Recent comments in /f/Showerthoughts

NottACalebFan t1_je38t4o wrote

Reply to We're assured that qualifications are essential, but none of the very richest people got their wealth from theirs by pufballcat

That's incredibly reductionist and misleading.

Most people become rich by being good at a job or skill that makes them essential, either easy to be hired or hard to get fired. After that, the majority of people gain weath over time until they erase all non essential debt (house or insurance payments), and then have enough on hand savings in order to diversify their income sources.

In other words, although the majority of stockholders don't actually possess the skills to run a company they have invested in, they didn't just get born with a $1,000,000 in Microsoft. They invested after they became financially self supporting.

A very few (less than 10%) actually have generational wealth. The majority of others (I believe it's around 70-80% though i can't remember the actial number) get rich by working steadily and paying off their debts.

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Friendly-Pressure-62 t1_je384me wrote

Reply to We're assured that qualifications are essential, but none of the very richest people got their wealth from theirs by pufballcat

I think of success as a formula: FxC+ExR. F is family and determines your starting point. Wealthy families can invest in you. C is for competence. It has to be a marketable skill set. A useful education multiplies your starting point. E is for effort. Effort is only additive, not a multiplier. You can only work so hard. R is for risk. Do you own the thing generating income and loss? Qualifications are only a portion of the formula.

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hacksoncode t1_je37ujv wrote

Reply to comment by unscannablezoot in We're assured that qualifications are essential, but none of the very richest people got their wealth from theirs by pufballcat

Not so much, really... it only takes a couple of generations to divide that up so that the "very richest" are the ones that, themselves, started companies that became worth billions.

Only 3 of the top 100 billionaires inherited their wealth (Walton family). There are 22 "families" on that list... the individual members largely wouldn't hit the list (and those "families" are ones where they together built the family business, not through inheritence).

It is true, though, that many top billionaires were supported by their rich-but-not-top-echelon families in starting their businesses.

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