Friday, February 18, 2011

FinancialEdge: How The Rich Got That Way

There is a huge industry behind getting rich. While it's maybe not a universal goal, millions of people spend a lot of time and energy in the pursuit of wealth. Leaving aside the irony that some of this machine seems to involve making people rich by telling other people how to become rich, there is nevertheless a lot of advice out there. What is interesting, though, is that not much of this advice seems to focus on taking lessons from what has actually worked in the past. (Don't just hope for the best - develop a course of action to achieve your goals. See Plan To Retire Rich.)

To that end, then, it is worth exploring how many of the wealthiest Americans got that way.

It's All in the Genes 
Inheritance is clearly one of the proven pathways to getting rich. About one-third of the 50 richest Americans can tie their wealth directly to being the fortunate son or daughter of wealthy parents. Now, to be fair, many of these people received the golden baton from their parents and managed to run even further with it – but the fact that they proved themselves to be good runners in their own right does not erase the reality that they began they race with a sizable head start.

Please click below for the full column:
http://financialedge.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0211/How-The-Rich-Got-That-Way.aspx

2 comments:

Unknown said...

True. A lot of people tend to make excuse and rationalize their mistake. But, they never actually think about what it REALLY takes to be success. It takes lots of courage for employees to get out the corporate ladder and open up their own business. Lots of people have great ideas but they are afraid of failing. They do not want to get out the comfort zone and take a risk for a higher return. So, they can't never become entrepreneur. It's true that some people opened up their business and failed. But, they failed because they did not take a serious thought to analyze the global environment and make detailed planning, or they could be lack of action.

It's takes lots of time and courage for a person to start up their business. At the beginning, the work hour could be longer than the work hour in I.B. But, when a person feels that he is pursuing his dream, everything is worth.

Stephen Simpson said...

@Anthony -
Absolutely true.
When you do what you love, the difficulties are worth it. And it absolutely true that not everyone is willing to take the risks.