Is success really tied to having rich parents?

No.

Of course, you will always hear you don’t need wealth/talent/beauty from the people who have them. And, there’s no denying that these attributes help you to some degree or that zip codes can predict wealth to some degree.

But if you work hard, there’s nothing you can’t do. It may be easier for some than others, but the American Dream is alive and kicking.

Maye Musk: I brought my kids up as a single mother with very little money, and we survived. We used to live in a rent-controlled apartment in Toronto with Elon on the couch. It took three weeks to clean, then I saved to buy $5 sheets.

Musk's dad may have been rich, but cut off his family, and they moved to Canada without him. Please don't spread misinformation, there's enough FUD and hate around Musk as it is.

I lost the count of sharing this comic strip.

privilege

For the privileged, it's easier. It doesn't necessarily mean it's impossible for others but it's another level.

They all definitely worked hard for success, but when you have a rich background, no need to worry about job, rent, food or education, you can do so much more, focus your mind wherever, invest money, invest time...

Yup. The "self-made man" is an illusion. Unfortunately, most of those successful people are just a representation of dynastic wealth. When you have to juggle two jobs to stay off the streets, you can't put aside any time for "the next big thing".

But the system recreates and protects itself with these narratives. So that we all believe that we can "make it". And as long as we believe in them, we don't try to destroy the system.

And you have to know this: this point of view is very unpopular among indie-hackers, entrepreneurs, etc.

I don't think it's the money per se. I think it's a different concept that rich kids tend to have more of.

Money is part of it, but this concept is far more powerful.

It's the concept of abundance. The absence of scarcity. In a scarcity oriented mindset you're afraid of taking risk. When you have an abundance oriented mindset you're less afraid to take on risk.

The link between risk and reward is well documented - there's a litany of financial markets you can analyze to see this relationship in action. Those who are capable of taking on more risk, and manage it well, tend to make dramatically more return than those who don't.

The thing is, risk isn't inherently tied to money. There are other factors as well. A student studying to become a doctor or a lawyer is taking not only a financial risk, but also a time and mental energy risk for that return. There's high churn in these fields of study, and the friends I have that have succeeded are exceedingly positive individuals that are always thinking "glass half full" and they're very creative in terms of how they view what their value is - how they can sell it, and where the ends justify the means.

There's no denying that starting with a bankroll helps.

But I'd wager that if you give an inherently pessimistic and scarcity focused individual this bankroll, they would probably have a higher failure rate than those that are leveraging a more positive abundance oriented mindset.

"The overwhelming majority (79%) of millionaires in the U.S. did not receive any
inheritance at all from their parents or other family members. While one in five
millionaires (21%) received some inheritance, only 3% received an inheritance of
$1 million or more."

This is from: https://cdn.ramseysolutions.net/media/company/pr/everyday-millionaires-research/National-Study-of-Millionaires.pdf

Yes, coming from a wealthy family has advantages. It probably comes with weaknesses as well.

The majority of people who become millionaires are doing so buy building businesses.

I bet it helps a lot, you can start a lot younger focusing on something big, instead of having to grab a job out of college and starting your life savings from scratch. It will take you 10 years to get anymore for most jobs, even high-paid jobs like tech.

Nowadays with tech jobs is more possible to become financial free at a younger age. Basically this opportunities come when a revolution happens, like agricultural / industrial / digital revolution. Of course you won't make top 0.1%, probably, but top 10% is quite achievable even with no support from your parents, which is more than enough to build wealth.