Don’t Worship the Rich, Build Wealth

Last June, USA Today news reported that a charity auction winner paid $19,000,000 for an afternoon stake lunch with Warren Buffet. While Warren Buffet is clearly one of the world’s most successful investors and is somewhat of a financial celebrity, it does give me some pause for considering why someone would fork over such a large chunk of change for a sit down with Warren.

The obvious answer, which is that Warren Buffet is a superstar, probably isn’t the whole story. A fuller answer probably has something to do with sociology. For whatever reason, society tends to believe that wealthy people are smarter, more attractive, and healthier than everyone else. In short, we sometimes put the rich up on a pedestal.

This is shame, because this distracts from a discussion of what it really takes to become wealthy. While I’m certainly not an expert, wealth building seems to be built on a number of factors. These are 1) small business ownership, 2) ownership of stocks and 3) a combination of personal and family factors.

So, the overall point of this posting is it doesn’t make sense to buy into public perceptions of who is wealthy, rather you should focus on doing what works. There is enough information out there to be making the right decisions.

For More On This

For more on the mechanics of wealth building, check out this IMF study on investing returns and the wealthy.  Nick Maggiulli also has a really good article on Where Millionaires Keep Their Money.  Both are solid pieces that should help you think strategically about your own investment returns.

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