Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
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If your goal is to have freedom in 3 to 5 to 7 years get Rich slow is pretty much impossible.
That being said at 100% works it’s just gonna take 30 to 40 years. Not a trade im willing to make.
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The S&P 500 averages about 10% per year. Subtract ~3% for general inflation and you get the standard “7% real return” every finance video quotes. But that only accounts for CPI — and CPI doesn’t reflect what your money actually has to buy. Over the past 25 years, housing has tripled, family health insurance went from ~$6k to ~$27k, and college has more than doubled — all far outpacing CPI. When you factor in the real cost of the things you actually spend money on, your effective real return is closer to 2–3% per year. That’s what “today’s buying power” means in this video — not just inflation-adjusted, but adjusted for what a dollar will actually get you in the future.
Wanted to clarify a few things since I know this one gets people fired up —
Obviously there’s a lot of nuance here, and get rich slow can work over a long enough timeline. My point isn’t that it’s a scam in the “the math is fake” sense — it’s that everyone only ever shows you the upside chart and nobody shows you the downside: the low success rate, the sequence-of-returns risk, the fact that 25 years of housing/healthcare/college outrunning inflation quietly eats the buying power the graphs promise. I just think it’s important to see both sides and realize this isn’t the only path, or even mathematically the best one.
A few things I didn’t have room for in the video:
• I’m not anti–index funds or retirement accounts . I hold both. They’re great wealth preservers. I just don’t think they’re realistic wealth builders for most people on an average income. And are always my absolute least priority, just due to basic math on I’m always thinking 3 to 5 years ahead not 40 which is the only reason I’ve had success of course that’s just me.
• The 2000–2013 flat market I mentioned is a lump-sum return. If you were DCA’ing the whole time you did better — fair callout. But it still would’ve wrecked anyone who was actually retiring in that window, which was the point.
• “Just start a business” isn’t easy, and I know that. ~70% of businesses fail. I’m not saying it’s the easy path — I’m saying it’s the path with a real ceiling, and I think grinding on something you own for 5 years beats grinding at a job you hate for 40.
Not trying to talk anyone out of investing. Just trying to add the other half of the conversation that never gets shown.
Affiliate Disclaimer: Some links are affiliate links, meaning I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Many offer special discounts for my community!
⚠️ GENERAL DISCLAIMER
This content is for educational and entertainment purposes only. I am not a licensed financial advisor. Please do your own research and consult a certified professional before making financial decisions.
Thank you to Fora for sponsoring this video!
If you’re interested in becoming a travel advisor, learn more here:
yt.link/dbVUMzA
If your goal is to have freedom in 3 to 5 to 7 years get Rich slow is pretty much impossible.
That being said at 100% works it’s just gonna take 30 to 40 years. Not a trade im willing to make.
Free LIVE YouTube Monetization Workshop gabebult.co/theworkshop
FREE TOOLS & RESOURCES:
50 Ways to improve your finances by 1% gabebult.co/finance50
Financial Minimalism Blueprint gabebult.co/FMwaitlist
🎁Get my FREE YouTube Minicourse yt.gbult.co/yt-minicourse
5 Hour Youtuber Waitlist yt.gbult.co/5hrWaitlist
These tools help you win with money:
Save on car insurance gabebult.co/saveonauto
So-Fi High-Yield Savings (Earn 4% APY) gabebult.co/savings
Instagram: instagram.com/gabe.bult
The S&P 500 averages about 10% per year. Subtract ~3% for general inflation and you get the standard “7% real return” every finance video quotes. But that only accounts for CPI — and CPI doesn’t reflect what your money actually has to buy. Over the past 25 years, housing has tripled, family health insurance went from ~$6k to ~$27k, and college has more than doubled — all far outpacing CPI. When you factor in the real cost of the things you actually spend money on, your effective real return is closer to 2–3% per year. That’s what “today’s buying power” means in this video — not just inflation-adjusted, but adjusted for what a dollar will actually get you in the future.
Wanted to clarify a few things since I know this one gets people fired up —
Obviously there’s a lot of nuance here, and get rich slow can work over a long enough timeline. My point isn’t that it’s a scam in the “the math is fake” sense — it’s that everyone only ever shows you the upside chart and nobody shows you the downside: the low success rate, the sequence-of-returns risk, the fact that 25 years of housing/healthcare/college outrunning inflation quietly eats the buying power the graphs promise. I just think it’s important to see both sides and realize this isn’t the only path, or even mathematically the best one.
A few things I didn’t have room for in the video:
• I’m not anti–index funds or retirement accounts . I hold both. They’re great wealth preservers. I just don’t think they’re realistic wealth builders for most people on an average income. And are always my absolute least priority, just due to basic math on I’m always thinking 3 to 5 years ahead not 40 which is the only reason I’ve had success of course that’s just me.
• The 2000–2013 flat market I mentioned is a lump-sum return. If you were DCA’ing the whole time you did better — fair callout. But it still would’ve wrecked anyone who was actually retiring in that window, which was the point.
• “Just start a business” isn’t easy, and I know that. ~70% of businesses fail. I’m not saying it’s the easy path — I’m saying it’s the path with a real ceiling, and I think grinding on something you own for 5 years beats grinding at a job you hate for 40.
Not trying to talk anyone out of investing. Just trying to add the other half of the conversation that never gets shown.
Affiliate Disclaimer: Some links are affiliate links, meaning I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Many offer special discounts for my community!
⚠️ GENERAL DISCLAIMER
This content is for educational and entertainment purposes only. I am not a licensed financial advisor. Please do your own research and consult a certified professional before making financial decisions.
