Get Rich Without Working: The Dark Fantasy of Today

And how to get rich by actually working for it

“Make money while you sleep!” — That slogan became popular in the longest secular bull market in the US stock market, which ran from August 1982 to December 1999. During that 17-year timespan, stocks returned an inflation-adjusted return of 1,128%.

Isn’t that the dream? To get rich without working?

In Bull: A History of the Boom and Bust, 1982–2004, the financial journalist and author, Maggie Maher, observed that dream started during the 80s:

“Baby boomers dreamed of retiring at 50 while Gen Xers invented their very own version of the American dream: wealth without working at all.”

With the volatile and inflation-ridden 70s in the rearview mirror, investors gobbled up stocks. During the 80s and 90s, investing became mainstream. At some point, Warren Buffett was more popular than most pop stars!

During those decades, we planted the seeds of the subsequent generations’ ideas about investing.

“I want to be rich but I don’t want to work.”