Rich and successful we have been lied to about how they get there

It seems to me that the media and books have long peddled the idea that people become really rich through hard work, or some brilliant strategy, etc.. But is this just to stop people realising the truth. PEOPLE GET REALLY RICH BECAUSE
1. They didn't become rich or successful: they were born rich.
2. Luck: someone walks in one day looking for someone for a multimillion pound or dollar job, who is ill or lazy and thinks what they hell this guy will do.
3. They marry money.
4. They have brilliant connections through boarding or private schools: very much related to number 1.

If we admit this then we can basically admit that the world needs changes. Maybe this should be a world where anyone with enough talent can fairly acheive anything without having to rely on luck.

Please in replies don't tell me about bull# folk tales about this and that, if it is explained by the above 4 conditions.

My good friends dad Mr.Hernandez who came to America when he was 6 years old and started shoe shining is a multimillionaire now, because he worked his ass off. His company he has built has Hotel contracts all around California. He started from the bottom. Not to mention his only education is no higher then middle school. Hasn't even graduated high school.

Now, mind you, his kids will be rich their whole lives once he is gone, but Crystal (my friend) and her brothers all work their butts off as well working for him Monday through Friday. So not everyone is born into it or given it. People DO work their whole lives to build empires, so I disagree.

a reply to: Thisbseth
You have not said how this cannot be explained by the 4 reasons. I would hazard a guess there was a fair amout of number 2 in there somewhere (luck, some incredible chance event which helped greatly). This does bring up an important fact, people hate to think that their hard work would have meant nothing without good luck and that one piece of good luck may have set them up for life.

a reply to: werewolf99

i disagree
There's loads of people that started with nothing and are now multi millionaires
People do work hard for their money
Do you really think people are that dumb that they dont know the real truth?
Do we all believe everything thats written in books and newspapers?
You havnt revealed anything new that we dont know already
But your number 5 should be through sheer hard work and determination

a reply to: Thisbseth

While Mr hernandez worked his ass off to get where he was, that is not the story with most of the uber rich people... There are SOME at the top who got there through hard work, but most get there through lies, connections, dirty play, and greed, in connection with the above four things...

The problem is that although there are a few people who are able to work their way to the top, that number has been diminishing for years, and will continue to do so, unless we change the structure of things.

This world is a playground for the rich, and a prison for the peasants, and has been for a lo oolong time. They just make us seem free through cheap CRAP, and the illusion of freedom.

a reply to: SecretKnowledge

Show me a person who is supposed to have gotten their by hardwork and determination: to becoming very rich: and I will show you a person with at least one piece of very good luck.

a reply to: werewolf99

Well, they had connections is your argument? His first huge company him and his partner made was also a multimillion dollar business, and he got stabbed in the back and left broke and stranded...only to recover and start his own company, which now is also a multimillion dollar company. I remember him shedding a few tears telling me the story of the betrayal because it was a good friend. but that didn't stop him. Going from millions to nothing now back to millions. He will always have my respect, and nothing he told me is on any of your numbers, Hard work and dedication and not giving up is how he did it. Nothing else was involved. even maybe a little faith but he never mentioned that.

Sorry you think the way you do.

a reply to: andr3w68

Behind every Billionaire, Millionaire and thousandaire, there was someone who gave sweat, and blood for that family line to have those millions and billions. I don't care what anyone thinks...It all started from hard work, and being smart.

a reply to: Thisbseth

You have also missed out the good luck that would have accompianied the creation of the first compamy.

Creativity, hard work, not giving up no matter what people tell you.

There's your answer.

Are you up to it?

That's the real question . . .

a reply to: Thisbseth
You don't think that it is more likely to be LUCK and hardwork. Without luck nothing happens: unless you fulfill one of the other 3 criteria that I mentioned.

a reply to: seentoomuch

You are talking about success and I am talking about money. You will find that without luck, or connections great wealth does not usually come as a result of success.

a reply to: werewolf99

Someone I know here started selling candies that he would buy from bankruptcies. I was 18 or 19 years old when he showed up where I worked. He was in his early twenties and by the way he dressed, you could tell that he wasn't rich. He was selling these bags of candies along with little baskets that you could put on your counter, by the cash register, for customers to enjoy. Everyone laughed at him. "Mr Candy" they used to call him.

I heard of him a few years later as I wanted to rent an apartment. He owned the building in which was the apartment I was interested in.

He retired at 40. Multimillionaire.

Sorry for the folk tale. It worked for him through hard work and wise financial decisions.

a reply to: werewolf99

Sit down and actually talk to someone who has millions. Luck had nothing to do with it. ill say it again, your " luck" is someone else's good decisions they made, hard work they did, and ideas none else had. You can become a millionaire as well, I know its cliché but we live in America. I know plenty of people in my life that have loads of money, I make it a point to always talk to these people about their success. All it takes is the mindset of a millionaire to become one.

a reply to: werewolf99

Luck is winning the lottery. not building a company.

originally posted by: werewolf99
a reply to: seentoomuch

You are talking about success and I am talking about money. You will find that without luck, or connections great wealth does not usually come as a result of success.

You have most of it wrong. I've lived it, I'm telling you the truth. Though yes, there are some that ride on connections and friends but that is NOT the only way . . . .

You must be right. I have a friend from Vietnam. He was one of the "boat people" who managed to escape when it was really bad for anyone of Chinese ethnicity over there. He worked for me at a minimum wage job for several years. But he always had a second job. he would come to me to do his taxes and one year I discovered he had saved $30,000 in this second job (also a minimum wage job). He wanted to get none family members over via the "Orderly Departure Program," which was a way to get separated families back together again. His sister also managed to escape by hiking over a mine field in Cambodia to a base in Thailand. (The base even had a zipcode!)

The airline tickets cost over $1000 apiece for his nine remaining family members, including his Mom and Dad. He used the $30K to get them over here. They came with ZERO dollars, just a few art prints made out of oyster shell and black shellac. (Perhaps you've seen them) That was their only wealth. They gave a set to me for helping them. They moved to Seattle, and all the kids took minimum wage jobs. They lived four to a room in two sets of bunk beds per room. It took him ten years to get his family over here.

Six months later they bought a brand new house. It wasn't huge, but it sure wasn't a dump, either. It was brand new. My friend had gone through several jobs by then and his English was very good. He began to get better jobs, but he wasn't satisfied. He had heard of this "American Dream" thing and fool that he was, he still believed it. One thing he did, for example, is buy a Firebird TransAm. I told him that was stupid, and he finally admitted it.

But he wasn't satisfied, so he bought a Pho Hoa franchise and opened his own restaurant in Olympia. He said he was tired working for someone else and wanted to do "something for ourselves." So he employed his entire family there. Now they have three restaurants and appear to be doing quite well. He has two kids now who, as you might expect, excel in school. I would be very surprised if they didn't get full-ride scholarships.

Of course, you can't do that in America. It's all a damn lie. Work for the minimum wage? Forget it! You'll never amount to anything, a slave for life.

a reply to: Thisbseth

I'm not saying that there are not people who work hard... Most of those are your average people. The millionaire/billionaire's hire everyday people to work their assess off while they sit in a chair and rake it in...

I know there are some genuinely good hard working people who have worked their way into money, but be honest, most people with lots of money DO NOT work hard, if at all.

a reply to: SonoftheSun

You said you met him years later and so you cannot say that he had luck or any of the other criteria, and any way I said really rich.

a reply to: werewolf99

There are those that have become successful due to old money and connections. However, I still believe in the old saying "if you can build a better mouse trap, the world will beat a path to your door." It takes money to make money, but in some cases, starting out on a shoe string budget and having a unique and useful idea is sometimes all it takes to become successful. Social media is free, so it's much easier to reach millions today.