Capital multiplicators

The anecdotal chances for getting rich(er) I went by in my life.

Bitcoin

Potential: 500x. I first heard about the cryptocurrency in early 2013, when it started being recognized (at least by lovely geeks I worked with) and mining was still quite viable. I planned to buy some for my tax refund, but cash was needed for something else.

I recalled BTC in late 2017, just in time of the memorable raid to ATH, when it reached $20k and gained everyone’s attention. I repeated my mistakes from earlier stocks experience - honorable mention to impatience - for a quick few thousands of losses and never touched crypto again.

Look at the below chart with me. The red colored section marks the period when I talked Bitcoin, breathed Bitcon, dreamed about it, hated myself for not buying before, put my money into sophisticated Envion fraud, constantly worried about price, exchanged shitcoins, traded at work, etc. From today’s perspective, it doesn’t look significant, does it?

Game show

Potential: 1000x. Long story short: I applied to Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, nailed the qualification, sat in front of the host and… butchered the first question, leaving the TV studio with nothing but defeat, recorded in 4K and archived for eternity.

I mention it because only few people witnessed a capital multiplicator even greater than ₿. The maths behind it is basic: for a chance of winning 1M, you only need to account for some time, transportation and fresh clothes, which shouldn’t exceed 1K. Been there and can attest there is no catch to such programmes. If you find yourself watching one and thinking you’d do better than contestants - be careful what you wish for!

(I recommend the overall adventure, I just don’t want to watch my episode.)

Work

Potential: 10x. An order of magnitude of salary raise over a decade of career - without moving countries or going freelance, with a little help of inflation though - among rare industries which make this possible, IT is the most democratic one.

That said, I’m afraid one can’t make fortune from day job. The exchange is too linear, although a regular paycheck is nice to have and maybe crucial for chasing the big opportunity.

Overemployment (OE)

Potential: 2x. As said before, job is a mere selling one’s time for money. Overemployment promises you can speedrun the system, making multiple salaries by working at 2 or more places simultaneously. Sounds worthy but stressful, from what I read online about it.

Real estate

Potential: 2x. It’s hard to claim gains on the property you’re living in - in the end, everybody needs roof over their head. Situation gets better with more properties, be it for rent or flipping - but they are expensive! Until recently, the no-brainer move was to leverage with debt, but today the market is broken and I believe the only way to make it is to buy cheap (think: 5+ years ago). Glad to watch this subject from a distance.

Stocks

Potential: 10x. This one is big for me lately. I’ve seen quite a few companies appreciating like crazy, and I hold one that will hopefully make big bang. The dynamics of this is similar to crypto, although the stake is higher now and I try to be less emotional. Dividends are great, too!

What about a business?

I feel once in a few years there is an opportunity, which - if catched early - can become a sweet booster for one’s wealth, the Bitcoin being the truly generational chance. I avoided words such as “would” or “could” in this post, because it’s not meant for retrospection, but rather to give myself a lesson.

So far, I earned the most from work and home value - so the most boring, day-to-day things. That’s fair, because that is truly enabling you to get financially stable to the point you have some spare money you can risk, and then hunting for occassions and assets that can become your capital multiplicators.

Looking back at the BTC chart, the rest is patience. If you have no occupation to kill time, you start to obsess over your investments and can lose your money, mind, or both. All the “get rich quick” events like inheritance, insurance payout, lottery or even the mentioned game show are so rare or luck-dependent that shouldn’t be optimized for. Sorry, but some amount of work must be done to succeed (research at minimum in case of stocks).

At the other end of the scale there is business - it’s glaringly missing from my list because I haven’t run one properly (I only made some trials) - which now I think is the only path worth constant, motivated work. Not the charts you don’t control, but the potential you can unlock.