[Serious] How do you make money?

• Save money. You don't have to be an investing genius for it to grow with time (doing work while you sleep). There is tons of useless crap you buy that you don't really need and will just become dissatisfied with later anyway.
• Don't chase what other people have or what you feel like you society expects you to do. Think about what really makes you happy and pursue that relentlessly instead of conforming to what the herd is doing.
• Realize that it takes time. You can't achieve any meaningful goal in a month, but in 5 years you can be well on your way.
• Don't think this is going to be easy. It takes work and sacrifies--no wonder most people don't make it. Also put it into the global (and historical) perspective of how fortunate you are to have this opportunity instead of dying of polio, being a slave in Dubai, fighting in the crusades, working in sweatshop in India with no chances, etc.

The hard truth is that times are tough. People don't talk about it much, but automation is already killing off the workforce from the bottom up.

Today I work a job that pays just okay. I do better than just scrape by, but I'm absurdly frugal. I never eat out, I gave up all of my expensive vices (tobacco and pot), and I do everything myself rather than paying someone else. I live a peasant's life, by our 1st world standards. I'm not complaining about that, but it does wear on the mind. From the outside some might think I'm relatively successful, but I often consider selling my home (which I own a very small part of) and moving into a van so I can save for retirement. I'd love to own some land and build a small dream home.

I guess my advice would be to work your ass off while your body is still young enough to tolerate it. Consider physical contract labor to fill your spare hours. Shop around for jobs constantly. Always be looking to trade up. Go to interviews for jobs you have no intention of taking, even if offered. Wear those job offers like a badge of honor. Be social to the point of extreme discomfort. Networking is the only reason I have the job I work today. There are so many people unemployed right now that anyone who can provide a job will certainly have a few friends that would take the spot.

More than anything else, keep your mind in check. Life sucks, and then you die. That's always been the game, so why should it bug you now more than before?

The richest man is the one who wants what he has. Be content.

You don’t have to have everything and realize that (almost) nobody does. You’ll find that there’s a lot of people that have what you want, but no single person has all of it.

Everybody knows something that you can learn. Don’t treat people that know less than you about something as if they ARE less than you.

I browse estate sales and refinish furniture in my garage from time to time. In my best year I made more than 13k working it as a hobby. What I do is buy it country and drive it down to niche boutique shops in the city. If the owner doesn't like the color I'll redo it in another. I've got a rapport built w/ like 6 shops downtown. Sometimes I outright sell stuff and other times I do it on consignment. I'm such a media junky I've got a computer and 55in flat screen in the air conditioned garage. Kinda sad I know. It's really going to depend on where you live. In VA there's a lot of potential. I fixed a couple motorcycles to sell years ago but it took me 3 years to sell them. Not really a great way to make money. Just kinda develop an eye for antiques and painting some of them and you'll be alright... in the right market. Most of what I do are dressers and tables. Last year I only did 2k but bear in mind it's a hobby and I barely worked at it on weekends.

I was lucky. Full ride to West Point so I came out with no student debt (other than owing 5 years of my life) and a well-paying job. Did 24 years then became a money sucking contractor for the military.

I know none of that helps you but here's what I do:

1. Realize there's a huge difference between want and need. Do you really need a new iPhone 10 or is your current phone just fine? Do you need a new pair of Nike shoes or are the $10 Wal-Mart tennis shoes just fine? I don't care if people think I'm cheap. I drive a 17 year old vehicle because I just don't care.

2. Save money. Every single paycheck. Pick a number to save and stay with it then keep raising it. Savings are supposed to go up, never down.

3. Make a detailed budget. I literally track every single penny coming in and going out.

4. Never, ever, allow yourself to impulse buy anything, ever. Research everything you are considering spending money on.

5. Stay away from credit cards.

6. Consider renting instead of owning your home. Houses are not only expensive but the maintenance can be huge. I got burned big time on my huge house. I realize there are trade-offs between buying and renting.

7. Fix stuff on your own. Whether it's a broken pipe or a vehicle, try to fix it yourself before wasting money to pay someone else. I will never pay someone else to do what I can do myself.

8. Never, ever buy a new car. Used.

9. As for jobs, always be the best worker. Show up early, don't bitch, volunteer for more, learn. If you are cleaning toilets be the best toilet cleaner there is. Good workers are hard to find, trust me.

10. Never loan anyone any money unless it's one of your kids.

Hang in there. It takes time. I'm 52 and didn't start feeling comfortable until I was in my mid-40s.

My alternative to university is becoming an electrician. Pays well, and if you take an apprenticeship you can actually get paid to learn the job. I heard some are as high as $14/hr, but that's just in my area.

There's also hvac work, welding, mechanics, a lot of trades that pay well, or at least better than retail (unless you become a store manager or something, but that's a lot of stress and you have to claw tour way there through other people). University isn't worth it these days, except maybe for a STEM career.

me_irl :(

I know people that make a lot more money than I did, but they were miserable and lived to work, always chasing that dollar. I always wanted a job that when I left for the day, it didn't follow me home. I wanted to devote myself to work when I was at work, but devote myself to having a life when I was not.
I was lucky to marry someone that felt the same way.

All my peers and superiors had 2-300k (or more) houses in the city, drove nice fancy brand new vehicles, and spent money like it was unlimited. The two of us lived well outside the city in a small and significantly cheaper house. I drove the same truck for 15 years, brought my lunch everyday, and have never been to a starbucks because I can make coffee and muffins much cheaper and healthier at home. I avoided debt as often as I could. We lived simply because that was all that was in our means. Sure I wanted the new car, the motorcyles/boats/extra vehicle toys, but couldn't afford them, so I learned to live without them.

Now I am older, retired early because I got fed up with putting my energy into work that just made other people richer and am happier puttering around our house in the country. My wife is a lot more social than me and likes to work. She brings home enough to cover our simple needs. I was the breadwinner in the past, now she likes that she is. The vast majority of my income was going to taxes anyway, as most second incomes do.

I guess my point is this: just want less. Don't get caught up in 'keeping up with the Jonses' crap. Don't believe the media telling you that spending money will make you happy. Don't focus on making money, focus on living. Don't march to their beat, find your own. Spend as little as you can, save as much as you can. I always wish we had saved more, that may be my biggest regret.

In regards to jobs, maybe I was lucky. Everywhere I worked, I started at the bottom, came in and focused on getting the job done, and did it better than everyone else. They would shortly push me into management. I didn't care what I was doing because it all sucked equally. I was happy doing all the stuff that no one else wanted to do, and did it well. I would conquer one problem, be handed another, conquer that one, on and on. They kept piling on more and more responsibility, and kept paying me more and more because I was making the people above me look good and more importantly, made their job a lot better. I had opportunities where I could have doubled or tripled my salary, but my work hours would have also increased exponentially, it just wasn't worth it.

I'm a high school dropout with autism, PTSD and a long drug use history. I have no college. I make a little bit less than a teacher's salary doing professional work in offices, sometimes customer facing, sometimes not. I don't have much to show for it...I'm kind of starting over. I start over a lot...I get a lot of false starts and have had more than my fair share of second chances. But I can always seem to start over, and I can always make enough to cover everything I need. You probably don't have a several hundred dollar a month drug habit to deal with, so you'd be doing even better if you were me. And I've got a decade on you, so I'll toss my advice in here. :p

If I told any of my high school teachers where I ended up, they'd laugh at me. Be prepared to look in places and in industries you'd never considered. Maybe temp for a while and try out different things. Cash handling is a pretty major skill that no one wants to let you try if you haven't done it before. Is there something you enjoy in your free time? Think about the core skills doing that thing requires, and then find a way to do something that uses those skills or improves them somehow.

Once you've figured out the job and you have money coming in, pay yourself first! Before you spend money on things like bills or food, look at your budget and decide what you want to save. That's your cut. Put that away - pay yourself first. THEN pay your bills. Your job have a 401k with matching? That's money on the table if you don't take it. Once you get going really strong, you can pay yourself to an IRA account or buy some EE or I series bonds. I'm not a fan of the stock market - though that's probably where your 401k is hanging out. The risk is fairly minimal if you're only putting like 3-6% in.

Money is nice and all...but don't forget that you can always make more money. You have a finite amount of time. Time is your most precious resource - so always look to balance time and money wherever possible. Don't waste an hour to make a buck when you can hold off and make two in half an hour.

That's all I got for you. Good luck.

Buy cheap and used. You won't make money by spending it.

An acre of good farming land. Bought it way under price after looking for two years. Had a lot of nice properties I could have jumped on, but didn't.

Cadillac. Bought it used. Previous owner smoked and they couldn't move it. Stripped the interior and cleaned it.

I shop thrift stores. I have no issue buying nice used clothes, tools, and furniture, even if I have to do some work.

Make good friends by being a decent person. Do favors for people, because you never know when you will need one. It's saved me from very expensive bills several times.

Present yourself as the person you want to be, and work towards becoming it. I'm not saying go buy a $150 bottle of scotch because you want to be rich. Dress nicely, develop some culture, and associate with people of like mind. If your working retail and hanging out with people living with their parents and smoking weed, there is zero opportunity for advancement there.

Accept that anything that is worth achieving requires a certain amount of suffering. That persistence alone is omnipotent. And then just grind... Start with the little things; make your bed, strive for that promotion. You have to understand your value realistically. Which basically means you have to admit you are a fool and fight to better yourself ever day. Why? Because you can, and you choose to. Because the alternative is to foul to consider.

You're looking for the easy money, but understand that is fiction. There is no free lunch.