rich people don't become rich, they already are rich.

it was pretty silly of me to try and boil down how to get rich into a single bold-font sentence. i had once attended a meeting on personal finances, and pretty much that's what i remembered: save to be rich. but that doesn't really take anything into account. so many more factors play into "richness" than just saving what you don't spend to sustain yourself. luckily for me (and for all of you out there), wally spent one of his ultra-rare yearly comments on that post. so just enjoy. and let's get some more comments rolling!

rich people don't become rich, they already are rich.

it's not easy to work, save and become rich, especially if you don't start off with that much. if you're in a low paying job and are saddled with debt because you didn't have enough money to start out with, then you ain't gonna be rich anytime soon. sure, you can become rich, but only if you save a good percentage of your paycheck and agree to go without everything you want or need, which is incredibly hard to do if you are in a low paying job. even if you are disciplined enough to do this, it'll take years to become rich (assuming you don't lose your job and your wages don't deteriorate over time/they actually keep up with the cost of living).

those who become rich usually have a good paying job, which in most cases requires a good education. what kind of people have the resources to obtain a good education? rich people. or comfortable people at the very least. those people can provide their children and family members with the resources they need to obtain a good education and a good paying job.

when their children get this job, they probably don't have much to worry about other than themselves (i.e., they don't have to help out their family with finances and debt). and of course they can't spend all their money because they don't have unlimited wants and needs. even if they did, they probably already know better than to spend all of their paycheck because they were taught not to by their parents or in school (or they read books and websites about what to do with their money). because they probably don't have to worry about the present, they also probably have the luxury of thinking about the future. so, they put a good chunk of their money in savings accounts and investment vehicles to save for their first house, for retirement, and for rainy days.

so, i don't think you need to be a ceo, cfo, or coo to become rich. and i don't think you can become rich by just saving and investing. you already have to be rich, or have a good degree of economic security, or at the very least have access to education and incredible discipline.

and i think this is why making education affordable, accessible, and equitable at all levels is such a huge issue, because people realize that education has such a huge bearing on where you end up and how much you make.

this all said, i don't want to assume that most of us are automatically going to become rich because we graduated from a good school and will probably be getting good paying jobs (especially you, josh). there are lots of things that we have to worry about right now, like college debt or family issues. but 10-15 years down the road i think we'll all be in pretty good shape or position to be somewhat comfortable, if we make good choices with our money. and i don't think that it's a bad thing to save to become rich. it's what you do with those riches, privilege, and position that really matters.

i don't really know why i wrote all this?
-wally

ps. wally didn't really give me direct permission to use this, but he didn't say no when i asked him either.