The Myth Of The 'Self-Made' Billionaire

It’s no secret that Americans love to hear about billionaires. You’ll find them everywhere. They’re on the news [Bezos space launch], have their own TV shows, movies, and even make their way to elected office. Specifically, we consistently give massive audiences to “self-made” billionaires, the people who, unlike the aristocrats and monarchs of yore, didn’t simply inherit their wealth. In this episode, we’re talking about the obsession with so-called “self-made” billionaires, how misleading that term can be, and everything wrong with the myth of the “self-made person.”

The Myth Of The "Self-Made" Billionaire – Second Thought

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[cocogoat]

Growing up rich doesn't just give you money but also gives you connections to people in high places. I grew up around some of those rich people, they got away with a lot of trouble by knowing the right people.

[SpoopySquid]

"If wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire." - George Monbiot

[j.frankparnell]

Billionaires don't even live off of their money. They use their assets as collateral to get massive loans at low interest rates. Since the loans are liabilities they don't have to pay taxes on it. Meanwhile their assets appreciate in value that they are not taxed on, because they are not selling.

[ottosaxo]

It always makes me smile when I hear stories about annoyed young VIPs who "finally want to step out of their parents' shadows". Without their parents' connections there wouldn't even have been a shadow to them.

[vinny]

Friendly reminder that it used to be possible for a single income to support a family with multiple children, a new car, and a mortgage. Now families can barely do that with dual incomes.

[pacman]

A billionaire that is trying to convince you that you can pull yourself up by the boot straps and become a billionaire just like them if you just work hard and put in hundred hour weeks is not really convincing you that you can be a billionaire but grooming you to exploit your labour.

[daysinSunnyJune]

I am a part time Uber driver. The other day I picked up someone that has seen their share of hard times. He was a veteran that lost most of his teeth to past problems with drugs. It was nice to see that he is currently doing better, working and living in subsidized housing. He was mostly bashing our current president (Biden) and glorifying Trump, because "he is a self made man, and I can respect that". I don't know how, even amongst the most needed, battled and bruised of us, there are still people who worship these guys.

[TheEdward]

And also… even if the parents don’t ‘fund’ the kids’ ventures financially; just the sheer fact that they grew up rich, around rich (and maybe even famous) people helps a tremendous amount. You wouldn’t believe how much financial culture sticks to a kid. There’s the famous story about Elon how he and Kimball cold called investors to get funds for their company - well obviously knowing how to talk to rich people, what they’re like and such is in huge part responsible for them being able to even successfully ask for a meeting over lunch.

[Dtoons]

I saw an ad a few days ago, where they talk about why it’s GOOD that the rich don’t pay much in taxes, and how the wealth they save can be reinvested and lead to innovation.
It sounded like bull crap, and I hope you cover it someday

[dantetre]

In Hungarian we have a sarcastic expression about these self-made millionaires:
"Just don't ask about the first one million!"
Means that if you would look how they become rich, you would found hypocrisy, corruption and shady deals.

[andreylebedenko]

A few have billions because billions have nothing.

[xanbell]

The one thing that truly upsets me is why? What do you need that much money for, honestly? So flagrantly selfish and stupid, but people get so easily duped and drawn into the illusion that the rich deserve it because they just "work hard". No one deserves to horde OUR resources, but throughout history we always fall into the same trap.

[Deeplycloseted]

I mean, who doesn’t have parents with a spare $300K laying around to invest in your business?

[mickeyg]

The "self-made" part is a ever moving goalpost. You don't have to be a heir of a billionaire, you only need to be a heir of a millionaire to become a billionaire. Anyone that had ever live through poverty before knew that it's expensive being poor, it's far easier to turn a hundred thousand dollars into billions than a hundred dollars into billions. Also, a business owner with a rich parent have a safety net if they went bankrupted, and they can try again quickly, while a small business owner from a poor background will lose everything if they went bankrupted.

[aldogama]

All he had was a dream, his intelligence....and an emerald mine

[cdk]

You don't get rich through hard work, ambition and entrepreneurial spirit alone - it also takes greed, ruthlessness, self-interest and a complete subordination of ethical values to material gain.

[Lillith.]

I believe it was Arnold Schwarzenegger who said that no one is self-made. There are many people along the way that helped you in one way or another.

[londonspade]

I used to work for a French aristocrat, yes they still exist.

Based on the number of properties she nonchalantly mentioned she owned around the world, their size and location, private jet hire for children and their friends, 90% of her life being on 'holiday' etc, my colleagues and I estimated at least 100 million in wealth.

Never worked a day in her life, if we ever tried to get a raise or something beneficial she'd revert to the same story about how she was an intern in a hospital, and it was so difficult, so we shouldn't complain.

Meeting this person really opened my eyes to the myth of 'self made' billionaires and how we're all in this together. Life is impossibly unfair.

[professor_n]

That pizzeria made 7, 500 in a whole day and everyone ran off with 78 an hour that day. The restaurant I work at made almost 10, 000 in a mere 3 hours the other night. I still only made 18.50 an hour, even though I almost passed out from heat stroke.

Edit: if all of us employees divided up the profits from our dinner shifts, we would’ve each made around $445.45 an hour.

[procar]

After I graduated from Harvard I decided to sell the Ferrari my parents bought for me to start my own carrier as "self made person"
So I don't have to thank my parents and my wealth is the result of my hard work