Quote:
Originally Posted by Cherry7
The rich mostly inherit their wealth. The idea that the clever get rich by their "hard work" is a propaganda myth.
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That may be the case in the UK, but not here:
"1. According to a study of Federal Reserve data conducted by NYU professor Edward Wolff, for the nation?s richest 1%, inherited wealth accounted for only 9% of their net worth in 2001, down from 23% in 1989. (The 2001 number was the latest available.)
2. According to a study by Prince & Associates, less than 10% of today?s multi-millionaires cited ?inheritance? as their source of wealth.
3. A study by Spectrem Group found that among today?s millionaires, inherited wealth accounted for just 2% of their total sources of wealth.
Each of these stats measures slightly different things, yet they all come to the same basic conclusion: Inheritance is not the main driver of today?s wealth. The reason we?ve had a doubling in the number of millionaires and billionaires over the past decade (even adjusted for inflation) is that more of the non-wealthy have become wealthy."
http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2008/01/...herited-money/
There are numerous citations and studies that back this up...
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