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What’s up lock down people!
Been a while, for which I offer my humble apologies.
Unfortunately, we’ve had a personal setback relating to a close family member during this time, coupled with MiniFrugalSamurai being ever so cheeky – has meant many things have taken a backburner.
But not investing!
Been dabbling a bit here and there recently.
Mainly in the stock market and crypto space.
It’s going… OK to tell the truth.
But not as OK as a friend of mine who shall remain nameless.
Kevin, oh I mean, he-who-shall-not-be-named, was exposed recently as the owner of this:
W T F.
$600k+ gain overnight???
He denies it of course, but believe me, it’s Kevin. Damn it, I mean Mr X.
And it’s no fluke either. His track record of successes in stock-picking far outweigh the failures.
How do I know you ask?
Well, in our group, there’s more validation required than a parking meter – which suits yours truly just fine.
“Oh really? Buy BHP at open tomorrow? Got it”.
“Yes? Bitcoin to test resistance levels at 40k? Roger”.
“Hm? Ginseng works in relaxing muscles and improving blood flow to the genital area? Sure”.
I wouldn’t have posted this if it wasn’t for a conversation MrsFrugalSamurai relayed to me around the same time.
That her friend who works in the medical space… can’t even obtain a full time job.
Really?
Yeah.
30 years of formal schooling, 99.95 UAI (ATAR nowadays),1st class honours, doing a PhD – a frigging medical DOCTOR… scraping around on $60k a year?
I don’t believe it.
Yep.
Apparently doing a PhD is a minimum entry for a senior medical role at a hospital these days.
The crux of it is that there are too many senior medical doctors (bigwigs) but not enough senior medical roles.
Which means practically no up’n’coming senior doctor has a full-time job.
Her friend… works 1.5 days a week for $60k a year.
Mind you that still works out to be an annualized $200k salary.
Unfortunately the remaining 3.5 work days for her at least, are non-existent – not that she doesn’t want to work more, she just can’t find any positions.
Like I said, if it wasn’t that both of these events occurred at the same time, I wouldn’t have given it a second thought.
But FLASH.
Light bulb moment.
Ain’t this a picture perfect Rich Dad, Poor Dad scene?
Y’know the phrase Robert Kiyosaki made famous.
Describing his “two” fathers.
His biological father, the academic – who wanted him to pursue good grades, to get a good job and to work hard.
And his friend’s father – who taught him the importance of entrepreneurship and passive income.
Kev’s… sigh, OK I’ll just name him Voldemort, Voldemort’s astronomical stock gains really reminds me of Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad’s approach.
Instead of being brainwashed by our schools and government that finding a job and working hard for 40 years is the right way forward for financial security…
(Editor’s note: I’ve often said of the 40/40/40 rule – work hard for 40 hours a week for 40 years to retire on 40k per year).
Focus on building up that passive income, hone your investing knowledge, understand money and how it works (this blog is a great place to start).
Cos I mean sure, MrsFrugalSamurai’s friend might end up in the cushy $200k job, or $300k or more.
But when? 40’s? 50’s? 60’s? Never?
Would it be worth the wait?
Time is the most important asset in our lives – the sooner you step outside the matrix and understand there are ways to make money in your sleep, the sooner you are to being financially free.
Having a job is important too mind you, don’t think that I’m saying don’t have one – but it’s not the be all, end all in your financial life.
That’s just what I think anyway.
But gtg guys, it’s Monday tomorrow.
I gotta prep for work y’see.
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10 Comments
The FI Explorer
It is important to distinguish means and ends, it is quite true. One of my favourite observations on this is: ‘controlled time is our true wealth’. For many at the beginning of their journey, an income from a job will be a critical building block to achieving that true wealth.
The Frugal Samurai
I think you need a job of sorts to build your first income stream for sure – it’d be too hard/risky not to have a base. Many of us get caught up in associating our lives and wellbeing to this “job” thing though. There’s so much more to it!
James Hendrickson
Kiyoaski’s contrast is correct. And it’s also not the whole story.
Media wages are significantly higher as your education increases. So, in general, if you want to make more money, having more education is generally a better idea. So that’s where Kiyosaki’s discussion is lacking
Where he is right is that successful business people, if they run their businesses correctly, have a much higher net worth than those who have regular 9 to 5s.
The Frugal Samurai
Yeah you’d think that there’s a correlation between education and income. I think education is good to build a solid foundation to get a good job – but to get to the next level, you can’t just rely on that primary source of income.
Aussie Minimalist Doc
This lack of job situation in medicine is an epidemic. It’s a combination of:
1. supply-demand issue,
2. metro doctors refusing to leave metro areas and
3. senior doctors who are no longer operating at their best, refusing to retire or give up their many posts
This will only worsen in the next decade or two as we see more medical schools opening up without enough specialty training positions. Eventually, we will all just be roster fodders, with no destination or endpoint. So your wife’s friend who has a 0.3 FTE should consider herself lucky that she has a job at all.
In addition, most doctors have a lack of imagination so they cannot fathom doing anything else for income other than salary. That was harsh.. actually nope, I don’t even feel bad saying it.
The Frugal Samurai
Yes, I knew you would know exactly what I’m talking about – I see and hear exactly THAT quite often. I personally think it’s shambolic the government and health care system spreads that BS to medical students and junior doctors. No wonder it’s had so much negative press lately. A joke!
Cashback Koala
Would be great to know more about this $644,000 overnight gain and the backstory – how about an in-depth interview with Kevin?
The Frugal Samurai
Ah of cos, I’ll ask him and see if we can get a snoopy exclusive.
Captain FI
Wow, yeah that’s pretty shocking. I’ve seen this kind of thing a lot within academia (many of my family and friends work for universities) and it just blows my mind how someone can be so academically gifted and so hard working, yet through poor money habits and behaviours end up pay check to pay check, whereas many of my (no offence intended) less smart friends and family do quite well for themselves. I wish more of the people I give a copy of rich dad poor dad to would actually read it 😳
The Frugal Samurai
Too true Captain – you reckon it’s because those who are academically “smarter” tend to think they know it all, hence don’t seek the right advice/habits compared to those who are less educated but arguably more financially humble?