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Being born into the right family or personal ambition/career more important?

Being born into the right family or personal ambition/career more important?

So i read somewhere the bottom 10% of families have around 27k in assets total and top 10% have 1m +. Which brings up questions about social mobility and if inheritance is fair.

So what's more important, being born into a well off family or having goals/ambition in today's society?

Bill

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People born into well off families have ambitions and goals too you know...Clearly being born into the right family is more important.

What's the point of having ambitions if you're too socially immobile to carry out your goals?
Original post by TheTechN1304
People born into well off families have ambitions and goals too you know...Clearly being born into the right family is more important.

What's the point of having ambitions if you're too socially immobile to carry out your goals?


depends on what those goals are. im from a working class background & have done relatively well for myself with regards to hitting milestones ive set for myself w: regards to a career.

i reckon career/ambition is essential although i do agree that wealth could've helped quite a lot
Right family for me. The connections alone will secure you a future without needing to be academic. You see so many 'models' and 'actors' these days it's silly. The inheritance wouldn't hurt either. Though I don't see why anyone would have to make a choice. Plenty of people born rich are ambitious.
I don't know why some people hate those born into rich families or have trust funds. I don't think it's there fault if their parents care for them :tongue: Overly, I'd choose right family, it's the easy way out.
Reply 5
Original post by Imperion
I don't know why some people hate those born into rich families or have trust funds. I don't think it's there fault if their parents care for them :tongue: Overly, I'd choose right family, it's the easy way out.


true :tongue:
It doesn't matter. Either will get you there all by itself with little help from the other. If you truly fail it isn't because you are deficient in one, it is because you are lacking in both.
Being born into a wealthier family lets you play the game on easy mode. Study after study after study has shown that your parents' socio-economic status has an overwhelmingly influence on your socio-economic status and just how far you could go.

You know why newspapers love running those "rags to riches" stories? Because they are rare.
Original post by Bill_Gates
So what's more important, being born into a well off family or having goals/ambition in today's society?


Having goals and ambition is definitely far more important.

The thing about being born into a well off family though, is that it makes you a lot more likely to have those goals and ambitions, and to set high standards for yourself. It alters your perception of what actually constitutes "success".

You're unlikely to be satisfied working at McDonalds the rest of your life if your parents, brothers and sisters are all doctors, lawyers, bankers etc. Whereas if your family and everyone else around you are all dole dossers, having a regular income from your job at McDonalds (in fact even having a job at all) will naturally make you think you've done pretty well for yourself.
(edited 8 years ago)
Being born into the right family. Britain is not very big on meritocracy. We have very low intergenerational social mobility and your parent's income is a very strong predictor for your own. It is difficult to pull yourself out of poverty if you are born there. You don't have to do much to stay wealthy if you are born into it.
The right family does have more of an influence. But being from a very poor family myself, first to go to university, etc; ambition is something which I have but very few people around me do have, because they don't like putting in the work to get somewhere.

So for me, ambition is very important and it is the only way to succeed from anpoor family. In a wealthy family, ambition is not as necessary for equivalent success.
Original post by Imperion
I don't know why some people hate those born into rich families or have trust funds. I don't think it's there fault if their parents care for them :tongue: Overly, I'd choose right family, it's the easy way out.


We don't hate you. We just have no respect for you.

How would you feeling running in a race against someone in a Porsche?
In life to get ahead there are 3 rights required.

The right time.
The right place.
The right people.

Also strongly believe in poor at 20 your parents fault, poor at 30 your own damn fault.
Original post by Xin Xang
We don't hate you. We just have no respect for you.

How would you feeling running in a race against someone in a Porsche?

If you put it that way ... :tongue: Pretty helpless.
Original post by Bill_Gates
Being born into the right family or personal ambition/career more important?

So i read somewhere the bottom 10% of families have around 27k in assets total and top 10% have 1m +. Which brings up questions about social mobility and if inheritance is fair.

So what's more important, being born into a well off family or having goals/ambition in today's society?

Bill


Your question essentially depends on what the mark is for success.

If we are talking about reaching the top 1% then being born into the right family is considerably more important than ones own ambition short of being a creative genius. If however we are talking about the upper quartile then it comes down to a combination of location and home ownership since the middle classes will inherit a few hundred thousand pounds simply from that in the south. If finally, we are talking about simply reaching the mean then it's very dependent on your own ambition.

I myself am born to a family in the lowest 10% of society (parents on welfare, council house, car the most expensive asset at a few grand) and living in Yorkshire and while i will struggle to reach the top 10% because of my birth, it is still very much possible, nay probable that i can end up close to if not above the mean. It's not a stretch to think that i could have as much as half a million in assets by the time i die purely on the basis of buying first property plus inflation (takes us to Β£200k round here) plus a second property and a near or above average wage.

If we are talking about the top 10% then i do think it's possible inside 2 generations though. If i can move from the under to working to middle (home owner with above average salary) class myself, then it's possible to get my children into a good grammar school and for them to go to a top uni and get a top job and join the corporate/ruling class. To get the top 1% though i think it's more about how truly brilliant one is.

Original post by TheTechN1304
People born into well off families have ambitions and goals too you know...Clearly being born into the right family is more important.

What's the point of having ambitions if you're too socially immobile to carry out your goals?


If everybody believed the Guardian then nobody would own their own home and we'd all be working on zero hour contracts. The UK is less socially mobile than it's peers, but it is still socially mobile.

Please remember the context which articles about such things conveniently leave out.
Original post by Alfissti
In life to get ahead there are 3 rights required.

The right time.
The right place.
The right people.

Also strongly believe in poor at 20 your parents fault, poor at 30 your own damn fault.


hmm maybe. But if you want to be rich between 20-30 you will need access to factors of production which don't come cheap in this day and age.

Good point though.
Original post by Rakas21
Your question essentially depends on what the mark is for success.

If we are talking about reaching the top 1% then being born into the right family is considerably more important than ones own ambition short of being a creative genius. If however we are talking about the upper quartile then it comes down to a combination of location and home ownership since the middle classes will inherit a few hundred thousand pounds simply from that in the south. If finally, we are talking about simply reaching the mean then it's very dependent on your own ambition.

I myself am born to a family in the lowest 10% of society (parents on welfare, council house, car the most expensive asset at a few grand) and living in Yorkshire and while i will struggle to reach the top 10% because of my birth, it is still very much possible, nay probable that i can end up close to if not above the mean. It's not a stretch to think that i could have as much as half a million in assets by the time i die purely on the basis of buying first property plus inflation (takes us to Β£200k round here) plus a second property and a near or above average wage.

If we are talking about the top 10% then i do think it's possible inside 2 generations though. If i can move from the under to working to middle (home owner with above average salary) class myself, then it's possible to get my children into a good grammar school and for them to go to a top uni and get a top job and join the corporate/ruling class. To get the top 1% though i think it's more about how truly brilliant one is.



If everybody believed the Guardian then nobody would own their own home and we'd all be working on zero hour contracts. The UK is less socially mobile than it's peers, but it is still socially mobile.

Please remember the context which articles about such things conveniently leave out.


Problem is when you are talking about generations, the 10% won't remain static they will have the same plans and how to increase their wealth. Majority of those in the 10% and most notably the 1% and definitely the 0.1% (lol) are business owners and not apart of the corporate elite (workers).
Original post by TheTechN1304
People born into well off families have ambitions and goals too you know...Clearly being born into the right family is more important.

What's the point of having ambitions if you're too socially immobile to carry out your goals?


I agree they do but let's assume for the moment that they don't and if its still possible for someone in the bottom 10% to compete.
Individual ambition.

[video="youtube;wzhzkKccBi8"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzhzkKccBi8[/video]

Life is a constant learning curve and lesson. You can attend that lesson, pay attention to life's teachings and learn. Alternatively, you can think you know best or not care and blame everyone else for your failings.

To suggest being born into the right family is more important is insulting to everyone who made something of their lives and themselves without a family. There are kids out there with no mothers, no fathers or neither, and they go out there and through hard work and dedication achieve what they want to achieve because the greatness is within them and they have the drive and ambition to succeed. Furthermore, there's people out there who grew up in conditions such as no electricity, water shortages and so forth. These people through determination and passion make something of themselves.

Please don't try and pretend all of this is due to luck. You make your own luck in life. You create the right time, you put yourself in a position whereby you can fall into the right place and you make an effort to put yourself out there to meet the right people. If you sit indoors and moan and wait for the right time to get rich to come along and offer itself on a plate to you, you've got a long wait on your hands.

I'm fed up of Westerners moaning about their predicament and struggle. You don't know a true struggle. You've got access to public libraries to learn but you don't go to them because you're too lazy. Playing on the Xbox or PS4 is easier. You have access to the internet in these libraries and a decent education yet a lot of native Brits mess about and totally and shamefully disregard how fortunate they are to have this. You mostly have good running water and electricity putting you in a position whereby your basic needs are met yet so many still go to school and still act the class clown. It's also a lot easier to blame everyone else.

You then hate people who come from a true struggle and make something of their lives by committing themselves to their craft and working hard. It's easy to hate others for doing it when you're too lazy to do it yourselves. People like Floyd Mayweather who dedicate themselves to their profession and make money are hated and mocked because they can't read. So what? They are successful because reading isn't the be all and end all, hard work and dedication is. You read books, he reads opponents. He applied himself to become a master of what he does. He is an inspiration.

Same reason so many Brits in the UK refuse to make sacrifices like emigrate to another country. It's easier to stay in the UK and moan about how immigrants are taking your jobs and how it's all unfair. Firstly, they are not 'your' jobs. We live in an competitive global economy. Why shouldn't an immigrant who's worked hard, sacrificed being with their family back home and dedicated themselves to their profession get a job over you? If you're not putting yourself in a position whereby you can compete then that is your own fault.
I come from a working class background and have pretty big ambitions, and so I work hard for them.

But I have wondered, countless times, if it would all be easier if my parents were rich

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