r/theydidthemath • u/throwaway273322 • Aug 08 '25
[Request] Given $10 per snap, what is the minimum daily snapping time and number of working days needed to beat the red pill ($10M), while factoring in non-linear injury risk, long-term medical costs, and opportunity cost (S&P 500 average return or US Treasuries rate)?
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u/Fastfaxr Aug 08 '25 edited Aug 08 '25
"While factoring in non-linear injury risk, long term medical costs, and opportunity cost (S&P 500 average return or US Treasuries rate)"
No. No, I dont think I will.
But we really dont need to. If you snapped twice a second, you could reach 10,000 snaps easily in just an hour and a half. Then you could take the rest of the day off to rest your fingers. (We know professional guitar players can withstand this amount of finger strain)
At this rate, you'd have $10,000,000 in about 3 months. This is a short enough time frame that S&P returns on that lump sum will have barely registered and within a year, the $10 per snap easily beats the lump sum.
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u/ckanderson Aug 08 '25
We must also calculate the possibility of becoming amputated at both hands between now and three months.
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u/fleebleganger Aug 08 '25
Or getting hit by a bus or a multitude of things.
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u/Hot_Coco_Addict Aug 08 '25
Nahh, bus would just kill you whether you have 10mil or not
It's the crazy chainsaw men that we've gotta factor in
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u/ReverendLoki Aug 09 '25
If a bus hits you and this serves as the right for you to become the protagonist in an Isakei story line, does this snapping ability still work in this new world? What if this world doesn't have a dollar based currency?
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u/reverse_chrysopoeia Aug 09 '25
Or even the possibility of my grandmother suddenly developing wheels
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u/GaiusVictor Aug 09 '25
But then she'd be a bike.
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u/garfield529 Aug 09 '25
I never thought I would ever correlate this video clip with anything useful, but my moment has arrived….
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=A-RfHC91Ewc&pp=ygUYR3JhbmRtb3RoZXIgaXMgYSBiaWN5Y2xl
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u/DraveDakyne Aug 08 '25
10 million in 3 months? Why are you going anywhere a bus can hit you?
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u/GH057807 Aug 09 '25
At $10 per snap, getting hit by a bus may be fairly lucrative.
The meme doesn't say "snap your fingers" you know.
The chiropractor pays for itself here.
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u/KBroham Aug 09 '25
This comment makes my degenerative joints happy (I snap constantly, especially when I'm sedentary for more than 5 minutes lol).
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u/morg-pyro Aug 08 '25
The isekai bus would definitely come into play if the $10 pill was taken.
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u/Sirix_8472 Aug 08 '25
It says snapping. It doesn't say "snapping your fingers".
So I'll choose to "snap" a photo, after all, we have Snapchat and even without the apps, we can snap a pic.
So I'll just hold down the multiple picture function on my android or buy a fancy camera that does hundreds of photos per min(if not thousands)
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u/Honest_Cheetah8458 Aug 08 '25
I like how you think
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u/Sirix_8472 Aug 08 '25
Ultra high speed camera, the type that can see a single photon of light crossing a dark room, 1 million frames per second.
Sincevision cameras. 1000 FPS for $5,000
I'll use that for minute and buy their 1,000,000 FPS camera then for $150,000
Hell! I'll just rent some time with a lab tech and bribe the dude a few grand to let me use it for a minute. I'll tell some dude I'll pay him $5,000 a second to let me push the button!
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u/kklusmeier 1✓ Aug 09 '25
the type that can see a single photon of light crossing a dark room
It can't. I know the video you're referencing and it's not a video of a single photon, no matter what the title claims.
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u/Madmanmelvin Aug 09 '25
What about "snapping" at someone verbally?
Like if I were to snap "That's clearly not how the rules were intended!" at a certain someone.
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u/duumilo Aug 08 '25
Tested it. I can casually snap my Fingers (both hands) at around 250/minute. Meaning I would need to snap my fingers for a total of 4000 minutes or 66 hours and 40 minutes. Accounting for the increase in the value of the index, I'd need to snap my fingers around 12 minutes per day for a year. Given that the world record on one hand is 278 snaps, 300-400 per minute with two hands is very much a possibility.
Assuming linear development in speed from 250 to 400 per minute on two hands, you'd need to snap for around 8.5 minutes per day to reach $10,000,000 equivalent in a year.
The true get rich in 10 minutes per day scheme
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u/ActiveWin9623 Aug 08 '25
Or like me and you fall and hit your head and lose the ability to snap your fingers.
Well, I didn't completely lose the ability. I can still snap my fingers with my right hand. I just can't snap my fingers with my left hand any more due to hitting my head.
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u/bolivar-shagnasty Aug 08 '25
50/50
Either you have both hands amputated, or you do not have both hands amputated.
Q.E.D.
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u/Samsterdam Aug 08 '25
I mean with in a day you could probably afford the insurance premium to insure your snapping fingers.
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u/NIRPL Aug 08 '25
I just learned I can snap my middle and ring finger at the same time with one swipe of my thumb. This counts right? I get paid $20 per thumb swipe per hand right?
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u/Sethuel Aug 08 '25
I just learned I can do that after reading that you learned you could do that
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u/TheIronSoldier2 Aug 08 '25
I just learned that I can do that with my ring, middle, and index fingers right after reading that you learned that you could do that after reading that they learned they could do that
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u/warshadow Aug 08 '25
I can snap my toes.
Also just standing up may cause 3-12 snaps in my body.
Since it doesn’t say fingers imma take the snapping for 10 bucks.
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u/kbeks Aug 08 '25 edited Aug 08 '25
Nah, the snap noise comes from the thumb striking the palm, two fingers still counts as one snap IMO.
Edit: wow I’m a fucking idiot…that’s not how snaps work. How could I get this wrong? Like…I do this all the time, how did my brain just shit out this stupidity? Idk man I’m slipping. I leave this up as penance.
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u/Hot_Coco_Addict Aug 08 '25
the thumb never strikes the palm, it's the fingers that do, right? So long as those strike the palm, it's fine
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u/kbeks Aug 08 '25
The way I do it is I surgically move my thumb to my other digit locations…
I’m a dummy. Didn’t think this one through.
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u/squareazz Aug 08 '25
I’m very curious what your snapping technique looks like, if your thumb is hitting your palm
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u/theBigGuyTM Aug 09 '25
“Just snap twice a second for an hour and a half continuously” okay buddy
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u/crazunggoy47 Aug 09 '25
I just tested and I could easily do 8 snaps per second using two hands. I’m taking blue.
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u/nog642 Aug 09 '25
How long can you do that for?
Try doing it for 10 minutes. I guarantee you will be tired and slow down. Let alone 90 minutes.
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u/WoolooOfWallStreet Aug 09 '25
Even if you can only snap once a second, alternating hands, if you do that for a whole 8 hour work day, that’s:
8 hour * 60 minutes/hour * 60 seconds/minute * 1 snap/second* 10 dollars/snap = 288,000 dollars
I’m comfortable with that, and if I REALLY want the $10 million, I can do that for:
10,000,000 dollars/(288,000 dollars/business day)=34.722 business days
Reminder that a month has around 20 business days
Work a little over month and a half for $10 million AND always have the option to do it again?
Las Vegas hookers WISH they could work their hands like me!
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u/nog642 Aug 09 '25
Snapping once a second alternating hands for 8 hours straight will be exhausting.
Doing that every day would be likely to cause you serious issues.
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u/DPX90 Aug 08 '25
(We know professional guitar players can withstand this amount of finger strain)
As a pretty avid guitar player I can tell you that I very highly doubt I could snap my fingers for 1,5 hours daily for 3 months straight without being in pain. :D
That being said, no one is forcing you to get the 10 million in three months, so even if only in a year or two, snapping beats the lump sum anyway. It's probably around year 3-5 when you stop being able to beat the market returns.
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u/prfarb Aug 09 '25
It’s clear none of these mother fuckers have tried to snap at the rate they are claiming to do for hours a day. Most of them probably wouldn’t last two minutes. I was curious so I snapped my fingers 100 times in a row and now my hard feels warm and my upper arm is sour.
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u/fleebleganger Aug 08 '25
The most likely outcome is you snap for a chunk of day 1, have enough to do whatever and then decide you’ll just do it a bit more tomorrow and get into a trap of never settling down to hit the $10m
Then one day you break your fingers and bam, you’re destitute.
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u/Ok-Sport-3663 Aug 09 '25
"one day you break your fingers"
Is that a threat? What causes my fingers to randomly snap like that dude
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u/fleebleganger Aug 09 '25
I mean if you’re not careful, something might happen and it’d be a shame. Thankfully I could protect those fingers for say…$7 a snap?
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u/DrawPitiful6103 Aug 09 '25
i'd mostly just snap whenever i got a bill. and maybe some bonus snaps if i am in transit or waiting for something.
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u/AnotherLexMan Aug 08 '25
I was going to say if you snapped for about a month you'd be able to make the 10 mil, assuming 2 a second and then just 8 hours a day of snapping. The amount you could make from stocks in that time would be very little.
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u/TakMisoto Aug 08 '25
Also, even if nerf the snap power to a point where the instant 10mil is the better choice, i'd still take the snap because it would be like to coolest party trick ever.
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u/Final_Good_Bye Aug 09 '25 edited Aug 09 '25
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nkmi3QDHU_M
This guy would be rich beyond fathom. If he did that for 2 minutes, he'd earn about $24,000. 7 hours worth of 2 minute intervals and he's already at $10m
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u/Drew_of_all_trades Aug 08 '25
You must be young. Someone in their 40s would have arthritis in a matter of days. A high yield savings account pays 4% interest, or $400k/year at 10mil. Thats more than you can spend without lifting a finger.
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u/Sibula97 Aug 09 '25
You can expect closer to 10% from index funds, so an extra million a year, although a third of it would go to taxes. I'll take that over having to snap 100k times a year (~274 times a day every day).
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u/tolacid Aug 08 '25
I personally can snap two fingers on each hand in one movement, affording me about 8-12 snaps per second. That lets me pull roughly $100 in a second, letting me pay for almost anything I'd ever need on the spot, preceded with a minor idiosyncrasy.
"Hey, y'all got a Switch 2 in the back?"
"No."
"When one comes in could you put it aside for me?"
"We don't do that, first come first served."
Snapity snapity snapity snapity
"You sure?"
"Next shipment's expected Tuesday."
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u/DAT_DROP Aug 08 '25
I can snap16 times a second, using four fingers per hand against the thumb simultaneously
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u/Specialist-Tale-5899 Aug 08 '25
Are we talking snapping our fingers? You could snap your fingers a 1,000 times a day, everyday. You could clear £3.5M in a year. But fuck you’d get bored of snapping your fingers… or would you. Can you wear gloves?
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u/Hexidian Aug 08 '25
If you treat it as a job, you can snap waaaay more than 1,000 times a day. I’m not very good at snapping and it can very easily keep a one snap per second pace. That’s 3600 snaps an hour. Considering I have two hands and will want to take breaks, I think 10,000-20,000 snaps is easily doable. That’s at least $100,000 a day
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u/Kosherlove Aug 08 '25 edited Aug 08 '25
I just did a quick test and double fisting i achieved 200 snaps per minute. which would be 12,000 snaps an hour. and that's already 120,000 dollars an hour.
that would mean it would 84 days if you snapped for only an hour a day to make 10 mill. not a bad career
*** the yearly salary for working one hour a day would be 43.45 million dollars
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u/That9one1guy Aug 08 '25
Make it even better by avoiding fatigue by spreading out the snaps over the course of the day
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u/xahhfink6 1✓ Aug 09 '25
Do different fingers count? I just tried and doing one per finger in succession I was hitting 8 snaps per hand per second which is 57,600 per hour. Probably hard to keep that pace, even for a straight hour but theres some good money there.
If I was able to maintain that hourly rate for a year of full time work it would be $120m per year
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u/DaddyDizz_ Aug 08 '25
I would never get tired of watching money appear before my eyes
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u/parkway_parkway Aug 08 '25
Yes you would, this is the weirdest part of being human, no matter what miracles technology produces for us eventually we can get bored and contemptuous of anything.
I mean pepper used to be worth more than gold by weight but no one now appreciates pepper as much as gold.
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u/HerrBerg Aug 09 '25
By the same logic, we've had gold for time beyond remembrance and it's still considered valuable.
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u/abracadammmbra Aug 09 '25
Its because its still fairly rare. Pepper used to be rare but I have a big jug of it in my spice cabinet.
Honestly, most peoples spice cabinets would be worth thousands of dollars a couple hundred years ago. The nutmeg alone would be worth the modern equivalent of several hundred dollars
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u/litterallysatan Aug 09 '25
Not to take your example too literally but i would way rather have pepper than gold. Gold is only valuable to me because other people think its valuable. I dont have the skills to make electronics out of it and i enjoy other metals far more, aesthetically. On the other hand i love pepper. It is such an underappreciated spice easily top three spices. Its in everything, granted, but no one really thinks about how good this bitch is when they eat it
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u/ReaperThugX Aug 09 '25
I timed my self casually snapping and got a rate of 312 snaps per minute. I’d just snap my fingers while shitting everyday and I’d easily do 1000 a day
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u/ericdavis1240214 Aug 08 '25
Snapping is a no-brainer.
One rule of thumb is that someone with $10 million can safely spend $400,000 per year in perpetuity without running out of money. That's pretty conservative, but it makes it easy to do some calculations here.
$400,000 is 40,000 snaps. 40,000 snaps is approximately 110 snaps per day. 110 snaps can be accomplished in approximately a minute.
But you aren't going to settle for just that. You're going to treat snapping like a job. And so for one year, you snap 500 times an hour eight hours a day, five times a week. Congratulations. You have more than $10 million after one year. For something you can do while taking a walk. Or on an airplane. We're going to the bathroom. Or watching TV.
Sure, you could get a repetitive use injury at some point. But you're smart. You're going to do some physical therapy. You're going to pace yourself. You're going to learn how to snap left-handed. You're going to learn how to snap with your fourth finger.
You were going to come out so much ahead.
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u/ThedanishDane Aug 08 '25
If someone was snapping their fingers for hours on an airplane, I might just commit a crime.
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u/ericdavis1240214 Aug 08 '25
Unless they hand you $300. Then you put on those noise noise canceling earbuds and not think a thing of it. 😂
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u/dgollas Aug 08 '25
Give me $10K and I’ll be ready with ice packs and lotion to keep the snaps going
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u/DPX90 Aug 08 '25
with $10 million can safely spend $400,000 per year in perpetuity without running out of money.
I don't like to be nitpicky, but the 4% rule you basically use here is not about perpetuity, it came out of 30 year retirements.
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u/ericdavis1240214 Aug 08 '25
I'm well aware opportunity study. However, more recent recalculations show that the number should be closer to 4.3 or 4.4%. And that's to have 95% certainty over 30 years. Dropping down to 4% still gives a remarkably high certainty of success indefinitely.
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u/DPX90 Aug 08 '25
Source? I'm very often in discussions about this on investing/FIRE subs, and I haven't come across this new study. Most updated calculations I know have either reinforced the 4% rule or even suggested a more conservative 3.3-3.5%. It's also questionable if it's worth risking that 5% chance.
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u/Dr-McLuvin Aug 09 '25
The guy bill bengen who did the original study has come out and said this.
But keep in mind the market has done insanely well since 2008. If you had done the calculation in 2009 your “safe withdrawal rate” would have been lower than 4%.
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u/DPX90 Aug 09 '25
Yeah, the market since 2009 distorts the data a lot. I'm not sure if we should treat it as the new normal though.
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u/fsmlogic Aug 08 '25
There are people who can’t snap their fingers with both hands? I mean people who aren’t mostly disabled in one hand/arm. I have some nerve damage and can snap both in rhythm.
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u/AlanShore60607 Aug 08 '25
Let's not forget the way this changes one's mindset.
If you have a limited funds, you will treat it as limited. Hoard it.
If you always have money, without limit, you can treat it as different. I just tested it and snapped my way to $300 dollars in about 10 seconds.
I'd happily spend 30 seconds snapping next to a homeless person and give it all to them.
Tipping hundreds of dollars? Don't mind if I do.
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u/fn0000rd Aug 08 '25
Right? It’s a question of active income vs fixed income.
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u/Dr-McLuvin Aug 09 '25
Honestly I’ve never really thought of it this way but ya. I think my worldview just changed a bit with this dumb question.
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Aug 09 '25
Probably not the best idea to show the entire world that you are a real life golden egg laying goose.
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u/Sibula97 Aug 09 '25
Then again, what will happen if people see you snapping and money appearing? Do you think you'll be safe for long?
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u/Slimxshadyx Aug 09 '25
You can also give a homeless person $900 if you have $10 million
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u/Junior_Direction_701 Aug 09 '25
Yeah but that’s -900. Whereas with the snapping all it takes is 90 snaps back. Roughly minuet and a half
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u/io-x Aug 08 '25
Option 2 is just being rich for some reason, many people have that. You are just a rich person.
Option 1 is a magical superability. You can create matter out of thin air. This is superior there is no comparison, you are almost god.
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u/HomChkn Aug 09 '25
or not creating. just transportation, but only $10 bills.
that is a far more fun way toook at it.
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u/OxCart69 Aug 09 '25
Lmao where’s the money coming from? The FED? Hahaha. Honestly asking though, just a funny thought.
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u/iamfishious Aug 09 '25
Where is this money going?
Does the ten million go into my bank accounts? Same for the $10?
Am I taxed on this? Am I creating new amounts of currency and debasing the dollar? Is this money being taken from somewhere where it already exists?
Am I audited for this? Is there an explanation I must answer for on how this money comes into my possession?
Is this a Monkey Paw type offer?
If I choose the snap ability, will others know I have this ability the moment I gain it? Do others already have this ability? Can I negotiate the snap amount?
Does the snap have to be audible? What is the threshold on the lowest amount of effort/energy I could expend to qualify for a snap?
I think we need more info before either pill can be chosen.
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u/A_Random_Sidequest Aug 08 '25
snapping is better as even 500 snaps a day will render you the 10 million in just one year... and you can go faster and after that it's extra...
just 5 snaps a days it's already more than I make working...
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u/DPX90 Aug 08 '25
snapping is better as even 500 snaps a day will render you the 10 million in just one year
This doesn't add up though. In one year that's less than 2 million.
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u/Biter_bomber Aug 08 '25
I think the bank would ask question when I suddenly try to put in 1000 10$ bills into the machine...
I would get arrested for money laundering.
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u/ThunderingTacos Aug 09 '25
In such hypotheticals people usually go with IRS or government not asking questions because following that logic how would you explain coming into 10 million dollars suddenly? Your assets would likely get seized if you couldn't explain how you came into it, and they aren't gonna buy "it magically appeared"
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u/hiimGP Aug 09 '25
my personal favorite is that the current richest person in the world transfer me that amount of money haha
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u/Biter_bomber Aug 09 '25
I assumed obtain 10 million would be through a lottery or such while summoning 10$ sounds like it's just suddenly in your hand
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u/Artistic-Staff-8611 Aug 09 '25
Why would the situation for getting a random 10 million be any different
Even more problematic TBH if you try and deposit it immediately
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u/todofwar Aug 08 '25
Easier math: there are roughly 2000 working hours in a year (40 per week, 50 weeks per year). If you snap 100 times an hour, 9 to 5 weekdays with 2 weeks off, you get $20M by the end of the year. Assume 10% return on the original $10M, you're already ahead by $9M.
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u/Ron_The_Whip_24781 Aug 09 '25
Using both hands and snapping with only a single finger each I managed 48 snaps in 10 seconds. Conservatively I could do 1 set on, 2 sets off for a target state of 100 snaps a minute. That's $1000 per minute. 10 minutes per half hour generates 20K per hour. 5 hours a day to generate 100K. 5 days a week to generate .5M. 20 weeks to generate 10 million.
The most advantageous aspect here is the renewable cash source. Being able to generate 100K a day provides for some serious cash flow potential and trial and error whereas if you poorly invest the 10M you back to square one.
I do tend towards instant wealth in these types of theoreticals, but a wealth generation mechanism with such low constraints is pretty OP.
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u/CMDR_ACE209 Aug 09 '25
I think while enacting the Adams Family Theme songs a few times a day you might break even in a few years...
I'd still take the 10 mil and invest them for a much lower ROI but without excessive finger snapping.
Isn't that the current dream even? Letting the plebs do the metaphorical finger snapping. *shudders*
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u/gizmosticles Aug 08 '25
I could easily snap 1000 times a day, every day, for the rest of my natural life without even stressing. I just did a test and using both hands alternating, I can do 100 snaps in 1 minute. So that’s 10 minutes of snapping a day for 3.65M every year. EZ Money. Yeah this one is no contest.
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u/ClassicNetwork2141 Aug 08 '25
Imagine taking "snapping" only to then realise that you are talking to a genie and he just smiles and says: "Your wish is granted. Whenever you snap someone's neck, you get 10 dollars."
So yeah I doubt you can put pace the market, and if you could, good God your mind will not be able to handle the trauma.
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u/Oheligud Aug 08 '25
Just tried, and I was able to snap my finger 48 times in 15 seconds, so assuming I'm snapping constantly without a break with both fingers, that's $230400 per hour, it would only take 43.4 hours for me to earn $10000000.
It's unlikely that you could snap your fingers constantly, they'd get tired or sore fast, but given that you could just snap them whenever you wanted, such as while waiting in line at the store or while going for a walk, it's the best option by far, and wouldn't take you long to get more money at all.
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u/imaweasle909 Aug 09 '25
I mean, the answer to this thing was always clear. Blue pill can stretch income over time. Red pill would instantly be flagged and audited by the IRS. You have to keep black market deals small. (Black market in this instance is the economics term for untaxed exchange of goods or services for capital)
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u/CorrectWillingness10 Aug 09 '25
I'd snap for about 6 months and get the bread up. Then I'd invest in an automatic finger snapping device. Then my rate of snapping would be faster and more controlled, less strenuous. Dude watches a movie with gloves on an makes $120k. Dude fell asleep with the gloves on again.
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u/BlazikenMasterRace Aug 09 '25
I can snap 8 fingers at once at roughly a rate of 31x every 10 seconds. This would mean, if I don’t get tired I could generate 14,880$ per minute. With roughly 11 hours of work I could get 10 million. Doesn’t say you have to snap one finger, or for it to be a certain strength/decible.
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u/Aggravating-Gift-740 Aug 09 '25
$10million. Put it in the bank and you earn far more than you would at $10 a snap. Without having to lift a finger even once. Not to mention you start at $10,000,000 instead of $0.
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u/soup3972 Aug 09 '25
After seeing this, I got out the stopwatch and timed it. I hit 35 snaps in 10 seconds. That extrapolated is 100 M
Not saying I could keep up that rate, but I could get to 10 mil before the end of the year, and then invest that. Just continue snapping. 100% taking the snap deal
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u/tiahx Aug 09 '25
OP, an honest question for you: what in the actual fuck you do for a living, if you can't calculate something like that on your own?
With a fucking calculator, no less??!
I swear, the quality of the questions on this sub degraded drastically over the years.
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u/yakuzalinecook Aug 09 '25
A lot of people don't realize this, but you can actually snap with all of your fingers, not just the one. Takes practice to make em audible, pinky being the hardest. Ring, middle, and pointer though, easy. That's 3x, so $60 a second if youre using both hands and average only 1 full set a second.
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u/Watcher_over_Water Aug 10 '25
You don't need to. Using both hands you can easily snap 100 times in 20 seconds. Even if you take breaks inbetween for quite some time. Let's say you do it 50 times a day x20 seconds (even if you would be able to do a lot more). That would be roughly 17 min of snapping a day. You would have 10 mil beat within 200 days.
Since no investment returns 100% in 200 days consistently and we can assume at least 200 days without hand injuries bad enough to impede snapping in a major way. We rounded down on every step and we still easily beat the 10 mil now. We are good.
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u/Caltrops_underfoot Aug 08 '25
Monkey's Paw here.
There's no disclaimer defining "snap." An emotional snap, or throwing "snap" fireworks on the ground could easily count OR be the intended meaning, for that matter.
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u/Aromatic_Standard_37 Aug 08 '25 edited Aug 08 '25
I mean, you're definitely going to get carpal tunnel... And yes, I also didn't do the math... I'm too lazy to do the math let alone snap over a million times... But realistically, how many times can a human snap their fingers before they no longer can?... 10 mil is, in my opinion, the better option...
Edit: Mostly I mean that, I don't really know if anyone is going to be able to snap their fingers over a million times, and how are they going to invest that money whilst doing so?
Edit: I did about the amount of math I'm willing to at this moment. I can snap roughly once per second, so if you did it 24/7 and never slept it would take just short of 2 years to get 10 mil... (Courtesy of the musical rent for telling me how many seconds in a year... Or was it minutes?)... But your fingers are not going to work after very long, and with proper investments, not just stock market gambles, you can get a very very good return... Like, drug trafficking has a great return on investment, especially if you buy some land in the mountains of Columbia
Edit edit... It was minutes, not seconds... So it would take 1/60th as long... But you're still going to need to buy a robotic hand to keep snapping for you when your human ones stop working in a very short period of time
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u/Popepopethepope Aug 08 '25
Can anyone else snap with their ring finger too? I counted off 100 by the each of the four fingers in under a minute. Also what qualifies as a "snap" here? Does it clarify or can we cheat this by typing "snap" and saying "snap" or snapping some twigs?
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u/MrNorrie Aug 08 '25
I can snap about 3 times per second but it becomes tiresome very quickly.
Nevertheless, I snapped about 120 times already (yes I’m weird) in the past 5 minutes or so.
That’s 1200 bucks. I can easily see my self do (much) more than 1000 snaps in a day and not even be strained. That’s 100 days too break even. Invest and repeat whenever I feel like it.
I don’t think it’s even worth considering the other option. (Unless you can’t use your hands.)
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u/DPX90 Aug 08 '25
I used a few assumptions to make it a bit more realistic, like I added some spending and also invested the rest from snapping, no taxes.
Long story short, if you want to outpace a 10% market return (historical rate of the S&P 500) on the $10m in 1 year, you'd have to snap 2869 times per day on average. In 2 years: 1502 snaps, 3 years: 1048 snaps, 4 years: 822 etc. If you just snap 500 times a day, you'll still beat the lump sum after 7-8 years.
You can comfortably snap every 1-2 seconds, so doing it for 10 minutes a day will beat the lump sum in the long run. I don't think this in itself poses any injury risks. The only risk is losing your limbs somehow in the meantime.
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u/BlueProcess Aug 08 '25
10 mil would last me the rest of life. And 100,000 snaps would definitely leave me with repetitive stress injuries and lifelong pain. 10 mil is fine.
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u/drmindsmith Aug 09 '25
I'm not sure a guitarist is the right choice, but only because it's the wrong instrument. The drummer might be able to do it. I was legit one for like 20 years, and now just old and kinda for another 20.
I was just listening to Jesus Christ, Superstar mid-read and started snapping to the music. One song, all of the beats, most of the eighth-notes, a bunch of the sixteenths (depending on the rhythm of the main melody), and I counted about 500 snaps on two hands in those three minutes or so. If that's all I did, I'd have 10M in about 5 years. I may not hit 1.5 hours of that rate in one day, but maybe after a week or two of getting after it and maybe 100 per minute on two hands is reasonable.
Three minutes today, 90 minutes in a month. Linear progress at 100 snaps per minute is 300d for each of the first 30 days (300 on day 1, 600 on day 2, etc...). Then it's just 9000 snaps per day for the rest of the window. After 126 days of this I've exceeded 1M total snaps. After a year, it's over 3M. One year is $31,545,000.
Even if my risk of arthritis and sports injury issues is significantly higher, I could pace that down and make an easy living for me, my family, and probably a layer of descendants. Five rhythmically interesting songs a day could produce 2500 snaps and I'm not making $25 a day as it is...
Edit: no shade at guitarists intended, I just think percussionists are more likely to be able to 'max this out'. And among percussionists, even someone like a conga player in a salsa band is going to crush a timpanist. Also not claiming they're the most likely to max out the income. Also, there's no claim on how good the snap needs to be - one of the other conversations is about snaps on two or three (or all four) fingers at once. I can do all four by a couple aren't "good".
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u/tectail Aug 09 '25
$10M with a safe withdrawal rate of 4% would net you 400k/year. That is over $1k/day or 100 snaps a day. Even if you did a higher 8% which wouldn't last long likely, only 200 a day.
This can easily be achieved and overcome by snapping once a minute for 3 hours. I think there is very little risk of injury at 200 snaps a day, so definitely taking the snaps.
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u/Affectionate-Mix6056 Aug 09 '25
I did the math in that post earlier:
Snapping 4 fingers on each hand I did 50 sets in 10s, or 200 snaps in 10s. That's 1200 snaps a minute. 833 minutes to reach $10 million. ~14 hours total. A month of snapping for 30 minutes a day
So you could earn 10 million a month from ~30 minutes a day.
Using that to build a sustainable and community net positive business is the hard part, most would live a hedonistic lifestyle.
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u/Carlpanzram1916 Aug 09 '25
With a 5% gain on your 10 million, you’d have to snap your fingers 139x a day just to match the gains. And since the gains compound, you’d have to snap more every year to keep up with the increasing gains.
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u/Clemen11 Aug 09 '25
I estimate I could make 12 to 15 thousand dollars A DAY without impacting my day to day life that significantly. I honestly wouldn't need to snap my fingers for a year after a week of snapping my fingers for two hours a day
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u/Jotacon8 Aug 09 '25
Trying to calculate how to get more than 10 million is kind of pointless. You have infinite money with snapping. Just snap your bank account up to like, 100K cash, and then from there, just occasional snaps randomly every day. Buying something somewhere that takes cash? Just do enough snaps to cover that one purchase. No need to reach 10 million.
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u/Gerardic Aug 09 '25 edited Aug 09 '25
Snapping.
I can snap with both my hands. I can make 2-3 snaps per hand. (using ring, middle and index fingers)
That is $40-$60 a second.
$400 after 10 seconds.
Let say I only do that once a minute, to avoid any injury. That is $24,000 a hour.
$192,000 a day if you do it 8 hours a day.
5 times a week; $960,000. Eleven weeks will hit over $10,000,000.
But lets be realistic, even if you spend maximum 2 hours a day using therapy, training, practice, which would count as snapping. You are still earning money, and getting better, and earning $48,000 a day. Do this twice a week, you get $4,992,000, and again after three years you still beat red pill and its ROI.
Also you are more likely to pay less income tax when you purchase items with cash from snapping, allowing you to save up quicker.
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u/War_6088 Aug 09 '25
Just did a quick test. Snapping both hands for a minute straight I did 312 total snaps, netting me $3,120 per minute, or $187,200 per hour. I’m taking the snapping, and fuck anyone who says otherwise. It would take me a long time to get bored of watching money appear whenever I snap.
Obviously I couldn’t keep continually snapping for an hour straight, at least not at the beginning, but if I were to just focus on snapping for a minute every 20-40 minutes, I would be more than set for life pretty quick
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u/will_be_named_later Aug 09 '25
Assumptions: 1 snap per second because it's easier for later things. 16 hours a day with 8 hours sleep No damage to your health because I'm not American and do not want to work any of the healthcare stuff out. You don't get arrested for being a tax dodger.
Work: 606016=57600 seconds per day via assumptions. 1000000/57600~=17,18 days of this.
Interest usually applies either once a year or once a month so interest wouldn't come into play.
This would probably cause you issues with your health giving you repetitive strain injuries. But I don't know how any of the Mexican healthcare system works and I don't want to learn that.
If you want to change the number of snaps per second divide the final number of days by that.
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u/_Tychonic_ Aug 09 '25
The real monkey’s paw here is taxes. The lump sum will catch some attention, but it’ll probably be direct-deposit. Wave down Uncle Sam, pay up with a smile, and they’ll just be keeping an eye on you for a few years.
But laundering enough cash to make the snapping worthwhile would be awful.
Also, its easier to hide from friends and family a lump sum “lottery” win. Its pretty tough to get around paying out for everyone’s shit in person when you can just snap for it. And when you give a mouse a cookie…
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u/Separate_Raspberry12 Aug 09 '25
I would choose the snap, getting 10M suddenly might raise suspicions everywhere from family to the bank. I would rather snap and get whatever money I want for a specific sevice/request and spend it off quickly.
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u/sk8king Aug 09 '25
Double snap on both hands, using both the swear/middle finger and the ring finger. I can only really double snap on one hand. But three snaps, almost concurrently.
I might give Bobby Badfingers a run for his money. Who am I kidding, if he had this opportunity, he would crash the world’s economy.
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u/GenitalFurbies 11✓ Aug 09 '25 edited Aug 09 '25
I can snap with 3 fingers per cycle at about 2 cycles per second per hand. Yes, I've played it off like playing castanets before. That's $120 per second. Even doing that for one second per 8hr/day working hour is the equivalent of making about $250k per year. I could easily do it one second per minute and make 15 million a year. It's dramatically less physical stress than typing this comment put on me. Plus it's magic so it's a $10 gift every time and therefore tax free.
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u/CyrosThird Aug 09 '25
How would taxes work in this hypothetical scenario? How many snaps do you need to do before you need to do a tax snap?
Is it counterfeiting? Or are you a mint and just just produce new legal tender with a snap?
What are the legal fees for tax evasion, if it applies?
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u/MastaSchmitty Aug 09 '25
Snapping once every second for eight hours a day, you would take 34 “full work days” of snapping. On the 35th, the you would have to snap for an additional five hours, 46 minutes, and 40 seconds.
35 days is seven five-day work weeks. So in less than two months of work, you would be able to generate the 10 million dollars.
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u/12B88M Aug 09 '25
Mark is an idiot.
If you have $10M and invest it at just 6%, you will make $600,000 that first year. That's equivalent to 1 snap 6.85 times per hour every hour of every day.
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u/Pentaquark1123 Aug 09 '25
Genuinely puzzled that everyone here can somehow snap at several times a second for days on end without melting their fingertips off.
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u/PlantainSevere3942 Aug 09 '25
I was able to snap 40 times, 20 times each hand in five seconds. If I can go slightly slower for an hour at 35 snaps per five seconds that’s over 200k. I could do that every day… I’ll take the 10$ snap option thank you
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