Billionaire Sam Zell: "The 1% work harder."

[haele]

77. Most people I know who have done well have done so with some sort of social subsidy.

Either with help or investment of time, effort and/or money by a better off friend or family member, or with help from the government (Loans, GI Bills, Grants)

They were lucky enough to be able to leverage that support or subsidy into a better position from which they could compete for the ability take advantage of opportunities. Most people succeed through subjective methods - competition for attention, being somewhere at the right time, lucky choices - rather than through an specific objective plan - i.e. - There is no one who can ever say to him/her self:
"I will work hard and graduate Valedictorian at my high school, get my Masters in Finance with a 4.0 from Yale at the age of 25 on scholarships while working assistant and intern jobs to pay the rest of my student bills, immediately get picked for an assistant VP job in Business Leases at Bank of America, become a VP by the age of 30 - all while investing exactly half my paycheck into these stocks and funds that will enable me to be worth $2 million by the time I'm 32.
I will find, attract, and marry a hot, intelligent, spouse, pay cash for a big, comfortable house in the Hudson Valley, have three good natured, smart children spaced exactly 3 years apart who will go to Ivy League schools I can pay for (and they will become successful professionals themselves), and I will continue to work hard in my career of Finance at a few select major firms on the executive level until I can retire at the age of 52 - when my youngest graduates Brown - and then me and my still-hot spouse start our dream to travel and I will become a best-selling travel author..."

Sure, there are people who have that life. A hundred or so, maybe even a thousand born any particular year out of the million or so of their contemporaries. The reality is, the Master's Degree will have half of it paid for by subsidised student loans, you end up needing to spend most of your salary on bills and "networking" events that cost butt-loads of money to impress your bosses and other people you need to impress (so no $2million by 32), your spouse may or may not be "that into you" after the first glow of love wears off, your kids are brats, not as smart as you thought, or accident prone, the house is a money pit, and you end up a burn-out at 60, quit for your health, and now work part time as a college adjunct - because that 32 year old Finance Major from State made you look stupid before the COO of the bank you ended up taking the position of District Manager at, and what would have been your next job after the umpteenth corporate re-organization in the past 10 years went to her (for reasons also including the fact that they could pay her less).

So for most of us, life happens, and no matter how hard we try or plan to live a successful life, we ain't' going to end up so well off. Because, while we think we are making the smartest choices for our situation, the old saying goes - "If you want to hear God laugh, make a plan for success"...

Haele