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TOM@RICHHABITS.NET
The myth that the wealthy are wealthy because they inherited their wealth is simply a false narrative. Whatever the reasons for perpetrating this myth, the facts are indisputable – the vast majority of the wealthy in America are first generation rich.
Like most people, I assumed that the wealthy in America were generationally rich, meaning that wealth passed from one generation to the next. I embraced that narrative until I conducted my own study of the rich (Rich Habits Study). In my Study, I interviewed 233 wealthy individuals and found that only 24% had actually inherited their wealth. The other 76% created their wealth.
Of this 76%, 31% came from Poverty while the remaining 45% came from the middle-class.
Thinking my Study was a one-off and not representative of reality, I devoted an enormous amount of time and effort in reading through many studies surrounding wealth creation. Here’s what I found:
- Study by David Lincoln and Jonathan Wai – 18,000 Ulta-Rich/High Net Worth individuals ($30 million or more in net worth) – 87.4% of these Ultra-Rich/High Net Worth individuals came from Poverty or the Middle-Class. Only 12.6% inherited their wealth
- U.S. Trust Insight on Wealth and Worth Survey – This Study focused on wealthy individuals with $3 million or more in Net Investable Assets. Of this 77%, 20% came from Poverty while 57% came from the Middle-Class.
- Wealth X 2015-2016 Census – This Study surveyed 684 High Net Worth individuals and found that 75% came from Poverty (19%) and the Middle-Class (56%)
- PNC Wealth Management Survey (2014) – In this Study, 69% of the wealthy came from Poverty and the Middle-Class, 6% Inherited their wealth and the rest, 29%, were Self-Upper Made Middle-Class individuals who had some help – they inherited some money from their Upper Middle-Class parents and then grew that wealth exponentially.
Tom Corley is an accountant, financial planner, public speaker, and author of the books “Effort-Less Wealth: Smart Money Habits At Every Stage of Your Life” and “RichKids: How to Raise Our Children to Be Happy and Successful in Life“. Corley’s work has appeared on CNN, USA Today, The Huffington Post, SUCCESS Magazine, and many other media outlets and podcasts in the U.S. and 27 other countries. Tom is a frequent contributor to Business Insider and CNBC.
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