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1. What do you consider "rich"? 2. Do you honestly not know of anyone who has gotten rich by good, hard, honest work? EDIT: Let me rephrase question 2: Do you

1. What do you consider "rich"? 2. Do you honestly not know of anyone who has gotten rich by good, hard, honest work? EDIT: Let me rephrase question 2: Do you honestly feel that most "rich" people got that way by being dishonest or gaming the system?

strken 7y ago
I don't know of anyone who got rich by good, honest, hard work without also getting insanely lucky. I know of people who got insanely lucky without being good or honest.
- frogpelt 7y ago
  Ok, you didn't define "rich" or "insanely lucky" so there's probably no point in a discussion about it. But there are people all over the United States who have started their own businesses doing very basic things like plumbing, electrical, HVAC, or software consulting who have made enough money to retire any time they want, travel, own a house and a lake house, etc. I consider that rich and I don't consider it lucky or dishonest in most cases. If you think rich is $50 million or more then yes you start getting into some very rare air. And those people probably have benefited from several things going their way that were not entirely in their control.
  - wccrawford 7y ago
    I don't think most people consider that "rich". They consider that "upper middle class" or even possibly "upper class", depending on lifestyle. But "rich" indicates a lot more money and a lifestyle above those. My father came from a family that couldn't afford to put any of their children through college. They wore hand-me-down clothes and barely got by. Through his own hard work, he learned engineering and management and had a family with none of the problems above. That's definitely 'success' in my definition, but I wouldn't call us "rich". My wife and I are both software devs, and we make good money. But I still wouldn't call us "rich". Definitely successful, though. I guess one could argue that there was luck along the way, but not "insane luck" because I can't point it out. There were no lotteries or inheritances involved. My point is that unless those business owners managed to have multi-million-dollar bank accounts, I don't think they were rich, just successful. I think the number of people who do manage that, without being blatantly dishonest, is pretty small. Not non-existent, just pretty small.

strken 7y ago

I don't know of anyone who got rich by good, honest, hard work without also getting insanely lucky. I know of people who got insanely lucky without being good or honest.

frogpelt 7y ago
Ok, you didn't define "rich" or "insanely lucky" so there's probably no point in a discussion about it. But there are people all over the United States who have started their own businesses doing very basic things like plumbing, electrical, HVAC, or software consulting who have made enough money to retire any time they want, travel, own a house and a lake house, etc. I consider that rich and I don't consider it lucky or dishonest in most cases. If you think rich is $50 million or more then yes you start getting into some very rare air. And those people probably have benefited from several things going their way that were not entirely in their control.
- wccrawford 7y ago
  I don't think most people consider that "rich". They consider that "upper middle class" or even possibly "upper class", depending on lifestyle. But "rich" indicates a lot more money and a lifestyle above those. My father came from a family that couldn't afford to put any of their children through college. They wore hand-me-down clothes and barely got by. Through his own hard work, he learned engineering and management and had a family with none of the problems above. That's definitely 'success' in my definition, but I wouldn't call us "rich". My wife and I are both software devs, and we make good money. But I still wouldn't call us "rich". Definitely successful, though. I guess one could argue that there was luck along the way, but not "insane luck" because I can't point it out. There were no lotteries or inheritances involved. My point is that unless those business owners managed to have multi-million-dollar bank accounts, I don't think they were rich, just successful. I think the number of people who do manage that, without being blatantly dishonest, is pretty small. Not non-existent, just pretty small.