One of the most important things to remember is that if you want to build up wealth, it's different than retirement income, and if you're on the former side, you want to start accumulating money now. If you're trying to live off your portfolio now, volatility can become highly personal, as a 20% drop in the market over time isn't a buying opportunity, it's actually the money you need for rent and living.
In 1996, journalist Mark Singer was assigned by The New Yorker, where he had worked for 20 years, to shadow Donald Trump for several months and produce an in-depth profile of the then media-savvy U.S. businessman. Singer wrote what became one of the magazine's legendary pieces a sharp portrait concluding that the tycoon had achieved the ultimate luxury: an existence unmolested by the rumbling of a soul.
The Reddit user expressed confusion over how others scale wealth to $50 million, acknowledging that merely saving and investing won’t achieve that level.