Why Do Millionaires Have Stereotypes?

Stereotypes and misconceptions are all brought upon by people who have little to no knowledge of that group. Misconceptions are faulty views or opinions of a certain group such as owning passed down companies and being happier or smarter than everyone else, which Millionaires are often misconceptualized as. Stereotypes are fixed and oversimplified images or ideas of a group, many have, the fixed idea that millionaires are greedy, arrogant, and lucky. Stereotypes start usually started to narrow down someone characteristics, which then lead to misconceptions. Even though many millionaires do own companies that are passed down without their intelligence and hard work the company would go not anywhere. We do not see all the work that goes into
running a successful business, we just see the success and are quick to judge, we do not see the road a successful Millionaire had to take which includes sleepless nights, financial instability, and lots of stress. We have all stereotyped or misconceptualized someone because of their looks or actions. It is second nature to us because most of our parents did it so we will do it also no realizing it can be harmful. Stereotypes can harmful because most of the time the generalizations created by the stereotype are inaccurate to everyone being stereotyped. We should inform ourselves on millionaires before making a stereotypical or misconception statement, which may not be true to that individual.
Millionaires are not just people whose assets are worth one million dollars or more, millionaires are some of the world's most dedicated, persistent, and hard working individuals. They do not just sit around and expect something to magically happen, they take the advance to a certain goal they want to achieve. Even though millionaires do make a lot more than the average person there is a lot they hide. The misconception that the more money you have, the happier you will be can be proven to be fake by most millionaires. They have all gotten to a million dollar assets to find out it was not making them happy. As it is shown by James Altucher when he said "I thought, if I could make 10 million dollars then it must be too easy. In fact, I honestly thought, everyone else had probably already made 11 million dollars. So then I felt poor again. I now needed 100 million dollars to be happy" (“Does being rich make you happy?” 15). According to Altucher the satisfaction of achieving a goal does not last long for most millionaires. The more they have the more they want. Millionaires will tell you there is more to it than money, they argue money cannot buy love, real friends, family, etc. The happiness of individuals depends on how they decide to look at the things they have and value them. Yes, driving luxurious cars and having the most expensive house will make you happy, but for how long before you want something else. They have the ability to say “I’m tired of this Lamborghini, i want something more expensive” while many of us cannot. Millionaires are always striving forward and looking for, what the next big thing will be to invest or create to make more money, which is often seen as greedy by our society.
Millionaires get to one million dollar with intense desire for wealth. According to Fortune.com 1,700 individuals are reaching the millionaire club. The intense desire for wealth has different views depending on the individual. In an interview with Mr. Green a local business owner he explained how he had to focus on his business so much that he would lose track of everything else going on, as he implied when he said “ I missed several birthdays and family get togethers ”.To many being wealthy comes with luck which is not true, this is just another misconception created by those who have little to no knowledge of millionaires. We can say “he/she got lucky” and not realize all the work and struggle that individual had to go through. Every millionaire had to do some work to get to a millionaire statues, they did not just sit and hope for something. During my interview with Mr. Green he also said “ I had nights when i did not sleep, sometimes i did not eat because i needed to get some business work done ”. Millionaires have risked things in life to gain. An often used phrase is “ You have to be willing to burn your bridges”. A stereotype of millionaires is that they are arrogant. This can seem true because at some points they can be overconfident of themselves but who would not want to be confident of their hard work, they trust their work and have high expectations for the end result. How can you expect someone who was once laughed at and told you will not make it, not to be arrogant. Jealousy is a big contributor of this stereotypes and misconceptions because many envy millionaires.
Even though i am not a millionaire yet i have experienced a lot of what millionaires have experienced just this past four years trying to start up my own companies.
I can tell you first hand, I would rather get lucky but the reality of it, is a million dollars will not be handed to me. You have to be willing to go out there and do the work. I have to be self motivated and have faith that my hard work will pay off. I am often viewed as greedy because I do not waste a lot of money, but i save up that money and invest it into my companies. Within my family nobody has reached the million dollars and whenever i talk to my family about the millionaires i follow all they respond with is “They are lucky”. “Lucky” to have 300,000 dollar cars, “Lucky” to have a 800,00 dollar house, but were they “Lucky” when they were homeless?. I myself do a lot of research on people the people who I follow and read their stories. I know most of the things they have gone through to get to a millionaire statues. Most have gone from rags to riches. I have learned that I have to be willing to burn my bridges and learn from mistakes. I have been around millionaires and they are not like most of the people you encounter everyday. Great manners along with advanced vocabulary are just the first things you will notice. They do not like to sit around, constantly on their phone. When we think of people on their phone we mostly imagine people liking other peoples post or just scrolling but millionaires are
looking for their next business move. I personally go on social media to find new trends because that is how many became millionaires, they were able to recognize trends, and make money. You can become a millionaire just be willing to do what it takes.
Millionaires are usually portrayed as white males around 45 years old dressed in fancy expensive cloth, loyal, respectful, and well mannered. He drives a Rolls Royce down his neighborhood into his garage. Inside his garage you will find a Lamborghini Huracan, Ferrari 458 spider and a Porsche Cayman GT4. He lives in a 1.5 million dollar mansion with five bedrooms, room sized bathrooms and a pool along with a jacuzzi. His wife and kids wear designer brands, and they have the newest technology. They dine at the most expensive restaurants, enjoying 50 dollar meals. He constantly checking up on how his business is running, every employe is like family to him. Wears a rolex whenever he feels like making a good impression. This may not be true for every millionaire because many of them do not like to show their wealth. A millionaire is very friendly, open minded and always willing to help out. He does not brag about his money, for him money's not everything. Some millionaires still drive middle class cars because they do not feel the need to show what they can afford. Millionaires are the type of individuals to fall and get right back up with no hesitation, because their minds are set up for success. Anybody can be a millionaire regardless of race, gender and culture you just have to be willing to do the work.
If you want to achieve something you need to have tunnel vision.
This was something I and Mr. Green a local business discussed. When I asked him if he had rough start he replied with a smile “Nobody believed in me, they thought it was impossible but i was willing to but my blood, sweat and tears into this brand”. That was when he decided to ignore anyone and everyone who would not benefit his future. That is when the bad reputation of millionaires comes in. Millionaires are willing to get people out of their life if it will affect their goals. They are very honest, if they have something to tell you they will, because their future is in the line. Sometimes their honesty can hurt those around them. Time is very valuable to them and they will let you know if you are wasting their time. Millionaires time management is tough, according to Entreprenuer.com when they added “Being your own boss doesn’t mean you stop punching time cards - it just means you make the cards” ( “The 4 Golden Rules of Millionaire Time Management” 1). Most millionaires own a business, which means they can set their times to work. They usually do not have a schedule, they just work when they want. Millionaires are simply human machines. I do not agree with the bad reputation they have because time is very valuable. As a business person myself, time wasting has to be avoided at all times. It is also good to be honest regardless if you do not agree with the person's opinion it can be helpful in the future,
because maybe that person was right and was trying to help. We have to be smart on what we decide to take in and use because sometimes people will just tell you things to demotivate you. There will be people who will try to drag you down but you have to be strong enough to keep yourself up and keep moving forward.
Stereotypes and misconceptions are usually exaggerated through society. Our society is a major contributor to the way many view things. The misconception that millionaires are happy is exaggerated by social media. We all have seen that person smiling in a expensive car or walking around their mansion talking about how good their life is but lack to show how they really feel inside. Which is often stress and worry about their business. The stereotype that millionaires are greedy is often made bigger by the media. The media does not very often show, millionaires giving back but they do show when they do something bad. Many do not see or hear about the celebrity going back to the city they were raised in and giving back. We also do not see all the donations millionaires do. This exaggerations can make us believe this stereotypes are real. We do not hear much about what they do. Millionaires are often compared to tigers scouting their prey. They are very quiet about their business moves, you will never know what the next move can be.
Do not make stereotypical or misconceptions statements on millionaires, without fully meeting them. The misconception that millionaires just own passed down companies or that they are happy because they have a lot of money were created by people with no knowledge of a millionaire. Along with the stereotype that millionaires are greedy, arrogant and lucky. Passed down companies would not go anywhere without work and understand to find happiness within what you have. Understand that to become a millionaire you have to sometimes be greedy, because without intense desire many of us would not get what we want. Millionaires took action towards their goal they did not get lucky. My call to action would be to educate ourselves on people, to avoid invalid grouping.