Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
Across the country, members of the Class of 2025 have been hearing powerful messages from commencement speakers about purpose, ambition, and changing the world. Graduation is a moment that calls for big dreams.
There’s also another message I wish someone had delivered. This is what I would tell graduates if I had the opportunity: A college degree may be personally meaningful, but it might not get you where you want to go financially. In many cases, a technical school or skilled trade could offer a more reliable path to both income and independence.
On his CNN broadcast on May 24, Michael Smerconish cited long-running research from economists Owen Zidar and Eric Zwick. Their forthcoming book, titled Stealthy Wealthy: Who Is Really Rich in America and How They Got There, was recently profiled in The Wall Street Journal. It highlights a truth that’s long been visible to those of us who work closely with business owners: many of America’s wealthiest people didn’t get there through elite credentials or high-profile careers. They built small to mid-sized regional businesses that quietly produce steady profits: auto dealerships, HVAC companies, beverage distributors, service companies, or manufacturing firms.
These aren’t the kinds of careers students dream about. Very few graduates toss their caps into the air thinking, “I hope one day to distribute auto parts across the Midwest.” But for many, such business paths lead not only to financial independence, but to a meaningful and deeply satisfying life.
Zidar and Zwick’s analysis of anonymized IRS data showed that many of the top 0.1% of earners in the U.S. get their wealth from business profits in practical, often unglamorous enterprises that meet everyday needs.
I’ve worked with many of these quiet multi-millionaires throughout my 40-year career in financial planning. They were small business owners, often working behind the scenes, staying focused, and reinvesting year after year. They didn’t dream of prestige. They built businesses around utility and grit.
Their Internal Financial Systems™ were Self-led. They made decisions from a centered place, guided by long-term thinking and grounded clarity, not by parts chasing recognition, status, or an abstract sense of meaning.
