Wealthy use debt to buy future cash flow everyone else uses debt to buy stuff (2020)
This is a very specific story, one clearly designed to sell a very specific vision of success.  I could write an equally plausible one where Sam’s website got hacked because he was too busy working to keep up with Wordpress patches and it got blacklisted in every search engine.  That vending machine turns into a huge time sink, because his spots keep going out of business or have too much competition - he can pay someone to scout, but that easily eats up a few months of income every time he has to move. Then his beach house gets hit with a bad storm, and insurance will cover the damage, but he’s not making money on it, and now he gets to play “construction project manager”, dealing with the GC and all of the other construction-related items.<p>Meanwhile, yeah, sure, Marks not building equity in businesses, but that car and that boat have bought him a good social life and correspondingly, a good professional network.  Turns out the guy in the next slip is also a doctor, and thinking about getting into private practice on the side from their regular job.  The hours would be long, but if they can get the practice established, they’ll be their own bosses.  Mark has tons of free time working his 9-5, so he says what the hell, let’s give it a shot.<p>Sam couldn’t do this because he’s got too many irons in the fire.  Mark might fail, but he’s got a good network now, and he’s going to be building his own relationships with his patients.  Also he’s young!  Worst case, sells the car, sells the boat and eats the loss - he doesn’t have obligations that are hanging around his neck.<p>I’m not saying my scenario is probable, but it’s equally as probable as the fantasy outlined in the article.