What does “rich” or “wealthy” mean? How much money do you need to be “rich?” What are the various levels of “rich?” Do you even need to be “rich?”
I’m not Tai Lopez, Grant Cardone, Dan Lok, or anyone like that, nor do I want to be. I don’t teach get–rich systems. I teach long-term masculine happiness, for which a certain amount of money is required, specifically $75,000 per year in location–independent income with zero bad debt, a decent amount of emergency savings and some investments. Without these things it’s going to be extremely difficult for you to be long-term happy as a man in the modern era.
However, you can clearly see these Alpha Male 2.0 requirements do not include things like making six figures or being a multimillionaire…
…unless that is something that would honestly make you happy.
I’m going to address those of you in my audience who want to make (or already make) high six-figure incomes and want to have (or already have) a net worth of $1 million or more. Some of you in my audience, perhaps most of you, don’t want or need this amount of money, which is fine. For you guys, make sure you make at least $75,000 per year location-independent income, pay off your debts, get some money in savings and solid investments, and carry on. You don’t even need to read the rest of this article.
However! I know there are some of you who are like me in that $75,000 per year in income and a little bit of money in savings just isn’t nearly enough for you to live the life that would make you the happiest. You’d rather make $100,000 a year, $250,000 a year, $800,000 a year, $1.5 million a year, or perhaps even more. You’d like to be worth several million dollars in net worth, or more. That’s fine too. Today’s article is for you.
The first thing you need to do is to ensure that your desires for this amount of money are truly coming from within you and not from external Societal Programming. You might really want this money, or you might simply be unconsciously reacting to bullshit SP from movies, TV shows, get-rich internet gurus, your social circle (particularly if you went to a really expensive college) and in some rare cases, your parents.
You need to take a hard, deep, and perhaps painful look inward and ask yourself if you want this money because you really want it and not because you think you “should” want it or because you feel you need to measure up to someone else or a particular group of people.
When I was young I fell victim to wanting a business that I was supposed to want (a big building with my name on it with a bunch of employees, debt, and infrastructure) instead of a business that would actually make me happy (three Alpha Male 2.0 businesses that are location-independent, high-income, don’t require me to work hard unless I want to, with zero employees and zero infrastructure). Don’t make the mistake I did when I was not very self-aware in my twenties. Make damn sure these desires are truly coming from your internal being and not from external influences.
Next, you need to determine how much money you want and assign some real numbers to it. This can be done either with net worth figures or income figures. Factoring the different levels of net worth is a little complicated so I’ll do this with income instead.
All of these below descriptions assume you are making money as a self-employed, location-independent Alpha Male 2.0 with zero bad debt and paying very low overall taxes. They also assume you don’t support other humans like small children or a stay-at-home wife.
These descriptions do not apply if you’re the standard corporate slave making a high salary at a corporate job where you’re paying most of your income in taxes, are stuck in a particular city in order to pay your bills and have very little day-to-day freedom.
$75,000 per year as an Alpha Male 2.0 means you’re not paying very much in taxes, you’re location-independent, and you’re making a decent amount more than the median man in the USA, which is all good. If you live in the Western world you probably live in an average home, drive an average-but-decent car, and you can travel a little but not all the time. If you live in a cheap place like Thailand or Columbia then you live very well with a higher-than-average lifestyle, but still not like a rich guy.
$100,000 per year as an Alpha Male 2.0 is just like the above guy except you’ve got a lot of extra spending money to use for things like sugar daddy game (but only if you meet both of the two requirements for that), nicer clothes, a nicer car, and so on. You’re also putting a lot more money away into investments (or at least should be!) which is better for your long-term future.
$150,000 per year as an Alpha Male 2.0 means an average-but-decent house like the above guys, but you can now pretty much buy whatever you want unless your desires are unusual. Any car you want, any clothing or toys you want are pretty much all yours for the taking. You can travel wherever and whenever you want and stay at pretty much any nice hotels you want (within reason) but you can’t fly first class.
$250,000 per year as an Alpha Male 2.0 means you’re making $20,000 per month before taxes. It’s at this level where you can actually start living somewhere nice, like a big fancy house or amazing apartment with a cherished view (though not in an overly expensive, top-tier city like New York or Hong Kong; if you live there you’re still living in a small apartment). At this point you’re putting serious money away every month into your investments (or again, at least you should be) and your long-term future is very bright.
$500,000 per year as an Alpha Male 2.0 means you’re actually in the upper class now. You’re living pretty much anywhere you want and can do pretty much whatever you want with your money. You can drive around in limousines if you want, stay at any hotel in the world, even fly first class on occasion as long as you don’t go too crazy (remember that first class/business class tickets from the USA to Asia can easily cost over $10,000 for one person). The only thing you can’t do is buy a yacht or a private jet, but pretty much any other financial fantasy you have at this point can be met at the $500,000 per year income level as an Alpha Male 2.0.
$800,000 per year as an Alpha Male 2.0 is when you start to leave the world of money and enter into the world of finance. Much of your time and focus here is spent managing your investments, businesses, and financial empire. Unless you were very stupid as you built your infrastructure, you probably don’t even need to work anymore at this level since you’ve got so much savings, investments, residual income, and/or low-work income. You’re probably not really motivated by money or income like you were before, and instead are more motivated by things like making a difference in people’s lives, giving back (charity), increasing market share, or going up against other guys in your industry (friendly competition). The lifestyle here isn’t much different than the $500,000 per year level except that you can have multiple nice homes all over the world instead of just one.
$1 million per year or more as an Alpha Male 2.0 is just like the above except now, if you really want, you can do crazy rich-guy stuff like buy (or lease) things like a yacht, a private jet, million-dollar cars, and so on. Most guys at this level (and even some of the lower levels) don’t really think about money as an expense anymore, at least in their personal lives (in their businesses it’s still a factor). As above, their focus is not on money so much as other things in their lives like business growth, personal growth, charity, family, legacy, and so on.
Once you pick a monetary goal (that you know is coming from YOU and not externally), the final item you need to determine, and the most important of them all, is how hard you’re willing to work and how much you’re willing to sacrifice to accomplish that goal.
It’s easy for guys to get excited and say they want a six-figure income and will do “whatever it takes,” but as soon as they realize they’ll have to do things like work 60 hours a week for several years straight with virtually no vacations, cut way back on sex and women, cut way back on their cherished hobbies, cut way back on spending hours at the gym, can’t have a girlfriend, can’t get a wife, and can’t have any kids for a long time… well, then things usually change.
Those of you who know my history know that I was raised in a financially strapped family when I was little and being poor made me extremely angry and uncomfortable when I was young. I made a solid pact with myself at age 18 that I would not live my life like that, and I set a ten-year goal to make $100,000 per year by age 28 without having to go to college. I was fucking serious, and I busted my ass in my twenties and sacrificed a lot. But it worked and I hit my goal one year early at age 27.
I spent quite a while at the $100,000 per year level until I realized that wasn’t enough to truly make me long-term happy (and I knew this need was coming from within me, not SP). I converted from beta male to Alpha Male 2.0 when I was 35 and set a new, higher income goal. (Not gonna tell you what that was. If you want to know why, read this.) Again, I got really serious and busted my ass. I hit that goal quite a while back, and once again I’m in a new socio-economic level.
The point is that I didn’t whine or make excuses about how much extra work high income takes. And I didn’t set a bunch of high goals and then back out once I realized how much work and focus was required. It takes a lot of work. You need to want it bad. Otherwise just stick with the $75,000 per year goal and take it easy once you get there.
I have some things planned for 2020 for those of you who want not only the Alpha Male 2.0 lifestyle, but the high–income Alpha 2.0 lifestyle. More on this soon.
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Hey Caleb, do you have any measurements for net worth that correspond to the yearly incomes above?
E.g. my goal is to be worth $10m split into:
$2m for a house
$800k for collecting cars and
$7.2m for a monthly spending of $10k/month for the next 60 years on things such as travelling, personal projects and hobbies, charity, legacy building and so forth.
This is my ultimate goal. However for a start I would for sure like to reach an income of $750k a year.
Here’s hoping you will publish a new book in the future, sort of follow-up or upgrade to the Unchained Man, which is in my opinion the best book written for men in our time.
Could you recommend business book to help us achieve our goal since you dont sell business book?
Not really. Like I said, conversations about net worth get very complicated. Net worth in what? Investments? Real Estate? Your own home? Your own business? What % of the net worth is liquid? What % do you allow yourself to spend? What’s your annual return on your net worth? Residual or partially?
And so on. It gets messy when trying to generalize.
It’s coming…
Here and here.
Caleb, correct me if I am wrong, but I am thinking that the lower end of these income breakpoints (<= $250,000, possibly $500,000) are primarily achieved through a model A business (e.g. consulting). Once you get to the $500,000 to $800,000, I am having trouble wrapping my head around how this income can be attained through a model A business in most cases. I feel like in most cases you need a model B business to generate incomes nearing the $1 million/year mark unless you're doing something extremely crafty with your model A business.
@EL: My personal opinion is to take the income breakpoints presented in the article, and tack on an extra 0 at the end (e.g. $75,000 income -> $750,000 net worth, $150,000 income -> $1,500,000 net worth, etc.). Not a perfect system by any means, but I would say those figures are sufficient to continue your current/targeted lifestyle based on income into old age, or at the very least maintain a good lifestyle into your 70s and 80s. This is assuming you retire around 65-70 and plan on living another 10 years.
sweet. i want it all.
What really didn’t make you happy at the 75k or 100k and you needed more? You are the type of guy who hates spending doesn’t care about fancy cars or stuff and making money just for the sake of making more money isn’t something that truly makes someone happy.
I’m asking this because if someone like you who hates spending and doesn’t buy too much on the hobby stuff ie cars motorcycles etc then most of men will also be unhappy at the 75k or 100k scale who can’t wait to spend on brand new car etc.
Also someone who makes 75k/100k can play the sugar daddy game easily. Spending 500 or even 1k a month(which is too high you can play with lower amounts) on sugarbabes isn’t that much on that scale
Interesting. Somehow when I got to 150k per month part it struck me as perfectly and specifically tailored for me. To be free and to do what I want, how I want, as much as I want. Never wanted millionaire life. Sounds too much of a hassle. But to be free! To travel the world, to meet people, beautiful women, spend time as I wish while not worrying about finances. Now that’s a dream come true. 🙂 I guess I’ve found my sweet spot.
What is the yearly income upper limit you can achieve with an A2.0 business structure? I remember you stating that if one pretended to grow past a certain point, a more traditional business structure would be necessary.
Incorrect! I know a business coach who makes $3 million a year. Model A. Google Alan Weiss. He makes around $2 million a year with no employees working out of his home. Pure Model A. You can make shitloads of money under Model A… if you really want to.
Correct. The biggest reasons was that I wanted to travel anywhere in the world literally whenever I wanted without having to worry about cost in any way. $75K per year wasn’t going to do that. I also wanted a little nicer house since my house at the time was pretty lame. Not a bigger house, just a nicer one.
Correct. It will make you quite miserable.
No, no. Every man is very different when it comes to these things; you can’t really generalize outside of the overall $75k per year figure (which I may need to increase later due to inflation).
If such a man has zero debt and no kids or wife and doesn’t spend a lot in his lifestyle, then sure.
That’s awesome. I’ve found my sweet spot with income but I’m not there yet with my net worth. Soon though.
The upper limit for the Alpha 2.0 business model is approximately $2 million per year. Once you start hitting those levels you may need to invest in infrastructure that may violate some Alpha 2.0 business standards. At that point you may not care, or you can choose stay at that size and no grow anymore; up to you. (It’s a quality problem to have.)
Note that’s not the upper limit for Model A, as I mentioned above. Model A / Model B is a concept that’s independent of Alpha 2.0, sometimes related and sometimes not.
Question about this.
I want to do what Dave Ramsey says and “live like no one can so I can give like no one can.”
Like I literally have dreams where I go to the homeless shelter next to my apartment, give the directors a wad of cash and be like “do what you will with this.”
Same with struggling friends and FBs and stuff. Want to just one day roll up to their place with a wad of cash and be like “here ya go. Thought you might need this. I got enough of it, I don’t need it. And I can get more of it easily.”
Are those external influences? Making tons of money so I can hook other people up with stuff?
Cuz that’s pretty much the only thing that motivates me when it comes to money. I’m serious. Like last summer, I won $600 at a bowling tournament so when I went to my local taco joint for my cheat day that week, I placed $10 in the tip jar and couldn’t stop grinning. I even made it a goal to work my way up to putting a $100 bill in the tip jar one day.
Hell I’m grinning about the thought of that as I am typing this lol.
I can live comfortably off of less than poverty wages so I really don’t care for the “lifestyle” that these “rich” people have. I really don’t care for material things.
My problem with money is twofold: First, I’ve been comfortable being in poverty and I often feel like I don’t deserve to make a lot of money 🙁
I want to solve these problems so I can make more money so I can help more people. So again, are those external influences?
I have no idea. You need to look inward and figure that out for yourself. It sounds like it’s really coming from you, but it could be bullshit SP also. Look inward. Figure it out.
That’s a serious self-esteem problem. You need to fix that ASAP.
Caleb why you think you were beta male before divorce? What I read sounds like you were alpha 1.0. You were confident with business. What makes you beta that time? Your ex wife rule to much everything?
For example do you think some low income bluecollar worker can be alpha 1.0 if he is confident with woman, in good fit and not afraid of things. And in the other hand some succesful business man can be beta if he is fat and ruled by hes monogamous wife?
Numerous reasons; I had no game, I was nervous around women, I was terrified that my wife might divorce me, I was reluctant to take any risks (other than starting my own business, which I didn’t feel was a risk), I was needy, etc, etc, etc.
Correct. I was a high-income beta male. There are millions of those (Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, etc). Business success and beta male/Alpha male status are two very different things.
She was more or less in charge of me, yes.
Yes. There are millions of low-income Alpha Male 1.0s and I’ve talked about them before. Again, income and beta/Alpha status are two different things.
Yep!
I will. I don’t have a choice unless I want to be broke my entire life.
lol this reminds me of a couple of bowling buddies of mine who are brothers. One makes $60k a year and I’d consider him a beta 2 or something since he has some alpha traits and is not being ruled by his monogamous wife. However he does not live on his own terms like us Alpha 2s do.
His older brother is an de-facto alpha 1 but is not successful at all. His income is very random and its mostly blue collar stuff, he gets with a lot of chicks but also experiences a lot of drama from said chicks, and is kind of obsessed with making sure that he knows all the details about certain stuff.
So yeah that kind of dynamic is totally possible. Totally possible for alpha 1s to be broke/homeless whatever and for betas to make lots of money.
I’d say the only exception to this are gammas and omegas, who don’t seek to follow like betas do or lead like alphas do but who instead seek to destroy (gammas) or exist passively (omegas).
Hey Caleb,
Let’s say some of us (and by some of us I mean me) wanted to hit the Alpha 2.0 income ceiling of roughly $2 million per year for every business I start.
Are there certain types of Alpha 2.0 businesses that are more efficient at and conducive to hitting this ceiling, or are they all capable of doing so?
And do such businesses share certain characteristics in terms of structure, clients, product/ service, industry, or niche?
Cool. Do it.
They are all capable of doing it but they vary on the amount of work involved. For example, hitting $2 million per year as a consultant would be easier to get there but it would involve a lot more hands-on work on your part than, for example, hitting $2 million a year selling a high-margin hard product via Amazon FBA (which would be harder and more expensive to get to but less work on your part once you got there).
The Alpha 2.0 business structure already accounts for all those factors. I say to only sell something very high-margin and only to a very narrow niche and focus on marketing. If you do those three things you’re covered regardless of the product, industry, etc. It’s the business owners who don’t do those things that have problems (and most don’t).
I actually think 75k a year is too much. But that’s probably because I’m young, live in a 3rd world country and used to make 10k a year (and that was considered a very good salary for someone my age).
My first goal is to get around 25k a year but I also want to take some time to focus on women. In fact I want to prioritize my woman life for a while, and then maybe in my 30s or when I feel great on my women life, get to 75k a year to live more freely.
I actually think 75k a year is too much. But that’s probably because I’m young, live in a 3rd world country and used to make 10k a year (and that was considered a very good salary for someone my age).
My first goal is to get around 25k a year but I also want to take some time to focus on women. In fact I want to prioritize my woman life for a while, and then maybe in my 30s or when I feel great on my women life, get to 75k a year to live more freely.
It’s because you live in a third world country. The 75k figure applies only to the Western world.
Sounds good!