originally posted by: fleabit
I don't know many 13 YOs that would make the effort to learn more than 2 languages, at best. She has a dream, and is working hard to make it a
reality. And all people here can do is crap on her because of it. Simply PATHETIC.
After a bit more research, appears she has a fund raising thing she does to try and raise money for all the things she is trying to do to be an
astronaut. Pity people here with rarely an iota of the drive and gumption this girl is showing at 13, feels the need to knock her down and judge
her... knowing nothing at all about her.
Having the money to pursue the training, is all the "gumption" ANYBODY needs. Lets see how enthusiastic she would have been to pursue this
training, if her parents said, "earn some money over the next two summers and then we will see how much you have and if we can afford to send you".
THAT is the real dream killer.
She was doing some "fund raising"? You do realize that the "fund raising" was for her "speaking tour", NOT to pay for the initial training,
Daddy & Mommy paid for that part. Oh BTW, this is for TED, so some relative likely has some decent connections too.
Once again it seems that "regular people" are just are not familiar with how "real experts" get trained today and move on to successful, stable
careers in the United States.
Before Junior High School I lived in a low income city, but went to a good Catholic school, where poor kids had informed, supportive parents and a
good educational foundation. When I was in Junior High school my mother got remarried and I then attended a good public high school, with rich kids
that had informed and supportive parents and a similar educational foundation as the one I had in the Catholic School in the poor neighborhood (NOTE:
the richest kids were there purely for exposure in Athletics because because the local private schools were all in small divisions at the time and
playing on those small league teams would affected their chances of getting into division I college sports).
Here is what I have concluded based on that experience:
When I look at the Forbes 400, I see 350+ people whom came from wealthy families. Note, some of them certainly acquired more wealth than their parents
had given them to begin with, but VERY FEW, if any, came from what I would consider a Lower Middle class backgrounds or less. I would even ague that
to get on the Forbes 400 list, coming from “at least” an Upper Middle class family is the BARE minimum requirement.
I typically use four well known examples, where, being from the Upper Middle class, was a base requirement to enter a particularly new and burgeoning
industry, with even an inklings chance for success:
1) Bill Gates had access to a mainframe computer, housed at his High School in 1969. My parents of same age didn’t use or see a computer until the
early 1980′s and even then, it was something they only experienced and got trained to use at their jobs. Is it really that surprising that Bill
Gates was able to enter that market before many others and make money?
2) Mark Zuckerberg got his first computer around 12 years old and at some point his father HIRED someone to TUTOR him in computer programing. That
computer adjusted for inflation would probably be worth close to $3,000-$4,000 today, not including tutoring costs. To put things into perspective my
father had a computer in the early 1990′s, in his home office, that cost him about $3,000 and I was not allowed to touch it, EVER. My used car in
high school cost less than half that, to buy at the time. Is it really that surprising that Mark Zuckerberg was able to enter that market before many
others and make money?
3) Jeff Bezos claims he paid for college on his own dime and at some point, started Amazon with his own money, HOWEVER, he admits there was a point
where he needed financial help, in the form of a loan, to keep the business afloat. Eventually he went to his parents who then loaned him $300,000,
after taking out a second mortgage on their home. How many parents posting comments here, would GIVE their children a $300,000 loan, leveraged against
their previously paid off home, for a questionable start-up business? Is it really that surprising that Jeff Bezos was able to enter that market
before many others and make money?
3) Donald Trump, well what do I need to say here, he INHERITED his fathers $40 million dollar real estate business and got to learn the business under
the guidance of his highly experienced father. Its certainly not surprising that he was able to enter that market before many others and make
money?
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying any of the above people were not smart, not hard workers, whom to date, have not earned their “keep”,
but lets also not also fool ourselves about the financial FOUNDATION they came from.
If ANY of the above people had come from a lower class background than they actually did, their greatest achievements in life would have been
inversely diminished because their “spring boards” would also be lower.
The people you see today talking about "how they made money" ALL started out on third base, but for some reason are credited with Home Runs today,
in hind sight.
Bill Gates, at best, would be a 6 figure VP or President at a software company today, Mark Z would be a 6 figure star programmer at Google or Riot
games etc, Jeff Bezos would be a top Costco regional or district manager pulling in 6 figures and Donald Trump would be a small time developer working
with much less capital.
I’ve seen this play out many times in life, you can’t be a dummy and turn inherited wealth into more wealth; but being smart, in turn, also
won’t allow to you to rub two nickels together, with no family connections, nor any financial support, therein, turning those two nickels into a
multi-million dollar company, in some number of years. Certainly not circa 1999-2013.
Now, I do believe a person certainly could have done the above after the war in 1945, but that was a TOTALLY different world in terms of codes,
regulations and financial polices. We don’t live in that world anymore. If you want to see how money is actually made today, look up how the “Riot
Games” founders got their first $1 million, via venture capitalist investor. I’ll give you a hint, they did it the same way as Bill Gates, Mark
Zuckerberg Donald Trump way and Jeff B did it, via family help.
If a rich kid has one lick of ambition and knows how to work, MODERATELY hard, they can achieve almost anything they want, with the way the current
economy is set up. Starting from nothing today means something very different than it meant 20+ years ago. If you come from a family that does not
have a "pot to pi$$ in" circa 2015, you're likely not going nowhere fast and no amount of ambition is going to change that.
What all this means, is that there is a clearly defined age range, where family wealth has a greater influence over a persons ability to become a
millionaire later in life, DUE to the increasing costs of starting up a successful modern business. If a Boomer, for example, started a hardware sales
operation in the 1970's, that persona had a MUCH greater chance of becoming a millionaire, 30+ years later by 2014, than say an X'er starting a
similar business in the 1990's or Millennial starting one in 2015.
This kid is no different than all the other rich kids that have preceded her.