"Self Made"

id say if parents paid for one's college let alone six figures on your education then yeah i think calling yourself completely "self made" is tough to d0. sure you got the grades but completely self made is getting the grades and a full ride.. or paying your way thru/having your own student loans and paying them off. the right way to say it would be something like "i was very fortunate that my parents were able to provide the finances needed for me to go to a top school and make something of myself"

Who really cares? Plenty of people out there start on third and think they hit a triple, especially in my industry where every other person is only there because they're someone's son, but it doesn't impact you at all if they tell themselves they're "self made" to get through the day.

CNBC called Warren Buffett self-made. So, most people saying they are "self-made" are really not. Trump thinks he's self-made. I wouldn't be surprised if Zuckerberg and Musk think they're self-made. They helped themselves to some free lemonade and said they made it their selves. That's how it works most times.

No, that's not self made.

"nanos gigantum humeris insidentes"

"standing on the shoulders of giants"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_on_the_shoulders_of_giants

"too we are dwarfs astride the shoulders of giants. We master their wisdom and move beyond it. Due to their wisdom we grow wise and are able to say all that we say, but not because we are greater than they." - Isaiah di Trani

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants." - Isaac Newton, 1675

This question of whether we are "self made" or not is not even worth discussing. No one is ever self-made because most of our lives are pre-determined based on where you are born and who you parents are.

The global internet population is 4.2BB out of 7.6BB. So the fact that we are using internet to discuss about this is because we are lucky and ends up being the other 55.1% who have access to internet.

And everyone who discuss about this is trying to argue for the equality of "outcome". But to do that we have to equalize the opportunities given. So that means we have to normalize all of our individual differences.

So what does that mean is in order for me to compete with someone whose both legs are amputated in a sporting contest - to show that my mental will is as strong as that person, shall I amputate my legs as well - so that we start from the same base?

To truly argue self-made, we are assuming that everyone start from the same base, which we don't. Is like in a science fiction movie, where we are all born and sent to a public space without our parents and letting the authorities take care of us in the same conditions.

That is probably the only scenario where that would work. Even then our genetic makeup are not the same so technically we don't start from the same base either.

Net net the argument of whether someone is self made is a rabbit hole argument that goes no where. Just look at how we count scores against each other if we try to normalize everyone:

It's stupid to even talk about being "self made" because we were all born with certain advantages that we should be thankful for. Nobody ever really gets to where they are on their own. I've worked very hard but I've also been blessed with a brain that enjoys doing analytical work, a high degree of conscientiousness, and having been born to two parents with graduate degrees.

Why are you interested in this? How does it help you? What do you gain by diminishing the work of others?

Didn't Lloyd Blankfein grow up in the projects? That's gotta be self made

You have to look at this from a scale perspective. Did your parents pay for your 100K+ college education and then you take that and make 100M. You are self made, if you take that same 100K+ education and move on to a law job and make 500K per year, not really.

I think as long as you did something meaningful with your life beyond living off your parents' money, you're 'self-made.' However, the term 'self-made' is not really accurate, because strictly speaking, no one is self-made. We all have mentors, friends, etc. who help us get to where were are. Some people just have a greater degree of this (with money & connections).

Regardless, this post just sounds like something that is attempting to degrade the success of anyone who was born upper middle class or above, which honestly is pretty sad. I'd focus on enhancing your own success instead of rationalizing others' success by talking about advantages they received from factors outside of your control or theirs. Life's not fair, deal with it.

Plenty of middle class parents diligently save up this kind of money to pay for their child's education over their entire adult lives. I don't think that lacking college indebtedness is a pre-requisite for being a respectable person. This, however, seems like a cavalier topic that you shouldn't be putting much effort towards trying to understand.

What is important is your impact on other people, irrespective of where you came from. I know plenty of aporophobic people hailing from poor backgrounds themselves, which is equally reproachable as the person born in Westport CT given everything they wanted growing up. Ignorance is ignorance. If someone had help growing up, but displays empathy towards and actively endeavors to help the lives of the less fortunate, that is enough to earn respect in my book. On the other hand, the "self made" rags-to-riches posting pictures of their expensive cars and watches on social media while making no effort to improve lives around them will never have my respect.

Long story short: worry more about character and be ambivalent to categories the of "self made" and "privileged". That, in itself, is a sign of good character.

I can't say that I care too much how they got through school. Kudos for having that opportunity. That being said, getting through school has little to do with being "self-made." I would argue that we typically think of "self-made" from a career standpoint. Sure, having no school debt is beneficial when it comes to building a business and a career, but it certainly doesn't give you the work ethic and business acumen to build that business and that income. In the scheme of things, having $40,000-$50,000 in school debt is all that much of a hindrance in become "self-made."

"We are all self-made, but only the successful will admit it." -Earl Nightingale

To me, self-made is my mother.

Grow up in poverty, move out of your fathers house at 16 and raise your younger sister because your father beats you. Have two kids by the time you are 21 and instead of using kids as an excuse to why you can't accomplish your goals, you continue on with school and eventually become a medical doctor.

It's true most people aren't fully self-made, but it exists on a spectrum. Some people are more self-made than others, and, at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter, but it does represent strong income mobility in a single life. It's impressive when you see it.

It's all relative to the rate of return you give on what you're parents contribute to you. If your parents make $250,000 a year and send you to Emory, and ten years later you're making $1,000,000 a year then I'd still consider you self-made. If your dad was Fred Trump and you only make $1,000,000 a year over the course of your business career then you're a failure.

No one is self-made.

There are highly successful people who, to quote someone else on this thread, "were born on third and think they hit a triple". Those folks are douchebags and you should ignore them, because they're probably not very fulfilled or happy deep down.

Then there are people who are born on third (or second, or whatever you want your starting place for the metaphor to be) and yeah, get a great private education and kill it, but acknowledge that. If you have discipline and focus and you are self-reliant and not dependent on daddy's money for your lifestyle, then you have no reason to be ashamed. There is nothing inherently wrong with being born with privilege, the only issue is when you start acting like those who weren't are somehow lesser because they couldn't achieve on their "own" what you were born with.

Also, there are lots of ways you can be privileged. One could argue that a person born into a wealthy household but who is abused emotionally as a child might be starting from a worse spot than someone who had to bust their ass to make it financially but had an amazing family support network.

I actually always thought of life being a pretty level playing field once you graduate from college, assuming you didn't have to take debt out to attend. I thought most rich people don't give their kids trust funds or what not until they're a bit older, like in their 30s or even until they pass away? Your network definitely plays a huge role in your success, but I always thought it was a pretty level playing field with some exceptions after you get your first job. Maybe I'm wrong though.

I'd have to echo this sentiment above as well. Once you graduate from college and see the people with no student debt, no obligation to help the little sibling pay rent, no obligation to pay cell phone/car bill, no obligation to have to enroll in company health (most kids stay on parents plans) you really start to realize how these privileges compound in a big way in your 20s.

You should quicker believe that Coca-Cola is delivered by Santa Claus than in such a thing as "Self-Made". You realize the phrase "pick yourself up by your bootstraps" is an oxymoron, right?

Everyone needs friends, teachers, mentors, people that take a chance on/believe in them. It's Business 101. Every seller needs a buyer. Every leader needs a team, and customers. He works for them just as much as they work for him.

There will always be those that start with more or less than others, or get lucky or unlucky. No one's path or claim to happiness is any less difficult or worthy.

Everybody poops.

It's not about being "self-made."

It's about playing the cards you were dealt.