Sidewalk vs Fast Lane vs Slow Lane

First off, happy Thanksgiving! I hope your holiday is filled with friends, family, and good football (Gig’em Aggies!).

As the holidays are approaching, you might be looking for a couple of gifts to ask for and books are always a great option.

The post below is breaking down one of my favorite reads this year simply because it forced me out of the “buy and hold” bubble we worship so dearly.

First though, a reminder to check out this week’s partner. Even if you don’t purchase or use the service, checking out what they have to offer helps your boy pay for this email delivery subscription (it’s not cheap).

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Quote

(this offended me when I first read it)

Which Lane Are You In?

Today we are going to cover the three main topics covered in The Millionaire Fastlane by MJ Demarco.

The Millionaire Fastlane is often recommended to those looking to start a business, get ahead financially, and quickly reach millionaire status (like everyone basically).

In his book MJ breaks down the three different routes into the sidewalk, the slow lane, and the fast lane. One of which just roasts long term investors.

So take a guess where you might be on this road to financial freedom and lets get into each one. 👇️ 

The Sidewalk

Definition: This is the path of living paycheck to paycheck, often associated with a lifestyle of consumption rather than production. People on the Sidewalk focus on instant gratification. They consistently spend on the latest gadgets, use credit cards incorrectly, and fail to recognize the long-term impact of their actions.

• Debt: High consumer debt due to lifestyle choices.

• Job Dependency: Relies heavily on a job for income with no thought of financial independence or passive income.

• Lack of Savings or Investment: Money earned is quickly spent rather than saved or invested.

Outcome: Leads to a cycle of poverty or at best, mediocracy, with little to no wealth accumulation over time. Bluntly put, these people are broke.

The Slow lane

Definition: Famously called “wheelchair wealth” by MJ, the slow lane represents the traditional path to wealth through working, saving, and investing in conventional markets (like your 401k). It's about living below your means, saving consistently, and hoping investments grow over time. Characteristics include:

• Frugality: Emphasis on saving rather than earning more.

• Time Investment: Requires many years or decades to accumulate significant wealth.

• Risk: Lower risk but also lower potential reward; the wealth accumulation is slow and depends heavily on market performance.

Outcome: Can lead to financial security eventually, but according to MJ it's a long, often unexciting journey with limited control over one's financial destiny until retirement.

While I think it is pretty exciting, the slow lane is where 90% of long term investors are, and most accurately describes the buy and hold mentality.

The Fast lane

Definition: This is DeMarco's advocated path to wealth, focusing on creating, scaling, and selling products or services that provide value. It involves entrepreneurship where you control your time, income, and wealth creation.

• Entrepreneurship: Starting or investing in businesses that can scale.

• Value Creation: Focus on providing significant value to a large number of people which can lead to exponential income growth.

• Speed: The potential to create wealth much faster than the other lanes through innovation, internet businesses, or other scalable ventures.

• Risk/Reward: Higher risk but with the possibility of much higher reward.

Outcome: Can lead to financial independence and wealth in a relatively short period, depending on the success of the business or investment. The Fastlane involves taking calculated risks, learning from failures, and continuously innovating.

Conclusion

As you know most of the Chump Change content is about getting rich slow. That doesn’t mean that it is impossible to get rich fast.

If you’d like to step outside of the buy and hold echo chamber The Millionaire Fastlane is a great book to read.

I’ll likely do another post on MJ’s specific criticisms of long term investing in the future just to spice things up.

In the meantime, let’s find a way to the fast lane. ~ Cade

Chump Change Picks

The $2M Treasure Hunt - Jon Collins has created the greatest marketing campaign for his new book. A treasure hunt across the US with over two million in prizes for whoever finds it. You’ll need his book of course, but still a cool idea.

$20MM A Month Selling Air Filters - My latest Youtube find is David Heacock. He runs an extremely successful air filter company and has recently started dropping some banger videos for the business nerds out there.

DOGE Roadmap & WWIII - Podcast episode from “All In” going over the hottest economic topics in the last week. I’m a fan of this podcast mainly for the diversity of viewpoints). You get to see both sides of the political aisle unlike most shows.

Best Memes

When Cramer mentions your stock, turn and run.

Sir the “fair market price” of my coke ICEE is not $14.

Elon is either going to do a lot of good, or completely jack everything up lol.

Nothing in this email is intended to serve as financial advice. Do your own research. Thanks for reading, if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, etc. about the email don’t hesitate to send me a reply.