Poker vs business

[MaxPower]

jstew,

I think you are making a lot of sense.

If people have a passion for something they should follow it no matter how much money there is in it.

[Steve S]

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Quote:
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Does anyone know how much does a McDonalds owner makes per location?


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depends on location

e.g. - disneyland mcdonalds - fuckloads
airports - more than urban areas
europe - not so much

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I think you give the "McDonald's guy" too much credit. I also think you are pulling this all out of your azz. Being a franchise, a good chunk goes to the corporation. At Disney, more foot traffic, but also giving up a lion's share in kickbacks to Disney. Same thing w/ airports...airport authority is taking a hefty portion from you. All three locations are probably clearing about the same. Actually, I would think the urban areas make the most.

Just my two cents.

[tek]

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I personally own 4 Dairy Queen Brazier restaurants

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Have you met Warren Buffet?

[tek]

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It's like playing craps, but with a higher house take. scrub

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Swing trading is a reasonable trading approach. To me it's a happy medium between daytrade grinding and long term Graham investing. With the Graham/Buffet approach, you need a source of income such as management fees while your eggs hatch over 20 years.

With swing trading, I'm happy to pay $9.99 each way because I'm trading 1000 share blocks. The commission is a very small rake. No matter what business you are in, there is a rake. In a franchise, it is the royalty and other fees.

Also, everything is a grind. The successful business guy works hard, saves up $ and loan credits, and expands. Eventually, the business grows leaps and bounds. But for every succes like that the raod is littered with equally hard working and smart people who didn't make it. Look at the statistics in food and retail start-ups over the first five years of the business.

Some people aren't cut out to manage a slew of managers who manage a slew of old people, young people and foreign people. The day to day effort of managing businesses and people below you is enormous.

Just like poker, business involves opportunity, skill, luck, effort and desire.

[mplspoker]

no...

[MicroBob]

Obviously if your business is wildly successful then you can make a ton of money.
But most business-owners and starter-uppers don't exactly make it there.


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The guy who owns your local fast food franchise is almost definitely worth more than the biggest winner in your local casino.

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I worked for some guys who owned and operated 5 Burger King franchises in Jackson, Mississippi (they were starting a new business not associated with the fast-food bit).

They did not have a ton of money. I quit after a few weeks.


I do agree that SOME fast-food or laundromat operators or covenience-store/gas-station owners pull in some pretty decent bucks....but not ALL of them.

Businesses go under all the freaking time.


Not that I would have any inclination towards trying to start one because I have no idea what I'd be doing....but, by comparison, I think that 'poker-player' might actually be a more conservative and generally safer and more reliable occupation then 'small business owner'.


Also - don't forget that many of these small-business owner types will be working 60-70 hours a week just to make sure they are making ends meet.



However - the same general thought about the Dikshit guy crossed my mind when I was reading one the articles.
He's got 1 or 2 billion (or however much he has).
The winner of this year's WSOP is taking home "only" $7-million.
Dikshit can say "$7-million?? big whoop."

[helpmeout]

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Also - don't forget that many of these small-business owner types will be working 60-70 hours a week just to make sure they are making ends meet.

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Thats if they are lucky.

A lot work much longer they dont get paid minimum wage when they are losing money for whatever reason either.

[Baulucky]

Your sample size is too small.

For every Dikshit, there are millions that fail at business and more millions that grind a living (a "surviving" is a fairer term) as slaves.

It is currently easier to make $60K/year at poker with $0 starting BR than to make $60,000 as a business owner with $400 K initial BR (plus a $100K Ivy league MBA).

Probably by the time one's BR is in the $1M-$2M region, Poker becomes a suboptimal way to employ one's time.

More than 97% of Americans, and more than 99% of the world population, will NEVER reach $1M in assets in their lifetime.

You are taking samples in the upper tail of the lognormal distribution of wealth/income. (More than 3 SDs above the mean).

Your comments do not apply at all to 98%+ of people.

Your appreciations also suffer from "survivor bias", i.e.: You only take into account in your sample, businesses that have succeeded. (Enormously succesful is more accurate).

There is no way in the world, that any of these numerous kids that are making $100K+ per year playing poker would be making more as businessmen.

In some countries (like the communist hole I used to live in), Poker provides a mediocre player, with an income 5 times the average.

Poker saved my life and my family's life. It's tough to say this at 42 years old, but it's true.

[abcd1234]

Broker commission is not the only "rake" involved in short term trading/swing trading. Also add in the spread between the buy and sell price, and taxes. These are also considerations in long term investing but cost considerably less. Almost all money made by traders at large firms is not because of investing skill but by front running their own clients or inside information.

[neon]

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Poker is not a great career if you're doing it because you want to be wealthy.

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This is absolutely true; being rich and being *wealthy* are two different things. Shaq is rich. The guy who signs his check is wealthy.

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On top of that, it gets easier and easier for McDonalds guy to increase his annual income. It gets harder and harder for BK to do the same thing without branching out and becoming McDonalds guy.

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I haven't read the entire thread, so if this has already been said, then I apologize, but I'd wager to guess that the McDonald's guy probably didn't start with much more in liquid assets when he purchased his franchise as BK has at his fingertips right now. And he almost certainly doesn't have as much as BK does when he was that age.

The heart of this idea for me is that we're (mostly) all young, and we're (mostly) doing quite well playing a card game. There is a very reasonable chance that all but a few of us will not be able to earn nearly as much doing this in, say, five years, once game conditions start to change.

But that is not to say that one could not take the $100k, $250k, whatever, that you've amassed playing poker, and leverage that money into something that will show you some *real* returns.

And sorry if I come off as pedantic here. I just think it warrants mentioning that many of the ultra-wealthy people in the world didn't start off that way, and that a 24-year old worth a quarter or a half a million dollars from playing poker really goot for a few years has one hell of a running start on amassing some wealth by the time he's in his forties.

-neon.