As the ones I know, do.

For some reason they prefer crypto and meme stocks though

Yes, you can make more, and more consistent, money working than playing cards. And while you're working, close your eyes, and picture me rollin'.

My advice has always been to invest in real estate. By the way I'm a college dropout. Got two years of credit at Oklahoma U. and some random college credits from Miami of Oxford, U of Dayton, Fresno State and Cal State Bakersfield. Probably a total of three years being a college student. My real education came from the poolroom!

The poker life was tame compared to managing rentals. I had some doozy of tenants that forced me to take drastic measures more than once. My most important lesson was to chose my tenants wisely and not take the first guy who wanted to hand me three months rent (in cash) in advance. Early on, one guy driving a Caddy gave me six months cash up front. He turned out to be a drug dealer with a drug addicted wife. First it was the late night fights, broken doors and holes in the walls. After that it was early morning police raids. After he bailed out I paid him to leave! The worst were the tenants who simply refused to pay their rent. I dealt with some of them in ways that skirted the law, but after being lied to so many times I didn't care. Guess what, it worked!

I've now sold all my rentals, except for four houses. Two are our personal homes (one here and one in the Philippines) and two are rentals. Glad to be done with that chapter in my life. The good news is it left me well retired. And that's a good thing when you're in your 70's.

But this will not prove which is easier (as per the OP) just which has happened more.

True, I did equivocate and things rambled onto the actual frequency of 300k vs. some random w-2 job.

That was a side show since so many posters just didn't understand how the world actually works and I spent time trying to explain MLPs, borrowing against equity, QBI, investment vehicles, etc... to people who have no idea what I'm even referring to. I need to refrain from explaining things to the willful ignorant.

I guess there should be a correlation between effort and results, but how much is anyone's guess. But I'd assume somewhere in the 75% range?

Sounds like you just needed a bigger bankroll

Plus not suck.

No you're twisting your argument - you don't seem to understand. Done arguing a stupid topic anyways - waste of time.

Yeah, this.

I have the lowest salary of any of my close friends* (except for one stay-at-home parent), I work longer hours than almost all of them, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I get paid to watch, photograph and write about sports. If I was independently wealthy, most of what I do as a job is what I would do as a hobby.


*Granted, most of them live in the Bay Area, where a $200K salary is the equivalent to what I make here.

You find it odd because u think “poker players” and professional poker players are the same thing when they are not

There are actually far more poker players who think playing professionally is a bad idea and would never consider it than there are professionals .

Excellent work by coordi and OP ITT

1 No one thinks that.

2 How is that relevant?

How do you figure bankruptcy isn't a big deal, especially when many health problems require follow up care meaning your initial treatment/diagnosis is covered but the follow up treatments eventually bankrupt you and you cannot afford them.

How many people do you know who have made it halfway though their chemo treatment and then had insurance run out? They paid their high deductible, had insurers pay for a few treatments and then were told to pound sand?

America is literally the only first world country in the world where people with supposed health insurance have to post go fund me pages for common health problems.

None?

Though if you're saying it happens, I believe you.

But if so, that just shows how having insurance or not through one's employer doesn't really matter that much. I can't imagine this happens only to people to self-employed people with insurance.

I think a lot of this comes down to aptitude, personality, type of intelligence, and priorities.

For some people, playing poker is easily the most profitable thing they will ever do. For others, they could make far more money elsewhere for the same amount of effort with far less variance.

I think you are a good person so I am going to literally put this as politely as I can.

I think you are projecting your intelligence onto the general population far too much, i bet a vast majority of the population is not as smart as you are and does not manage money as well as you. Furthermore I think you are vastly overestimating how much is "wasted" according to your standards.

There are lots of people of modest means and modest intelligence whose only sin is wanting children. Children are one of the most expensive things people can want in life.

People who are not the smartest, and have never gone to college or anything like that who works at menial jobs, have a spouse who does a part time menial job and they are trying to raise two kids. Both are hard working, but their jobs do not pay much and kids are expensive.

A $10,000 medical bill is huge for them.

Once again there you go commenting on something you don't understand. Your lack of comprehension does not change the validity of my argument.

LOL arrogance and ignorance make the funniest combination. There is literally nothing funnier.

Yes, I will say that to your face if you ever want to pay for dinner.

I realize most people are not as smart as me and don't have as much money as me, but couldn't most of them find a smart person to help them? I've helped lots of people manage their money over the years.

It's not a sin to want children, or to want a Ferrari (though personally I never wanted either). Both things are very expensive though, and that doesn't seem too tough to figure that out. If you buy a Ferrari and then don't have money for your own health care, not many people are going to contribute to your Go Fund Me program.

Huh? My brother in law is a UAW worker who literally turns a wrench for Ford who cleared over $300,000 last year. He doesn't have a college degree, had no connections. Yes he worked lots of over time and holidays, but he gets off more time than most office workers. His job is simple to anyone with a basic mechanical mind. His "secret" is that he is willing to work when others aren't. Others in the same position make far less than him, but it is simply because they have other priorities.

A poker player has to make those same choices.

This deserves more love.

Success in life has a lot to do with finding something you do well that also can be manipulated enough to pay well.

That is why I say that table selection matters a lot in life. A person can make a very discernable difference in their bottom line by willing to job hop and be particular in the job they work at.

I’m done with debating with dense people as it doesn’t even matter anyway.

Doesn’t matter if you have a 10K deductible policy that is company paid versus just paying for one self employed. The self employed one is very cheap $75ish. So it’s not like “omg gosh but what about the healthcare!”

Which is how this dumb conversation started anyhow. But then you upped the ante with some weird sidetrack about your life ending if you got hit with the 10K

You probably have no clue what he does at Ford - Ford isn't paying someone 300k a year unless they are making 3-4x that for the company. Hard work isn't a secret to success - there's plenty of immigrants that out work everyone here and barely make 100k. Smart work is all that matters - there's guys that outwork Jeff Bezos yet Jeff makes more in an hour then they make over 10 years. The goal should always be how do I make the most amount of money in 20-30 hours of work per week. Working 50+ hours a week for a company is not the way to go no matter how much money you make.