Many envision the 1 percent of income earners in America as someone who either inherited the money or is on the top floor at an investment bank on Wall Street, but there are several ways to become a 1 percenter. Some ways are quick, and some take decades. Some are based on luck, and some take hard-work and dedication. Add to the list in the comments!
- Start a business
- Sell your business (think Instagram or OMGPop)
- Work several jobs
- Go to medical school and specialize
- Climb the corporate ladder
- Win the lottery
- Gamble
- Work at Wall Street
- Invest in real estate
- Go to Hollywood and become a famous actor/actress
- Be a famous musician
- Play on a professional sports team
- Work for the government
- Join the c-suite (CEO, CFO, CIO, COO)
- Inherit a fortune
- Invest in the next Apple Inc.
- Find a treasure at a garage sale
- Marry a rich spouse
- Divorce a rich spouse
- Sue someone rich or a corporation
- Catch a valuable baseball then sell it
- Register a domain name in high demand and sell it
- Live on an oil field
- Discover lots of gold
Feel free to add to the list!
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Write the next popular book series (Harry Potter, Hunger Games)
Become a Storage Wars person
Invent something
Hmmm I can’t think of anything else.
Michelle recently posted..Looking forward to the Bank Statement
#1 should be ‘Start a Successful Business’. Many if not most businesses fail in the first five years.
Josh @ Live Well Simply recently posted..Helping the Poor – Without Hurting Them
Get hit by a car/injured and win a massive law suit. May not be worth it but hey you might make it to the 1%!
Lance@MoneyLife&More recently posted..Rental Property – The Financial Side (Part 2)
Get into Politics and write legislation that just so happens to increase the property values increase around your land (that you of course bought right before the legislation passed)
Be a STEM Major?
Rob a bank?
(I like’s Trey’s idea too – be a Crony Capitalist)
PK recently posted..S&P 500 Return Calculator
Become a lawyer. Doesn’t work for everyone ( or even the majority) but big law partners can make over a million a year.
Also opening your own successful law firm can bring in a lot of money.
I thought about adding lawyers to the list, but from my understanding, it takes years to crack $380k. I’m not saying its not possible, but a majority of new graduates don’t make the 1% on their first job.
I would also lump starting your own lawn firm as “running your own business”
I agree that it can take years if you don’t find the right gig/start your on firm. However, I figured since most of the things on the list only work for a few, and not for first jobs lawyer fit the bill. If you marry another lawyer and it doesn’t take that long to crack $380K combined, but there is only a small percentage of lawyers (mainly thos working “Big Law”) that applies to. The majority will never, but that’s the case for everything isn’t it?
I’m 3 years out of law school and my husband is 5, and we are in the 1%, but that is mainly because my husband started his own successful firm. But as you said that could also be considered running his own business. Although his business is something he could not do without the law degree.
Post a YouTube video that goes viral! Or create a bunch of viral hits!
Julie @ Freedom 48 recently posted..Blog Round-Up
Nice list – it’s interesting that very few of these are ones that I can do. I do like the invest in real estate option.
20′s Finances recently posted..How to Lower Your Electric Bill
So many people assume the 1% inherited their money because it absolves them from any responsibility for their own situation. It’s a lot easier to say you’ll never be rich because you didn’t inherit your wealth than it is to get out there and make it.
I think that’s also behind the vilification of the wealthy for some people too. It’s a psychology phenomono, often refrred to as sour grapes:
“I don’t want to be rich anyway, because you need to be corrupt and soulless to be rich. I’d rather be a decent human instead”
Joe Morgan recently posted..College Grad Unemployment and Useless College Degrees.
Rob a Bank, dig up a chest of money someone burried and forget where it was or died, Find a money tree, get a sugar daddy…………….LOL yeah yeah and wait for pennies to drop from heaven……..
Poor to Rich a Day at a Time recently posted..Price Matching and Couponing
Robbing a bank is a viable alternative, but I guess I should’ve asked for legal ways to be a 1 percenter!
Create the next big online game, or app.
Direct a movie like The Avengers. I mean How hard can it be? Even better, once released, make a sequel.
Liquid recently posted..May Update
Not sure about the US, but here doing a few tours of Iraq as military would set you up pretty well.
eemusings recently posted..Link love (Powered by the blahs, but also, ample blogspiration)
Here are things one can collectively do, taken together can get you there:
Get an advanced degree
Work hard
Work smart
Be efficient
Save a high % of your income
Marry someone who doesn’t like to spend money
Admittedly, I’m not 1%:)
However, but I know a few folks from VERY modest backgrounds that have done these things and are now doing VERY well. Better to learn from people who succeed that complain endlessly, I think.
Tie the Money Knot recently posted..Be a Bridesmaid and Go Broke?
Haha! I’ve tried a few of these. On my way!
Nick recently posted..Six ways to make extra money this summer!
Love this list – it’s interesting to see just all the ways that so many people can become 1%-ers. It’s not all the stereotypical “entitled” or whatever the media says. So many hard working, blessed, or just plain lucky people make it to the 1% and there are so many ways to get there!
ImpulseSave recently posted..Win at Life: 5 Money Saving Tips for Busy Professionals
Be a big blogga!
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