Why the “Self-Made” Success Story Is a Myth • Hacker News Board

Re: Why the “Self-Made” Success Story Is a Myth

#11

Post by smt88 » Tue, Feb 19, 2019, 5:07 PM UTC

Isamu wrote: post #2

>She told me, “I was curious, but I don't know how a single person in America who doesn't have family money could buy anything, I really don’t, if they're not working in finance or they're not a doctor. ” Easy, there are vast areas of America where housing is more affordable. I certainly got zero cash from family when I bought a home. My family put money into giving me food and shelter growing up though. This is kind…

> I certainly got zero cash from family when I bought a home.

Crucially, this is not the least help your family can offer.

For many (most?) people in the world, their relatives are actually insecure and need financial support. This is a key reason the cycle of poverty can't be broken by one person getting a good job.

I know multiple people who would've easily had a down payment on a house if their parents hadn't lost pensions/savings in the financial crisis.

Several years later, that $100k they used to bail out parents would've grown to $300k+ in equity if they could've bought a house in a city between 2009 and 2012.

Re: Why the “Self-Made” Success Story Is a Myth

#12

Post by samwhiteUK » Tue, Feb 19, 2019, 5:08 PM UTC

awakeasleep wrote: post #5

I understand the use of 'millennials' as click-bait, but when a serious author tries to tie 'millennials' into some larger explanation of sociology I just have to stop reading. What the hell is going on in [the author]Jen Doll's head where she thinks that the myth of self-made success is a millennial phenomena? Does she suffer from amnesia? Is this just 4000 words of disinterested bullshit to get paid?

Yes. Her writing career is unreliable, she said so herself. She has to take every opportunity

Re: Why the “Self-Made” Success Story Is a Myth

#13

Post by dahfizz » Tue, Feb 19, 2019, 5:09 PM UTC

I am constantly surprised at people's inability to imagine that other people lives are different than thier own.

Just because real estate is expensive in the center of a big city doesn't mean it's impossible to buy a house anywhere in the entire country.

Just because you can't support yourself as a writer doesn't mean nobody can support themselves no matter what.

Just because you got free money from your parents doesn't mean everyone gets lots of free money from thier parents.

Re: Why the “Self-Made” Success Story Is a Myth

#14

Post by latencyloser » Tue, Feb 19, 2019, 5:09 PM UTC

Isamu wrote: post #2

>She told me, “I was curious, but I don't know how a single person in America who doesn't have family money could buy anything, I really don’t, if they're not working in finance or they're not a doctor. ” Easy, there are vast areas of America where housing is more affordable. I certainly got zero cash from family when I bought a home. My family put money into giving me food and shelter growing up though. This is kind…

This reminds me of when I was working at Microsoft and a colleague said to me: "I don't know how anyone raises a family off less than $130k/year." I laughed and asked him if he'd ever been anywhere in the US outside of Seattle before. Turns out, he hadn't and assumed the insane cost of living we're subject to in this area also exists in the rest of the country.

My point of reference is my family's house in a rural area that is about 2x the size of mine (the property is 10x) and costs 1/3 as much. I wish my career as a software engineer better enabled this type of living but, alas, my corporate overlords require I am ass in desk every day in a metro area.

Re: Why the “Self-Made” Success Story Is a Myth

#15

Post by arwhatever » Tue, Feb 19, 2019, 5:09 PM UTC

The increasing prevalence of this type of material really rankles me. I fear that it just provides the uninitiated fodder to rationalize their lack of initiative.

Re: Why the “Self-Made” Success Story Is a Myth

#16

Post by jxramos » Tue, Feb 19, 2019, 5:10 PM UTC

Isn’t there a stat that says something like at most 10% of millionaires inherited their money/assets. The rest were supposedly “self made”

Re: Why the “Self-Made” Success Story Is a Myth

#17

Post by Consultant32452 » Tue, Feb 19, 2019, 5:11 PM UTC

Isamu wrote: post #2

>She told me, “I was curious, but I don't know how a single person in America who doesn't have family money could buy anything, I really don’t, if they're not working in finance or they're not a doctor. ” Easy, there are vast areas of America where housing is more affordable. I certainly got zero cash from family when I bought a home. My family put money into giving me food and shelter growing up though. This is kind…

Exactly. I live in a 2nd tier city. My friends who are home owners have very middle class blue collar jobs. Examples include auto mechanic, security system installer, and local delivery truck driver. None of them got "help."

Re: Why the “Self-Made” Success Story Is a Myth

#18

Post by JoeAltmaier » Tue, Feb 19, 2019, 5:13 PM UTC

ForHackernews wrote: post #9

Isamu wrote: post #2

>She told me, “I was curious, but I don't know how a single person in America who doesn't have family money could buy anything, I really don’t, if they're not working in finance or they're not a doctor. ” Easy, there are vast areas of America where housing is more affordable. I certainly got zero cash from family when I bought a home. My family put money into giving me food and shelter growing up though. This is kind…

The places with cheaper housing also tend to suffer from a dearth of employment options. There are probably a few mid-sized cities out there that have both cheap housing and decently-paid jobs, but I imagine they are few and far between. I don't know how legitimate this source is, but > ATTOM points out that home prices are climbing faster than wages in 80% of U.S. markets. In fact, median home prices increased at a…

They are pretty common. Kansas City. St. Louis. Des Moines. Dayton. And that's just the Midwest.

You don't need a great job market; you just need the one job. Works for some people.

Re: Why the “Self-Made” Success Story Is a Myth

#19

Post by captainbland » Tue, Feb 19, 2019, 5:13 PM UTC

ip26 wrote: post #8

I came away from this feeling like it's a very short jump from "Maybe some of the people doing impossibly well got help" to "Everyone who is doing better than me must have gotten help". I can't help but feel this element of dismissal is present even in this piece. E.g., Pierson turned a $15,000 loan into a business with $300,000/yr in revenue. She says, her biggest fear was hearing “she’s only successful because of h…

Sure, it's impressive enough to turn $15k into a profitable business but most people could only take that plunge once or maybe twice, realistically. How many successful businesses were started by people who could do that ten times or a hundred times? Or more pertinently: how much of the market has been captured by such people? That's the real differentiator.

Re: Why the “Self-Made” Success Story Is a Myth

#20

Post by ForHackernews » Tue, Feb 19, 2019, 5:14 PM UTC

Consultant32452 wrote: post #17

Isamu wrote: post #2

>She told me, “I was curious, but I don't know how a single person in America who doesn't have family money could buy anything, I really don’t, if they're not working in finance or they're not a doctor. ” Easy, there are vast areas of America where housing is more affordable. I certainly got zero cash from family when I bought a home. My family put money into giving me food and shelter growing up though. This is kind…

Exactly. I live in a 2nd tier city. My friends who are home owners have very middle class blue collar jobs. Examples include auto mechanic, security system installer, and local delivery truck driver. None of them got "help."

How old are they? I know plenty of people who bought a house 30 or 40 years ago on blue collar salaries. I don't know any <30 year olds who bought property without parental help.