Are Most Millionaires Actually “Self-Made”?

“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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Mentioned in the Episode

• The Fluently Forward podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/mk/podcast/fluentlyforward/id1589952385
• Here's How 9 Billionaires Start Their Mornings, per Insider: https://www.businessinsider.com/billionaire-morning-routine-mornings-oprah-zuckerberg-bezos-musk-buffett-gates-2019-1
• A History of Hating the Rich for the Saturday Evening Post: https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2020/02/a-history-of-hating-the-rich/
• "88% of all millionaires are self-made," per US News: https://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/on-retirement/articles/7-myths-about-millionaires
• 2017 Fidelity Investments Study: https://institutional.fidelity.com/app/proxy/content?literatureURL=/9884619.PDF
• The National Study of Millionaires from Ramsey Solutions: https://www.ramseysolutions.com/retirement/the-national-study-of-millionaires-research
• US Bureau of Labor Statistics on inheritances: https://www.bls.gov/osmr/research-papers/2011/pdf/ec110030.pdf
• Hailey Baldwin Bieber on the Forbes 30 Under 30: https://people.com/style/hailey-bieber-lands-cover-of-forbes-30-under-30/
• Kendall Jenner on work: https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2018/08/207820/kendall-jenner-modeling-comments-response
• Kendall Jenner on "having to fly all over Europe:" https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/6416481/kendall-jenner-kardashian-out-touch-delusional-modeling-career/
• Elon Musk on now-deleted Forbes article on his father's emerald mine: https://web.archive.org/web/20140802011449/http://www.forbes.com/sites/jimclash/2014/07/28/elon-musk-tells-me-his-secret-of-success-hint-it-aint-about-the-money/
• 90% of millionaires are male: https://www.verdict.co.uk/90-percent-millionaires-male/
• 8 Ways Rich People View the World Differently: https://www.cnbc.com/2016/10/11/8-ways-rich-people-view-the-world-differently-than-the-average-person.html

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