“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?
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Transcripts can be found at podcast.moneywithkatie.com.
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Mentioned in the Episode

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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