“Luck” is where opportunity meets preparation, right? Fantastic financial outcomes are the culmination of a lot of factors coalescing in a very specific way, but we tend to only focus on one: effort.
So much American lore (and by extension, American…personal finance advice?) is constructed on the foundation of the self-made meritocracy.
One such “statistic” that often gets touted in these conversations: Somewhere in the ballpark of 88% of US millionaires are “self-made.” But where does that figure come from? How was it determined? And where do its implications fall dangerously short?
We chat with Shannon McNamara, host of the Fluently Forward podcast, all about it.
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Transcripts can be found at podcast.moneywithkatie.com.
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Mentioned in the Episode
The Fluently Forward podcast: link
Here's How 9 Billionaires Start Their Mornings, per Insider: link
A History of Hating the Rich for the Saturday Evening Post: link
"88% of all millionaires are self-made," per US News: link
2017 Fidelity Investments Study: link
The National Study of Millionaires from Ramsey Solutions: link
US Bureau of Labor Statistics on inheritances: link
Hailey Baldwin Bieber on the Forbes 30 Under 30: link
Kendall Jenner on work: link
Kendall Jenner on "having to fly all over Europe:" link
Elon Musk on now-deleted Forbes article on his father's emerald mine: link
90% of millionaires are male: link
8 Ways Rich People View the World Differently: link
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