Sure, you could do that and maybe you would. However, most people who didn't earn their money don't.
Most of those same people think the rich "do nothing" and make money. It's this kind of ignorance that causes bullshit class warfare where it doesn't exist.
The inheritors you speak of aren't making money with money, they are spending money and will have none when they're done. I don't think I ever claimed that wasn't easy.
>"Perma-bull stock market".
Uhg. If it were only that easy.
Making money on paper is easy right? Any idiot can see through every little dip in the market over the last ten years and not get rattled and ride it all the way to the top and then have the 6th sense to see the next dip for what it is, a crash, and move all their money to another asset class just before it happens.
No, that's not what happens. People ride it all the way back down and often end up with less than they started with. Then someone who knows very little about investing tells them, at least you should make 8% on average historically as consolation.
Tell me when to yank my money out if it's so easy. It's not. A correction is coming, but when, how will I know, and what to do when it does?
No, but they are a good example because they are usually not accustom to wealth and thus more likely to believe (like the OP) that wealthy people just sit on a pile of cash and buy exotic sports cars while doing hookers and blow 24/7.
You don't often hear wealthy people complain about other wealthy people because they know how hard it is to stay wealthy.
It takes discipline to not just piss away a million dollars (the sorts of windfalls that claim includes), it doesn't take enormous effort to set it up in low risk assets that yield income.
As a cousin comment points out, it is even possible to buy management services.
- Give it to a money manager and hope for the best. If it doesn't work out at least you can blame him/her.
Who's advise to take?
It's really starting to astonish me the financial ingnorance on HN which must be attributed to younger folks who had no skin in the game in 2000 or 2007 and think investing is easy.
Yes, because as long as you don't spend too much any of these things will work. The market trends upwards over a long enough period, so as long as you're disciplined enough to handle the downturns, you'll continue to make money while doing no work.
@aninhumer, I can't reply to your thread, but I feel like people just don't get what I'm saying.
Perhaps you could live off 25 million with a drawdown of 1%. That's 250K. So you live like that's your salary. But then the market tanks and 1% of your portfolio is now 120K. That's a big haircut.
Do you take 2% now? You've got a 250K lifestyle but you said you'd only take 1%.
You've now watched 13 million dollars vanish. Do you stay in the market and hope it goes back up or cut your losses?
People here seem to suffer from historical bias because they know the market recovers, but when it happens to you the future will be totally uncertain.
People who come into sudden money will tend to lose it because they lack experience managing that much money and spend it too fast, not because they didn't do "real work" to preserve it.
Maintaining wealth requires understanding and discipline, but the amount of "work" required is minimal. Essentially, all you have to do is not spend too much, which is fairly easy when "too much" means "any more than 10x the average salary".
Sure, you could do that and maybe you would. However, most people who didn't earn their money don't.
Most of those same people think the rich "do nothing" and make money. It's this kind of ignorance that causes bullshit class warfare where it doesn't exist.