Downside with being self employed is that it’s not easy I feel…Being self employed now and being one of those AMT stock option people before, any job is so much less stress than working for yourself. Healthcare WAS a total bitch if anyone will even bother covering you.

Also, people tend to see only the successful business people and obviously, those people are doing well compared to the 7 others who failed…

Best advice I’d give anyone is have 1 spouse pay the piper for a stable, good benefit job. The other, start a business and be self employed and use all the tax benefits the tax code offers you. We considered leasing a car as well for the tax benefits (since we use 1 for the business), but am too broke to afford that. You don’t need more tax deductions when you income is already 0.

Also, to replace say a 100k salary, think of how many apps, consulting hours a person would have to do…It’s usually immense and someone would probably make more money working at In N Out, seriously…

Being a doctor sounds great, until you get sued (I know a doctor who was sued), but your income is still very high as a doctor and you’re probably paying a > 50% marginal rate also.

That said, the only way to really reach extreme or higher levels of wealth is all about starting a company…

Even athletes or entertainers/actors hold nothing against entrepreneurs who make it big.