… while others seem to just tread water?
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Interesting study reported in the NY Times
The rich really are getting richer … growing net worth faster than those on lower wealth rungs.
… and, there’s a logical reason why.
Archive for the ‘Wealth – Distribution’ Category
How do the rich get richer ..
August 23, 2019So, how many “rich” folks are there?
August 22, 2019Yesterday we reported survey results from Schwab and the WSJ that pegged the threshold for being classified as “rich” or “wealthy” at about $2.5 million.
Just being a millionaire doesn’t make the cut any more.
Source: NY Times
OK, so how many households do make the cut?
How do self-made billionaires self-make their billions?
June 8, 2016Yesterday, we posted that there are about 1,800 billionaires in the world and that about 2/3s of them are self-made … not just born lucky.
According to a PwC study, the self-made billionaires usually started at a big company, some were fired from the big companies, and most became serial entrepreneurs.
Usually they got on the map with their first or second venture, but built their wealth through a series of successive (and highly successful) ventures.
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The PwC study also identified 5 traits that were relatively common across the self-made billionaires.
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Broadly speaking, PwC says concludes that most business managers are “performers” – linear logicians who are good at execution .
The self-made billionaires are “producers” who look at the world from different angles — allowing them to spot opportunities and to turn good ideas into great businesses.
More specifically, the PxC team concluded that “most self-made billionaires – the “producers” –practice five habits of mind — ways of thinking and acting that generate uncommonly effective ideas and approaches to leadership.”
The 5 traits:
1. Ideas: Empathetic Imagination
The producers typically worked in their field long enough to have an awareness of critical trends, empathy for customers, and knowledge of existing practices. Then, they added a healthy dose of imagination to change the game.
2. Time: Patient Urgency
“The creation of massive value in an industry does not happen overnight. The billion-dollar idea often comes after years, even decades, of commitment to a market space. Skilled producers learn to be patient. They know how to wait for the right idea at the right time. But once they hit on a compelling idea, they have a bias toward action that compels them to take urgent steps.
3. Action: Inventive Execution
Many executives take product design and go-to-market strategies as givens. “The business model, pricing, functions, sales pitch, and deal structure are treated as inherited, predefined by the models, costs, and pricing that already exist in the company and industry.“
Producers redesign opportunities everywhere – both in the product – broadly defined – and the implementation.
4. Risk: Relative, Not Absolute
“Producers, in general, are distinguished not by the level of risk they take, but by their attitude about risk. Most people measure risk in absolute terms: Will this business succeed or fail? Producers view risk in relative terms: Which option presents the greatest opportunity? If the opportunity is right in a risky venture, they’ll look for ways to mitigate risk”
5. Leadership: Teaming with Performers
“The idea of the solo genius is so pervasive in the way people talk about and think about extraordinary success that it obscures the real story of how good ideas become great businesses. Self-made billionaires are not alone. Producers have the ability to see beyond the parameters of what exists today to imagine new opportunities. Performers, in turn, have the ability to optimize and achieve within known parameters. Value creation requires both.”
Producers surround themselves with producers …
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Bottom line:
Yeah, wealth distribution is skewed. No argument there.
But, it’s wildly misleading to characterize the richest of the rich as folks who were just born lucky.
The majority of the made their own luck … and earned their wealth.
Sorry, if the facts don’t match the popular narrative …
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Tomorrow, take the Producer Quiz …
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#HomaFiles
Follow on Twitter @KenHoma >> Latest Posts
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Rich man: “What inequality?”
August 12, 2015According to a CNBC summary of a study published in the Journal Psychological Science …
The richer you are, the more likely you are to think that others are wealthy, too.
According to the study’s authors, the reason for the misconception is simple …
How do self-made billionaires self-make their billions?
July 31, 2015Previously, we posted that there are about 1,800 billionaires in the world and that about 2/3s of them are self-made … not just born lucky.
According to a PwC study, the self-made billionaires usually started at a big company, some were fired from the big companies, and most became serial entrepreneurs.
Usually they got on the map with their first or second venture, but built their wealth through a series of successive (and highly successful) ventures.
=====
The PwC study also identified 5 traits that were relatively common across the self-made billionaires.
======
Broadly speaking, PwC says concludes that most business managers are “performers” – linear logicians who are good at execution .
The self-made billionaires are “producers” who look at the world from different angles — allowing them to spot opportunities and to turn good ideas into great businesses.
More specifically, the PxC team concluded that “most self-made billionaires – the “producers” –practice five habits of mind — ways of thinking and acting that generate uncommonly effective ideas and approaches to leadership.”
The 5 traits:
1. Ideas: Empathetic Imagination
The producers typically worked in their field long enough to have an awareness of critical trends, empathy for customers, and knowledge of existing practices. Then, they added a healthy dose of imagination to change the game.
2. Time: Patient Urgency
“The creation of massive value in an industry does not happen overnight. The billion-dollar idea often comes after years, even decades, of commitment to a market space. Skilled producers learn to be patient. They know how to wait for the right idea at the right time. But once they hit on a compelling idea, they have a bias toward action that compels them to take urgent steps.
3. Action: Inventive Execution
Many executives take product design and go-to-market strategies as givens. “The business model, pricing, functions, sales pitch, and deal structure are treated as inherited, predefined by the models, costs, and pricing that already exist in the company and industry.“
Producers redesign opportunities everywhere – both in the product – broadly defined – and the implementation.
4. Risk: Relative, Not Absolute
“Producers, in general, are distinguished not by the level of risk they take, but by their attitude about risk. Most people measure risk in absolute terms: Will this business succeed or fail? Producers view risk in relative terms: Which option presents the greatest opportunity? If the opportunity is right in a risky venture, they’ll look for ways to mitigate risk”
5. Leadership: Teaming with Performers
“The idea of the solo genius is so pervasive in the way people talk about and think about extraordinary success that it obscures the real story of how good ideas become great businesses. Self-made billionaires are not alone. Producers have the ability to see beyond the parameters of what exists today to imagine new opportunities. Performers, in turn, have the ability to optimize and achieve within known parameters. Value creation requires both.”
Producers surround themselves with producers …
=====
Bottom line:
Yeah, wealth distribution is skewed. No argument there.
But, it’s wildly misleading to characterize the richest of the rich as folks who were just born lucky.
The majority of the made their own luck … and earned their wealth.
Sorry, if the facts don’t match the popular narrative …
=====
#HomaFiles
Follow on Twitter @KenHoma >> Latest Posts
=====
First comes love, then comes marriage …
January 15, 2014… then comes Daddy with a baby carriage.
The verse was drummed into my generation, but I bet many of you are too young to have ever heard it, right?
Well, the essence of the rhyme’s message was captured in a WSJ op-ed this week.
Ari Fleischer – one of Bush’s press secretaries wrote:
“The U.S. is steadily separating into a two-caste system with marriage and education as the dividing line. In the high-income third of the population, children are raised by married parents with a college education; in the bottom-income third, children are raised by single parents with a high-school diploma or less.”
A better and more compassionate policy to fight income inequality (than redistributing wealth from working families) would be helping the poor realize that the most important decision they can make is to stay in school, get married and have children — in that order.
One might dispute the conclusion, but here are some facts …
How many millionaires & billionaires are there in the US ?
December 4, 2012
Based on a very rigorous analysis by Robert Wolff of NYU …
Scored in constant 1995 dollars – i.e. eliminating the effects of inflation …
- Roughly 6.5% of US households – about 7.5 million — have a net worth greater than $1 million.
- That’s up 5.25% since 2007 … an increase from 6.3% of households
- But, the number of households with net worth greater than $5 million declined by 27.5% from 2007
- And, the number of households with net worth greater than $10 million declined by 25% from 2007
Bottom line: More millionaires … but they have fewer millions.
Source: Wolff, NYU, Asset Price Meltdown and Wealth of the Middle Class
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