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Your Outsized Wealth Is Mostly Due To Luck: Be Thankful!

Updated: 02/10/2023 by Financial Samurai 146 Comments

Are you confusing your good fortune due to your own skill rather than due to luck? I’m here to argue that above average wealth is mostly due to luck. Therefore, stop deluding yourself into thinking you’re so great!

As President Obama said in a July 13, 2012 campaign election speech, “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.“

When I first heard Obama say this sentence, I was taken aback. From 2009-2012, I had been working on Financial Samurai for three years from about 5 am – 7 am and from 10 pm – 12 pm after working 12-hour days in finance.

If I wasn’t building Financial Samurai, who was?!

I had also recently left my finance job because I wanted to be free. All I really desired to do was write while traveling around the world, so that’s what I did.

Wisdom Grows With Age

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to understand more of what President Obama was talking about. Just like how it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a lot of help along the way to achieve your goals. Obama was referring to not building the roads and bridges that helped your business prosper along the way.

I firmly believe that it was mostly luck (~70%) that helped me achieve a basic level of financial independence at age 34.

Of course, effort is also required to get ahead, but it’s not the main reason. There are plenty of people who work much harder than you or I, yet will not achieve what we have.

The more we can recognize our luck, the more prosperous we’ll become. The main reason why is because we will continue to work as if our luck will eventually run out.

I encourage you to list as many fortuitous events that have happened in your life. This way, you’ll appreciate more of what you have and fight harder to achieve your goals and freely help others.

Outsized Wealth Is Mostly Due To Luck

When you accumulate a net worth of one million dollars, three million dollars, five million dollars or ten million dollars, know this level of wealth is mostly due to luck. It has to be given the median net worth is about $150,000 and the average net worth is about $750,000 today.

And when I say mostly luck, I mean greater than 50%. The range can be anywhere between 51% – 99% for how much luck was the reason for your outsized wealth. The exact percentage is your choice.

But if you have a net worth equal to 5X the median or you have an above average net worth for your age, consider yourself lucky. Beating the average so thoroughly is not easy.

In fact, roughly half of the world’s richest one percent of people live in the U.S according to Branko Milanovic, a World Bank economist. Therefore, just being able to work in America is a huge lucky break.

Back in 2013, all you’d need to do was earn $34,000 a year per person to be considered a top 1% global income earner. Inflation-adjusted, the $34,000 hurdle is roughly $45,000 today. Back in 2013, the global median income was just $1,225 a year, or $1,600 a year in today’s dollars.

The world's richest 1%

A Review Of Some Lucky Breaks

My first lucky break was being born into a stable, dual-parent household. They worked in the U.S. Foreign Service which enabled me to live in five countries before coming to America at age 14. They also both speak Mandarin.

With this type of background, chances are greater you will speak a couple languages, interact with people from more cultures, adopt a zest for travel, be more understanding towards people of different backgrounds, and have a broader world view.

Since middle school, my parents have always tried to make me appreciate the value of money. My first experience with money came when my father scolded me for ordering a lemonade at a restaurant.

“Son, why spend $2 on a lemonade when you can order water with a lemon slice for free?” he said.

This moment instilled in me a level of frugality that has stuck ever since.

In high school, his lesson of frugality paid off when I told him I’d only be attending a public in-state university to save on tuition. He encouraged me to apply wherever I thought looked interesting, but I insisted on saving us money.

In the end, his $2 lemonade lesson saved my parents, and ultimately me, over $100,000 in private university tuition in the late 90s. I always told them I’d pay them back once I got a full-time job and I did.

I’m grateful for my parent’s guidance. But things were not always easy. Here is a review of some lucky breaks that helped me build above-average wealth.

1) 70% Luck. Got Into A Respectable College.

After getting suspended in high school for fighting and getting caught shoplifting with friends and doing other illegal things, I thought there was no way any college would take a chance on this juvenile delinquent. But I paid for my transgressions and The College of William & Mary gave me a chance.

I kept the faith that if I did well in college, an employer would ultimately give me a chance as well. Luckily, I got accepted to college before my major transgression the summer after senior year.

Can you imagine spending four years trying to get good grades in college, knowing there was a high probability everything was for naught because of the mistakes you made in high school? For four years I had to keep the faith.

As a parent now, I totally see why kids having too much free time can lead to trouble. Few kids will become professional athletes, but at least playing sports may help kids stay out of trouble!

2) 80% Luck. Landing A Job In NYC.

I got through 55 interviews over 7 rounds to land my first job in investment banking at a bulge bracket firm. Someone like me from a non-target state university had no business getting this job.

But I got on a 6 am bus to go to a career fair one Saturday and one thing led to another. Because nobody else got on the bus, I had more opportunities to interview and get a job.

Although my base salary was only $40,000 in Manhattan, my experience working in banking taught me how to invest, network, sell, and build relationships early on. Further, I don’t know if I would have landed a job in the International Equities department if I didn’t have an international upbringing.

I’m grateful for my recruiter, Kim Purkiss for giving me a chance. She was a strong black woman who didn’t give up on me even though I kept getting bounced around various desks because nobody wanted me.

3) 90% Luck. Making Money During The Dot Com Boom.

In 2000, I invested in VCSY, a Chinese internet stock that climbed 50X in six months. I sat on the Asian equities desk and thought internet in China would be huge one day.

I invested $3,000 in VCSY out of the $4,000 total I had. Then I told my colleagues about the idea who then told their colleagues at different firms.

Because I sat on the Asian equities desk at Goldman Sachs, other people found the idea to be credible. In truth, I was just taking a punt on this name I knew little about.

The $3,000 turned into a high of $170,000. I sold at $155,000 before it completely collapsed to $0 a year later. I’ve been trying to hunt for new multi-bagger fortunes since, but with no luck.

4) 100% Luck. A Fortuitous Phone Call.

In 2001, a headhunter called my VP to see if she wanted to work for a competitor covering West Coast clients. She said no and handed me the phone because I covered West Coast clients out of NYC.

One thing led to another, and I got a new job with a raise and a promotion. Over the next two years, 90% of my old analyst class got let go. I’m grateful to my VP for thinking of me.

This one phone call is something I’m most thankful for. If it wasn’t for my VP and this phone call, I would have lost my job during the many rounds of layoffs post the Dotcom bust. I knew I wasn’t being offered a 3rd year analyst position at Goldman Sachs.

5) 50% Luck, 50% Habit. Frugal Living.

After arriving in San Francisco for my new job, I decided to live like a poor student for a year and a half because I didn’t know anybody and didn’t know where to live. I could have ended up doing “equities in Dallas,” as Michael Lewis wrote in Liar’s Poker.

In 2003, at the age of 26, I put down $120,000 and bought a 2/2 condo in Pacific Heights for $580,500. I figured, best to turn funny money (VCSY profits) into a real asset. Coming to San Francisco before web 2.0 was a lucky break.

Today, the condo is a paid off rental worth ~$1,280,000. It used to be a strong-performing asset, that was once worth up to ~$1,450,000. But condos prices have underperformed in SF since the pandemic. That said, the condo still generates a steady $50,000 in gross rental income a year.

6) 60% Luck, 40% Guts. Went All-In On Real Estate And Didn’t Get Laid Off.

At age 28 in 2005, I bought a single-family home I didn’t need on the north side of San Francisco for $1.5 million. The $300,000 downpayment took all the cash I had. I needed a $50,000 bridge loan because it was December, and bonuses weren’t paid until February the next year.

In retrospect, I was overly aggressive with my purchase. Things were good for a couple of years until the financial crisis happened. I was sweating bullets with my ~$1,100,000 mortgage. If I got laid off and couldn’t find another job within three months, it would have been game over for my finances.

So I rented out a room for several years, held on, and survived. I’m grateful to my grandfather for the bridge loan, the government for helping save the economy, and my company for not firing me during the downturn.

7) 100% Luck. Tried To Sell Property At The Bottom And Didn’t.

In 2012, I tried to sell the house I bought for $1.5 million in 2005 for $1.7 million. I got no takers. It was embarrassing, so after 29 days, I took it off the market. Actually, my agent had told me a couple of people had been willing to offer $1.5 million, but I declined.

I wanted to sell because I had just left my job. The worst of the financial crisis had just passed. I wanted to minimize expenses and reduce risk. My wife and I didn’t need a four-bedroom house because we didn’t have kids yet.

I ended up selling the house for a million more five years later after my PITA tenants gave their notice due to luck. I only had one offer too, but it was $240,000 more than I would have taken.

The proceeds were reinvested in the stock market, bond market, and in real estate crowdfunding, which have showed positive returns. I’m grateful to my realtor for not pushing me to sell.

Today, the house I sold is probably worth $500,000 more (~25%). However, my reinvested proceeds have more or less kept up. I’m most thankful for the time and stressed saved not having to manage the property with rowdy tenants.

8) 70% Luck, 30% Ingenuity. Negotiating A Severance.

One October 2011 afternoon while sipping a Mythos beer in Santorini, Greece, I came up with the idea to engineer my layoff. Financial Samurai was growing and all I wanted to do was write online instead of be in an office for 12 hours a day.

One thing led to another and I negotiated a severance in the spring of 2012 worth five years worth of living expenses. At the time, it felt like I had won the lottery!

I wasn’t too proud to negotiate. The majority of people I know think their employer would never offer them a severance. So they give two-weeks notice instead and quit. But quitting your job is more selfish than negotiating a severance.

I’m grateful to my manager and the head of HR for agreeing to make the separation work. I turned my severance negotiation experience into a ebook that has helped thousands negotiate millions in severance payments since 2012. The ebook has also generated over $500,000 in net profits so far.

Financial Samurai Santorini Moment - Your Wealth Is Mostly Due To Luck: Be Thankful!
Capturing the moment of inspiration in Santorini, 10/2011

9) 60% Luck, 40% Consistency. Growth of Financial Samurai.

Since starting Financial Samurai in 2009, the growth trend has been positive. I’ve had some flat years or down years do to some Google algorithm changes. However, for the most part, the journey has been good. A website can only go so far with only one main writer.

I’m grateful for the search engine traffic because I never expected it. I’ve got a small social media presence, an intimate free newsletter of 55,000 people, and a podcast and that’s it. I’m not a part of any mastermind groups and I don’t have a YouTube channel.

All I’ve done is continue to write and connect with others. I’m very grateful to all you readers who have commented and shared my work. I’m also grateful to Google, even though it can be quite fickle.

There’s also something lucky and interesting in my space. Most personal finance writers don’t have finance backgrounds. As a result, it’s been relatively easy to differentiate this site by just being me and writing from experience.

10) 50% Good Luck, 50% Bad Luck. Left A Fortune Behind.

On the one hand, leaving work at the bottom of the bear market was lucky because things didn’t get worst. Having an economic tailwind boost the value of your investments makes it much easier to stay retired.

On the other hand, leaving work right before things got really good made me miss out on millions of dollars in forgone compensation.

As Dan commented, The Best Asset Class Performers From 2001-2020, “My opportunity cost of cashing out of the stock market in 2019 was not as severe as yours dropping out of the labor force in 2012! Salaries and wages have gone up 30% since you decided to quit, and you’re paying for all those health insurance premiums out of pocket. Hope you can get it together.“

Ouch!

In retrospect, if I could retire all over again, I would have worked for another three years. If I did, maybe I wouldn’t have felt as much anxiety and stress the first year. Hence, my decision to retire in 2012 was a combination of immaturity, impatience, and bad luck.

11a) 60% Luck, 40% Purposeful Hunting. Found a neighborhood before it got hot.

In 2014, I discovered Golden Gate Heights three years before Redfin named Golden Gate Heights a top 10 hottest neighborhood to buy. I was sick of living in the north end of the city for the past 12 years and wanted a change of pace.

New parks, new restaurants, new scenery, and cheaper prices sounded like a great idea! Since fake retiring in 2012, I had longed to move back to Oahu and find a home with an ocean view. When I realized I could just move three miles west in San Francisco to buy an ocean view home, I was sold!

Since 2014, prices have risen handsomely. I wish I had bought another house or two in the neighborhood back then. I’m grateful to the listing agent who agreed on my offer with a handshake, and rejected a $30,000 higher offer.

The 10 hottest neighborhoods for 2H 2017 Your Wealth Is Mostly Due To Luck: Be Thankful!

11b) 100% luck. Heartland real estate boost due to pandemic.

Since the pandemic began, demand for single-family homes on the less dense west side of San Francisco has grown. Almost every month, I’ve been chronicling homes that have sold and I’m astounded by the amount of demand.

But the pandemic boosted heartland real estate investments the most in 2021. This was complete luck. Without the pandemic, heartland real estate prices would have increased closer to 10% in 2021, not 30%+.

Below are the returns percentages of the Fundrise heartland eREIT. 41.7% in 2021 is incredible. But maybe even more impressive is a 10.4% YTD return for 2022 given a surge in mortgage rates. I expect prices to moderate over the next six months and then strengthen after mortgage rates decline again.

Heartland real estate returns
Fundrise Heartland eREIT Returns

12) 60% Luck, 40% Stubbornness. Not Selling Financial Samurai.

In 2018, I was very tempted by multiple offers to sell Financial Samurai for a tidy sum. But I turned them all down after running the numbers and speaking to one person who seriously regretted selling his site for millions. I stubbornly wanted to achieve my goal of publishing 3X a week for 10 years in a row by July 2019.

Valuations for private websites continued to increase until 2022. I did not anticipate such a strong return in the S&P 500 in 2019, 2020, and 2021 after a dismal 2018.

I would have regretted selling my baby in 2018 because Financial Samurai is still fun to run. It gives me something mentally stimulating to do after I spend time with my kids. Four years later, I’ve already earned back 100% of the potential purchase price. Now, everything feels like gravy with mashed potatoes and key lime pie.

The irony is if I was focused mainly on trying to make lots of money online, I probably would have sold and missed out on further gains. There are a hoard of online marketers I compete with who care more about profits than the joy of writing.

Further, if I had sold Financial Samurai, I also wouldn’t have had the opportunity to write a traditionally published book. Publishing a book is a cool bucket list! As an author, I finally have some status to help my kids.

If you have a cash flowing online business that can’t be shut down due to a pandemic, you’ve benefitted. Here’s my step-by-step instruction on how to start your own website.

13) 100% Luck. Getting To Work In America.

I was born Asian and live in America. Living in America, alone, is like winning the lottery. But living in America plus being born Asian is like a dream.

Because I’m Asian, some people in America just assume I’m intelligent, even though I had a mediocre SAT score and didn’t go to a fancy private university. It’s funny because when I lived in Asia, people just treated me normally because I was part of the majority.

Even private universities like Harvard raise the required standardized test scores for Asians to get in. Although Harvard penalizes Asians for our personalities to throttle admissions, I see it as an honor Harvard needs to do such a thing.

Asians are seldom in race discussions because we don’t fit a certain narrative. Therefore, one benefit may be that Asians are more free to just get on with our businesses. Being given the opportunity to work hard with less societal drag is a privilege.

Income by race

14) 100% Luck. Don’t need to sleep too long.

Since 1999, I’ve been able to operate on 5-6 hours of sleep a night plus the frequent 30-minute nap after lunch. I don’t need to drink coffee or energy drinks to stay awake either. With more energy naturally comes more productivity. In fact, I’ve been up since 4:30 am editing this post before the kids get up.

I’m also a super optimist, probably due to having overcome all the troubles I experienced in high school. When someone says something cruel or says I can’t do something, I get fired up to work harder. I love rejection! It’s like spinach to Popeye.

Besides having asthma as a child, I don’t have any disabilities that afflict roughly 15% of the world’s population or one billion people. Of the one billion people, roughly 200 million people experience considerable difficulties in functioning.

We must not take our ability to walk, talk, see, hear, speak, and understand for granted. At the same time, we should help our brothers and sisters who do have difficulties. This is the minority we need to fight hardest for.

Finally, I don’t have a strong desire to be loved by strangers. As a result, I’m more easily able to speak my mind and break free from groupthink.

15) 85% Luck. Met My Wife In College.

Not only did The College of William & Mary take a chance on me, I also found my future wife in college during senior year.

Finding a life partner early on is either the best type of luck or manifest destiny. Life has been so much more fun having someone to share it with. Sure, there have been plenty of ups and downs. But at least the trend is positive!

Building wealth with someone is also much easier. You can be each other’s champions before each job interview. You can share living expenses to save more money. As a couple, you can also take more risks, like one person retiring first or starting a business while the other holds down a steady paycheck until things work out.

We’ve been together for over 23 years and I hope we have 50 more. Marrying your equal is better than marrying rich.

Don’t Take Your Luck For Granted

As you can see from the bullet points, most of the things that helped get me out of my parent’s basement were due to luck.

I also made many terrible investment mistakes, such as buying a vacation property in 2007. This was a combination of stupidity, ignorance, and bad luck. Like a baby baboon, I thought my income and investments would keep growing to the moon forever.

15 years later, however, we still own the property. It is paid off and it’s been nice to take the kiddos up there during the summers. Maybe they’ll finally see their first snow this winter! Just don’t remind me how much money I could have saved by just renting instead.

I’ve also talked about my perpetual rejections, which is the main reason why I continue to save and invest today. Bad things like pandemics, bear markets, injuries, sicknesses, and deaths are inevitable. There is a comfort to saving and investing for dark days ahead.

Thankfully, we can get insurance to hedge against the worst. I felt tremendous relief when I finally got a new affordable 20-year term life insurance policy earlier this year at age 44. In 2013, I messed up by only getting a 10-year term, which resets at $723/month in January 2023!

Prepare For Bad Luck, But Appreciate Good Luck

Sooner or later, we all will get unlucky. And when we do, we must accept bad luck as a part of life. The return of the bear market in 2022 is a perfect example of why we need to stay humble and diversified.

During bad times, we should also remind ourselves about all the lucky breaks we’ve experienced so far. Go through the gratitude exercise, like I have done with this post. I’m sure you’ll feel more appreciative if you do.

I’d love to hear about your lucky breaks and how much you think luck plays a part in your success. What are some of the things you’re doing to hedge against bad luck? How are you making the most of your good luck?

What percentage does luck play in success (however you define success)?

View Results

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Related posts about wealth and luck:

When Do You Finally Feel Rich? It’s Not Always About The Money

Be Unapologetically Fierce About Pursuing You Dreams

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Filed Under: Retirement

Author Bio: I started Financial Samurai in 2009 to help people achieve financial freedom sooner. Financial Samurai is now one of the largest independently run personal finance sites with about one million visitors a month.

I spent 13 years working at Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse. In 1999, I earned my BA from William & Mary and in 2006, I received my MBA from UC Berkeley.

In 2012, I left banking after negotiating a severance package worth over five years of living expenses. Today, I enjoy being a stay-at-home dad to two young children, playing tennis, and writing.

Order a hardcopy of my new WSJ bestselling book, Buy This, Not That: How To Spend Your Way To Wealth And Freedom. Not only will you build more wealth by reading my book, you’ll also make better choices when faced with some of life’s biggest decisions.

Current Recommendations:

1) Check out Fundrise, my favorite real estate investing platform. I’ve personally invested $810,000 in private real estate to take advantage of lower valuations and higher cap rates in the Sunbelt. Roughly $160,000 of my annual passive income comes from real estate. And passive income is the key to being free.

2) If you have debt and/or children, life insurance is a must. PolicyGenius is the easiest way to find affordable life insurance in minutes. My wife was able to double her life insurance coverage for less with PolicyGenius. I also just got a new affordable 20-year term policy with them.

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Comments

  1. Bill says

    December 1, 2022 at 3:56 pm

    I think it is a stretch that one can determine “good” luck based on a single isolated event. Good luck can quickly turn into bad luck we simply just don’t know, as we are inter-dependent and not independent entities.

    Being born in the US (good luck) perhaps but if one gets run over by F-150 maybe rural Bangladesh was a better choice.

    Believing in luck feels a lot like believing in magic. It does not require a lot discipline/awareness or even personal responsibility.

    Reply
    • Financial Samurai says

      December 1, 2022 at 5:04 pm

      I found that the more I attribute any wealth or success I have to luck, the harder I work and the more personal responsibility I take because I didn’t do anything to deserve my good fortune.

      If I get lucky, and then gray. If I don’t get lucky, then fine, because I didn’t count on Locke in the first place to advance. In the situation, any Luck turns into an unexpected bonus.

      Reply
      • Bill says

        December 2, 2022 at 9:43 am

        I think you may have missed my point. I don’t believe people know if “luck” is good or bad. To say “luck” is a key ingredient to success feels a bit disingenuous.

        Reply
        • Financial Samurai says

          December 2, 2022 at 10:27 am

          Gotcha. I guess I believe in people being more rational than you. I do believe people are aware of how much luck plays apart in any success they have.

          What’s your story? Where are you in your financial journey?

          Reply
    • Paper Tiger says

      December 2, 2022 at 3:45 pm

      My feeling is we can only influence the things we can control. The things we can’t control are where luck comes in.

      Reply
  2. Jon says

    November 29, 2022 at 4:34 pm

    Thanks for the article Sam!

    I think luck plays a small role in success, but you still need to have the skills (and guts) to jump on an opportunity when it comes along.

    I think we need to be careful about attributing too much of success to luck. Otherwise, there is likewise a temptation to blame bad luck for failure, instead of seeing it as an opportunity to improve your skills, knowledge, etc.

    Hope you and your family had a nice Thanksgiving.

    Reply
  3. Michael Laird says

    November 29, 2022 at 10:31 am

    Heh, I lived overseas a few times as a kid and it was helpful, but I never came close to becoming fluent in another language. On the other hand, I tend to do okay in English.

    Instead of ” . . . everything was for not . . .” try ” . . . everything was for naught . . .”

    That said, yes, being born a US citizen is an enormous piece of luck. Someone once told me that, if it could even have a price, it might be worth in the neighborhood of half a million USD all by itself. Then, too, having parents with traditional values and a stable home is also luckier than it should be. Good health. High intelligence. Height. Handsome. All these things are lucky . . . but I still wonder: what would I have done if I could have swapped one or another for having been born wealthy instead?

    Reply
  4. PJH says

    November 28, 2022 at 4:39 am

    “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.“

    Always helpful if you supply the full context for that quote, which clearly indicates that the “that” in the sentence doesn’t relate to the business you’ve got, but the infrastructure mentioned in the previous – omitted – sentence that allowed the business to exist in the first place:

    “Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.”

    Unless, of course, you’re intending to deliberately misquote and mislead (not that I’m a particular fan of Obama…)

    Reply
    • Financial Samurai says

      November 28, 2022 at 7:04 am

      Thank you. Check out the 6th paragraph of the post.

      “Wisdom Grows With Age

      As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to understand more of what President Obama was talking about. Just like how it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a lot of help along the way to achieve your goals. Obama was referring to not building the roads and bridges that helped your business prosper along the way.”

      Please let me know if you find any typos, grammar errors, and other areas of improvement.

      Do you think above-average wealth is mostly due to luck?

      Reply
  5. Steven says

    November 27, 2022 at 3:32 pm

    “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.“ ~ Always loved that quote by Obama. Coming from a guy who never built anything in his life. It was a total slap in the face to any business owner who took the risk of going out on their own, raising capital, putting in 15 hours a day to get the business off the ground, the sleepless nights, anxiety that comes after your first successful year – wondering if or how you’re gonna do it again or top it, time away from family, making payroll for your employees, etc.

    No, 50% + of success does not come from luck. All of your examples above came down to choice. You made intelligent choices because you’re an intelligent person. Not everyone is born with the same level of intelligence and therefore you can have people that work just as many hours, but make a fraction of the money because they lack intelligence or make poor choices in life. They also happen to be risk-averse. If you aren’t willing to take risks in life, you will always be average.

    Reply
    • Huy says

      November 30, 2022 at 11:38 pm

      I agree with this. At 23, during the height of the Great Recession, I work endlessly, 15-17 hrs a day, 7 days a week. I did it as I didn’t have a choice in my mind as I needed along with my family to stabilize our business. My corporate job between my brother and I made up the shortcomings. This was a restaurant that we had to run so it isn’t a light labor industry. Our goal was just to break even at the time and the labor was a lost. Flash forward, 5 years later, through savings and relentless work, we had enough to build our rentals. The goal then was just to cash flow. We held onto the property and I suppose this can be attributed to luck. For us, it was more of a choice through our sacrifices. The properties has since appreciated 125%. There are other situation but I think that success is mainly personal sacrifices with some lucky break.

      Reply
  6. Wade says

    November 27, 2022 at 7:33 am

    Great article! It made me think about my own personal journey and decisions I’ve made along the way. I used to think that my success was largely based on my decisions and calculated risk but being born a white male in America is a massive advantage that i never used to consider. Glad to be one of your 55,000

    Reply
  7. B. Williams says

    November 27, 2022 at 7:17 am

    I attribute my good fortune/blessings, weathering of storms, and success, to God. I’ve experienced too many blessings, too many times including when needed most, for it to be random luck or coincidence. There is no doubt in my mind that it is God. I’m thankful and give all glory to God.

    Reply
    • JP says

      November 27, 2022 at 9:26 am

      Thank you for sharing your story and acknowledging where your blessings come from, brother!

      Reply
  8. ChuckY says

    November 27, 2022 at 6:42 am

    I always found that the harder I worked, the luckier I got.

    Reply
    • JP says

      November 27, 2022 at 9:25 am

      Agreed – “Luck Is What Happens When Preparation Meets Opportunity”.

      I believe, as our founding fathers did, that we are blessed. Yes, “luck”, or happenstance plays a role in realization of your goals. So does grit, education, work ethic. At the end of the day, the only things we control are our work ethic and attitude.

      On a related note, as a country we tend to conflate happiness with wealth. As Sam has pointed out in the past, there’s a lot of value in a simple life and great relationships with your family and friends. For me, I find value in relationships and experiences – the wealth/FI supports the ability to pursue/enhance your relationships and experiences.

      We are truly blessed to be in this country and for those that initially secured of freedoms.

      Reply
  9. Drew says

    November 27, 2022 at 5:50 am

    Great article! Thanks for your humility and honesty in this write-up – it really comes through! We are all truly lucky and blessed, and your story is a great reminder!

    Reply
  10. Max says

    November 27, 2022 at 5:49 am

    Started life negative, 1 generation off The Res, then in foster care. Junior college only option. Yet later: bought a home near the bottom in 2010, and my company was bought out in 2011. The latter resulted in 3-5 years’ worth of 401(k) contributions overnight.

    Reply
  11. BB says

    November 27, 2022 at 5:48 am

    I give luck 50% but it wasn’t luck that…

    – made me drive a dreadful commute day in and day out,

    – stay late night after night,

    – come in early morning after morning,

    – stay in a lower wage tier to gain the critical experience,

    – volunteer at ASU as an advisor to improve my resume and public speaking skills,

    – take the crappiest work assignments week after week to gain the exposure and leadership skillz,

    – add side hustles to make ends meet,

    – skip vacations for 7 years to pay off my mortgage by age 45

    – miss putting my daughter to bed every night because those hours and travel were simply expected.

    I always knew what I was doing to get the experiences and stay ahead of my coworkers.

    With great sacrifice comes great wealth…that’s the other 50% and that’s why wealthy is hard but possible. ‍♂️

    Reply
  12. Alvin says

    November 26, 2022 at 7:30 pm

    I remember when I was a classroom teacher trying to break into administration. I went on numerous interviews with no luck. Then my daughter (who was about 12 years old at the time) went online and found a very small school district that was advertising an administrator job. I didn’t think much of it, but I wanted to show my daughter that I appreciated her trying to help me. So I applied for the job. They called me! I had to go through 4 rounds of interviews with the small school district (which is not common in my field), but I eventually got the job.

    THAT JOB was the catalyst for my trajectory to a superintendent position (which, in the State I was in was 1/135 positions in the entire State) and set my path to FIRE.

    I am still amazed at how that all played out.

    Reply
    • Financial Samurai says

      November 26, 2022 at 8:23 pm

      Incredible luck! And great follow through after your daughter found that job listing. What are the chances right? But good things tend to happen to those who try.

      Reply
  13. Aleksander says

    November 26, 2022 at 12:27 pm

    “Because I’m Asian, some people in America just assume I’m intelligent, even though I had a mediocre SAT score and didn’t go to a fancy private university. It’s funny because when I lived in Asia, people just treated me normally because I was part of the majority.”

    Exactly. Asians are more intelligent than whites. An Asian among Asians will be treated “normally” because everyone is Asian!

    “A strong black woman…”

    No Sam, you worked hard, take some credit for yourself. She either pretended you had less use than you actually did or did not care as a probable diversity hire.

    Reply
    • Financial Samurai says

      November 26, 2022 at 12:48 pm

      Without Kim Purkiss selecting me and then fighting for me through the multiple rounds of interviews, 80% chance I wouldn’t have made it through the gauntlet.

      The reason why I had so many interviews is bc no desk wanted me. But we finally found a fit in international equities.

      There are many qualified for limited job openings across all industries. So landing a job is like winning the lottery.

      We gotta be thankful and give luck credit!

      Reply
  14. Untemplater says

    November 26, 2022 at 8:12 am

    I’ve worked hard in my life but I’ve also had a lot of good luck. Sure I’ve had bad luck and failures too but I’ve tried to turn each one into a silver lining.

    I always have a tendency to get super stressed out this time of year. But this is a good reminder to take a step back from the frenzy of it all and be thankful for the luck and blessings we have.

    Reply
  15. Alex Hamilton says

    November 25, 2022 at 8:00 am

    I admire that Sam accounts for luck in his success. In general, I find any lack of accounting for some luck as supreme arrogance in a world of mystery and innumerable unknowns. However, I believe people can actively position themselves to receive good luck and be ready to capitalize when the right opportunity comes their way.

    If you are always looking for a yellow car (as a metaphor for an opportunity), you will be the first to see the first yellow car cresting on the horizon.

    Discipline and luck are the two most important elements for achieving success in life.

    Reply
    • Financial Samurai says

      November 25, 2022 at 8:20 am

      I enjoy that yellow car metaphor! Once I got my Honda Fit, I saw them everywhere. Same for my latest car.

      Consistency is definitely key. Cheers

      Reply
    • Frank says

      November 27, 2022 at 7:13 am

      “I believe people can actively position themselves to receive good luck and be ready to capitalize when the right opportunity comes their way.” Spot on. Born in another decade Bill Gates would likely not be as rich, but I would bet that he would be successful by any measure. Sam, w/o the the good luck as he described, would have done well regardless, maybe not as well, but was destined for good fortune given his personal traits.
      Funny how those who work hard, and smart (a key ingredient as working hard in a dead end position will not get you anywhere), almost always come out ahead.
      Having worked overseas for many years, I agree, being born in America is a winning ticket. No easier place to improve one’s position in life.

      Reply
  16. Maureen DeLucia says

    December 26, 2021 at 4:00 am

    Very grateful for you and your writing Sam… I also love listening to you and your wife on your podcast… You have such a “sweet relationship”- I also love that you referred to her as your “equal“… your humility is very refreshing… I also enjoyed the podcast where you admitted changing your mind about the Roth IRA… Very unusual for someone to admit they might have been wrong… and then reconsider their position. I have learned so much from you Sam… And I truly appreciate the generosity of your spirit.

    Reply
    • Financial Samurai says

      December 26, 2021 at 7:22 am

      Thanks for reading and listening Maureen! It’s been fun recording with my wife. I hope our children will appreciate the archives when they or older. Will try to do more in the new year!

      Finished up my Best Of FS 2021 post. Let’s see what 2022 brings.

      Reply
  17. Snazster says

    December 20, 2021 at 9:03 am

    Okay, on luck, anyone recall the old game, Zaxxon? You flew a little fighter craft that moved forward constantly and could not be turned. You faced a series of walls made of giant bricks where one brick would be missing. Using a joystick, you had to go up and down, and right and left, to align yourself so your forward progress would take you through that hole.

    Life is kind of like that, except that on that joystick you control left and right, but up and down is random. The best you can do is line yourself up with the hole horizontally and hope that you will be the right amount of up or down when you come to it.

    Which means there is luck involved, sure. But you are a lot less likely to get that luck without some effort on your part. Obama made it sound like it was all luck, and that luck was given to you by society alone. That rankled people who had spent some serious effort in their lives on getting lined up for a shot at success. He probably should have said everyone owes some part of their success to society.

    Certainly true in his case. Obama and I are almost exactly the same age. While my dad was fighting in Viet Nam and my mom and I were eating at a card table in O’ahu (because we couldn’t afford much real furniture), and I was going to a public school, Obama was across town at the elite, private, and very expensive Punahou School on a full scholarship because his household was even poorer than mine. Society certainly set him on the path to success at an early age, so he likely thinks that applies to everyone.

    As the old saying goes: You won’t find a general who thinks there is a serious problem with the promotion system.

    I will go this far, I will agree that no one but maybe a child raised by wolves can fail to owe some part of their success to society, but only part. But how much? And how much is owed for this? One of the greatest sources of contention throughout history is on how much an individual owes to society, and how much society owes to individuals. If this gets too far out of whack one way, you get something like a human hive, something like what China would like to pretend it is. Too far the other way and you get anarchy, with everyone out only for themselves.

    I consider my greatest piece of luck to be an American citizen from birth. And only incidentally because attempts to place a monetary value on a US Passport seem to wind up somewhere around 500k.

    Reply
  18. JD Disher says

    December 17, 2021 at 5:29 pm

    When you keep finding yourself “getting lucky” over and over… probably isn’t luck.

    Reply
    • Financial Samurai says

      December 17, 2021 at 7:19 pm

      Perhaps. You have an example? Elon Musk comes to mind.

      Reply
    • Financial Samurai says

      February 23, 2022 at 6:45 am

      Maybe. Good luck begets more good luck because you have more opportunities.

      Reply
  19. Dividend Power says

    December 13, 2021 at 6:41 am

    Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. It applies to many things including picking stocks and investments. Nice picture too.

    Reply
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