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by Edward Glamkowski

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From time to time you may here someone say something to the effect of "Most wealth in America is inherited, has been so and remains so."

Let's examine this statement. According to the Forbes list of the top 25 richest people in the US as of 2006:

* Gates, William H III: 53.0 billion - self made
* Buffett, Warren E: 46.0 billion - self made
* Adelson, Sheldon: 20.5 billion - self made
* Ellison, Lawrence J: 19.5 billion - self made
* Allen, Paul G: 16.0 billion - self made
* Walton, Jim C: 15.7 billion - inherited
* Walton, Christy: 15.6 billion - inherited
* Walton, S Robson: 15.6 billion - inherited
* Dell, Michael S: 15.5 billion - self made
* Walton, Alice L: 15.5 billion - inherited

* Walton, Helen R: 15.3 billion - inherited
* Brin, Sergey: 14.1 billion - self made
* Page, Larry E: 14.0 billion - self made
* Taylor, Jack Crawford: 13.9 billion - self made
* Ballmer, Steven A: 13.6 billion - self made
* Johnson, Abigail: 13.0 billion - inherited
* Anthony, Barbara Cox: 12.6 billion - inherited
* Chambers, Anne Cox: 12.6 billion - inherited
* Koch, Charles De Ganahl: 12.0 billion - self made
* Koch, David Hamilton: 12.0 billion - inherited
* Mars, Forrest E Jr: 10.5 billion - inherited
* Mars, Jacqueline Badger: 10.5 billion - inherited
* Mars, John F: 10.5 billion - inherited
* Icahn, Carl: 9.7 billion - self made
* Kluge, John W: 9.1 billion - self made

So, 6 out of the top 10, 13 out of the top 25 are self made, including the five richest over all. Of the inheritors, most of it is in the hands of just a few families (Waltons, Mars, Cox), but it is spread out over several family members and not concentrated in one person's hands. Further, the worth of the self-mades exceeds that of the inheritors:

* worth of the self-mades: 256.9 billion
* worth of the inheritors: 159.4 billion

So, more than half of the richest people in this country are self-made, not inheritors. And the self-mades control considerably more wealth then the inheritors.

Now, if you were talking about inherited wealth WORLDWIDE, it MAY be true they have more wealth then the self-mades, but I haven't looked for that data. But, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet top the world list as well as the US list, so I doubt it.

Anyways, what is clear is that there is a lot more self-made money than inherited money, so any time anybody rambles on about the death of the American dream, the power of inherited money, or other such non-sense, please refer them to Forbes or to this article to set them straight.

Learn more about this author, Edward Glamkowski.

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