Build or Buy Equity in a Business

Build or Buy Equity in a Business

If you don’t own a piece of a business, you don’t have a path towards financial freedom.

Why is owning equity in a business important to becoming rich?

It’s ownership versus wage work. If you are paid for renting out your time, even lawyers and doctors, you can make some money, but you’re not going to make the money that gives you financial freedom. You’re not going to have passive income where a business is earning for you while you are on vacation. [10]

This is probably one of the most important points. People seem to think you can create wealth—make money through work. It’s probably not going to work. There are many reasons for that.

Without ownership, your inputs are very closely tied to your outputs. In almost any salaried job, even one paying a lot per hour like a lawyer or a doctor, you’re still putting in the hours, and every hour you get paid.

Without ownership, when you’re sleeping, you’re not earning. When you’re retired, you’re not earning. When you’re on vacation, you’re not earning. And you can’t earn nonlinearly.

If you look at even doctors who get rich (like really rich), it’s because they open a business. They open a private practice. The private practice builds a brand, and the brand attracts people. Or they build some kind of a medical device, a procedure, or a process with an intellectual property.

Essentially, you’re working for somebody else, and that person is taking on the risk and has the accountability, the intellectual property, and the brand. They’re not going to pay you enough. They’re going to pay you the bare minimum they have to, to get you to do their job. That can be a high bare minimum, but it’s still not going to be true wealth where you’re retired but still earning. [78]

Owning equity in a company basically means you own the upside. When you own debt, you own guaranteed revenue streams and you own the downside. You want to own equity. If you don’t own equity in a business, your odds of making money are very slim.

You have to work up to the point where you can own equity in a business. You could own equity as a small shareholder where you bought stock. You could also own it as an owner where you started the company. Ownership is really important. [10]

Everybody who really makes money at some point owns a piece of a product, a business, or some IP. That can be through stock options if you work at a tech company. That’s a fine way to start.

But usually, the real wealth is created by starting your own companies or even by investing. In an investment firm, they’re buying equity. These are the routes to wealth. It doesn’t come through the hours. [78]

建立或购买企业股权

如果你不拥有一部分企业的股权，你就没有通向财务自由的道路。

为什么拥有企业股权对致富如此重要？

这归根结底是所有权与工资劳动的区别。如果你只是靠租用你的时间来获得报酬，哪怕你是律师或医生，你或许能赚到一些钱，但你不会赚到能让你实现财务自由的钱。你不会有被动收入——那种当你在度假时企业还在为你赚钱的收入。[10]

这是可能最为重要的一点。人们似乎认为你可以通过工作来创造财富，但这种想法可能行不通。原因有很多。

没有所有权时，你的投入与产出密切相关。在几乎所有的薪酬职位中，哪怕是每小时报酬很高的工作，比如律师或医生，你仍然需要不断投入时间，并根据每个小时获得报酬。

没有所有权，当你睡觉时，你无法赚钱；当你退休时，你无法赚钱；当你度假时，你无法赚钱。而且你也无法实现非线性收入增长。

即使是那些真正富有的医生，往往是因为他们开办了自己的企业——建立私人诊所。私人诊所逐渐形成品牌，品牌则吸引了更多客户。或者他们开发了某种医疗设备、手术流程或具有知识产权的技术。

本质上，当你为别人工作时，别人承担了风险，拥有责任、知识产权和品牌。而他们不会给你足够多的报酬，只会给你做完工作所需的最低报酬。这个最低报酬可以很高，但它仍然无法让你实现真正的财富，也就是在退休后仍然有收入的状态。[78]

拥有公司股权基本上意味着你拥有了向上的空间。当你拥有债务时，你拥有的是保底的收入流以及可能的下行风险。你应该去拥有股权。如果你不拥有一家企业的股权，那么你致富的几率非常渺茫。

你需要努力达到能够拥有企业股权的地步。你可以作为小股东，通过购买股票来拥有股权；你也可以作为创始人，通过创建公司来拥有股权。所有权真的非常重要。[10]

所有真正赚到钱的人，在某个时候都会拥有某种产品、一家企业或一些知识产权的一部分。这可以通过在科技公司工作时获得的股票期权来实现，这是一个不错的开始。

但通常，真正的财富是通过创办自己的公司或投资实现的。在投资公司中，他们购买股权。这些才是通向财富的途径。财富并不来自于你投入的小时数。[78]