How can I get the same amount of money as Ali-A?

Hi Alex,

I have not made millions, but I know who Ali-A is and have a thought about easy money--it doesn't exist. There isn't a job where you can hang back and simply get paid millions of dollars. Take Ali-A, for example: successful youtubers are charismatic or have personalities that people find entertaining. This is probably not a skill easily developed, but more likely a talent they've been gifted naturally. And even if you are charismatic or funny or entertaining, it takes a lot of hard work. Ali-A has to constantly produce content, plan his videos, and edit the videos he publishes. It is a full time job, like most other careers.

If your objective is more generally "make millions," it helps to have a great idea. Entrepreneurial pursuits often lead to the most monetary success. Monster energy drink, for example, started as a penny stock (selling for less than a dollar a share) and was a cheaply manufactured energy drink. After combination of brilliant marketing and market timing (the emergence of the energy drink market), the companies stock sold for as much as $140 a share (August 2015, see yahoo finance). But these things coming together took a combination of hard work and incredible luck.

So you want to make millions? Get organized, have a plan, have a brilliant idea, and start your own business. This avenue is extremely difficult in the best of scenarios, as an element of luck is always in play, so understand that failure is a very probable outcome. Even if you want to be a youtuber. I highly recommend looking for videos produced by PewDiePie, where he actually discusses his career as a youtuber and explains exactly what his challenges have been and how much work it actually takes to have a successful youtube channel.

Alternatively, I recommend that you study hard and go to college. Think about what your strengths are and hone them into the skills you will use in your career. The most successful people are passionate about their jobs, so whatever it is you choose to do, know that if you love it you will also likely have monetary success doing. As far as the "make millions" goes, it doesn't hurt to save money and invest wisely.

I work in merger and acquisitions tax at a PwC. It's challenging work and demands a lot of time and effort, but it's very rewarding. It took a lot of work just to get to this point in my career and I'm proud of everything I've accomplished. To use an analogy, playing a videogame on easy difficulty (or using cheats) is boring--playing a video game on the hardest difficulty and seeing it through to the end is way more satisfying.

I hope this is helpful!