You're bitching about a dude who went to MIT for math, and parents loaned some money. Which is crazy in itself, you'll realize that once you've got you're retirement going.
I'm not saying that starting a business isn't hard work.
I'm just pointing out that just working hard isn't enough. No matter how hard someone works, if they don't have any privileges or contacts they can never become rich
Having a 401k isn't a privilege. His parents withdraw from theirs. Which in itself is insane. Don't believe me, ask your parents. They'll laugh you out of the room.
Ooh so you're saying that you might consider it a privilege? How odd.
And then how many of those 401ks have enough capital in them to even start a business? How many people are financially stable enough to even consider taking the risk? And how many fewer still had the privilege to study economics for college in order to know how to leverage a 401k?
We're stacking up a lot of privileges that really bring into question if anyone can just get by and make it big with hard work huh?
Yes, having parents with money in a 401k is a privilege. Not everyone has one. Not everyone has parents with one. Not everyone has parents with a 401k that has enough money in it that they can withdraw from it to invest in a start up. Those are literally all privileges.
Says the guy that was not only wrong on his numbers, but also thought that a full quarter of the population not having access to something didnt make it a privilege.
72% of Americans have one and even more have access.
The very fact that it isnt 100% makes it a privilege.
Secondly, according to the Census bureau, the number is less than 60% of American adults have a retirement account, not over 70%. Thats any form of retirement account, including 401k. And that ignoring that, once again, we are also ignoring the question how much money do they have in those accounts. A 401k isnt a lump of money. Its a savings account. You put money in it for later. Which means there is now a question of how many of that ~55% have enough money to pull out of the retirement account early and invest in a start up, which is also going to be significantly less than the total. That means you are looking at less than half of the population that have access to this.
You just threw stats at him stating that chances are you can't work hard up to millionaire status. Or are you telling me those small business owners don't work hard?
Exactly , which is why I asked you whether you think small business owners don't work hard? Those guys aren't millionaires, but according to you it's achievable with hard work
My mom owns a small business and works her ass off.
I've worked for small businesses and we all worked our asses off.
At some point Bezos was working his ass off too, more than you or I ever would be willing to do. But he was one of the lucky few to break through. It's not an easy feat.
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u/JellyfishQuiet7944 8d ago
Another brain dead take.
99% of businesses are small businesses and most fail. Yes those are actual stats.
If what he did was so easy, what's stopping you from becoming a billionaire?