zlacker

Bill Gates' grandpa was a national bank president, and his father was a wealthy lawyer, president of the state bar association. As a child Gates was deliberately trained by his parents to make everything into a contest. He went to the best private prep school in Washington State, and among high school students worldwide, he ended up with something like top 0.01% access to computers at the time. There's nothing "pretty average" about his story; he was part of the top <1% by wealth, prestige, and support right from the get-go. [Which is not to say that Gates didn't work like hell, including making heaps of unethical choices, to end up as a billionaire.]

> Look at the top 5% and you find some very rich people [...]

The top 5% does not predominately consist of "very rich people". The 95th percentile is "upper middle class", people like relatively ordinary white-collar professionals and successful small-business owners including tradespeople who run their own shops, etc. We're talking about "own a nice house, take vacations, and can afford to retire comfortably" money, not "fleet of servants" money.

>>jacobo+(OP)
10%: $168k

5%: $336k

1%: $819k

0.1%: $3.3m

The income curve is a hockey stick that goes vertical at the far right side and it keeps getting steeper over time. https://www.investopedia.com/personal-finance/how-much-incom...