Life lessons from the very wealthy

Misses several important ones:

- It's good to be the king

- Money doesn't buy happiness, but carefully spent, it can buy several happiness factories.

- Little people don't understand me.

I don't know specifically about tech companies but the hedge fund I work for will lend and match up to very large amounts of money that you put into the fund.

It really helps to motivate you when you realize that most of your net worth is tied up in the fund:)

Stock options to hot pre IPO companies like Facebook, twitter, etc are very similar. It's hard to leave before all your options vest( and they never do as you always get a new grant each year) as it's always in the back of your mind that the big IPO is just around the corner.

"Being smart is good but being lucky is better."

This article is actually good.

Absolutely, only it's more subtle. When you work at a company that feeds you gourmet lunches, does your oil changes and laundry for you, arranges shuttles from your apartment to the office, etc., you begin to feel like you couldn't possibly live any other way.

That is the dark side of perks.

Another way to keep people stuck is to pay them too much, much more than they could ever earn elsewhere. They will then rationalize that they are doing it just for the money, which leads them to hate their job, even tho they will not leave (because of the money). Then you see worsening politicking, squabbling, dark humor about "at least it pays well" and general "acting out."

I saw both of these in action at my last real job, at a tech co. you've heard of. The wild parties, the liquor cabinet, the gourmet kitchen, the rooftop deck in TriBeCa, and more importantly, the excessively huge amounts of profit-sharing... it was like geek summer camp, until it turned into a teen drama because of the "poor little rich boys."

I knew I could never work at another place after that, because (in most ways) it was just so great. We were all spoiled rotten.

From what I've found with a quick search it seems like most held wealth is earned rather than inherited. Does anyone know if this is accurate, and what the typical 'pre-earnings' demographic background of the very wealthy is in the U.S.?