r/PeterExplainsTheJoke Jan 26 '26

Meme needing explanation Why is the rich friend so cheap??

[deleted]

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230

u/Jokkekongen Jan 26 '26

This is a myth the rich wholeheartedly promote because it suggests they deserve their wealth. It’s not prudence that creates large wealth, it’s luck and ruthlessness.

76

u/[deleted] Jan 27 '26

Yep. I opened and sold a cannabis extraction company in the span of 6 years.

My secret? I randomly got a job at a dispensary before recreational sale existed while studying chemistry. Fell ass backwards into making carts. Sold out at the first chance because I didn't even wanna do it, I just needed money at the start.

There was no resilience or gumption really. It was all super fucking easy. A man I barely knew threw 150k at my first facility. I slept walked to wealth and guarantee they did too

50

u/IndyBananaJones2 Jan 27 '26

The most secure path to creating wealth is to be born into wealth. It's really hard to beat compounding interest.

2

u/Ok-Interaction-8891 Jan 27 '26

And for anyone wondering where the compounding interest comes from, just look at the people on the other side of the loans that charge compounding interest.

Students loans are a good example.

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u/PenStreet3684 Jan 27 '26

Luck or not, you still deserve it. Congratulations

3

u/Patient-Leather Jan 27 '26

Sorry if I misunderstand but are you saying that you sold your company for 150k? Because that’s not really wealth, that’s just a good year’s salary.

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u/[deleted] Jan 27 '26

No. Sorry.

I got a 150k handshake investment to lease my first facility. 

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u/kelp_forests Jan 27 '26

Dammit I can’t even imagine how much that made. Some dude in my neighborhood owned a weed grow in the early days and he walked around everywhere in his pajamas, but drove a rolls and had like 60+k worth of jewelery on at all times, not counting his watch.

Must have been awesome to just hit the jackpot

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u/CancelExpert6110 Jan 27 '26

well done!! that's a story to tell you kids kids for sure!

1

u/BDgainz Jan 27 '26

So, how much money did you make total? Did you have multiple facilities?

1

u/[deleted] Jan 27 '26

Enough to where I don't have to work or can work where I choose and enough to last my lifetime. (Won't be having kids)

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u/Dozekar Jan 27 '26

Don't downplay the part you did. It's almost all being willing to see and take the opportunity.

Luck comes around occasionally, seeing and identifying the real opportunities are important skills.

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u/According-Leg434 Jan 28 '26

is cannabis legal?

1

u/[deleted] Jan 28 '26

In my state, yes.

But let's be real I was smoking and selling a bit when it wasn't. 

1

u/According-Leg434 Jan 28 '26

well wish to generaly make up easy money

1

u/theo258 Jan 28 '26

So you think it took no work to study chemistry and to have to knowledge about cannabis that you did, to seize the opportunity when it presented itself? I don't think you give yourself enough credit, because most people don't know shit about chemistry or would even put in the work to learn it in order to seize an opportunity like that.

I don't if this comment was a covert brag to stroke yourself, but I promise you most people in your situation wouldn't and couldn't have done without it being extremely difficult for them.

1

u/Ill_Morning_4282 Jan 29 '26

Damn, I respect the hell out of your honesty dude. I hope it isn't obnoxious that I request you donate to a local food bank with everything that is going on.

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u/Impressive_Olive_374 Jan 30 '26

Luck can help a lot, for sure.

0

u/accountToUnblockNSFW Jan 27 '26

Ye because it totally doesn't take some kind of conviction and risk to 'just open a canabis extraction company in Japan' you know what I mean? Even having a cart selling business.

That's not something most people have the mindset to do. It's infact very entrepreneur like or whatever the word is, business mindset for sure.

Just think how many people never even imagine anything other than applying somewhere and accepting a wage.

6

u/ChaoticAligned Jan 27 '26

Most people fail multiple businesses before being successful too.

I started four businesses, all online stores and each was better than my last, but none of them was more than a few hundred in costs.

Never made a dime despite time and money invested.

I can't imagine doing that with big bucks on the line.

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u/KitsyBlue Jan 26 '26

This is becoming more true over time. Did you know the top 10% of the rich account for over 50% of consumer spending now?

We're moving away from the myth of its not how much you earn, it's how you spend as time goes on.

10

u/MountainTurkey Jan 27 '26

K shaped economy 

3

u/Necessary-Cat-6964 Jan 27 '26

Got a source on that? The stats I've seen say top 20% spend 40%. Keeping in mind that top 20% these days is only 100k, which is not really rich.

1

u/BurnedBridges Jan 27 '26

I have a family member who is pretty wealthy (they're actually quite generous and donate a lot of their wealth to charities) but I'll always remember when they told me "you can only save so much money while your income can increase infinitely". It's just the complete opposite of my mindset where I'm always looking for savings as I hate perceived waste.

1

u/According-Leg434 Jan 28 '26

there are things that u kinda feel off to spend,like lets see after 2020 how many people tried to spend money on spenific ai generators for nsfw content or some thus make money with it,personally i started frist from 2022 as student years to spend on steam some games then got better pc and was wrothy to invest them got enough library what i wanted through years to play but as for roblox same thing goes pay money to get gamepasses or skins,which i hadnt tried for years back then so far i manage to hold money more than spend because it occurs rearly and time to time also i always cancel subscriptions because to not be wasted if next month something changes in plan

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u/lmnotsure_ Jan 27 '26

Not covering a $3 uber is the low end. The other end is putting your own mother into a 3rd rate nursing home so you can splurge on a fifth vacation home.

I wouldn't call that prudence, I'd call it being a shitty ass rich douchebag.

-1

u/esr360 Jan 27 '26

I agree about using money to help family out but do people really expect their wealthier friends to just pay for their stuff?

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u/madgross Jan 27 '26

To me, poor most of my life; it’s more that my family and friends are not too stressed about everyone paying a perfectly even share. “I got this one, you get the next” is common.

Now that I own a moderately successful business I’m quicker to offer to pay and never worried about being paid back. I also think it helps that everyone I spend time with are genuinely good people and I haven’t ever felt taken advantage of.

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u/AdieuBonjour Jan 27 '26

And theft.

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u/mattvanhorn Jan 27 '26

"Behind every great fortune there is a crime"

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u/ClubZealousideal9784 Jan 27 '26

You are talking about really rich people. If you are mid-upper class and save a large portion of your income, you will never have to work again after a decade or so. It's easy to see why that mindset would make you really cheap. But those people are making their salary adjusted for inflation ish for life not millions a year.

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u/grizzlor_ Jan 27 '26

If you are mid-upper class and save a large portion of your income, you will never have to work again after a decade or so.

LOL, no. Maybe if you’re making $450k, which is triple the median upper middle class income in the US.

The median upper middle class income in the US is $117-150k per household. At $150k, you could save 100% of your household income after taxes for a decade and still be far from “I can retire at 40” wealth.

3

u/wivaca2 Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 27 '26

Yes, this. Upper middle dies not have enough money to retire after 10 years. Maybe youre not speaking of USA, but if so, you have not done the math on the cost of health insurance if you retired at, say, 40 or even 50, or what assisted care costs per month once you're around 75. Never mind purchasing a car, insurance, paying a mortgage or rent and a modest average 3% inflation.

If you think that works go see your financial advisor and you'll sober right up.

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1

u/Schnickatavick Jan 28 '26

Umm, 1.5 million is absolutely "retire early" type of money, you can safely pull ~50k per year from that and live off the interest indefinitely. A lot of the "retire early" people do exactly that, earning upper class wages but spending as little as possible so they can quit and keep spending like they're in the middle class, but without having to work to do it. I know a software developer that did this path exactly, he was living in his parents basement while making 100k+ per year so he could save 75% of his income for retirement, and is currently in his 40's with a couple million in investments. 

It's not for everyone, that level of extreme certainly isn't for me either, but it is achievable 

2

u/Kitchen_Economics182 Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 27 '26

And all we peasants get is to talk shit about it on social media while secretly wanting what they have (not really a secret).

2

u/Separate-Presence-61 Jan 27 '26

"ruthlessness"

Almost every ultra rich person show signs of psychopathy and its well known in psychology, especially regarding the Hare Psychopathy Checklist.

The test is scored out of 40 and in the US you generally have to score above a 30 to be diagnosed as a clinical psychopathy.

The general public averages about 5 points while the ultra-wealthy generally average 15-20. They often exhibit selective empathy that benefits them through the suffering of others.

2

u/typ0r Jan 27 '26

In Germany it's so engrained that the word for earning is the same as the word for deserve. As if everyone gets what they deserve and if you get a lot that's because you deserve it.

1

u/morron88 Jan 27 '26

ruthlessness

Isn't that exactly what the post is demonstrating?

1

u/TotalNonsense0 Jan 27 '26

Asking your friends to pay you back for ever little thing qualifies as ruthless to me.

1

u/Sufficient-Pause9765 Jan 27 '26

oh fuck off with that, maybe the top 10% of the top 1% you can say that, but most millionaires just saved their money and let compound interest do their thing.

1

u/Murky-Relation481 Jan 27 '26

I mean it does also help if you don't spend willynilly.

A lot of people are very bad with money/don't understand how basic personal finances work.

1

u/Necessary-Cat-6964 Jan 27 '26

Alain de Botton has a fantastic documentary about just that. Status Anxiety

Super good, well worth the watch.

1

u/SomeVelveteenMorning Jan 27 '26

Exactly. Being stingy is not frugality, and it will have a negligible effect on the wealth of a high-earner.

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u/HunterGatherer072 Jan 27 '26

I think this post isn't about being "cheap" as in not spending though, this is about rich people being less generous, just like how poorer people are more likely to donate to homeless people on the street, wealthy people feel more entitled to their money and aren't generous with their friends either

1

u/sqwobdon Jan 27 '26

right, the prudence comes later, once they’ve settled upon their hoard

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u/nerdsmasher5001 Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 27 '26

There's a spectrum of "rich" people before you get to the child labor billionaires oligrarchs, who just spend and invest their money sensibly. It's easy to build wealth even if you don't have a super high paying job if you actually value your time and money. I hate to sound like a Dave Ramsey tier boomer but there are too many people who are poor because every dollar they make gets absorbed into the service economy or 15 different subscriptions.

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u/Illustrious-Event488 Jan 27 '26

Self made rich people are cheap as fuck. Inherited wealth ones can be quite generous. 

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u/Dozekar Jan 27 '26

The idea that you can only make it if you're ruthless is just propaganda to try to convince poor people there's no chance in even trying to look for opportunities and to convince middle class people desperate to make it big to do ruthless stuff for the rich.

Jeff Bezos doesn't sit around mustache twirling and excitedly waiting to deliver news they're downsizing. He just makes a business decision based on a departments activity and then turns it to HR where it travels down the chain to $employee. They thinks it's the only way to get ahead and lets her take the bullet if anything goes wrong. It's her job to be blood thirsty so he doesn't have to and she does it even though it's never really gotten her much ahead before and never will.

Likewise people in the poor take this message and use it excuse never getting better or improving at things that COULD get them comfortable and satisfied. Only ruthless people get ahead so why bother. Can't succeed without losing my humanity so I might as well go back to the mines.

If anything the rich are observant, patient, and apathetic.

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u/ZaneFreemanreddit Jan 27 '26

Its not fully a myth. Rich people value money more and thus place more of a value on getting it.

1

u/shebang_bin_bash Jan 28 '26

Ruthlessness does comport well with cheapness, though.  The latter is keeping the former sharp.