Masters in Business · Wednesday, September 23, 2026
Many high-net-worth individuals in America have built their fortunes through seemingly unglamorous businesses such as auto dealerships, HVAC companies, medical practices, and restaurants. These private business owners collectively hold more wealth than the individuals on the Forbes 400 list.
“So if you thought it was just in tech and finance, which maybe was a bit more our prior going into this work, it turns out it's all across lots of industries, including many unglamorous sort of more blue collar industries that we hadn't really thought about as paths to wealth at the top.”
“So let's talk about all those unglamorous businesses. You write about auto dealers, HVAC companies, medical or dental practices, restaurants, distributors, sanitation. These aren't remotely sexy. I have to ask the question, they may not be sexy, but they're obviously very lucrative.”