The left’s constant refrain is that rich people don’t get rich through hard work and wise decisions- they do so because of inherited wealth and privilege. There are multiple points of evidence to show that this is incorrect. Having a net worth of over $1.5 million places you into the top 10% of wealth in the US, and 79% of millionaires are first generation millionaires.
First generation millionaires share a few core characteristics:
- setting ambitious goals
- seeking mentorship
- taking calculated risks
- learning from failure
- managing time effectively
- diversifying their investments
Five careers produce the most millionaires:
- engineers
- accountants
- management
- attorneys
- teachers
In other words, regular people. The Walt Disney, Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates types are the rare exception- those rare visionaries who shaped their industry. But that isn’t how the left sells it- they claim that people who are “rich” somehow cheated the system and stole the money from those who are poor.
That isn’t reality. Becoming part of the top 10% isn’t magic or cheating- it’s simply the result of hard work and math. To reach $1.5 million in 40 years at an 8% annual return, person only needs to save about $430 per month. If you were to start at 22 years old and contributed to an employer 401K plan that has a 1:1 match up to 5% of your salary, it would look like this:
- You would contribute $215 per month, but because it is pretax income, it would reduce your take home pay by $167 per month.
- Your employer would contribute $215 per month in matching funds
- Your fund grows by the historical average of 8% (It’s an average. This year, my investments grew by 15%, but there were years when I actually lost money. Some years, like 2020, I doubled my money.)
If you do this, the year that you turn 58 you would have a value of $1.5 million in your 401k, even though it only reduced your take home pay by a total of $80,500 over that same time span. In exchange for not having that $167 per month, you can safely live out your retirement years as one of the top 10%.
It isn’t that hard to get there, and it doesn’t require luck or cheating the system. It just takes discipline, wise decisions, and time.
Some years it takes a bit of a calculated risk. For example, when the stock market crashed in 2020 as a result of the COVID shutdown, we saw this as an opportunity. We bought stocks with every spare cent we had. Since we were locked down for a couple of months, we also had fewer expenses. We went on a stock buying spree.
We watched as Royal Caribbean went from $120 per share to $25 per share and began buying. The average price we paid was just over $22 per share. The first buy was at $25 per share, and we bought $5k worth. We also bought shares in Darden Restaurants, Hilton, Smith and Wesson, and Marriott. When I sold my stock in 2021 to collect the profits, RCL was selling at $90 per share. Overall, we more than doubled our money.
15 Comments
Anonymous · December 7, 2025 at 11:44 am
Good article but sadly with your audience you are preaching to the choir.
It is my opinion that if a person in the US doesn’y have a million in investments (including house) by around their mid fiftie it is because of choices. It starts with education, choosing a marketable major at a public school vs a fluff major at an expensive private college. Then it is a matter of self discipline to save vs fun or extra comfort when in your 20s and 30s.
Thanks to inflation and the current value of the dollar, a million in investments by age 40 may be an appropriate target.
Leftists are correct when they say there is someone to blame for a person in the US not having wealth, it is that person themself. They will never realize that to be the case because they have no concept of personal responsibility or self discipline let alone self control.
Joe · December 7, 2025 at 1:03 pm
I started late and had a few stumbles myself so now at 65 I’m sitting on around $1mil. I retired at 62 and take regular draws from a 457 account. It now has more money in it than when I retired. I too made a big buy in 2020 and the account has more than doubled.
I hear from many that it’s impossible now days, B.S.. Discipline is key. All the little savings add up. Both of my kids are well on their way to riches due to a bit of mentoring and a lot of common sense.
hh475 · December 7, 2025 at 4:20 pm
Many many years ago, I switched from being active duty Army to DoD civilian. When I switched, I started automatically putting money in the federal version of the 401K, called the Thrift Savings Plan. I didn’t think much about it, and I didn’t put all that much in every month. I left the federal government after about 3 1/2 years. I moved, and the TSP folk lost track of me so I didn’t get statements, and I pretty much forgot about it.
Thirty years later, the TSP people managed to find me, and I got a statement in the mail. Turned out that few thousand I had socked away and forgot about had turned into $185,000.
Rick T · December 7, 2025 at 5:13 pm
One more critical characteristic is to live below your means. Get a pay raise? Great, now you can increase your 401(k) withholdings. I did that religiously for 20 years and next year I will retire with several million in the bank, no car or house debt, and monthly bills that are less than my SSA check every month.
By spending less than you earn you can save up an take bucket-list vacations (ours was diving the Great Barrier Reef with my wife) and pay the bills in full when the credit cards come due.
Danny · December 7, 2025 at 5:30 pm
We always contributed to our employers investment plans. Disciplined small amounts put away when you’re young add up over the years.
BTW – off topic, but the censorship across the web is rampant. I think we’re devolving at this point.
Divemedic · December 7, 2025 at 7:30 pm
Censorship is why this blog got moved to this server.
Danny · December 8, 2025 at 3:32 pm
I recall when you did that.
lynn · December 8, 2025 at 3:31 am
I did not inherit my wealth. But I had good examples of how to accumulate wealth. And my parents paid for about 75% of my engineering college degree which gave me an advantage.
Woody · December 8, 2025 at 8:55 am
Young people should read the book, Millionaire Next Door.
Worked at a job with a pension, and told others they should contribute to the 401k (unmatched) and heard Why? We have a pension! Years later it showed in who could retire early and who had to continue to toil.
Tsg Joe · December 8, 2025 at 11:16 am
Just last night my 55 yr old neighbor told me that his job has been shipped off to India. It’s a good thing that he made the effort to maximize his contribution to all the available plans and has over a million $. He’s not quite the image of the fat cat profiteer. He drive a several year old car and lives in a 1000 ft house and pays for his daughters college.
Divemedic · December 8, 2025 at 12:57 pm
The majority of millionaires aren’t flashy. They drive ordinary cars, have ordinary jobs, and don’t spend more than they earn. That’s why they are millionaires.
The people with expensive cars, flashy clothes, and lots of spendy jewelry are frequently maxed out on credit with a negative net worth.
Nothing wrong with that, if that is how you want to live. Free country and all that. However, don’t complain that you are broke.
Anonymous · December 8, 2025 at 6:58 pm
I saw a news headline today: “Boomers Sitting on One Third of Nation’s Wealth”
My immediate thoughts:
1) The relevance to this blog entry
2) Nice example of click bait/rage bait
3) That makes sense, the Boomers have had time to earn their wealth
4) The younger generations are fortunate they will be inheriting a lot of wealth in the coming years
Georgiaboy61 · December 9, 2025 at 12:47 am
Re: “The left’s constant refrain is that rich people don’t get rich through hard work and wise decisions- they do so because of inherited wealth and privilege. There are multiple points of evidence to show that this is incorrect.”
Don’t make the mistake of conflating the modestly wealthy, people with worth in the low seven figures, with the billionaire class. There are plenty of examples of billionaires on the political left who inherited their wealth. The current governor of IL, J.B. Pritzker, is one such example. Good old J.B. didn’t do a thing to deserve his success, he lucked into it.
No one begrudges the wealth of someone who earned it honestly and through hard work. The trouble is that there are other means of getting wealth which have nothing to do with honest hard work, but instead with grift, fraud, financial gamesmanship, rent-seeking and the like.
Remember when George Soros nearly brought down the British pound by shorting it? Please don’t try to convince me that this sort of conduct is in any way good or honest, because it isn’t.
Al Gore, the former VP, is known as the “first climate change billionaire,” by some observers. He’s the modern equivalent of a snake-oil salesman. Are we to consider his wealth just as earned as that of some hardworking contractor who sells his business before retirement and finds his net worth is now in seven figures? Sorry, but these two things are not the same. Gore is a liar, criminal and flim-flam man; our contractor is an honest businessman made good.
Divemedic · December 9, 2025 at 5:57 am
Of course there are people who inherited their wealth. They are the exception. That doesn’t mean that a person with inherited wealth is in any way keeping you from being successful.
There is not one single government that has prevented this. Some people will cheat the system. That’s just human nature.
Smoke and Mirrors – Area Ocho · December 8, 2025 at 8:48 am
[…] say that a person put $4100 per year into a retirement account that is earning 8% per year. This would simulate a person making $33,000 per year and the 12.4% Social Security tax is invested […]
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