Stories of the super wealthy or super rich often highlight those who have taken unique paths: Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffett, Kim Kardashian. If you want to get rich or build wealth, taking cues from them might seem like a good idea.
Often, it’s not, says Esteban Argudo, an assistant professor of economics at Vassar College whose research focuses on diversity and inequality. Many millionaires and billionaires in the public eye did not earn their fortunes by working a decently paid, 9-to-5 job and steadily investing part of their earnings. And yet, that is how most people get rich, he says.
To improve your chances of building wealth, don’t buy into these three common misconceptions.
“I think that people usually think about the stock market as the ultimate vehicle to becoming rich,” he says. While this is “not a complete misconception,” it’s unlikely that stocks will make you wealthy quickly.
“What most people fail to realize is that the stock market pays off in the long term. It will not get you rich overnight,” he says. A vast majority, 70%, of super-rich people are retired, according to Argudo’s research. Their average age is over 70, too, meaning their wealth comes from years of contributions and compounding growth in the market.
What most people fail to realize is that the stock market pays off in the long term.
