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It's interesting that we tend to ask for advice from rich people. Once I've heard a very annoyed George Soros saying in an interview - CNN or similar - that "yo

• gist 9y ago
  As a very very general and rough rule the fact is someone like Soros or for that matter someone who is just famous or even niche famous will hang around with a different group of people and be exposed to things that normal people are not and do not have access to. Of course there are a ton of exceptions but the fact is if you are Soros (or Jobs or Bezos or Jack Welch (GE)) you simply have access to a group of people that aren't available to an ordinary person. Even take, say, Paul Graham or Sam Altman. They can reach out to anyone in the YC family and I would imagine get a very fast and motivated response and extra effort. Or for that matter anyone in the startup world who is familiar with who they are or what they do. There is no way anyone will convince me that isn't a very large advantage in either gaining information or access. And that information and access does mean something they are (in theory) better informed. Of course Soros is on CNN because he is rich and known. But the truth is what he says people will take seriously more so than if CNN interviewed the local head of a 100 or 200 person manufacturing company.
• WalterBright 9y ago
  It stands to reason that a rich person would know more about how to make money than a poor person, unless you believe it is totally random. Similarly, if I was interested in an athletic career, I'd be interested to hear from a gold medal champion more than from someone who is out of breath going to the mailbox.
  • dlp211 9y ago
    I don't think it's totally random, but I don't think that rich people have some unknown knowledge or quality that allowed them to become rich. Plenty of rich people are rich because of circumstance, others, because they were in the right place at the right time with the right knowledge.
    • WalterBright 9y ago
      I saw an episode about this years ago on PBS (Frontline?). They studied 401k investment results at a company where all the employees participated in the same plan, with the same choices. The lower paid employees consistently had much lower investment returns than the higher paid employees. It was pretty clear that the higher paid employees were managing their 401k investments better. In other words, it wasn't random. The company reacted to those results by offering free investment education classes to all employees. What the outcome of that was I don't know. It statistically stands to reason that people who are better at managing money, finance, and investments will accrue more wealth than those who are worse at it.
    • stinkytaco 9y ago
      Or because they were born with it. Or at least born with advantages such as safe neighborhoods, good schools and social capital.
      • dlp211 9y ago
        I said many rich people are rich because of circumstance.
        • WalterBright 9y ago
          85% of American millionaires are self-made, i.e. they did not inherit it. "The Millionaire Next Door" by Stanley
          • Mz 9y ago
            I am really enjoying this subthread and I appreciate your contributions to it. I think it is a little of column A and a little of column B. I think a lot of people want to emphasize the luck, happenstance and inheritance angle in part to try to make peace with not being rich themselves. I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, I am tired of being dirt poor and working so hard at solving my problems, seemingly without ever getting any credit while often feeling like the financial piece never really changes, no matter how much progress I have made. There always seems to be some reason why I am broke anyway. I wish life would give me a break and I end up often feeling like the difference between me and more financially well off people is entirely "luck" (bad luck) that no amount of effort can reverse. On the other hand, I want success that I earned, not some winning lottery ticket. I can't quite figure out if hoping for a break is worse or if wanting to stubbornly do it my damn self is stupidly and pointlessly masochistic. I don't have the answer. I am just trying to say that I have a lot of sympathy for the people who want to claim that rich people were just lucky. Yet, I have worked hard to get healthier and seen results for that while people dismiss that as wild coincidence and get incredibly defensive at the idea that making changes to their life might make a difference. And it gives me the sneaking suspicion that people who want to say rich people are merely lucky and that's it are people who don't want to examine what they might be able to do differently because it might involve admitting that their lack of money is partly due to not wanting to make certain hard choices.
  • daxorid 9y ago
    > unless you believe it is totally random Nassim Taleb has built an entire writing/speaking career on the premise that most success (particularly in the financial industry) is predicated on N events, where N is low enough to statistically produce exactly the number of Warren Buffetts, George Soroses, Jeff Bezoses, etc that we see today, by mere chance.
    • WalterBright 9y ago
      What does Taleb have to say about the odds of success for someone who stays at home playing video games all day?
      • kamaal 9y ago
        I think 'luck matters' argument is applicable only if you have already few things going on in your life. I mean you are putting in the effort, doing what is necessary, everyday, in and out. The other part is lottery by definition. If you stayed at home, played video games all day and won the lottery, then that is the very literal definition of luck.
  • vadimberman 9y ago
    > It stands to reason that a rich person would know more about how to make money than a poor person, unless you believe it is totally random. But not necessarily about raising kids, choosing a romantic partner, and even less about the work-life balance.