Luck and Risk

The author underscores the significant impact of luck and risk on financial outcomes, sometimes outweighing skill and effort. "Not intelligence, or education, or sophistication. Just the dumb luck of when and where you were born." Examples like Bill Gates's access to a computer in high school and the contrasting fate of his equally talented friend, Kent Evans, illustrate this point. The Vanderbilt example serves to remind the reader that the line between "bold and reckless" is hard to see.