Climbing the Wealth Ladder
I understand this isn&#x27;t the point of the article, but it seems like a roundabout way of saying &quot;don&#x27;t overspend&quot;. This part in particular bothers me :<p>&gt; More importantly though, the best way to climb the wealth ladder is to spend money according to your level.<p>As far as I (a non-economist) can personally tell, any notion of climbing up some abstract wealth ladder is synonym with a salary increase for the vast majority of people. Other methods, whether they involve quantity of free time or already-available money, are intrinsically tied to the quality of your job or, failing that, the quality of your parents&#x27; or partner&#x27;s jobs.<p>Personal net worth, while definitely an important factor in this equation, is far less so than income in my opinion. A fiscally irresponsibly professional worker living from paycheck to paycheck has &quot;grocery freedom&quot; while a person with 10,000$ of accumulated wealth and no income whatsoever (let&#x27;s say they are between jobs) is far more likely to buy the store brand margarine. Similarly, the former will most likely not achieve &quot;travel freedom&quot; without decades of hard work, of careful spending, of saving, investing, etc.<p>Simply put, no amount of &quot;not carelessly booking flights&quot; will turn you into Jay-Z, let alone into that small business owner across the street with the McMansion and the gaudy Christmas decorations. The undisputed &quot;best way&quot; to climb the wealth ladder is to receive large amounts of cash from some external source.