One of the biggest misconceptions about rich people is that they got rich by beating the market or by having some special access to investments with sky-high returns.
In reality, that’s almost never the case.
Many of the investment vehicles wealthy people have access to (like hedge funds) have actually underperformed the market for the past couple decades. And, at least on average, private equity and venture capital returns haven’t done much better.
Plus, people with a lot of wealth don’t typically put most of their investments into those things anyway. Their largest holding is almost always stocks.
The truth is that most wealthy people get wealthy by owning and running a successful business (or, later, inheriting the fortune from one), by owning real estate, or by earning a really high income and saving at a high rate.
In other words, wealthy people get wealthy not by outperforming other investors, but by simply investing more money.
Rather than chasing risky investments in hopes of huge returns, focus on increasing the rate at which you’re saving money. That’s what drives the difference in outcomes.