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How to become rich overnight: Myths, truths, and practical tips

How to become rich overnight: Myths, truths, and practical tips
Nemanja Curcic

Imagine you wake up rich tomorrow. No more nine-to-five in a cramped office or doing some other work you despise. Pockets full of green, spending time with family, friends, or at parties, a cool drink in your hand, and no worries on your mind… Can it be done? Today’s article will tackle how to become rich overnight, with all its myths, truths, and practical tips to set your course for attaining wealth.

Is it actually possible to become rich overnight?

Yes, you can wake up rich.

There are many commonly known examples, like winning a lottery. In fact, the most money ever won in a lottery was $2.04 billion, which happened on November 7, 2022, in a Powerball drawing. A person named Edwin Castro must have gone through a beast of an emotional rollercoaster.

Inheriting a lot of money is also an option. Much effort would have been put into earning it, but it is still technically a way to become rich overnight.

How to become rich overnight – possible investing approaches

Investing can also make you rich overnight; it’s just not the regular investing that you might think of.

Meme stocks and r/wallstreetbets strategies

On the fringe of the investing public lies the community of “degenerates”: Redditors and investors on r/wallstreetbets, known for their highly unorthodox and dangerous strategies.

Their controversial and aggressive strategies are borderline speculations with little to no chance of success. These Reddit traders often invest in so-called “meme stocks” or shares in companies propped up by being trendy or viral rather than by their inherent financial performance.

That said, once in a blue moon, these strategies succeed. For example, the GameStop short squeeze in 2021 saw certain meme stocks skyrocket, as GameStop saw a 400% rise in a single week, and AMC witnessed a mind-boggling 1,183% gain for the entire year. These stocks remain highly volatile, but cashing out at the right moment has turned out to be how some people became rich overnight.

Obscure cryptocurrency bets

In April 2021, two brothers from New York found out that they had become millionaires overnight. How come? Well, in February of that year, they put several hundred dollars into a digital coin, Shiba Inu, which parodied Dogecoin, a “meme coin” itself.

What happened? The digital asset gained more than 11,000% in value, turning each $100 that the brothers invested into $1.1 million.

So yes, there are ways to become rich overnight, and it is possible. It is just highly unlikely.

High reward, high risk

On the flip side of the “getting rich overnight” coin is the fact that many people try this and fail. Yes, you can win a lottery if you buy a ticket, but the odds of that happening are one in many millions or about 0.00001% percent.

A similar thing happens with cryptocurrency: there are many meme coins, and not a single one is guaranteed to spike in value. CoinMarketCap lists over 1,500 entries in its “Meme Coin” category, so investing in the winning crypto token before it skyrockets is comparable to winning a lottery.

Earning through investment has a single rule of thumb that applies in virtually every case: the higher the reward, the higher the chance you won’t get it. You might get lucky, but getting lucky is never a sound investing strategy.

As a result, becoming rich overnight is possible, but the odds of it happening are marginal. In practice, although it happens, we might just take it as a myth.

Don’t worry, though. There are ways anyone can become rich or even a millionaire.

How to reliably become rich

To sum it up, the best answer to the question of how to become rich overnight is: don’t try it. Especially since diligent and patient investing has much greater odds of actually making you rich.

Conversely, your best bet is the plain old S&P 500 index. The overall economy continues to grow, and the S&P 500 tracks the largest publicly traded U.S. companies. Most financial experts recommend it, and Warren Buffett even placed a bet in 2007 that investing in it would beat any actively managed fund in 10 years: a bet he won.

How to become rich overnight: The S&P 500 historical performance chart.
The S&P 500 historical performance chart. Source: macrotrends.net

You might also consider dividend stocks, growth stocks, and value stocks as well. Dividend stocks will reward patient investors with monthly, quarterly, or annual dividend payouts. Growth stocks are tried-and-true companies that are big and expected to grow even bigger. Value stocks, on the other hand, are undervalued stocks sought after for their intrinsic worth.

Compound interest – millionaires’ secret ingredient

Compound interest is how you really become a millionaire. Reinvesting your earnings leads to exponential growth: the longer you compound, the more you will earn over time. In fact, you can produce a close estimate of the date you become a millionaire, provided you know the principal and the average rate of returns.

How to become rich overnight: Compound interest trajectory.
Compound interest trajectory. Source: betterexplained.com

The key part of this equation is time. Yes, you need time to become rich reliably. Patience, work, and enough time to let your investment grow is the right path: not chasing riches overnight.

In fact, carefully growing your wealth will also teach you how to handle big money. Many overnight millionaires experienced lifestyle shocks and witnessed their close friends and family drift apart, or even worse. At the very least, you won’t have to dress up as a cartoon character.

Invest smart and diligent, be patient, and give your investment time. Play your cards right, and you will likely become rich in a decade or three. At the very least, it is better than unlikely becoming rich overnight. 

Disclaimer: The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative. When investing, your capital is at risk.

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