Opinion: Getting rich has more to do with luck than talent

Re:Opinion: Getting rich has more to do with luck than talent by downandout on Friday May 26, 2017 @11:29PM (#14428782)

What I meant was that, for example, your pool cleaner probably works hard, but is not engaged in an endeavor where it is possible for him to make millions of dollars. His earnings are directly proportional to the number of hours that he works. Therefore he has essentially taken himself out of the competition to be highly successful. Looked at in this light, only a small percentage of the population has any chance at tremendous success.

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Re:Opinion: Getting rich has more to do with luck than talent by vannevar on Saturday May 27, 2017 @08:16AM (#14429790)

[Y]our pool cleaner probably works hard, but is not engaged in an endeavor where it is possible for him to make millions of dollars

My pool cleaner, like most of us, has a finite lifespan. While it's certainly theoretically possible that he could have been a hedge fund trader for Goldman-Sachs, I think we can both agree that to accomplish that would've required a fair amount of luck somewhere along the way. He might, by grit and discipline and sacrifice, have managed to become a lawyer, and make more than he is making as a pool cleaner. But to become independently wealthy by age 30, he also would've had to be very, very lucky.

Looked at in this light, only a small percentage of the population has any chance at tremendous success.

Not only that, but only a small percentage of the population has ready access to the positions that offer the financial leverage necessary for that kind of success.

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