I grew up middle class and I definitely would say hard work and education were definitely the main catalysts for my success. I'll certainly admit luck too, but in a way you have to create your own luck. I had a good job after my bachelors paying $35k base and I got bumped to $45k quickly and was tacking on another $20-30k a year in commission. I bailed and took a job at a start-up, which crashed in just 8 months, but I was the director of sales there and it leveraged me to get a super good job at a tech firm. Then that tech firm got bought out by a major public company tech firm, which was definitely luck, and more luck that of the 75% of the staff that got fired, I wasn't one of them. None of it would've happened without my MBA, good sales record, or awesome cover letter that got me the job at that start-up though. Had I not done that and taken the risk, I would still be working at that first place making $45k base/30k and commission, which is definitely still good, but I took the risk and it worked out partially because of hard work/education, also because of luck.
One of the biggest misconceptions I hear about the rich is that connections to family members or rich friends got them to where they are. I know plenty of rich people and only a very tiny percent are the son/daughter of some rich dad or uncle or whatever. It's really rare. In poor communities, connections matter much more in my opinion. If you don't have the education or initial capital to get a degree or have a nice suit for a job interview or have a car for reliable transportation, it's going to be tougher for you. So if you get a good connection, that matters WAY more to a poor person than to someone who grew up wealthy for sure.
Quote (IceMage @ Mar 28 2017 06:58pm)
Self-made rich people have the best attitude hands down. What's the phrase? The harder I work, the luckier I get. I've never met a rich person who inherited it, and every rich person I've met works at least 6 days a week. My wealthy grandfather used to tell people he's retired now so he only works half-days, which meant 12 hours a day.
Even though there's some truth in class warfare rhetoric, I think it's the antithesis of what poor people need to hear. The OP's images just show you how deeply that rhetoric has affected these people.
Yea dude I don't think I've worked less than 50-60 hours a week since like 2009, and I was in college from 2007-2011 for my bachelors and til 2013 for my MBA. I believe the "the harder I work the luckier I get" phrase a lot.