"Seriously" rich people got lucky.
You shouldn't bet on getting lucky.
You shouldn't bet on getting lucky.
Even to keep among the 'rich' list assuming you inherited it all takes enormous talent because money inflates away.
There may be a bigger incidence of luck (I am not sure of this either btw - almost all the contacts you get as a rich person are very much the effect of you being rich) but unless you're well prepared to take full advantage of it, there will be no returns.
What I will concede though: Luck when you're poor might mean securing a week of food. Luck when you're a billionaire probably means the stock market goes on a 15 year bull run.
There is nothing luckier than being born rich. Treating it as some sort of skill to remain rich is part of the dysfunction in US society where wealth is equated with virtue & character.
I did acknowledge the luck part in being rich. I do acknowledge it is far better than being poor. But if you want to remain rich and ensure your generations remain rich, that's a ton of work.
PS - seriously rich might mean different things for us though :)
If you are rich, but not smart -- it is hard to avoid temptation to invest into risky projects. It is hard to identify people who just want to drain away your money.
Did a lot of drugs, didn't pay attention in uni, didn't work, didn't build the habits of a successful person. Still, he got one chance after another, and in his late 20s he actually did. From what he told me, realizing how insanely privileged he is was one of the major influences for him to change.
But still, a normal person would have been long out of chances at that point, and would fight serious debt and worklessness without any support.
You maybe cannot afford to be a total wanker forever as a rich person, but you certainly have a lot more leeway in your wankiness.
Meanwhile, trading stocks on margin...