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Author: [[Mark Podolsky]] Full Title: Dirt Rich Category: #books Suppose making a lot of money is your goal and suppose you make enough so that making more has no marginal utility. Then it would be foolish to continue to have making money be your goal. People who acquire things beyond their usefulness not only will derive little or no marginal gains from these acquisitions, but they also will experience negative consequences, as with any form of gluttony. So, because of the law of diminishing returns, it is only natural that seeking something new, or seeking new depths of something old, is required to bring us satisfaction. —Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Hedge Fund Much of our lives are spent in the elusive quest for money. We want more, more, and then more. Dollars lose their meaning. Once we have enough, they eventually become nothing but an addictive video game. Dollars aren’t an end in themselves. You can be successful as long as you bring in enough money to continue your business and be able to do what you want to do in life. Some people, in this Chinese tradition, become hungry ghosts after they die because they were ungenerous and refused to share with those in need, others because they were simply greedy and avaricious. So the question I often ask myself is, “How much is enough?” The answer, I think, for most people anyway, is $10K/month in passive income. Ideally, $20K/month in passive income would be the ultimate goal, but that $10K/month will get most people completely free to work when they want, with whom they want, and where they want. I’d go home after work and not even have the energy to speak to my wife. I’d be so run-down that she would almost have to force me to eat dinner rather than go directly to bed. I worked like a man with a fire under his butt, and those eighteen months transformed my entire life forever. I felt like a hero to my wife and baby boy. I created systems and blueprints that worked with great reliability. Time and time again, I kept finding amazing land deals using my systems. And then, I figured out how to turn these deals into passive income—the holy grail of income! Now, don’t get me wrong, I made a ton of mistakes along the way. In the early days, I learned the hard way. I fell on my face more than a few times. But I just picked myself up and kept moving forward. And now, learning how to work smart has paid off big-time, because the blueprints and shortcut systems that I have put in place prevent all those costly mistakes. In 2005, after making an average of more than $800K a year flipping raw land and working only a few hours a day, I began ramping up my material lifestyle,

AI Summary

Dirt Rich by Mark Podolsky presents wisdom from the contemplative traditions.

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