny because 9-5 is still a great way to actually enrich yourself. The best way to grow your wealth is to increase your income, and a salary+benefits is the juiciest way to do that.
Sadly, I've seen many male friends of mine obsess with the stock market but not have anything going career-wise. They just hope they hit big and "make it." Better to just stack salary for years the boring way and save yourself the time it takes to micromanage investments.
9-5 is definitely not the way to enrich yourself, that's an unfortunate message. Have you noticed how housing costs have consistently beat inflation for decades? At least if you live in a VHCOL area. It's easy - check the FRED report on the median salary and compare that with a graph showing the median housing price.
OK so the most important thing is out of reach with 9-5, independence from rent. The next set of factors like health care, and if you have a kid child care and health care, are also up compared to wages (9-5 wages).
That leaves just food and entertainment. I suppose you could live with roommates, eat frugally and not go out. And then maybe the 9-5 is the way to become rich.
For most of us the way to build wealth is through asset appreciation - housing , stocks. The 9-5 is the 'not so passive income' that you use day-to-day while you either SAVE up for the 'assets' (if you're lucky), or you gamble / inherit / get lucky with these assets.
idk man I graduated a decade ago and switched jobs every 2ish years and now my income dwarfs my expenses and I saved $100k+ for a down payment years ago. It's those raises from changing jobs, promotions, career development that paid off more than which ETF I stuffed my money into.
I don't live frugally or have roommates (except my wife who hasn't worked for years).
I've literally never had expenses so high I couldn't max my 401k, HSA, and go to restaurants, travel, buy fun stuff, keep an good emergency fund. And I lived in Seattle most of that decade. Also my job is super easy for me.
Crazy how much a degree from a midwest state school can do...
It’s still possible to do this, but requires prudence (which isn’t an appealing message).
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Dunno about everyone but my 9-5 salary is awesome. I do Vulnerability Research at an MIT lab. Working there is amazing. Much rather my situation than one where I am forced to “trade” and make it big in order to eat and or anything else in life. Great 9-5 jobs are out there and it’s funny because I used to think of them as “awful slave” jobs. Used to think having to do a 9-5 was something to avoid at all costs. Came to realize I enjoy guaranteed income and job security over anything else. Sorry for bad grammar; typing on phone..
That particular job sounds amazing, I'd love a 9-5 doing research!
I've been working in the dreaded evil industry (non tech but I am in tech) for decades and gave up trying to find a job I loved. Corporate politics sucks that away.
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Most of the country does not live in very high cost of living areas, so what you said isn't true in most places. And at some point, if your location is so bad that you just can't make it work financially, move. Yes, moving sucks for many reasons. But people are not powerless victims who just get stuck somewhere and can't do anything else, they have the ability to take themselves to another place where the opportunities are better.
Seattle is a high COL area and even there with a tech job you can accumulate a lot of cash..
Also, the second best way to enrich yourself in America is probably buying a home. But you need a down payment and the ability to afford it over the 30y mortgage.
Gambling on stocks may give you a windfall that amounts to a down payment, but good luck convincing the bank you can pay that new mortgage for 30y off your stock market wizardry.