Poll: How do rich people become rich in the first place?

[Bara_no_Hime]

Got to love all the unsubstantiated hate going around this thread. Jealousy is a powerfully blinding emotion. The simple truth of the matter is that no one, even given all of the advantages in the world, can make that kind of fortune without a great deal of personal ability and hard work.

Yeah, seriously. I am honestly shocked by the posts in this thread.

I considered correcting people, but I've noticed that doing so when the whole thread has the same (incorrect) idea usually ends in pointless bickering.

Although the guy who (intentionally, I hope) misunderstood the Lottery winners ending up worse off comment made me shake my head.

 

[Potato Dragon]

Poor wording on my part but my main point is even if hard work and talent are a contributing factor luck will most likely have played the largest part.

How exactly are you defining luck? Is it random?

(I don't disagree with luck being a significant factor, but I get the feeling people are using wildly different definitions.)

I define luck as having things that you generally have little or no control over

two people are both perfect for a roll but only one gets picked

being lucky enough to know someone whom can help you accomplish things that you and or your company could not (over the top example incoming) say you produce x for market y you then become best friends with market y's biggest party who then gives you work out of that friendship even if someone else is better.

location (Born in North Korea you wont make much out of anything)

Birth (pure luck)

not falling ill at critical times

market not collapsing (like the housing market did)

not being crippled in a way that makes it impossible

being born at the right time

Not having serious a partner screw you over

Morality (mother dies, do you attend her funeral or do you close that big deal?)

etc

I hope this helps, also I would like to say that there are also a large number of things you have control over and that is the part where you create your own luck and I'm an advocate of doing all of those things.

 

[bastardofmelbourne]

A person can get lucky and inherit a fortune, or they can spin their wheels forever without making significant progress in spite of ability and dedication. I'm not denying that both of those scenarios occur, all too often in both cases. I am however saying that those who made their own fortune actually did WORK to earn it, and that the people in the "self made" category outnumber those in the "ungodly lucky" category.

No, sure. I'm sure Gina Rinehart puts in a lot of hours every week running her mining empire. Maybe not as many as the actual miners, but sure, she's in the office a lot. It doesn't change the fact that the only reason she's the wealthiest woman in Australia is because she a) inherited her father's business and b) lucked into the country's largest ever mining boom.

She works hard. I'm pretty sure of that. But she didn't become a billionaire because she worked hard. She became a billionaire because she was in the right industry at the right time with the right amount of capital. If I had to break it down by looking at the career history of my country's billionaires, I'd say it's ten percent work ethic, ten percent talent, and eighty percent good fortune - whether being born into wealth, or taking advantage of economic windfalls more-or-less outside of your control, like the discovery of vast amounts of iron ore while under a federal government politically malleable enough to sell the mining rights to the land for basically nothing.

Playing up the hard work aspect is misleading. Hard work is a good idea if you want to succeed, but it doesn't make the difference. Luck makes the difference.

 

[Singularly Datarific]

By being freaking smart. I don't mean smart as in "I got straight A's." I mean smart as in able to start a business and put so much effort in the right places that it survives and they end up as the people in charge of it. You can't be complacent, it takes a hell of a lot of effort. You can be successful by finding a job, and you can be just as successful or more by making a job.

It takes weird ways. If you decide to start a pizza place then you're going to have a shitton of competition that is infinitely better suited than you are. If you start something that isn't around, then you will be the first one there, and you can set the precedent.

Source: Immigrant neighbor friend started a trucking business and came back with a fucking Mercedes after a few years.

It's not all luck. Luck helps, but just because the lottery lands on you doesn't mean you know how to keep it.

 

[LetalisK]

snip

I had a response addressing a couple of your examples(ie the one that was pretty much just social networking and the role one), but I find I have a hard time with the rest as I see luck as something very difficult to define. I do think it's effectively random[footnote]Meaning it's not actually random, there is cause and effect, we just might not be able to predict beforehand or even after the fact.[/footnote] and as such I have a hard time accepting it as a reason to be hostile towards those with money(not saying you are, but it's not an uncommon theme). Nor do I accept it as a sufficient condition for being rich. Necessary, probably in most cases or at least enhanced their wealth more than it would have been otherwise, but without some sort of hard work or talent, luck doesn't get one far either. And ultimately, since I see it as random and thus uncontrollable, it seems weird to me to focus on it so much. This isn't to say I see luck's complete dismissal as any more palatable.

 

[Nexxis]

People can become rich by inheritance, having a really good idea at the right time, or genuine hard work with a bit of luck. Being rich doesn't really happen when a bunch of money is dropped into your lap all at once. Without some way to maintain that money, it'll just dwindle away to nothing.

 

[funkzillabot]

9 times out of 10, those with money are BORN into it. Very rarely some are self made and worked hard to achieve it. But for damn sure, it's never those people who are spoiled.

 

[Potato Dragon]

snip

I had a response addressing a couple of your examples(ie the one that was pretty much just social networking and the role one), but I find I have a hard time with the rest as I see luck as something very difficult to define. I do think it's effectively random[footnote]Meaning it's not actually random, there is cause and effect, we just might not be able to predict beforehand or even after the fact.[/footnote] and as such I have a hard time accepting it as a reason to be hostile towards those with money(not saying you are, but it's not an uncommon theme). Nor do I accept it as a sufficient condition for being rich. Necessary, probably in most cases or at least enhanced their wealth more than it would have been otherwise, but without some sort of hard work or talent, luck doesn't get one far either. And ultimately, since I see it as random and thus uncontrollable, it seems weird to me to focus on it so much. This isn't to say I see luck's complete dismissal as any more palatable.

I agree entirely besides luck is just chance nothing more, I mean everyone knows there's risk involved and that is because your much less likely to make it. In the end its mostly risk management and hoping that something you can't control doesn't happen, and no I have no bias against the rich they played the game and won or were lucky enough not to have to play at all and luck is unfortunately a part of it yay.

 

[sumanoskae]

Most of the wealth, in America at least, is inherited

 

[aelreth]

What is luck to you is a series of well planned, well executed leveraged risks. Brought about by analyzing a sector of industry for waste.

How do you expect to be a rich person if you are not going to be the person that takes the risk by signing people's paychecks?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Got to love all the unsubstantiated hate going around this thread. Jealousy is a powerfully blinding emotion. The simple truth of the matter is that no one, even given all of the advantages in the world, can make that kind of fortune without a great deal of personal ability and hard work.

Oh come on, "no one can make a fortune without hard work"? Did you write that with a straight face? What about a 5 year old born into royalty, or anyone by the name Hilton? They already have more money than we'll ever make in two lifetimes.

 

[emeraldrafael]

Either inheritance or through hard work and innovation and talent.

you can get rich through lottery, though you have to pay a huge tax on it if you take the full amount or if you do the installment plan type thing. plus the odds arent good.

I dont really dislike rich people, since rich means different things to different people, and i hope to one day be well off (making 65-80K a year US). Its the rich that pay almost all of the taxes in the US, and the small business owners that actually create jobs (big businesses like ford and microsoft as a whole lost = jobs created over the past few years here) and they have ot have a good amount of capital.

 

[Olas]

Moderately rich: They went to school, got a good education, worked hard, and now have a decent job.

Crazy rich: They got freakishly lucky in some way, usually by investing in just the right thing at just the right time.

 

[bananafishtoday]

People get rich by being better people than the people who are poor. Because we all know that the great god of capitalism Mammon only blesses those who are worthy, and unfailingly blesses all who are worthy. Mammon's Invisible Hand rewards people for being smarter, stronger, savvier, or just plain more moral and more all around good than others. And Mammon never fails to curse with poverty those who deserve it. And don't talk to me about being born rich or born poor. If you didn't have the foresight to get concieved in the womb of a wealthy woman, you don't have any right to complain. You should have worked your little sperm and ovum to get concieved some place nice, instead of settling for whatever street-urchin strumpet whose uterus would take you.

Nah I'm just messing with you. It's mostly luck. It's theoretically possible to get rich through hard work and intelligence, but without some money to invest in nurturing that capacity for hard work and intelligence (like say, being able to afford an education) it's going to go to waste. Bill Gates was only able to hone his skills in programming by getting massive experience with his university computers. And it took money to get him into that university.

The funny thing is Bill Gates didn't even get rich because he was good at programming. He got rich because he successfully conned IBM on OS/2 while successfully conning the actual creators of MS-DOS.

Not that I even think Bill Gates is a particularly "bad" person. Hell, he's practically a saint compared to most in the $10m+ net worth category. Fact is, a few "successful" people get there by being born into it, and the vast majority of those who aren't get there by exploiting others.

Edit: And can y'all please stop citing the lottery. Winning the lottery is so incredibly rare that it shouldn't even factor into this thread.

 

[Heronblade]

Got to love all the unsubstantiated hate going around this thread. Jealousy is a powerfully blinding emotion. The simple truth of the matter is that no one, even given all of the advantages in the world, can make that kind of fortune without a great deal of personal ability and hard work.

Oh come on, "no one can make a fortune without hard work"? Did you write that with a straight face? What about a 5 year old born into royalty, or anyone by the name Hilton? They already have more money than we'll ever make in two lifetimes.

Apparently you missed the meaning of what I said.

Making a fortune is a wee bit different than being showered with one at birth. The only individuals among the Hilton family for example that statement would apply to are those that were actually responsible for the franchise, not the parasites feeding off of it.

 

[manic_depressive13]

There's is an amazing amount of generalisation in this thread. I get why certain rich people have become figures of hatred for others, but the sheer number of people here who flat out say 'everyone who is rich got there in a dishonest way' or 'it was luck' or 'they exploited others' just baffles me. Do you really think that there aren't at least some who got where they are by actually working for it?

That implies that people who don't get rich don't work hard enough, which anyone can see is bullshit. Yeah, they worked, but they didn't generate millions or billions in wealth out their ass. Other people worked to generate that wealth but those people didn't get that wealth. No matter how hard someone works, they can never, ever work hard enough to deserve such obscene amounts of wealth while the people who actually created that wealth bust their ass trying to survive on minimum wage, sometimes less. That's what exploitation is.

No one is saying that every wealthy person spends their days spinning in their chair. They are just saying they sure as fuck didn't do anything that would earn them the right to such obscene wealth while other people die from poverty.

 

[Athefist]

The wealthy people I know (including my dad) all have somewhat similar stories. They had a talent or a skill that they found a way to market, and they were relentless in their pursuit of success. My grandparents were hardly middle class much less wealthy, and of the family friends that I'd call wealthy, very few were born into rich families. It's not common you actually lay eyes on someone in the act of relentlessly pursuing wealth, because they're always working. My dad was/is never home. The only bit of advice he's ever given me is to either be earning, or looking for ways to refine your skills so you can earn more. That, and to maintain relationships and never burn a bridge with anyone ever because you never know when you might need to call on them. He knows literally hundreds of people by name and most people think he's the nicest person ever.

You can call me lucky for being born into my family, but it's not like I get to sit back and let the good life carry me where it will. I'm no trust fund slacker, nor would my family ever let me be one. I put in an average of 50 hours a week at one of the family businesses on top of school, and it's no cushy "stand around with my thumb up my dumb ass" kind of job either. It's easy to rationalize that having money is a matter of luck, and to be sure there is some luck involved, but on top of that luck is a work ethic that most people don't have.

 

[Alade]

Apparently the consensus of this forum is that money falls from trees.

I'm sorry to burst your bubble but while you can get rich by winning the lottery/getting extremely lucky with investments, that's pretty much the only way to earn money with pure luck.

Actually getting rich is done through hard work, the more marbles you have in your damn head, the more the hard work will pay off. Luck can play a small factor but if you don't have what it takes, all the luck of the Irish won't help you out.

All of the world's greatest entrepreneur's are said to have had nightmarish work schedules when their business was starting up, the people that worked for Bill Gates were convinced that the man did not sleep, ever. Owning a company and making it work is a 24/7 job no matter how you spin it.

I will however admit that cheating pays off quite a lot.