Someone Asked, 'How Hard Would It Actually Be For A Millionaire To Start From 0 Again?' No Access To Old Networks, No LinkedIn, Nothing

“How hard would it actually be for a millionaire to start from 0 again?” That was the question posed on Reddit’s r/NoStupidQuestions recently. The scenario: no money, no contacts, no LinkedIn. Just experience and mindset. Would it be enough?

The post resonated widely and sparked hundreds of thoughtful responses from users across all walks of life.

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Connections Matter More Than Grit

Most agreed that without connections, rebuilding wealth would be extremely difficult, even for someone who had done it before. “Zero dollars, pretty easy for many of them. Zero rich friends and contacts, they’re probably f***ed,” one user said without embellishing.

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Another top commenter wrote, “The biggest assets are your contact list and your reputation. If I know people, I can ask them for work, get credit, find buyers. Without that, you’re just another person.”

One Redditor argued that while a rich person might crash on a friend's guest bed, poor people often have no such help. “I was homeless for a brief but awful period… Within a month, I had exhausted all my options and was about to sleep on the sidewalk.”

Many pointed out that millionaire status often comes from owning a home and maxing out retirement accounts, not from running a successful company. “Millionaire at this point means HCOL homeowner,” one person said, referring to high-cost-of-living areas. Another added, “I’m technically a millionaire—about $1.6M net worth. If I had to produce $1M in cash… I’d be permanently worse off.”

People who took decades to save and invest wouldn’t have the time or energy to start over. “It took me 25 years with a high-paying job that let me save near 50%. I’d be dead before I could do it again,” one commenter said.

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Luck And Timing Play A Huge Role

Plenty of people stressed the importance of good fortune. To them, most millionaires did not start from zero. They had family support, education and safety nets. As someone noted, luck is a huge factor. Right place, right time, right idea. Without that, it’s just wishful thinking.

Even Mark Cuban, quoted by several Redditors, has said he believes he could become a millionaire again but not a billionaire. Becoming a billionaire often comes down to being in the right place at the right time and taking big risks that happened to pay off, more than it does to effort or ability.

One person, who supposedly went bust at 23, losing all of their $1.5 million and recouping their wealth by 30, and more so, said, “Ask any multimillionaire and they'll all tell you the same: The first million was the hardest to earn. What made it uniquely difficult is what they had to learn along the way. Everything after that is mostly copy and paste, while remembering past mistakes.”

In the end, while millionaire experience might help someone avoid common mistakes, it’s no substitute for capital, connections, and safety nets. 

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