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> According to https://www.cnbc.com/2014/10/03/two-thirds-of-billionaires-m... https://www.cnbc.com/2014/10/03/two-thirds-of-billionaires-m..., about 2/3 of bil
by ejstronge 8y ago
> According to https://www.cnbc.com/2014/10/03/two-thirds-of-billionaires-m... https://www.cnbc.com/2014/10/03/two-thirds-of-billionaires-m..., about 2/3 of billionaires have self-made fortunes.
> So clearly family connections help. But that doesn't appear to be most of the picture.
That's a very simple view of the OP's statement - notice that OP did not say inherited wealth, but instead 'family connections'.
For example, if you received personalized advice to invest a lot of money in a business that later became wildly successful, are you a self-made individual? There are even more subtle examples of how relationships can lead to wealth.
Anyway, perhaps a better analysis is asking what happens to children who grow up either in poverty or in wealth: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/03/19/upshot/race-class-white-and-black-men.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/03/19/upshot/race-c...
- wolco 8y agoIf someone tells you to buy something and you risk your money you are responsible and can claim you are self-made. There is a lot of free advice if you followed all of it you would probably be broke or dead.
- megaremote 8y agoIf you have access to someone is giving out good investment advice, you are better off than 99.9999% of people.
- ericd 8y agoIt's as hard to know whether the person is giving good investment advice as it is to give good investment advice yourself, though. So generally, it's not very helpful.
- IggleSniggle 8y ago...doesn't this just reinforce that having family connections matter more? Are you more likely to follow the advice of your family or some stranger? If your family connections have insight and/or inside knowledge of markets, aren't you more likely to accidentally take good advice than the average joe? You're still not immune to bad advice, but you have a higher percentage chance of having higher quality information to act on.
- skookumchuck 8y ago> are you a self-made individual? Yes. You took the risk. The rewards are yours - and if you fail, nobody's going to bail you out.