Does this sound realistic or dodgy?

robatwork

Mark_Glasses said:

@El_Torro I want to know what's possible

@fatbelly he said he was making lots of money

@tacpot12 that's why it's odd he was making so much money so quickly

@sheramber I don't even know if anyone worked for any of the businesses or if they really existed. The only things that comes up when you Google them is the companies house page.

@dakta it wasn't just the car, it's what he said

@74jax this is a different question

@marcon I don't know

@robatwork OK

@baser999 it has occurred to me he may be involved in criminal activity

This may be the best reply I've ever seen

fatbelly

I welcome its brevity

Hoenir

A story from over 30 years ago. My partner in the accountancy office that I was working in at the time. Had an appointment with a potential new client. By looks was a very ordinary nondescript person. Story he relayed was that he had spent his entire working life tarmacing drives and  pub carparks etc. Always been paid in cash. Never existed as far as the tax authorities were concerned. For both  business and family reasons he wanted to come clean and become "official". Primarily as was now a substantial organisation and wished to tender for much larger commercial and public contracts. 

A meeting was duly arranged between him , my partner and a senior HM Inspector of Taxes at a regional tax office. After a while became apparent that little headway was being made in coming to any form of agreement or resolution. The gentleman reached down and picked up the brief case that he had brought with him. Opened the briefcase , put it on the table and spun it round.  Then said "Would you accept a £135,000 payment now? ".  The tax inspector shut the lid, picked up the brief case and left the room. Some 15 minutes he returned. Deal was done. The slate was wiped clean. 

leinten

Maybe he won the lottery and was just having a laugh or he got lucky on stocks or crypto

in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t really matter. 

Maybe he likes starting businesses and closing them down, maybe he’s a con man. Who really knows 

Marcon

OP - why are you asking? What are you hoping to achieve?

LeafGreen

sounds like the car might be on the never never, some people like to project an image that they are doing well whether or not that is actually the case.  either that or he has started as a drugs courier or something.  Apparent get rich quick schemes are almost always too good to be true, don’t waste too much time dwelling on this.

lincroft1710

Hoenir said:

The gentleman reached down and picked up the brief case that he had brought with him. Opened the briefcase , put it on the table and spun it round.  Then said "Would you accept a £135,000 payment now? ".  The tax inspector shut the lid, picked up the brief case and left the room. Some 15 minutes he returned. Deal was done. The slate was wiped clean. 

I was expecting you to say "The tax inspector shut the lid, picked up the brief case and left the room and that was the last we ever saw of him!"

Mark_Glasses

@robatwork thanks

@fatbelly OK

@hoenir it seems like more than tax avoidance

@leinten yes could be any of those

@marcon whether is rags to riches in such a short space of time is realistic without doing something dodgy

@grahamgoo that's what I was thinking

@lincroft1710 as above

Herzlos

So the common theme here is you've found someone you think has suddenly become rich, and you want us to tell you either:

(a) how they did it, so you can be a millionaire

or

(b) tell you they did it via some illegal methodology, so you can feel better about not being a millionaire.

Sadly, we can't do either, because we don't know what happened in this case though it's unlikely he gave you an accurate idea.

There are no guaranteed ways to make a lot of money with no effort, so you're best trying not to dwell on it.

Being an entrepreneur doesn't really mean much on his own. Did he start his own business providing some service people were happy to pay for? Did he invest money (his or someone elses) in other businesses?

Do you have some niche idea or think you could provide nice goods and services that people would pay you for directly? I know I don't, which is why I'm happy to work for a corporation that pays a steady wage.

Was he actually in a flash Mercedes or did it just look flash? You said you like cars so presumably you know a bit more about it.

Marcon

Mark_Glasses said:

@marcon whether is rags to riches in such a short space of time is realistic without doing something dodgy

Only if you have the right skill set, a great idea, etc etc.

Do you have any of those?