How I made my first 100k (and why it took so long)
It’s about doing two hard things at once, earning more and spending less.
At the 1999 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting, someone asked Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger for advice on investing and building wealth.
Munger said:
“The hard part of the process for most people is the first $100,000. If you have a standing start at zero, getting together $100,000 is a long struggle for most people. And I would argue that the people who get there relatively quickly are helped if they’re passionate about being rational, very eager and opportunistic, and steadily underspend their income grossly. I think those three factors are very helpful.”
Since then, we’ve had a lot of inflation… so that 100K is not the same today.
But still. Your first 100K is a psychological barrier, which will do two things for you:
Having six figures in cash gives you confidence. It means that you’re able to make a good amount of money. If you did it once, it means you can do it again.
That 100K has the potential to be 1 million if you let it work for you. That money isn’t meant for spending, it’s meant for investing. Under no circumstance should you spend it. Just let it work for you and compound.
Here’s the thing. I don’t think there’s a clear-cut blueprint to your first hundred thousand bucks. Everyone has a different path.
And you also need a bit of luck. And by luck, I mean, you need to be at the right place at the right time.
Here’s how it happened for me.
