Poll: What are your beliefs about money? (pt. 1)

What are your innate beliefs about money?  Depending on how you think money and wealth are acquired, you will go about trying to get it in different ways.  If you think it's largely a game of luck, you might consider hopping from startup to startup with a lightning rod waiting for one to be struck.  If you think it's a matter of hard work and perserverance, perhaps a healthy corporate ladder is calling your name.

Pick the strategy that seems to be most in line with your beliefs about the source of wealth in our society.

Comments

[Erik Kastner]

I think my problem may be that I don't see any one of those as "BEST", I think all of them but "God's Will" are valid.

[Josh Petersen]

I think it is interesting that "work hard" is winning by so much. Are all you hard workers rich or are you just not working hard enough?

I think hard work can lead to wealth -- but isn't a causal link. Lots of hard workers never get wealthy. I voted luck, as that's how it has worked for me. I've worked hard, invested, innovated, supplied value -- but none of those made a big difference in my net worth. Luck has made all the difference.

[Stephanie Michelle]

Although I don't really believe in luck. My take on what most people percieve as luck is the same as Oprah's. This isn't a direct quote but she said something like, "Luck is when preparation meets oppurtunity."

Anyhoo, I chose God's will.

[joe]

I voted "family", and I think the biographies of the most successful people in Western society would back me up.

The fact that "hard work" is winning the poll is a testament to the pervasiveness of the myth that the highest echelon in our society like to spread: "work as hard as us and you can be as rich as us"

The Horatio Alger "rags to riches" story is exceedinly rare, probably as rare as winning the lottery.

Most "self made men" simply choose to play down the help they got just by being born in the right place at the right time.

It isn't good enough to be born into prosperity, but it's a stronger prerequisite than anything else on the list.