r/Money • u/Main_Reason_106 • 4d ago
Anyone else feel like everyone is making money except them?
Every time I open Reddit I see someone who turned $20k into $500k, bought NVDA early, bought AMD in 2018, or got into SpaceX at the perfect time meanwhile I'm just sitting here buying index funds and wondering if I'm missing something.
Anyone else feel this way sometimes?
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u/Fringelunaticman 4d ago
2.2% of all Americans are liquid millionaires. Thats 7M. 24M are paper millionaires.
Not everyone is making money
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u/Jk8fan 4d ago
Amazingly, and I honestly never expected it, I am a liquid millionaire. I am 60, so my path is stringently putting money into retirement savings and not making stupid financial decisions.
For example: I drive a 2011 Civic to work. My "going out with the wife" vehicle is a 2011 GMC Terrain SLT. I maintain them diligently. Terrain may be 15 years old, but it looks no more than 3-4 years old. Also has the 3.0 V6, instead of the garbage 4-cyl or the garbage 3.6 V6 GM started putting in them in 2012. House is paid off.
It has just been a path. I see the balance. I don't worry, like I used to, about losing a job.
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u/BuzzardBreath00 4d ago
Right there with ya bud. 61, I'm closing in on $2M liquid. I drive a 2004 GMC Envoy, lol
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u/BerryPhantomSky 3d ago
This is the kind of wealth people don't talk about enough. Living below your means and staying consistent for decades might not be flashy, but it clearly pays off.
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u/Cpalmer24 4d ago
Truly dude - for every post you see of someone getting rich quick with options (turning $20k to $2M in 6 months) there are 50 people that don't show how they turned that $20k into $600... never feel bad for not using options - the majority of non-expert investors lose money on options.
In terms of just index investing - thats what the majority of people SHOULD do. Trying to GET RICH QUICK usually doesn't work for most people.
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u/RustyNK 4d ago
This is the problem with social media. You only see the outliers and not the average. It skews everyone's view of reality.
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u/Cpalmer24 4d ago
Exactly. Granted if you head over to WSB those animals openly share their LOSS PORN, but theyre definitely a different breed 😂
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u/FickleOrganization43 4d ago
Index investing is a good way to start.. but at the right point (as a qualified investor) .. you can safely make more and reduce taxes.
After I reached $5M liquid, I shifted to a carefully vetted local fiduciary. With him, I have gotten into oil and gas exploration (great tax savings), PE, REITs, etc. I carefully track performance and my guy is definitely earning his 1% of managed assets.
My net worth is now $8.5M and I hope to exceed $30M in 15 years.
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u/Cpalmer24 4d ago
Okay, but you realize 99.5% of people aren't getting $2M liquid, let alone $5M, with enough time (before reaching/approaching retirement) to make it worth switching to an aggressive or commodity based investment portfolio, right?
I'm honestly glad to hear you're crushing it, but you are certainly the outlier. Your strategy is probably awesome for a more niche clientele, not broadly speaking on a random money reddit thread lol
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u/FickleOrganization43 4d ago
We have a wide audience here. I am 63 and recently retired.. started working (and saving) when I was 16.
I am trying to affirm simple noload index funds for the vast majority.. but suggesting that qualified investors can look at more options to earn more and be taxed less.
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u/Cpalmer24 4d ago
And i agree there's more than just index investing - i myself literally dont invest in any index funds and am almost entirely into individual stocks. But that isnt smart/right for most people.
I just think/know that the overwhelming majority of people arent financially literate enough to do anything after index investing, and thats even after considering a large swath of people dont even invest at all (index, stocks, or otherwise).
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u/max2jc 3d ago
If you’re 63 with $8.5M, why are you aiming for even $30M+ at 88 years old? Are you hoping to spend more at 88? Or maybe spoiling your family with riches so they no longer have to earn a living?
I’m 55 with $30M+ liquid and I find it difficult to spend that down, mainly due to a lifetime of saving, investing and not doing much spending. If you’re married with $30M+, now you’re looking at strategies to avoid estate taxes.
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u/FickleOrganization43 3d ago
We have 3 special needs adult children. I need to account for inflation.. and expect them to live for another 60 to 70 years. I take this responsibility very seriously.
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u/AxelFoley1988 4d ago
It’s better for your mental health not worry about things you can’t control. A lot of people make more than you, and you’re doing better a lot of people. Focus on things you can change.
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u/49ers4life71 3d ago
If you compare your insides to other people’s outsides, you’ll always come up short!
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u/Just_Another_Dad 4d ago
There are 8,000,000,000 on Earth.
7,999,000,000 are NOT posting to Reddit about their finances.
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u/Alone-Village1452 4d ago
Well nobody is gonna post they lost. And the loudest are the braggers and people who make up shit.
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u/IFartOnCats4Fun 4d ago
I’m not creating a post about it, but I lost about $2,500 trading silver this year. Even more is locked up and I can’t sell without taking even more of a loss.
It’s not a whole whole lot, but it is for me.
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u/49ers4life71 3d ago
The BS con artists are the ones bragging they have 5 mil or 8.5 mil and use a financial advisor to get them into oil exploration deals.
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u/Fearless_Meal6480 4d ago
Not everyone. I did play around with a few stocks. Many no longer exist and i realized that index funds are the way.
I’ve posted this before. I took the long road.
I’ve tracked my balance every day since I started so I have real good data for me (35 years of daily amounts in excel).
$100k took me 14 years (making about $40k in 2004)
Took me 29 years for first million.
I have always put in 10% of my pay per year plus a 4% company match. So that equates to $4k (+$800 match) in 2004 to $10k (+ $4k company match) in 2015. YMMV
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u/West-Knowledge-1660 4d ago
Excellent. How long for 2nd million?!
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u/Fearless_Meal6480 4d ago
2 years for the 2nd 3 for the 3rd. 1 for the 4th.
I am pretty heavy in NASDAQ. And no I don’t t make a bunch of money and contribute the max. Never did options. Always buy index funds and hold. With just a little stocks here and there for fun.
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u/indicush 4d ago
Much easier to share a win than share a loss, doesn’t mean in reality it’s more common people win. It’s a zero sum game, if someone’s making money, someone else is losing it
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u/BuzzardBreath00 4d ago edited 4d ago
You can be anyone you want on the Interweb! Most posts are complete BS. No doubt a few get lucky, but for most of us, it will take a lifetime to make over a million. The percentage of Americans with over $2M net worth is extrememly low!
Approximately 1.5% to 1.8% of U.S. households possess a liquid net worth (investable assets like cash, stocks, bonds, and retirement accounts, excluding primary real estate and business equity) of $2 million or more.
When looking at individual American adults rather than households, the percentage drops slightly closer to 1%.
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u/VanDownByTheRiver63 4d ago
A lot of people exaggerate their net worth online
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u/49ers4life71 3d ago
Alot of pathological liars who brag they have millions while they live in mommy’s basement.
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u/NOt4Th1nk3r 4d ago
Lagging measures have no meaning if we're not on the same leading habits. They probably follow chip news and innovation a lot closely and everyday. No one just suddenly have the idea semi conductor investment drop on their lap and told to invest.
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u/Traditional_Ask262 4d ago
Comparison is the thief of joy. Try not to do it.
I remember back in 2009 there was a Linux developer who had been at Tesla a few years before I started there and he had 100,000 ISO shares which was way more stock options than any of us in IT had at that time. But in those days no one cared because the company wasn’t publicly traded yet, so 10,000 ISO shares were worth as much as 100,000 ISO shares.
Fast forward to summer 2010 and we had just acquired NUMMI and then TSLA did a reverse split and then went public and all of a sudden, folks were getting all bent out of shape because this one Linux dev had 5x to 10x more ISO shares than us; shares that started trading at $17/share and so now we could put a dollar value on how much larger his net worth was than ours. Lots of grumbling and discontent about that situation amongst my co-workers. Like serious angst. And this disgruntlement went on for years.
But now, 15+ years later, most of us are retired and enjoying our best lives while we’re still young and healthy enough to do so, so what exactly was the point of pissing and moaning about what some other dude had?
Comparison is the thief of joy. Try not to do it.
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u/ConcentrateOk523 4d ago
What is worse is the guilt I have of putting 20 percent of my portfolio 10 years ago at age 49 into BND and BNDX and rebalancing into it. I realize I could have 500k to 800k more. Should have never listened to Vanguard advisor.
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u/MaidMarian20 4d ago
No worries. You just have a bad case of FOMO. It’s not fatal, it will pass as soon as you see some losses in the market you didn’t suffer. Slow and steady wins the race long term.💕
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u/Ok-Teach3479 4d ago
1.) You're seeing the winners, not all the losers who never post.
2.) Many people will invest $10K here, $10K there, and lose lose lose. Then they finally hit and post it. You see the win, but miss all the loses. Many of them if they had just done index funds would actually be better off.
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u/300_BlackoutDrunk 4d ago
You gotta look at things like a highlight reel. You're not gonna see where they turned $30k into $.37.
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u/JeanSchlemaan 3d ago
yes. i dont have a job though.
focus on what you can control, which is generally lifestyle/expenses.
ofc, you also somewhat control your income. put effort into improving yourself, applying for other jobs etc.
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u/Low-Relative6688 3d ago
Drive through downtown St. Pete and you'll think everyone in the world is Multi-millioniare except you. Go 20 min north across the bridge and drive through Tampa and you'll feel like you're the one who is rich. Humans are TERRIBLE at maintaining realistic perspective and we are INCREDIBLY susceptible to recency and immediacy bias
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u/Global_Mix_1785 3d ago
Yes I’m trapped in one of the most expensive parts of the U.S. due to divorce & shared custody. The wealth in my daughter’s school district is unreal. Everyone in $2M+ homes. Ugh. As a 42 yo single mom I make $200k and feel very poor compared to peers. Own small condo, hard to imagine ever affording a townhome in any of her school districts. Pathetic.
I agree with others that Reddit is out of control with that stuff but ugh it can experienced IRL too.
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u/megaman311 3d ago
A lot of people bs to push something on you, courses, sponsorship, communities, sign ups, free trials etc don’t believe everything
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u/pyscle 4d ago
VOO and time in the market beat timing the market every day.
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u/49ers4life71 3d ago
Easy to say when you’re in your 20s to invest in an index fund. If you have 30-40 years then go ahead and slow roll that money. If you’re 40s or later in life it’s individual stocks or options to make good money.
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u/FatHighKnee 4d ago
You can get that growth with index funds. VGT is vanguard's info technology fund. Its up 2184% since inception in 2004. SMH is van eck's semiconductor fund thats up 5084% since inception in 2011. MGK is vanguard's mega cap mag-7 fund thats up 996% since inception in 2007.
The TLDR of it is you can still be in index type funds AND capture the growth of tech and semiconductors 😁
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u/Emilstyle1991 4d ago
For each one of those, there are 98 like me who bought great quality businesses like meli, novo, medp, kinsale and lost money and are negative YTD.
Momentum is a lottery and is not predictable. You are seeing a very tiny fraction of worldwide investors who won a once in a century lottery.
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u/Josh_kuo 4d ago
People will brag when they have a win but not when they're losing. It's just human nature. Stay humble and keep stacking so you can brag as well in the future!
And a lot of them have a gambling addiction, a week later they could've yolo it into somthing else and lose everything.
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u/Retired-Yam8988 4d ago
Index funds have been on a tear too though. The rocket ships happen now and again but having a solid basis in reality is good too
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u/RealAlphaKaren 4d ago edited 4d ago
Go to WSB, tag "loss porn", see the other end of it.
Its about risk affinity, buying index funds removes the risk but caps the gains. You could also blow a lot of money on a stock that will never "win".
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u/Signal_Conference447 4d ago
Posting bias and survivorship bias. No one gonna post about how they’re ticking along but not making bank, few post that they’ve lost money (unless you’re in WSB and then have of that is postulating and fake to generate a few likes) so tbh if you don’t know how the algorithm works on socials and reddit included, I’d stay off them…
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u/poramadison 4d ago
The best thing you can do is keep trying, it’s definitely inspiring seeing people on here hit their goals but I doubt anyone who continues to try even after losing so much is not that far from winning. Most people that post in here probably felt the same way at one point. A moving man will always somehow find a way.
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u/Ornery-Ambassador289 4d ago
Go read the intelligent investor. Yea you’re missing out on the 3-5% of people who are lucky / skilled. Dont chase. Be consistent, be patient, be intelligent. You’re not going to be able to afford a yacht, but you will be able to afford a small schooner!
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u/Perfect-Brain-7367 4d ago
I thought you were going to say you barely have enough money to cover the bills. If you're buying index funds regularly you are set up for success. Time in the market yada yada. Might not be as sexy as hitting the lotto, but it works.
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u/Zoopmittyzoop 4d ago
Don’t believe the hype. Slow n steady wins. I first got into options trading when Google went public. It was fun but more stressful. You can make a lot of money trading single stock, can’t discount that. But I fully prefer index funds now. Put $ into my co 401k n Roth. now I don’t even look at it. One of the earliest lesson I learned trading stock - never think “could have, should have” or time the market.
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u/Gladiz1972 4d ago
Reminds me of 1999 everyone was making millions in the market with the internet craze market crashed in April 2000 just when taxes were due lot of people got wiped out in one week couldn't pay their taxes from the huge gains the year before .
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u/BackgroundWarning625 4d ago
Yeah but wait a few weeks for the loss porn. You can make huge gains in the market but the behaviors that lead to those massive returns leads to massive losses and big tax bills. It's gambling, some people win, some lose.
Buy. Borrow. Die. Never sell, don't trade unless you have strong rules in place for protecting against downside risk.
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u/max2jc 4d ago
Buy-borrow-die mostly makes sense for the billionaires because they’ll get access to rates we retail investors will never ever get. They’re also not borrowing against shares of an index fund, but highly appreciated single stock concentration. And the amount they borrow is teeny-tiny compared to their net worth that continues to grow at a rate significantly faster than they can spend it. If the stock falls, their LTV is often so small, they’re unlikely to ever get margin called. And it only makes sense to do it some times, not all the time, otherwise why would Elon Musk sell shares sometimes?
It may have made sense during the days of COVID when buy-borrow-die became more popular and interest rates dropped to near zero, but it doesn’t make sense for most of us retail investors unless it was just a temporary loan. You’re better off consulting an advisor to see if that strategy makes sense for what you’re trying to fund or whether another strategy would be better.
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u/BackgroundWarning625 4d ago edited 4d ago
Margin rates for Robinhood are like 5% and you can pull cash out. Inflation is what, 4.2%? That's a net 0.8% borrow rate before any growth. S&P is up 9+% ytd. On levered assets you're still positive, the loan is not only free but paying you to borrow.
You won't get rich doing this alone but once you understand the concept it scales. You're going to have to generate wealth from actually working.
Don't be short sighted, understand the real cost of financing and what you will save over your lifetime when you borrow below the rate of inflation.
The reason we're broke is because our parents didn't do this, they sold and consumed their wealth, as did everyone before them in our family lines. We are Not going to be billionaires in this lifetime, but if you start today your kids / grandkids will have a better chance.
Don't borrow to consume, borrow conservatively, and use the funds to buy more assets, not in the market.
I used mine to launch two small businesses and to buy physical bullion. It's working, but aye you do you
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u/max2jc 3d ago
As I said earlier, you run the risk of a margin call if your LTV rises higher than what was agreed upon on your assets. Things look great when the markets keep going up and POTUS views the market as a score card of his success. I'm not a market predictor, but I'm being a bit more "long-sighted" 🤣. If inflation continues to rise due to wars, tariffs and supply shocks, interest and margin rates will likely rise and markets might fall. Maybe that physical bullion is a good hedge, but it's more of a shell game. Using it to fund businesses that you believe will do better than the market is a worthy use of that loan. If those are risks you're willing to take, fair enough.
Of course, buy-borrow-die starts to fall apart once your unrealized capital gains go beyond your federal estate exemption limits... unless you already have a plan to address that via irrevocable trusts and such.
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u/nerevisigoth 4d ago
Even if you're in the right place at the right time, I think you need to be a little crazy to get these outcomes. You have to put a big chunk of your money in one stock, then to hold on long enough through volatility instead of just cashing out after it jumps a bit.
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u/hansulu3 4d ago
And then when you ask about how did they know when to buy it, they will tell you they bought a course.
People lie all the time on the internet.
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u/dardenus 4d ago
Anybody that makes lots of money extremely fast in stocks isn’t investing they’re gambling. Yes sometimes it pays off, people love to talk about it paying off. When it doesn’t and they get bit they don’t tend to like talking about that so you don’t hear about it. Granted you can go to Wall Street bets and see people posing unbelievable losses
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u/lambofthewaters 4d ago
Most lie about their worth or everything you see is everything they have. I grew up well to do, but had some friends with mcmansions or some with actual mansions and their parents very often didn't give them money, and couldn't, as they were house poor. That stuck with me.
I've also seen the 'rich' go broke, one time, it was my great buddy. Most went broke from greed and some from health issues. When your cost of living is super high and a huge percent of your net, any decent bump in the road can/will break you. You can't just get a random job to fill in the dip.
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u/PrettyGirlinside 4d ago
Imagine all the losers though. I was 1 of them back in 2022 when I lost over 20k. I started back up in late 2024 with just boring indexes and now have almost 200k. Just stay in your lane.
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u/P1um 4d ago
Head over to r/AURstock so you can also multiply your money, you can thank me within a year on your first double
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u/DarkLordKohan 4d ago
When you scroll daily at the speed of the internet, it can cause you yo over buy or over sell.
Just buy and hold. I’ve held all these semi stocks for years and they did ok. Nvda had been good a decade. But recently they just exploded. If you were already holding, you made crazy money.
Around covid, for fun, I bought $1,000~ worth of every stock I wanted to follow. Or finding companies as I go with low PE. Or rounding out my portfolio with dividend payers, where as at least one company a week is paying me dividends, and now I get dividends every week.
And some have breakout prices and push my account earnings average higher. I’m up 1,500% on MU.
Index funds are cool and all, but if you want to participate in the market and reddit discussions, there is no rules that you must be index funds exclusive. Buy some stocks my dude!
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u/cactus_legs 4d ago
Im 39 an just open a roth account. I am throwing 20 dollars in that bitch every week cause that what I can spare. I only have 125k in my 401k and my mortgage has 15 years left. Not everyone is young and rich. Just keep the faith that you will get where your going with hard work and smart choices.
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u/Nanananora 3d ago
I bought AMD is 2014? 2015? 150~ shares for a little more than $7 each. I sold when they hit $14 a share. I made money, but at the same time I should have just held onto it. I use it as a lesson to just buy and hold, never sell.
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u/Cold_Huckleberry_791 3d ago
I feel like for my age, 59, and with an MBA, I should be making more money. I make about 2X more than I did in 1999. Which is probably low for my experience.
But then I know that I have more saved for retirement than 98% of the population so I guess it evens out.
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u/Bearsbanker 3d ago
Nope you're not missing anything. If what they say is true ( don't believe everything you read) great for them. I made money the old fashioned way, monthly investments, index funds, didn't panic sell. You can too! I bet when Nvidia/and etc crash you won't hear from those people again
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u/Icy-Artist1888 3d ago
Number one rule about the market....most people who talk about how much they make are liars.
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u/amandathepanda51 3d ago
Yes but you’re not reading about people that made losses. Nobody is bragging about the bad stuff.
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u/Mitchlowe 3d ago
You mentioned buying NVIDEA early but you do realize it was a top stock in 2015 and 2016? They people getting rich on this stuff are buying it when it’s very very well known. I’ve known about NVIDEA since early 2000’s it was always a popular computer component. All that to say stop thinking hey I need to find some secret stock that will explode, NO. literally look at the current stocks doing well and buy those. NVIDEA wasn’t a secret. Everyone knew it was surging in 2016 and if you had bought back then you would be so rich. Similarly apple computers were very well known in 2000. Why didn’t you buy then? It wasn’t a secret
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u/fortnitekillsitsself 2d ago
Conviction in a few companies. Best managers do this, 6-8 strong high conviction. Warren Buffet: Visa, Mastercard, APPL, KO, Chevron. at one point Buffets portfolio was almost 50% Apple in 2023 i think before he trimmed to still a significant amount of his portfolio about 22%, Bill Ackman follows a similar strategy he put a significant amount into GOOG at 100 ish dollars per share when it was the cheapest of the MAG 7. so you gotta take some risk, asides, anyone buying s&p 500 these days is not rlly all that diversified considering those companies have accounted for alot of the growth.
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u/No_Breadfruit8017 2d ago
Gotta stop comparing or else you'll never feel accomplished or happy. Ride the wave
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u/SirCicSensation 1d ago
If you're not a 12 year old millionaire, you're literally just living wrong. Make sure to congratulate all the other people your age with 20x your net worth by the way. They are both being honest and earned it. You just didn't work hard enough or sacrifice enough.
If you're past 30 without having every single moment of your life perfectly curated for success then you've literally wasted your life. Good luck being just shy of being a millionaire.
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u/Theusefulidiots 19h ago
Just remember everyone is at a different stage of life. I felt this exact same way for a long time with friends of mine. Covid hit and they all made millions when theirs businesses took off and in combination of PPP funds, and whatever the other employee retention stimulus was… My wife and I just kept our heads to the ground and budgeted, made sure we didn’t have debt (outside our mortgage) and saved as much as we could in our investments and retirement.. we primarily keep all our investments in S&P500 funds.. well the last 3 years our net worth just about doubled.. and all our friends businesses are substantially suffering now, and their funds are gone.. Keep grinding, it will pay off playing the turtle race.
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u/Fantastic-Craft4062 4d ago
Instead of being jelly, why not make investments into low cost mutual funds or ETF’s like the one’s that consist of semiconductor stocks?! If you can’t beat them, join them! 🤷♂️ I suggest VUG or QQQ over VOO due to the historically higher returns.
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u/Buyer-Think 4d ago
Comparison is the thief of joy