From what I've found with a quick search it seems like most held wealth is earned rather than inherited. Does anyone know if this is accurate, and what the typical 'pre-earnings' demographic background of the very wealthy is in the U.S.?
This is basically what we'd expect, given that:
a) Folks who become rich are generally pretty darn smart.
b) People who are smart generally have smart parents.
c) The vast majority of smart people are in the comfortable middle class. (Not the poor, since they're smart enough not to be poor, but not the very rich, because statistically there ain't that many of 'em)
Therefore, if you're rich you probably had comfortably middle class parents.
"Many of today’s super-rich started out in the middle and make most of their money through work, not inheritance. Ninety-five years ago, the richest 1 percent of Americans received only 20 percent of their income from paid work; in 2004, that income proportion had tripled, to 60 percent. "
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/07/the-14-b...