If you want to get rich, you must abolish welfare mentality. Having a welfare mentality will keep you from taking calculated risks and giving your best effort. Instead of focusing on making as much money as possible, welfare mentality will keep you thinking about cutting your budget.
Welfare mentality makes you depend on others to succeed. Welfare mentality is the opposite of having an abundance mindset where you firmly know you deserve to be rich!
Below is a passage that shows the difference between someone with welfare mentality versus someone with abundance mentality.
An Example Of Having Abundance Mentality
A guy looked at a Corvette the other day and said to me in a disapproving tone, “I wonder how many people could have been fed for the cost of that car?”
I replied, “I'm not sure. It fed a lot of families in Kentucky who built it. The Corvette fed the people who made the tires. The car fed the people who made the components. It fed the people who mined the copper. The Corvette fed the people who made the trucks that hauled the copper ore. The car fed someone who helped sell the car.”
That's the difference between having an abundance mentality and a welfare mentality. When you buy something, you put money in people's pockets and give them dignity for their skills.
Abolish Welfare Mentality If You Want To Get Rich
If you don't know by now, many people make or have A LOT more than you think. When you see people playing tennis in the park or lounging around at a cafe on a weekday afternoon, it's unlikely because they are unemployed. It's because they either don't need to work or have flexible business hours.
Every week I hear a new story about a person who makes or has way more than you'd ever expect. They make six figures a year doing regular jobs or jobs you might think are beneath you.
Here are some examples:
- Uber drivers who make more than their Uber corporate counterparts.
- A ~22 year old female art student from China who bought a $2.25M home for cash.
- The 26-year-old non-techie who landed a $250,000 pay package at Airbnb.
- 100,000+ millennials who expect a ~$1.1M inheritance.
- A University of New Hampshire librarian who left $4M to his school.
- A food blogger who makes $500,000+ a year.
- A Hawaiian entrepreneur who started a greasy spoon franchise and was selling his $8M house that only another entrepreneur could afford.
- A heavy haul truck driver said ,”I haul wind turbines, aircraft wings, engines. I made $847,689.23 so far this year. After taxes, fuel permits, and escorts, this year I take home $326,000 more or less.”
Know That Making Big Bucks Is Possible
The point of these posts is to highlight what's financially possible. Going to a good school to get a job in a traditionally lucrative field isn't the only way to make good money.
Just because you couldn't get into the greatest school on Earth, The College of William & Mary, doesn't mean your life is over. I'm joking because William & Mary is my alma mater and it isn't traditionally considered one of the elite schools in the country.
Too many people tell themselves they don't have the knowledge, skills, connections, background, or pedigree to get rich. Some even stunt their growth because they believe their race, gender, or sexual orientation puts them at a disadvantage. They need to abolish welfare mentality.
Heck, you could also attend Harvard University and still end up a nobody!
What a shame to think this way when we had a half-black president, plenty of first generation immigrant multi-millionaires, a gay CEO at Apple, a Black female mayor of San Francisco, and J-Lo!
Abolish welfare mentality and a scarcity mindset. Believe you deserve to be rich.
Six-Figure Janitor Cleaning Up
Let's say you still don't believe you can be rich despite all my examples. How about this example of a Bay Area Rapid Transit janitor who made $235,000 in 2015 thanks to $165,000 in over time pay! Now imagine how much he's making in 2024+!
To be a janitor, you don't need to go to college or vocational school. You don't need to be a certain race or sex either. All you've got to do is be willing to clean unsightly things. In other words, practically everybody can be a janitor, unless you're too proud.
Mr. Zhang actually grossed $271,243.02 in 2015 if you include his benefits. Over the last three years, Mr. Zhang received a combined $682,000 in pay and benefits over the last three years, averaging $227,000 a year.
What's great about this story is that Mr. Zhang didn't just accept his $58,750 base pay. He decided to take advantage of the BART overtime system and work harder. San Francisco has a monster $9.5 billion annual budget. We also passed an enormous $3.5 billion new proposition to improve the system. Why not get your honey money too?
“Almost every day of the year Mr. Zhang is cleaning our stations,” BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost said. “He is signing up for time that is also available to others — if he doesn’t take them, someone else will. Station cleanliness is a priority for us.”
Did you get that folks? Mr. Zhang wasn't a “privileged janitor” who got allocated more time than others. All he decided to do was out work his colleagues. Unlike some people who found Mr. Zhang's compensation outrageous, I say well done sir!
For those of you with similar or more “advantageous” backgrounds, there's no reason why you can't make as much as Mr. Zhang if you really want to. Mr. Zhang abolished welfare mentality and decided to keep on going. He made zero excuses.
Once you start regularly making six figures a year, the math to make over a million dollars a year becomes much clearer. You don't have to make seven figures a year, but you know you have the ability to if you really want to.
Traits To Adopt To Be Rich
If you want to be rich, not only do you need to abolish welfare mentality, you need to adopt these traits.
Develop A Strong Work ethic. 40 hours a week is an arbitrary amount of time to work. There are 168 hours in a week. If you worked just five hours more a week, think about how much more you could make or do with an extra 260 hours a year.
Mr. Zhang decided to work almost every day of the week for years! You might not have the same chance, but at least you can work on your side business during the weekends.
Desire. You’ve got to really desire to be free. If you’ve got a cushy job that pays you just enough not to leave, then you’re probably just going to stay put and surf Financial Samurai most of your working hours. Remove the complacency IV from your vein.
Risk taker. Put yourself out there. Rejection is just the name of the game when you are constantly taking risks. But if you’re never failing, then you aren’t trying hard enough. It takes effort to find optimal levels of happiness. Develop your X factor!
Open mind. Think about the many different ways there are to cook fish around the world. There are even more ways to make money and live a lifestyle you want. Read, watch, learn and participate to open your mind.
Humility. Don’t be so arrogant and presume that your way is the only way. Be humble enough to realize when you’re wrong. And when things start to click, be humble enough to remember when things went wrong. Things can change instantly.
Leverage. “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world,” wrote Archimedes. An individual can only put in about 70 hours a week of before they start breaking down. Instead, leverage technology to reach more people. A website's quality remains constant 24/7.
Organizational discipline. Think about all those people who’ve made a ton and now wonder where it all went. Once you’ve got a solid handle on your money, you can invest your money in the most optimal ways possible. Tracking your finances through a free financial app is a no brainer.
Grit. I firmly believe too many people quit before things start getting good. The secret to your success is to have unwavering commitment for years. Financial Samurai had little growth and made hardly anything during the first year. 11 years later in 2020, Financial Samurai is an established personal finance site because I published 3X a week since 2009 without fail.
Believe In Yourself And Say No To Welfare Mentality
Thinking about creative ways to earn more is hard. It's why so few people offered their ideas when requested in “Get Rich By Predicting The Future.” But I promise you that it becomes easier building wealth the more you practice.
Take a look at this priceless piece of artwork below. It's called “Into The Night” by an artist that's been featured in many major media publications. Notice the intricate battle between light and dark.
It's a metaphor of our daily struggles where we're constantly trying to overcome our laziness and fears. If you let your eyes relax, you can see darkness winning the battle.
The painting is exquisite and would sell for over $100 million if Jackson Pollock created it.
A Masterpiece By A Novice
Alas, I created this painting when I was 26 on my now rental condo balcony. I used some leftover blue, white and black paint to get creative while waiting for the rooms to dry.
Then I created a yellow and black version. I then created another, and another, and another until I ran out of paint. Finally, I cut off my ear like Van Gogh! Just kidding.
Yes, my art might look like chicken scratch to you. But to me, they are beautiful because I never thought I'd be able to create any type of art at all until I tried. If I had kept practicing my art every week for 13 years, I'm sure I would have a portfolio of amazing work. No wonder why schools try to expose kids to everything just in case something sticks.
The point is, to get rich, you must put yourself out there and create. Instead of being one of the millions of mindless drones with their heads down consuming content, be the one spending ours PRODUCING content. The creators are the ones who get rich, not the consumers.
Keep On Creating And Believe You Deserve To Be Rich
Although I gave up art as a young lad, I didn't give up my creative writing because I believed in myself. Every week someone who doesn't write for a living tells me my writing sucks.
If it's not my writing they're criticizing, it's my website design. If it's not my website design, it's my intelligence. The body blows keep coming and I keep advancing. Thank goodness because being able to do something this fun in early retirement is truly a blessing.
Now that I've come up with a new WSJ bestselling book entitled, Buy This, Not That: How To Spend Your Way To Wealth And Freedom, there are more critiques who embrace a welfare mentality. Instead of embracing an abundance mentality to get rich, they focus on the negatives. What a shame!
Despite the Rejections, I Kept On Trying
I got rejected by every literary agent I contacted back in 2010 and 2011. So instead of waiting for permission from the gatekeepers, I decided to consistently publish three times a week on Financial Samurai instead.
Then, at the end of 2019, I finally got an unsolicited inquiry from Portfolio Penguin, one of the best nonfiction imprints in the world to offer me a book deal. And now BTNT is a bestseller because I refused to quit. I believed!
If you find yourself chalking up someone's entire good fortune to luck or if you catch yourself criticizing another for their efforts, slap yourself in the face. Your welfare mentality is keeping you down. Mr. Zhang is out there hustling. So can you.
Move On From A Job You Dislike
If you want to leave a job you no longer enjoy, I recommend everybody negotiate a severance. If you negotiate a severance like I did back in 2012, you not only get a severance check, but potentially subsidized healthcare, deferred compensation, and worker training.
When you get laid off, you're also eligible for up to roughly 27 weeks of unemployment benefits. Having a financial runway is huge during your transition period.
Conversely, if you quit your job you get nothing. Check out the book, How To Engineer Your Layoff: Make A Small Fortune By Saying Goodbye. It's the only book of its kind that teaches you how to negotiate a severance.
Invest In Real Estate
Real estate is my favorite asset class to build wealth for the average person. By investing in real estate, you own an asset class that appreciates with inflation and generates income for you. With interest rates way down, the value of real estate and rental income has gone up.
If you're interested in a hands off approach to real estate investing, consider investing in a publicly traded REIT or in real estate crowdfunding. If you want to get rich, you must invest regularly and for long periods of time. Real estate is one of the best ways for the average person to build wealth.
Best Private Real Estate Investing Platforms
Fundrise: A way for all investors to diversify into real estate through private funds with just $10. Fundrise has been around since 2012 and manages over $3.2 billion for 380,000+ investors.
The real estate platform invests primarily in residential and industrial properties in the Sunbelt, where valuations are cheaper and yields are higher. The spreading out of America is a long-term demographic trend. For most people, investing in a diversified fund is the way to go.
CrowdStreet: A way for accredited investors to invest in individual real estate opportunities mostly in 18-hour cities. 18-hour cities are secondary cities with lower valuations and higher rental yields. These cities also have higher growth potential due to job growth and demographic trends.
If you are a real estate enthusiast with more time, you can build your own diversified real estate portfolio with CrowdStreet. However, before investing in each deal, make sure to do extensive due diligence on each sponsor. Understanding each sponsor's track record and experience is vital.
I've invested $954,000 in real estate crowdfunding so far, $300,000 of which is currently invested in Fundrise. My goal is to diversify my expensive SF real estate holdings and earn more 100% passive income. I plan to continue dollar-cost investing into private real estate for the next decade.
Both Fundrise and CrowdStreet are long-time sponsors of Financial Samurai.
Track Your Finances Diligently
After you abolish welfare mentality, it's time to diligently track your finances. I recommend signing up for Empower’s free financial tools so you can track your net worth, analyze your investment portfolios for excessive fees, and run your financials through their fantastic Retirement Planning Calculator.
Those who are on top of their finances build much greater wealth longer term than those who don’t. They've abolished welfare mentality to its core. I’ve used Empower since 2012. It’s the best free financial app out there to manage your money.
Abolish Welfare Mentality If You Want To Get Rich is a Financial Samurai original post. Stop thinking you can't get rich or you particular job is beneath you! The goal is to become financially independent so you can do whatever you want.
Hello,
I am 20s and your article makes me feel its possible. Thanks !
Sam, your artwork looks great. I’ve seen plaint splatter artwork that sold for thousands and even tens of thousands of dollars. I’m not artistic enough to understand. How much would it take to commission a piece of art from you? :)
Hah! Thanks Ceci.
I’ll do some commissioned original art for $10,000 each. Could be worth $100,000 or more if I ever get famous! :)
After all, my book with Penguin Random House is coming out on June 28, 2022.
How much do you want for the “light and darkness” painting? I like it!
Was thinking $5 million. But for readers longer than 5 years, I could do $4.8 million! Thinking about making it into an NFT! Thanks
In the private sector, most “professional” jobs above a certain income threshold do not get any “overtime” pay. A transit janitor making above $230K/year will never happen in the private sector. Allowing a janitor (and many other similar public transit staff) with low skillsets making top 1% salary and more than people with college/advanced degrees/skillsets just proves that the government is incompetent and inefficient, wasting money from hard working taxpayers.
Exactly my thought when I read the example. I’m Brazilian, and most people here have the “government job mentality.” Government jobs pay extremely well, and have several benefits. A federal prosecutor’s starting salary, for instance, — excluding the lavish benefits — is almost 4 times higher than what the average attorney makes. So many people’s dream is to land a government job and be set for life — besides the pay, it’s almost impossible to be fired, there are few work hours and long paid vacations, you can retire very early, and pension benefits are very high. These people study for several years until they’re able to pass the extremely competitive tests that qualify one for a public job. I have an acquaintance who worked for a regulatory agency a few decades ago. He says he worked for 3 out of the 8 daily hours he was supposed to work Monday through Friday (40 hour week). He tells me there wasn’t any extra work to do and the managers didn’t care he left early, because everybody else at his level did the same thing and the managers themselves usually just showed up for an hour and left (unless it was a Friday, which they often just didn’t bother to show up). If you want something done efficiently, don’t let the government, especially the federal government, do it.
I’m 100% behind your attitude and it’s one I’ve adopted. Some of those people you mentioned are definitely making the most out of their opportunities.
I will say though, that in California and I’m sure other areas, government jobs can often pay a LOT. In our city we’ve got people with no education making well over $100k working for towns and cities and these people get nothing done.
The student that paid cash… she paid for it from dirty money from China. That’s extremely common in California – dirty money rules chinese purchases. So I think that’s a terrible example because her parents were dirty politicians and/or businessmen and that’s how they obtained that money.
So maybe the examples aren’t perfect but I 100% agree with this attitude. I was severely underemployed a few years back and I changed my mentality and stayed positive and now am making six figures at a job I really enjoy. Of course I worked my butt off but plenty of people do that as well and don’t make it to six figure land. I’m not a techie either
This country destroys thousands of new cars, crushing and recycling them because there is not enough demand and the production lines must go on making new models every year. We have tent cities of homeless while millions of houses go empty, unused, foreclosed. There are serious issues on a macro level with the U.S. economy that your silly janitor story cannot distract the masses from.
Dumb story. First of all virtually zero employers are going to pay that much overtime. Only a reckless employer (i.e. government) that has zero accountability or budget to maintain can give so many hours at time and a half. 99% of private companies would be giving 5-8 hours over time max per week before they start looking at bringing in more staff to take care of the work.
That janitor is not normal. Even assuming he never eats/sleeps/etc, there’s only around 8760 hrs in a year. That averages out to a ludicrous $31/hr. I’m not going to complain if does a good job, but let’s be honest, nobody pays janitors $31/hr (assuming he does eat/sleep/etc, his effective payrate is much higher).
Perhaps not normal. But a reality. Believe in the reality that many people are making much more than you think. A lot of it has to do with plain old hustle.
Do you actually believe this stuff, or do you just write this way because it generates money in hate-clicks?
Like, it’s transparently obvious on a basic logical level that it’s inherently impossible for more than a small percent of people to make this sort of money. Imagine that literally every person in the US is a hard-working genius. The same low-paying jobs will still need to be worked, and money won’t come from nothing.
This logic can be used to justify literally any society where a non-zero number of people are rich.
I do believe that we can all try little bit harder and stick things out a little bit longer. What do you believe? I don’t think there’s a lot of hate. Are you hateful?
See: https://www.financialsamurai.com/the-secret-to-your-success-10-years-of-unwavering-commitment/
The janitor is a bad example for you. He was cheating the system. An investigation found that he had spent hours of his “overtime” in a closet, not working.
A simple google of his name will point you to a lot of articles about it.
I don’t know anybody who works a 40 hour work week and works for 40 hours straight. Taking a break is important to do good work and reset.
Thats some hollow motivation and wisdom you are spewing… kind of like your painting in a way; you stroke your ego saying it could be worth 100 million and give your dear readers the amazing deal of 4.8 when really, the metaphor doesn’t even work:
if you let your eyes relax, the black does dominate but not the other way around; they just become equal; stuck in a stalemate until you let your eyes relax again, and the darkness comes back to haunt you.
The same way those who actively listen to your advice will never dominate the black until they get tired of following your advice and get consumed into darkness again… in a way, your painting has a very symbolic meaning; one that is very revealing of the scam “artist” behind it.
I like the metaphor Dustin!
I’m not sure if I’m a very good scam artist since I don’t charge anything to read my posts.
However, if you have paid me any money, I’ll happily refund it. Just send me your Venmo or PayPal account.
And if you’d like to share anything about yourself, I’d love to hear it. No judgment here. It is always intriguing to hear the background of my dissenters. Thanks!
I work 95% of my work time. the rest is the 5 minutes mental break I take when I can or a quick conversation with my colleague. I live in Germany and make 32400 before Tax.
I barely can live on that, much less save any money. I am a professional in my field but not college educated and make more than the average person.
Overtime will not be compensated, if I want it compensated I have weeks of struggle for scraps. If I could earn extra money for overtime I would but its not possible. So what would you tell me?
“Imagine that literally every person in the US is a hard-working genius. The same low-paying jobs will still need to be worked, and money won’t come from nothing.”
Is their hard work and genius nothing? Surely those things generate value that could result in wealth?
There isn’t some fixed set of jobs available that “need to be worked”. If we produce more, there is more to be had.
What are the premises behind your assertion that it’s “impossible for more than a small percentage of people to make this sort of money”? There are no natural laws dictating that the supply and distribution of money take any particular shape.
Not sure why the 26 yr old who landed a $250K gig at Airbnb would be considered a non-techie. He says in his blog he giving CS-heavy lectures in his previous role. He also “made a brand new project, heavier on computer science and built in React, to show off my knowledge of front-end development”…..guy is a techie.
There was another story about a millionaire janitor in Vermont. #janitorsbekillingit
I love articles like these because they are inspiring and highlight what’s possible. However, my concern was that, in order to make that much, he had to work almost all of his day. Sacrificing his family life, sleep and health. Is this true or is anyone able to make a sizable income if they just work a little more every week.
I’ve known several people, including myself for 5 years, that worked 16 hours per day to meet our financial goals. Not everyone will want to take this path but it didn’t put undue strain on me mentally or physically. I invested all the extra money in real estate and my daughter will get her college Tuition paid from rent money. No begging the government for free money (btw I support college grants) and no worrying about student debt.
Do what’s important to you. Make sacrifices but don’t sacrifice your life.
Hi Financial Samurai,
The janitor case is simple impossible in Brazil. Here in Brazil people rarely are payed for extra hours of work, graduates included.
Yes, our work ethics suck. Actually I am not sure we can even call work ethics.
But, I agree that people usually have many more options than they like to think. It´s a relief think that you did all you can. Not just about money, but about everthing in life.
I know a girl that is not mega rich, but have more than enought money to do everthing she want with her life, but she say that she don´t have any other option except be a teacher. I don´t talk with her anymore. Any one with this kind of mind deserve what got in life.
I love stories like this. Somebody figures out how to make a lot of money quickly, jumps in without hesitation, and crushes it. Now he has a better pension and a nest egg to invest and make even more money passively. In just a few years of all-out effort. The larger bigger pension gives him leverage to invest the nest egg a little more aggressivly and he’ll have the time to learn how to invest. Of course, it could all go wrong and the money could be wasted. I have read often that people who receive windfalls are usually broke within a year.
I kind of did the same (big effort) when I was abruptly retired 12 years ago without even knowing how or what to do. I bought a house with a big mortgage and no job, rented out a suite and 2 rooms, and free-lanced and worked at minimum wage jobs. For the first few years I worked every day at about 5 different jobs, and cooked a nice dinner for my lovely adult foreign English student boarders every day. After about 5 years, I stopped working and taking boarders, got smarter and took over management of my nest egg, taught myself how to invest and was lucky, it grew very fast. And of course with compounding it grows faster every year.
At first I tried to tell friends that they could make a lot of money investing and renting the last few years before and after retirement, but they all immediately claim it is not possible, they hate managing money, they hate having renters, etc.
I used to tell the success story of my 27-year-old trainer to people (already owned a house and several rental properties, put himself through university with no debt), and the “welfare mentality” crowd still said it was impossible for young people to afford a house and he must be doing something illegal!
Now I travel 6 months of the year and practice stealth wealth (learned that the hard way). If somebody asks how I do it, I say I live in my basement and drive a 28 year old car. People are very hostile to success as many of the comments in this post show.
You missed the point of the Janitor story. His ability to sign up for all overtime available was based on seniority. His coworkers stepped aside, because he was in his final years before retirement and his retirement benefit would be based on the average salary over the past three years. When he retires, the next in line would be given this opportunity. People who designed the system did not expect this level of solidarity and self discipline from a seemingly unorganized group. This is not about hard work, this is about taking advantage of the system.
Sorry for being a party pooper here. But the outlandish total compensation packages for janitors are likely not the result of hard work but a symptom of the broken and bloated public sector where a few folks have figured out how to game the system. Next time they raise your property taxes and state income taxes you know where your money is going! I’m pretty sure that there are thousands of people working at McDonald’s and working longer and harder than this janitor and still make only a fraction. That’s where the real income inequality is!
Growing up, my parents had the welfare mentality. I was a rebel, and had the abundance mentality. I used to fight with them that they were mismanaging their finances and I could do it better for them. It turns out my sassyness as a teen was correct and we now have 7 figures. Hey we just recently joined the club, but it’s still an exclusive club to be in. I don’t miss government cheese in our house at all. Keep the f’in cheese, I want a life of frugality with lots of extra money in my house. Epic success. Heck, I can’t even say I really busted my @ss to do this, like you did Sam. I have been generally somewhat lazy in life, but I am also 40 and still working so I suppose that’s a trade off.
While I agree with hard work and having the right attitude, whats the point of making that much money if you have no spare time to spend it? Life is about balance and I hope this gentlemen takes advantage of this extra cash and invests it wisely to buy back some time in the future.
Cameras catch BART janitor who made $270,000 in a year spending hours in Powell St. closet
Very cool that he gets to make money sleeping on the job and taking so many breaks! Very smart man who is working the system to his benefit. If you think about it, how many people in the private sector really work at least eight hours a day. I would say nobody.
I wonder with the increase in San Francisco property taxes and income taxes whether we should pay him and his colleagues more like $500,000 for him to work harder? What do you think?
I worked as much overtime as I could for the first twenty years at my office. There are many here that refuse to work one minute of overtime. It is almost like having a second job. I used the money to put my wife through college. Now I have two children attending private school. I was able to buy a nice home in the San Francisco Bay Area which has appreciated nicely. I have been able to max out my 401K for many years and contribute to a 529 plan. Now I am starting to work a little less and trying to enjoy my time away from work. Most of my coworkers are still renting in San Francisco and their rent is higher than my mortgage. They are all leasing vehicles while my daily driver is a 1990 Toyota 4Runner with 180,000 miles on it. Most of them do not put anything into their 401K plan and also have little to no savings. I always hear them asking when the next pay day is going to be so they can make rent.
I disagree. Even if the guy worked all 168 hours a week, and has a high rate of say $12 an hour, and got 1.5 times pay for hours 31-80, then got double overtime for hours 81-168. If he did all of that he would be at $174224 gross. That’s math.
Plus ya know what. What are you to do, trust the authorities to give you a break? Trust the majority to let you earn more them then? If the people know what you’re doing, then at best they will let you do it and take as much profit for themselves as they can. Even now the forces are probably mustering to take this hard workers money. The people won’t let you win.
Wow I really like this post! Especially the abundance mentality quote in the beginning! I wish this perspective was more apparent to most people.
And the janitor making over $200k is pretty amazing! It shows that true hard work can really pay off. I had a work colleague who would also work as much overtime as he could. Transparent California shows that he made $194k in 2015, with a base pay of $84,200 as a sheriff’s deputy. He never earned a college degree.
I’m temping on a long-term government project and I keep attempting to convince the government leads to authorize OT now since they know they have not hired enough of us to handle the problem they hired us for. Unfortunately, the subcontractor managing the project loses money if the temps get OT because the subcontractor is not allowed to bill for more than our normal hourly rate. The government lead on this project is allowing the subcontractor to decide the terms because she does not want to be “rude,” but is going to be very confused when she is unable to get the contract done in on-time. I would work at least 10 hours of OT a week if offered.
We have a somewhat similar situation here in BC, Canada, specifically in Vancouver area, in the nursing field. An average annual salary for an RN is $73,750, but there is plenty of overtime work available. I know several nurses who are rocking it in overtime. I’d be hard pressed to suggest it is near Mr. Zhang’s but what I do notice is that they send their children to private schools, have been able to buy a home in a ridiculously highly priced market, and are investing further in real estate. Without exception every one of those nurses that I know is an immigrant (not suggesting Mr. Zhang is). I often wonder, is it that the immigrant is hungrier, more ambitious, is used to working harder? It never ceases to impress me when I read stories of immigrants who arrive penniless, unable to speak English, living in difficult situations without taking any welfare and ultimately rising above their circumstances.
Absolutely. If you’ve struggled or uprooted your life to come to a new country, you best damn not waste the opportunity!
I think Trump got away with his foul comments about women because women expect men to brag to other men about women when women aren’t around. Every woman and man I have asked about this tape has pretty much said the same thing. So Trump escaped because all men copped it generally.
I was forced to retire and for a while I was depressed. I’m in a situation where I can’t work in a job or I lose my 40k pension. Since I had a lump sum of 150k I did the only thing I was allowed to do in my situation. I focussed on the house I own outright. I have become a builder and will be doubling the value of my house by the time I’m done. I live in a ridiculous housing market and expect the tiny house to be valued at 1.2 million in the next ten years. Since I took the power over my life back, my health has improved out of sight. I have been so frugal for so much of my life that it is a no brainer negotiating with tradesmen and sub contractors and for better materials.
Your artwork is really cool!
I’d be curious to see the hour breakdown. If extra hours are paid at 2x from the very first hour (pretty rare), in order to double your base (which he more than does but let’s say that’s because he works on Christmas at 3x), you’d need a daily 16 hour shift. That leaves 8 hours to commute, eat, shower, run errands, sleep, and maybe get some family/social time.
I admire the hustle if that is going to be a 5 year thing then buy a house and slow down.