Have you ever, or do you know anybody who’s experienced the opportunity of a lifetime?
Posted by Leeeeeroy-Jenkins@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 38 comments
By opportunity of a lifetime Im talking about unconventional paths to fame or fortune.
Growing up in the UK there were always tall stories of people who randomly met millionaire businesspeople that took a liking to them and decided to fund a loose business idea they had. Or perhaps landing a prestigious position in an unconventional way such as tracking down the CEO and giving them a firm handshake and a gumption promise.
bozwold@reddit
Indian kid from my school got picked by a talent scout for Manchester United juniours in the 90s when man United were a household name. Kid could run rings around everyone like I was never a big football fan but you could see he had natural talent
His parents forbid him because he was going to be an engineer, Kid was miserable for the rest of school, refused to play football in PE.
Not sure if that counts for your criteria but I'm pretty sure if his parents weren't so strict he too would be a household name by now, yet I cannot remember his name.
Kapika96@reddit
Ouch. Even if he'd ended up at a lower level than Utd as an adult, with how rare footballers of Indian heritage are that could've easily resulted in a very lucrative media career after retiring as a player.
kingtutscoffeehut@reddit
Get your lesbian feet out of my shoes!
mizcello@reddit
lesbian? I thought she was a Pisces
metalshadow@reddit
She's not Lebanese she's Punjabi!
uncertain_expert@reddit
Similar, one of the sons of the family that run a local Bangladeshi restaurant was in a development squad for one of the big London clubs. He dropped out due to family pressure and was working in the restaurant. They have a couple of big trophies in the window for winning a local 5-a-side football league multiple years running.
finanzbereich345@reddit
In fairness professional football is such a thin end of the wedge he may have peaked at a much lower level. Obviously if he had made it his earning potential vs even a very successful engineering career would have been mad
bladefiddler@reddit
Nothing in the millionaire realm, but I've known a few people who've had real opportunities to change their lives significantly with inheritances of tens or a couple hundred thousand - and pissed it away on temporary & useless crap.
I don't think millionaires get to or stay that way through investing in unproven dreamers. I think there are a lot of people will graft their way up and a lucky few of those MIGHT get a big boost if somebody in a suitable position recognises it and gives them extra opportunities - without the intention of just fucking them over for their own gain.
gulfrend@reddit
I received inheritance and knew I was the type to piss it away, so I immediately used it to put a deposit down on a flat.
I consider this my "once in a lifetime" opportunity, before I unexpectedly received it, I'd resigned myself to renting for life.
bladefiddler@reddit
Good on you for making the right call.
Two separate examples I referred to were close family, both renting social housing. Both I advised to use their windfall toward buying their own places (their windfalls being like 50% - 100% of potential prices at the time).
One spaffed it away on cars & motorbikes, requiring an 80k mortgage when they did eventually have to buy. The other fell into alcoholism and actually did piss it all away.
I think with windfalls like that you don't necessarily have to turn it into millions, but it's criminal to not at least make some serious long term improvement to your life.
ChampionshipBorn7610@reddit
Didn't want to skip past this comment without saying well done
People like to focus on how one moment of weakness can cause so much pain/waste. I don't know why people are so negative, but one moment of strength can also cause so much benefit and security
Kudos internet stranger
CarpeCyprinidae@reddit
Agreed, most do it the hard way. I have a stocks and shares ISA
my finances spreadsheet assumes that the funds in it continue to grow at the historic rate thats normal for stock market as a whole, then my income continues to grow by a small percentage every year in real terms and that my investments into my ISA funds continue to grow at the same rate as my income
if those assumptions hold true I'll be a millionaire by the time I retire without counting the value of our house.
thats a fairly attainable way to get to low-tier millionaire-scale wealth - and not spending much is a norm for me
i might decide to spend more on luxuries and less on investments as time passes. theres no additional prize for being richest when you die
cvslfc123@reddit
My brother went to school with two kids who became Premier League football players and represented their countries at the 2022 World Cup.
PolarLocalCallingSvc@reddit
I have a mate who mines bitcoin back when mining it was worthwhile.
He is now a multimillionaire.
He spends his time travelling the world with his stunner of a wife, and buys himself good food. He has a mortgage-frwe house and can basically do what he wants.
Dinner parties at his house are amazing!
faroffland@reddit
My dad bought bitcoin when it was cheap as well as inheriting from his wife’s dad who was an entrepreneur (he founded Flamingoland and also wrote for Sooty and Sweep amongst other things lol, he was called (Pentland Hick)[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentland_Hick]). We didn’t have money growing up but he’s now rich af alongside my stepmum and they just travel the world, he writes books and basically just does whatever he wants. It’s awesome for him and tbh I’ll probably inherit a lot when they pass as my stepmum has no children - not that I want them to or care about the money! But it’s lovely they can enjoy their life basically just doing whatever they want.
genetic_ape@reddit
I'd urge you to remove all identifying information about your family members from your post.
PolarLocalCallingSvc@reddit
Yeah that's my view as well.
I'm not in line for any significant inheritance at all (maybe a fiver figure sum if lucky) - I'm just happy for my parents to enjoy their retirement.
My mother in law is currently in a bad state and she's obsessing over inheritance for her three kids and last time I visited her alone in hospital I said I'm not being funny but if I were in your boots I'd be spending my money on cruises!
As an aside, I was absolutely besot with Sooty & Sweep. I had Sooty toys coming out my ears and went to see them live a number of times haha
AnonymousTimewaster@reddit
I knew a guy who was on X-Factor way back when (maybe like 2012ish?). Made it to the semi-finals I believe. Had some amount of following on Instagram (not much, like maybe 10k or smth). Ended up working in a call centre and consistently blew his money the first weekend after payday. He ended up drunk driving and getting into a pretty serious car crash but thankfully no one was killed. No idea what happened to him after that as he deleted all his socials.
Feeling-Ad6796@reddit
My mate inherited very well of his grandfather. No idea how much but enough so he works part time as a choice. He's 34 now and lives in a house in London that he owns outright.
A guy I slept with a few times landed a huge gig in acting and is doing an a lister. I'm not naming names here but yes he's become a huge global star and a household name.
hdhxuxufxufufiffif@reddit
Joe Pesci I reckon
Feeling-Ad6796@reddit
Lol no it was danny de vito
hdhxuxufxufufiffif@reddit
Talk about the opportunity of a lifetime!
Thi13een@reddit
Cousin of a friend. Was a barmaid earning minimum wage about 15 years ago. Random group of American guys in the bar one night, in the city on business. One of the American lads starts talking to mate’s cousin, arranges to meet her the next night for a meal and drinks.
Turns out he is a multi millionaire hedge fund manager with some massive firm. He earns millions plus more every year.
Anyway, believe it or not she fell for him. 15 years later, they’re still together, are married, have 2 kids and live in a mansion just outside of New York. She isn’t a barmaid anymore, and doesn’t have to work a day in her life.
He’s a lovely fella and she’s a nice girl too. He isn’t a show off or anything like that, which is nice.
CarpeCyprinidae@reddit
sentences that can be read two ways.. good for her. And for him TBF.
Thi13een@reddit
Ah definitely, good for both of them. Like I say, he’s a really sound fella and down to earth and she’s a really nice girl too who hasn’t forgotten herself despite the money she came in to
citruspers2929@reddit
In about 2015 I had more money than I knew what to do with (a short lived career in the city) and I was talking to a friend about investing. He convinced me to buy £100,000 of Bitcoin. That short pub conversation was worth nearly £20 million.
Legit_Vampire@reddit
Girl a few streets away asked her husband to get a lotto with hers, his & kids birthday numbers on they won ( should've been 8.4 million but there were 2 winners so they got 4.2 each) they only won cos her husband put one of the kids birthdays down wrong, if he had remembered correctly they would've only had 5 numbers.
jimicus@reddit
Thank god it worked out that way around.
Imagine if the winning numbers had been for the correct birthdays.
hdhxuxufxufufiffif@reddit
I know someone who left school at 16 after living in foster homes for a bit in his teens and worked normal jobs all his life. Then in his 30s he met and married a woman who at the time was mildly successful in her field but not wealthy by any means. Not long after they married, her business became a raging success, making a product that you've probably heard of. Now they live in a house with a pool and he does the school run in a fancy car probably worth more than 10x what he was earning ten years ago.
He's a lovely person and a great dad so his mrs would be the first to say they both hit the jackpot there.
ProfessorYaffle1@reddit
A friend of a friend married rich - He was working as a porter / guide and met a woamn who fell in love with him - they ended up getting married and he moved to the UK to be with her . My friend got to know him as she was a eacher of english as a second language and was asked to help him improve his english.
His wife was one ofthe heirs to a family company which you'd definitely recongnise the name of and was a multimillionaire.
I met the gut when I was visiting my friend - he was a lovely bloke, invited us back to their home and cooked a meal for us , in a kitchen which was about the sze of my friend's flat .
ProfessorYaffle1@reddit
My BIL's nephew was stopped on the street by a talent scout for a major modelling agency - he ended up doing quite a bit of modelling including wearing Ozwald Boateng clothes at London Fashion week, meting Elton John and other celebrities.
He didn't chose to go into modelling as a career but earned a fair bit of money while he was doing it and got a few intresting overseas trips out of it (He was 17 or 18 when he was spotted, and continued through the rest of his ime at school andthen university, so four of 5 years)
FreeBogwoppits@reddit
Family friend won one of the big Saturday Night TV singing talent shows about 15 years ago.
The first year was awful for him, the pressure the production company put in under was appalling. After a couple of years his popularity plummeted, he just got forgotten for the next 'superstar', and things got a bit difficult financially. A few years after that his career went back on the up and has stayed up. He's a comfortable B- list performer and 'safe pair of hands'. He does well out of it. He's not a multi-millionaire, but he's comfortably well off and with a happy family life now.
Kudosnotkang@reddit
Sounds like one from the north east I know
cold_tap_hot_brew@reddit
Seems like he got the hard path to contentment but still, comfort in this day and age is worthy of appreciation so well done to him for getting through the crap and coming out smelling like roses
faroffland@reddit
My dad bought bitcoin when it was cheap as well as inheriting a fair bit from his wife’s dad who was an entrepreneur (he founded Flamingoland and also wrote for Sooty and Sweep amongst other things lol, he was called (Pentland Hick)[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentland_Hick]). We didn’t have money growing up but he’s now rich af alongside my stepmum and they just travel the world, he writes books and basically just does whatever he wants. It’s awesome for him and tbh I’ll probably inherit a lot when they pass as my stepmum has no children - not that I want them to or care about the money! But it’s lovely they can enjoy their life basically just doing whatever they want.
Wise-Pay-8993@reddit
Knew a lad from uni who said he wanted to do some business after related to contracting/construction. Which we found strange as we were studying a maths degree. A few years later the lad is doing very well for himself as we met randomly once and he had a new defender fully wrapped in his company name and a good private plate. Said he was labouring after uni then got the trade then whilst working making connections for when he went out on his own. His connections must have been good as must be raking it in.
Various_Extreme_8773@reddit
A friend of mine played in the Manchester United youth team, with Becham and scholes etc. But he ended up getting a bad injury and that was the end of his career.
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