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> Jeff Bezos started out in his garage and made tables from doors. I was under the impression that Bezos founded Amazon after he graduated from Princeton and h

> Jeff Bezos started out in his garage and made tables from doors. I was under the impression that Bezos founded Amazon after he graduated from Princeton and had worked for a hedge fund for a few years. Wikipedia also says that his parents invested an estimated $300,000 into Amazon. I would hardly call that humble beginnings. The list of the 15 richest people in America also include the two Koch brothers (inherited their wealth), three Waltons (inherited their wealth), and plenty of people with Ivy League educations who earned their wealth but did not have humble beginnings. You seem to have drunk a little bit of the kool-aid the comment you're responding to is talking about. I suggest spending some time reading about people who are NOT billionaires (and some less high profile billionaires) and you will see that there are plenty of poor people with the traits you describe and plenty of rich people without them.

Regardsyjc 8y ago
1. Humble and humility, more as a mindset. Even if it wasn't, according to the book, Bezos was very frugal in the beginning. 2. My list was for self-made billionaires. 3. I like reading about self-made billionaires because as an entrepreneur- why wouldn't you want to learn from the best? At the same time, I don't want to be a billionaire if that's the kool-aid you're referencing. I grew up in poverty and love reading about poverty because I want to learn more about the circumstances that affect my reality today. Why can some people like my mom work 60 hours a week at $10/hr and never become a millionaire or even afford to retire? While others can? I wish I knew. Poor decisions? Poor environment? Or both? I haven't met any billionaires but I've met many self-made millionaires who literally built their way from nothing. In my experience, most of them built their wealth over years or decades. It's very hard to build something from nothing overnight. If there's anything I learned from reading self-made billionaire stories- it's simply better decision-making. Can't do much about a poor environment but at least you do have control over the decisions you make.

Regardsyjc 8y ago

1. Humble and humility, more as a mindset. Even if it wasn't, according to the book, Bezos was very frugal in the beginning. 2. My list was for self-made billionaires. 3. I like reading about self-made billionaires because as an entrepreneur- why wouldn't you want to learn from the best? At the same time, I don't want to be a billionaire if that's the kool-aid you're referencing. I grew up in poverty and love reading about poverty because I want to learn more about the circumstances that affect my reality today. Why can some people like my mom work 60 hours a week at $10/hr and never become a millionaire or even afford to retire? While others can? I wish I knew. Poor decisions? Poor environment? Or both? I haven't met any billionaires but I've met many self-made millionaires who literally built their way from nothing. In my experience, most of them built their wealth over years or decades. It's very hard to build something from nothing overnight. If there's anything I learned from reading self-made billionaire stories- it's simply better decision-making. Can't do much about a poor environment but at least you do have control over the decisions you make.