LogFAQs > #979940676

pjnelson posted...

I feel like there's a lot of misconceptions in society about wealthy people. For example, they seem to assume it takes a great intellect to become wealthy. This isn't the case, of course, as you can be stupid and get wealthy by dumb luck or swindling people. Trumps strategy was borrow millions from dad, throw it at random things, lose all that money, borrow more, and throw more money at more random things until some are successful enough to outweigh the failures. That doesn't take genius. It also doesn't require hard work.

It takes intellect to recognize the value of an opportunity for what it is (aka recognizing the chance to take action and subsequently "get lucky") and it especially takes effort and intellect to grow and maintain wealth. Having wealth does afford you more opportunities and give you courage to take on other financial endeavors that you wouldn't be able to take on if you were living paycheque to paycheque.

I think the bigger misconception, to the point of society's detriment (I honestly think this is intentional), is the focus on a singular effort to grow wealth as opposed to respecting that wealth is a team and generational effort. From your parents investing in your education and personal interests from young to financially supporting your business and helping you get your feet off the ground and get established, those are tried and true tactics. There's a book called Creativity by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, psychologist, who interviewed top people in their fields. Many echoed the same support from their family.