One's (monetary) value isn't defined by one's amount or intensity of labor, but rather by the value
lost should one be removed from the equation. Factory workers can be replaced by virtually anyone else (and often by machines) while Hedge Fund traders / managers often cannot.
While algorithms are increasingly prevalent in Wall Street, at the end of the day there's a human who either writes them or reads their output before making a decision, and that person is not easily replaceable.
Beyond that, for every successful Hedge Fund there are countless that failed catastrophically, so any analysis of "how much a Hedge Fund manager makes" is subject to severe survivorship bias. [0]
The disparity between the CEO of a public company and its hordes of workers is even clearer. Very few people possess the combination of skills that make a high-caliber CEO successful, which is why very few people are rewarded like them. LeBron James also doesn't work 1,000 times harder than a factory worker.
Finally, it's worth remembering that 70% of wealthy families lose their wealth by the second generation, and a stunning 90% by the third. [1] I wouldn't lose any sleep over rich kids who feel troubled about their "entitlement".
[0] https://xkcd.com/1827/
[1] http://time.com/money/3925308/rich-families-lose-wealth/
While algorithms are increasingly prevalent in Wall Street, at the end of the day there's a human who either writes them or reads their output before making a decision, and that person is not easily replaceable.
Beyond that, for every successful Hedge Fund there are countless that failed catastrophically, so any analysis of "how much a Hedge Fund manager makes" is subject to severe survivorship bias. [0]
The disparity between the CEO of a public company and its hordes of workers is even clearer. Very few people possess the combination of skills that make a high-caliber CEO successful, which is why very few people are rewarded like them. LeBron James also doesn't work 1,000 times harder than a factory worker.
Finally, it's worth remembering that 70% of wealthy families lose their wealth by the second generation, and a stunning 90% by the third. [1] I wouldn't lose any sleep over rich kids who feel troubled about their "entitlement".
[0] https://xkcd.com/1827/
[1] http://time.com/money/3925308/rich-families-lose-wealth/