Accord to Nassim Taleb, in his book, Fooled by Randomness, it is by chance that anyone get to become a millionaire. Taleb was featured in our Sunday Times column. He came from a well-known political family in Lebanon. His family was rich before the fall of Lebanon.
He put up a very good point. The formula to accumulate wealth is similar to observing swans. There may be 4000 white swans, the conclusion is all swans are white. Accumulating wealth for most people will be like concluding swans are white e.g. riding the stock market or investing in property where the long term trend is up. It takes one black swan to prove "all swans are white" wrong. So it may take 10 years to accumulate a few millions but a few minutes to lose them all. His strategy is to take advantage of the rare event and make the most of it. George Soros is a good example where he make billions on unique events.
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