The Great Squeeze — a generational crisis

Wow, I LOVED reading about all the once-in-a-lifetime experiences from To view this email as a web page, [click here]() [IWT Header] {NAME}, Wow, I LOVED reading about all the once-in-a-lifetime experiences from yesterday's email. What was less wonderful was how few readers had detailed plans on when their NEXT once-in-a-lifetime experience was going to be. This is the difference between letting life happen to you vs. proactively building your Rich Life. Which approach is more likely to add once-in-a-lifetime experiences to your life? If you don't have the plans (and the means), do you think amazing things will just magically happen? Everyone says they want a Rich Life. Many people can even describe what that looks like. But most people never actually take action. This quirk of psychology has fascinated me for years. If you ask what’s stopping them from building their Rich Life, you get the usual surface-level answers: - "Because I have crazy debt from college..." - "Who can get ahead when you’re struggling and overworked?" - "It must be nice to be able to go on vacation..." - "The rich are soaking us..." - "Easy for you to say. You don't have kids." - And some meme about boomers It’s important to know that these are all TRUE. But the real problem here — the fundamental issue — is deeper than all of this. It's deeper than you or me or any one person. The real problem is that the rules of success that worked for our parents don't work anymore. And we're all facing a huge squeeze because of it. That's what I want to dive deep on in this email. * * * The usual advice people give us — ZzzZzZZzz How many times have you been told some variation on these old rules for success? OLD ADVICE: "Get into college." - The promise: College used to be the blueprint for success and happiness. Just get into college and you were set. Now there’s a whole generation of college graduates overwhelmed with tens of thousands of dollars of debt, trapped by low-wage jobs, working to pay off loans for the next 30 years...with no light at the end of the tunnel. - When that fails: “You didn’t choose the right major.” Funny, they didn’t mention graduation rates, interest rates, how much the typical graduate can expect to make from that major, and the generationally high cost of housing. Weird. I wonder why they skipped mentioning that stuff. [Student loan situation] Or this classic gem... OLD ADVICE: "Get a good job and stick with it for 40 years." - The promise: Work for a big, respectable company like IBM, stay there for 30 years, then retire with a pension and benefits. (One of my relatives told me this when I was in college. I looked at him like he was insane: “Let me get this straight — you’re telling me I have to work at a job I don’t even love...doing mindless paper pushing...to eventually retire in 40 years? And THEN I can do what I want? No thanks. I don’t want to trade my best years for a pension.” But, since I’m Indian, I didn’t actually say any of that. I just smiled and said, “That’s interesting, Uncle.”) - When that fails: “Ugh, you can’t stick with anything. You should just be happy to have a job! When I was your age, I took anything I could get. Look, here’s what you need to do: Put on a suit, walk into every business in this city, and hand the manager your resume. That’s how we did it in my day...” If you try to explain what it’s really like out there, suddenly they get quiet. “Wait, what? You don’t have a pension? No, that can’t be. I don’t know how I’d do it without my pension...” Or try telling them how employers expect us to be available 24x7 via Slack and email. “Oh, I wouldn’t like that very much.” Um, we know, Walter. How odd that they didn’t mention any of those things — because they never had our experience. Show them the facts, and they stammer, “Well...you should just try harder. That’s what we did.” [Job layoffs surge 35%] And my favorite: OLD ADVICE: "Cut back on lattes!" - The promise: “$3 a day adds up! It starts with the small things! What if you made coffee at home? After 329 years, you would have $100,000 in savings! Then you can retire in Florida!” - When that fails: “You didn’t try hard enough. In fact, you should cut back on eating out, vacations, clothes, and lotion. Hobbies? LOL, so self-indulgent. Go for a walk in your public park and play with the dirt. It’s organic, you know. And free! BTW, if you don’t save 70% of your money and retire at 38, you’re a failure.” [If you waste money on coffee] I have to say, I love any philosophy that helps Americans save more money. But if your entire worldview is to cut back on tiny expenses for the next 40 years to defer life until you retire, and you spend 5 hours per week running Monte Carlo investment simulations because you hate your job...you might have taken a wrong turn in life. That’s not the life for me. And what happens if we actually follow all this advice? What do we get if we follow it perfectly, and go to college and get a good job and cut back on our lattes? An oversized, cookie-cutter house in suburbia? 2 cars, 2 kids, and an hour-long commute to work? Hoping we can take a vacation with our precious 10 days of vacation, squeezed like sardines into our economy-class seats? The brutal truth is that even if we follow all this old advice and “win”... we actually lose. You and I intuitively know this advice doesn’t work. We know it because we can look around at the people 5 years older than us: - They followed all the advice, worked hard and graduated…saddled with debt. - They trudge to a job that’s fine — but doesn’t challenge them, doesn’t excite them, and will never let them escape the rat race. - Yet...they just keep following the same advice. Average people take average advice and they get average results. It becomes a vicious cycle, where we start spinning our wheels — “What if I make the wrong decision and I’m stuck with it for the next 40 years?” — and suddenly we’re paralyzed. I CALL THIS THE GREAT SQUEEZE It's the slow-burning trap that so many people are stuck in today. You know The Great Squeeze if someone asks you, “How are you?” and your answer is, “Tired.” I know I don’t mind working hard, but I want to know there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. This is why today’s work style is so broken. It doesn’t matter how hard you “hustle” if the rules of the game are stacked against you. It's no wonder why there’s such an epidemic of anxiety, overwhelm, and unrelenting burnout. And it's no wonder why so many ambitious, intelligent people get stuck. What are we supposed to do when it always feels like one step forward and two steps back? YES, we can take responsibility for our actions. And YES, we can do more. But what should we do? And how do we know it will work? The worst part is that the people who were supposed to help us — our parents and teachers and counselors — did nothing. They couldn’t. They didn’t have the answer! It’s not just that people are intentionally giving you bad advice. They’re not being malicious. They actually think they’re helping you. But the advice is still horrible. AND WE KEEP LISTENING TO IT! Now the good news... OK, depressing as the Great Squeeze is, it's not all doom-and-gloom. There is a way to escape this rat race. But it means you have to take advice from winners. For example, early on, I knew I didn’t want to work a 9-5 job where I had to wake up to an alarm clock, go on a long commute, and settle for 10 days of vacation every year. But when I asked people what else I could do, they looked at me like I was crazy. I finally realized: If you want to live a different life, ask people who are already doing it. Why would I ask a 9-5 employee how to escape the 9-5? They have no fucking idea how. Amidst all the dire warnings of the sky falling, I discovered a small group of people winning: - They earn more money than they ever thought possible - They control their time. No stressful commutes, no early-morning, bleary-eyed meetings - They’re building an ASSET that continues growing, even when they travel for a month at a time Yes! I'm talking about starting a business — aka, a machine that pays you to live the life you want. And to show you how to get started, I'm hosting a free workshop on "How to create a second income stream" next Monday, Sep 13. This is for people ready to build one of the most powerful and flexible types of assets — a business that keeps paying you no matter what you're doing (working, hanging with family, on vacation, even sleeping). Don't worry if you don't have an idea for a business. Don't worry if you don't have tons of free time. You don't need either. In this online workshop, I'll show you how to go from "no idea" to your first sale in less than a week. The specific steps, day by day, to launch a business within five days. Then how to scale up and automate your new income stream. I'll also share a sneak peek of Earnable, my step-by-step system for how to do all of this. You can email me questions at [ramit.sethi@iwillteachyoutoberich.com]() (subject: Workshop Question). I'll answer the best ones live. This is a one-time-only event. [>> Click here to reserve your spot]() [Signature] P.S. Bottom line takeaway: We can either complain and wish for our lives to be different...or take control of our situation right now. I choose to take control of my destiny. P.P.S. Here are the details again for the upcoming live workshop: EVENT: "How to create a second income stream" workshop DATE: Monday, Sep 13. One night only. TIME: 8pm Eastern / 5pm Pacific ([see your time zone]()) COST: Free, but do need to register. [Click here](). See you then!   [Logo] [insta]() [Twitter]() [twitter]() [youtube]() [Linkedin]() [podcast]() This email was sent to [{EMAIL} .]() If you no longer wish to receive these emails you may [unsubscribe]( at any time. I Will Teach You To Be Rich 548 Market St #89946 San Francisco, CA 94104-5401