Re:The Tyranny of Merit
by csa on Sunday November 22, 2020 @02:25PM
(#25180225)
Spend time around the target audience (in this case, top quintile), be observant, and minimize mistakes while learning.
I know a (formerly) middle class guy who was a walk-on football player at a big Midwestern state university who wanted to be rich. He did not come from an area or a family who knew how to function gracefully in the eight-figure net worth NE corridor crowd.
He parlayed his varsity status (I call it a totally-not-a-club club) into a random low level back room finance job in NYC. He made himself useful, socialized, networked, learned from those around him, and after two decades or so (leaving out a lot of the story) he was a partner of a hedge fund that ended up netting him a mid-eight-figure net worth.
Granted, that is not the same as jumping from the bottom quintile, but knowing his personal story, he had plenty of social challenges to overcome.
I know a (formerly) middle class guy who was a walk-on football player at a big Midwestern state university who wanted to be rich. He did not come from an area or a family who knew how to function gracefully in the eight-figure net worth NE corridor crowd.
He parlayed his varsity status (I call it a totally-not-a-club club) into a random low level back room finance job in NYC. He made himself useful, socialized, networked, learned from those around him, and after two decades or so (leaving out a lot of the story) he was a partner of a hedge fund that ended up netting him a mid-eight-figure net worth.
Granted, that is not the same as jumping from the bottom quintile, but knowing his personal story, he had plenty of social challenges to overcome.