The Rational Reminder Podcast · Thursday, September 24, 2026
Owen Zidar, professor of economics at Princeton, shares data indicating that most millionaires in America are not celebrities like Elon Musk but rather ordinary business owners who have become wealthy through unglamorous, private businesses. These "everywhere millionaires" often run mundane businesses such as auto dealerships, beverage distribution, or construction companies.
“Most people think that the way you get rich is to be like Elon Musk or Jamie Diamond or Taylor Swift. And when you look in the data that's just not actually at all who the typical rich person is in America.”
“They're often ordinary business owners who've gotten extraordinarily rich running unglamorous private businesses.”
“It's like A for auto dealer, B for beverage distributor and C for contractor.”