I’m a ‘lazy millionaire’ – I made my money without learning any new skills

Employee smarter, not harder: that’s what this self-proclaimed millionaire does.

Data scientist Pavinee Lertjitbanjong, 42, claims she has ‘wasted’ most of her life working hard.

But after her marriage fell apart, leaving her $100,000 in debt, she was forced to change some aspects of her life – and she’s now sharing her tips for staying lazy and getting rich.

The New Jersey woman says she makes more than $380,000 a year — and she does that by not overexerting herself, continuing to work from home in the same job and never working overtime.

“I call myself a lazy millionaire because I made all my money without having to learn any new skills,” she told SWNS.

“I work from home, I don’t spend money at the gym, I hate cooking and cleaning, and I don’t waste time at networking events,” the savvy saver explains.

‘I’m embracing the lazy lifestyle – and it’s made me so much more efficient.’

Pavinee, the child of first-generation immigrants from Bangkok, Thailand, said she felt like she had to work “ten times harder” than everyone else growing up.

Looking back on her behavior when she was younger, the data scientist admitted that she was a “people pleaser,” and felt like she had to say “yes” to every opportunity – including working long hours overtime and attending networking events.

‘I always wanted to be a people pleaser. “I wanted to make my colleagues happy, so I spent a lot of time working overtime and saying ‘yes’ to everyone,” she reflected.

She continued, “I always thought success came from working extremely hard and losing yourself in the process.”

The millionaire admitted that she spent too much time wanting a promotion to get more money.

“As an immigrant, I felt like I had to work ten times harder to get where I wanted to be. But that’s not the case,” she said.

Pavinee said the breakdown of her marriage in 2019 was also something she had to work on.

After she and her ex-husband finalized their divorce in March 2020, she was left owing more than $100,000 in legal fees.

“I left my marriage with nothing right before COVID hit,” she explained.

‘In the US, the standard rule is to divide your assets 50/50 in a divorce, but I didn’t want to have a long battle with my ex. I didn’t want to take anything with me.’

Desperate to pay off her debts as quickly as possible and become financially independent, the determined woman had an ‘epiphany’, deciding to become more efficient in the way she works and embrace a ‘lazy’ work ethic.

“I just had an epiphany: I was thinking about how people float through life so easily, that they don’t have to burn themselves out and that they work smart, not hard,” she said.

“I knew I had to change my way of thinking, so I tried the laziness approach.”

Pavinee decided to completely overhaul her approach, starting with making more targeted decisions about who she interacted with at work and how they would help her get a promotion.

She stopped attending networking events and started being more selective with her friends, allowing successful people into her circle.

She then made the decision to invest her money and put it into stocks, which she says earned her $126,000 a year.

“I also knew my job would pay enough to keep me afloat, but I also wanted disposable income,” she said. ‘I was always interested in it.’

Another decision she made was to stop working overtime and stay in the same job, rather than spending time looking for another, higher position.

“I’m lazy, but I’m smart about it,” she joked. “I knew it would be difficult for me to start a new job, so I just didn’t bother.”

After successfully getting the promotion in January and earning some return on her investments, Pavinee was able to pay off her debts, buy a three-bedroom house worth $1.14 million and travel to Bangkok to see her family.

She admits she likes to save her money for a ‘rainy day’, but her goals for 2024 are to travel more – with trips to the Northern Lights, Hong Kong and Singapore on her list.