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

a reply to: werewolf99

What do you consider "rich"?

a reply to: werewolf99

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.

That's the truth as YOU see it. I myself perceive otherwise. Bill Gates has admitted that he is not the smartest guy around, so instead he hired the smarter people to work for him. Knowing some one to get a leg up is called "Networking."

"Work smarter, not harder", is the phrase I believe.

So when people complain and whine and moan about how life is not fair and why aren't they rich like others, the question to be asked is.

"Are you jealous because they are rich?, or in reality, are you jealous because they are smarter?

originally posted by: werewolf99
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.

it does'nt matter what name i say, you could say that they were lucky to get a big contract.
Or they were lucky the share prices went up
Or they were lucky in whatever decision they made.
i would call it good business sense.
Like someone already said, luck is winning the lottery etc.

a reply to: TDawgRex

Bill Gates is an excellent example, he was born rich and privately educated and became super rich. He was not rage to riches, he was rich to richer.

a reply to: werewolf99

Many people are givin examples of people we do not know about and therefore cannot verify. So how about examples of people we know and can find out about: the hollywood stars. I still say that these people have got there through one of the above, or even more than one routes above.

Sure, its your thread, the readers will wait for your examples that you want to discuss.

originally posted by: werewolf99
a reply to: TDawgRex

Bill Gates is an excellent example, he was born rich and privately educated and became super rich. He was not rage to riches, he was rich to richer.

There are plenty of rags to riches stories all over the place, and I don't think one person accomplished it on their own. Even lottery winners can't say that. But your list is entirely to small there are plenty of other factors at play on a individual basis.

a reply to: TDawgRex

It is true there are other factors, for one I missed off people that start off as criminals and use their ill gotten gains to start off in business, oh and also there are of course that some people deliberately screw up because they fear success. Some one wanted a list, any hollywood star would do as an example, Angenila Jolie, Tom Cruise and I have not actually looked into these people deliberately to give a fair people a fair chance of disproving my theory.

All the ones I know got it the old fashioned way....they inherited it!
I know a man who's mommy and daddy left him a few mil in the bank and a bunch of land. He built a mansion and has a bunch of equipment, like dozers, tractors and everything else under the sun. He started other business' as well. The rich get richer, don'tcha know. He then built a fence all around his place. The road is very curvy and people crash through it all the time. He sticks it to their insurance companies and has his workers repair it every time and makes big money off it.

Other ones I know, they showed up here in the old days with an infinite amount of money. They bought a bunch of land. Then they built some houses. They rent all those houses out. They built a general store right in the middle of it and got everybody(farmers and regular folks) in debt. They live very well. It must be nice.

I know a bunch of'em who got it through inheritance. I don't know one rich person personally who earned it.

a reply to: werewolf99

Bill Gates is a genius...
He earned every penny...
Now he wants to use 90% (65 billion) to help everyone else...
He has even urged other billionaires to do the same...

Ok he is a very rare case...
But the richest man in the World worked for it...
Didn't recieve it...
Was his genius luck?
I treat luck like coincidence and don't believe in it...
So no his genius was again his own hard work paying off...

Peace werewolf!!!

a reply to: CharlieSpeirs
Are you insane he was born rich with influential friends, windows was largely perlioned other peoples ideas, so in fact it was the work less connected poorer people did and largely werent paid for: after all much of windows was stolen: so how does that classify as genius.
born with money+ connections+stealing =more cash

I have to agree with the OP. Sadly, I have seen it played out to many times in my life not to.

You can take two people who equally as hard, have the same ideas and the same intelligence and skill. One can become successful and the other not due to something as simple as meeting the right person on a bus.

Some people will be successful with very little effort and a lot of luck. Some people will be successful with extremely hard work and just the tiniest ounce of luck. Most successful people will fall somewhere in the middle.

When I say successful, I mean, making enough money to live comfortably with out worry and afford a few luxuries.

Unfortunately, I know to many people who claim to be self made swear it is all heard work, but they had help from family and friends. One person in particular swears she is a self made woman through her own blood sweat and tears, B.S. she made it because she married the right man and became successful through HIS blood, sweat and tears, even though it is "her" business.

No one born in the lower class, working class or lower to middle middle class has a chance of making into into the mega ultra rich population. The system is set up to keep the average person out. They are not going to receive the education and connections from the elite private schools and ivy league schools that the children of the ultra rich receive. Even the upper middle class has a better chance, but they are going to have to work much harder than the children of the ultra rich.

Also think of the level someone is born into. Children born into extreme poverty are going to have to work twice as hard and need more luck as someone born into a middle class family to become successful. (remember my definition of successful)

a reply to: werewolf99

Depends how you define "hard work".

I know plenty people who work hard but are demonstrably poor in comparison to millionaires; but then again, their hard work was never going to take them anywhere else.

If you work hard at scrubbing floors, you aren't going to become rich.

Many people who become wealthy (having been fairly poor) have good business nous and apply themselves with appropriate verve; in that sense, they can be said to have "worked hard" for it.

But whether they are a majority or a minority of wealthy people, I wouldn't know.

I suspect it is inherited wealth for the majority.