

Ask HN: How to earn 1 million in 5 years without working for a startup? - yr

There are many constraints for people in joining startups like family, non-immigrant status etc. What is the best way to retire in 5 years if you are a great programmer.
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thwarted
Write something people want.

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christophe971
I wish I had something witty to add here, but it really comes down to this.

Upvote.

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bartonfink
I'd buy that for a dollar.

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dmitri1981
If you are a top Java/C++ coder, you could probably make that much working for
a big investment bank. Many of them are upgrading their FX trading systems to
allow low latency trading and are prepared to pay top bucks to get the right
people.

Alternatively, if you have a strong quantitative background (ie. Maths /
Physics) you could go into quant development which would pay handsomely as
well.

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swombat
Making $1m of gross income and making $1m of savings are two very different
things.

You probably won't sock away $1m working for a bank.

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ig1
I got called by a recruiter a few weeks ago pitching lead FX dev role at a day
rate of £1000 GBP, which works out to around an annual salary of $350k USD.
That's definitely at the high end of the scale but it shows it's not
infeasible (£600-£750 is a more typical rate).

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keeptrying
You still won't save that much because you will usually live the lifestyle of
your peers which will be very expensive.

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ig1
Not really. People tend to spend more on their hobbies (holidays, geek toys,
etc) but it's not as if everyone's expected to spend their evenings snorting
coke off expensive strippers.

From my experience people working in the financial sector are much more likely
to be putting money into savings or investments than people outside the
sector.

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arn
Hmm... individuals or small groups who have made over $1 million lately.

* Pocket God - 2 people

* Doodle Jump - 2 people

* Minecraft - 1 person (?)

If you are a great programmer, your best bet is to sell your own apps. The app
ecosystem has the biggest momentum.

It's not going to be easy, and it's going to take a lot of time. But it's
there for the taking.

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dstein
1) Take your income from programming and save as much as possible. Depending
in your income & lifestyle you can probably save up several hundred thousand
in a few years.

2) learn to trade the stock market. Continually invest, and re-invest in high
risk/reward stocks

3) As soon as you are able to sustain yourself indefinitely you quit your day
job and begin coding full-time for yourself

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JoachimSchipper
You'll need a _lot_ more money, or to live very frugally/not in the West. A 1%
post-inflation post-taxes return would only give you $10 000 a year, and even
then a single bad year could make it impossible to live off interest alone -
and a million dollars won't last a lifetime if you're actually spending it (20
years?)

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revorad
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1447428>

[http://jasonlbaptiste.com/startups/how-to-become-a-
millionai...](http://jasonlbaptiste.com/startups/how-to-become-a-millionaire-
in-three-years/)

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thewordpainter
you probably won't retire in five years if you have that mentality.

the ones that succeed the post have a passion about what they are building.
that passion doesn't go away.

they may have a lot more freedom, but many jump right back into the game.

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ruckxs
Passion and a plan.

