4 ms·

This assumes one can afford multiple failures. Being born rich buys you a lot of swings of the bat. Otherwise you can't swing big, and opportunities to connect

This assumes one can afford multiple failures. Being born rich buys you a lot of swings of the bat. Otherwise you can't swing big, and opportunities to connect will be fewer--if any. Rich kids can afford 'responsibility' because they have money to pay for their mistakes. Poor kids don't. Best way to be prepared for success? Be born to a rich and well connected family.

CMCDragonkai 3y ago
How did their parents get rich? Was it because the grandparents was rich?
- interroboink 3y ago
  I think in many cases when you trace it back, it comes down to ... luck (: Which is funny, since now the descendants of some lucky people get the opportunity to take lots of chances and say "look how hard work pays off — I made my own luck!" Though that's a pretty simplistic take; I feel like hard work really does pay off, broadly speaking, but also luck plays a (much) bigger role than most give it credit.
  - WalterBright 3y ago
    Luck will never find the person living in his mom's basement playing video games and griping about inequity.
    - CMCDragonkai 3y ago
      I was pointing out the circular logic in these explanations. Saying someone is rich because their parents were rich (ad-infinitum) is like saying someone is lucky because they are lucky. It is not a useful explanation because you can't use this to do anything. In fact if you use this explanation to decide public policy, like say socialism, then the converse is also true, you make everybody poor, then their descendants will be poor. But obviously in our history on average, we've all been getting richer in the long run.
    - chefandy 3y ago
      That you cite this as the alternative shows the limits of your perspective.
      - anon4242 3y ago
        I think you miss the point. I believe the point is if you don't try then luck won't help you. Or in other words you can't win the lottery if you don't buy a ticket.
        chefandy 3y ago
        I think you missed my point. All of the trying in the world isn't going to replace the luck that's required for most people to succeed-- be it being born white and in a middle-class or better household in a middle-class-or-better town, not being sidled with familial or health obligations, or even being born with a cognitive profile that has workplace utility. Being comfortable enough to live with a parent and be lazy is already a privilege that a giant chunk of the US population doesn't have. Nobody is arguing that people born into opportune circumstances can succeed without doing anything. They just have the opportunity to make that effort turn into significant results when many others don't.
        paulryanrogers 3y ago
        Tickets are expensive, most people cannot afford more than one. Many are born into debt they have little hope of escaping, much less buying tickets. Those born wealthy can often buy so many tickets it's virtually guaranteed they'll stumble into something that works, at least once. No one is saying people don't have to at least lift a finger to try. Just that birth luck affords so many other opportunities that the advice of outliers and the born comfortable isn't transferable.
    - wizofaus 3y ago
      Given the number of possible alternative realities they could have been born into it, I'd strongly suggest luck has already found such people. It's even possible had they not been born into such an easy existence they might have ultimately done better for themselves ("possible", not likely).
- chefandy 3y ago
  "Entrepreneurs come from families with money" https://fortune.com/2015/07/17/entrepreneurs-family-money/ https://fortune.com/2015/07/17/entrepreneurs-family-money/
WalterBright 3y ago
Basically none of the rich people I know came from more than middle class parents. A couple came to America with nothing but a suitcase.
- paulryanrogers 3y ago
  Depends on your circle. So probably not a representative sample. If you live in SoCal there's probably some clustering of survivorship bias. Of all the people rich today -- or ever -- how many started middle or lower class? How many came to America with nothing and died, barely survived, went to jail, got deported, peaked at lower middle class, etc.? If I know a lot of plane crash survivors I still would not recommend getting on an unsafe plane. (I actually only know one crash survivor and would not get on a small plane unless it's a life or death emergency.)
- 2devnull 3y ago
  This seems like something that’s changed in recent decades, as would be predicted of course. Most of the older rich people I know were not from upper class homes. Younger rich people (born after 1990) seem to come predominantly from upper middle class and higher. Anecdotal but I’d wager roughly consistent with national trends.
- chefandy 3y ago
  Nearly 100% of the rich people I know had family money. Living expenses now take up a very different amount of people's income than they did before. The skills you need to get a leg up now are very different than they used to be, even in recent history. Anecdata is useless.
speleding 3y ago
I know several very successful entrepreneurs and I know quite a few people with rich parents. I don't see much of a correlation. In my perception many of the rich kids lack the drive to work as hard as you need to, to become a successful entrepreneur, instead opting for a safer route. Granted, if you are from a really poor background and live in the US without much of a social safety net, I could see how that could hamper your prospects, but that's hardly a problem where I'm from.
- paulryanrogers 3y ago
  Most people are lazy, rich kids already don't have to work. So if they happen to be driven enough to try they can take on many more risks and start more businesses. If you're surrounded by entrepreneurs (such as SV) it's not a representative sample. Even being born "middle class" is a narrow slice of humanity today, much less everyone ever born.
  - chefandy 3y ago
    As of 2019, to be in the financial top 10%, you needed a HOUSEHOLD income of just over 155k. I think that many around here are so utterly out-of-touch with the lives of most people in the US that they can't even reason about the blocks they have to advancement.

CMCDragonkai 3y ago

How did their parents get rich? Was it because the grandparents was rich?

interroboink 3y ago
I think in many cases when you trace it back, it comes down to ... luck (: Which is funny, since now the descendants of some lucky people get the opportunity to take lots of chances and say "look how hard work pays off — I made my own luck!" Though that's a pretty simplistic take; I feel like hard work really does pay off, broadly speaking, but also luck plays a (much) bigger role than most give it credit.
- WalterBright 3y ago
  Luck will never find the person living in his mom's basement playing video games and griping about inequity.
  - CMCDragonkai 3y ago
    I was pointing out the circular logic in these explanations. Saying someone is rich because their parents were rich (ad-infinitum) is like saying someone is lucky because they are lucky. It is not a useful explanation because you can't use this to do anything. In fact if you use this explanation to decide public policy, like say socialism, then the converse is also true, you make everybody poor, then their descendants will be poor. But obviously in our history on average, we've all been getting richer in the long run.
  - chefandy 3y ago
    That you cite this as the alternative shows the limits of your perspective.
    - anon4242 3y ago
      I think you miss the point. I believe the point is if you don't try then luck won't help you. Or in other words you can't win the lottery if you don't buy a ticket.
      - chefandy 3y ago
        I think you missed my point. All of the trying in the world isn't going to replace the luck that's required for most people to succeed-- be it being born white and in a middle-class or better household in a middle-class-or-better town, not being sidled with familial or health obligations, or even being born with a cognitive profile that has workplace utility. Being comfortable enough to live with a parent and be lazy is already a privilege that a giant chunk of the US population doesn't have. Nobody is arguing that people born into opportune circumstances can succeed without doing anything. They just have the opportunity to make that effort turn into significant results when many others don't.
      - paulryanrogers 3y ago
        Tickets are expensive, most people cannot afford more than one. Many are born into debt they have little hope of escaping, much less buying tickets. Those born wealthy can often buy so many tickets it's virtually guaranteed they'll stumble into something that works, at least once. No one is saying people don't have to at least lift a finger to try. Just that birth luck affords so many other opportunities that the advice of outliers and the born comfortable isn't transferable.
  - wizofaus 3y ago
    Given the number of possible alternative realities they could have been born into it, I'd strongly suggest luck has already found such people. It's even possible had they not been born into such an easy existence they might have ultimately done better for themselves ("possible", not likely).
chefandy 3y ago
"Entrepreneurs come from families with money" https://fortune.com/2015/07/17/entrepreneurs-family-money/ https://fortune.com/2015/07/17/entrepreneurs-family-money/

WalterBright 3y ago

Basically none of the rich people I know came from more than middle class parents. A couple came to America with nothing but a suitcase.

paulryanrogers 3y ago
Depends on your circle. So probably not a representative sample. If you live in SoCal there's probably some clustering of survivorship bias. Of all the people rich today -- or ever -- how many started middle or lower class? How many came to America with nothing and died, barely survived, went to jail, got deported, peaked at lower middle class, etc.? If I know a lot of plane crash survivors I still would not recommend getting on an unsafe plane. (I actually only know one crash survivor and would not get on a small plane unless it's a life or death emergency.)
2devnull 3y ago
This seems like something that’s changed in recent decades, as would be predicted of course. Most of the older rich people I know were not from upper class homes. Younger rich people (born after 1990) seem to come predominantly from upper middle class and higher. Anecdotal but I’d wager roughly consistent with national trends.
chefandy 3y ago
Nearly 100% of the rich people I know had family money. Living expenses now take up a very different amount of people's income than they did before. The skills you need to get a leg up now are very different than they used to be, even in recent history. Anecdata is useless.

speleding 3y ago

I know several very successful entrepreneurs and I know quite a few people with rich parents. I don't see much of a correlation. In my perception many of the rich kids lack the drive to work as hard as you need to, to become a successful entrepreneur, instead opting for a safer route. Granted, if you are from a really poor background and live in the US without much of a social safety net, I could see how that could hamper your prospects, but that's hardly a problem where I'm from.

paulryanrogers 3y ago
Most people are lazy, rich kids already don't have to work. So if they happen to be driven enough to try they can take on many more risks and start more businesses. If you're surrounded by entrepreneurs (such as SV) it's not a representative sample. Even being born "middle class" is a narrow slice of humanity today, much less everyone ever born.
- chefandy 3y ago
  As of 2019, to be in the financial top 10%, you needed a HOUSEHOLD income of just over 155k. I think that many around here are so utterly out-of-touch with the lives of most people in the US that they can't even reason about the blocks they have to advancement.