> And many people are conservative in particular at the individual level for very good reasons, because they cannot afford to play high risk games.
I became wealthy (I don't consider myself rich, but just doin' okay) when I realized that I was so poor that I had nothing to lose, and everything to gain. I don't think the attitude of pessimism or optimism has anything to do with success... You have to be somewhat good at being optimistic about the right things and pessimistic about the right things... all at the right time. You have to see opportunity, navigate risk and most importantly... actually go for it. The go for it part is super hard because there is great uncertainty on the journey.
Rich and wealthy have slightly different meanings. One common usage is the level of money. Chris Rock had a joke that "[Professional Athlete] is rich. The guy who signs his checks [and thus owns the team] is wealthy." Sorry to ruin the joke with additional text, but I'm erroring on the side of clarity.
The other main usage would be that "rich" describes how you can spend your money on possessions. "Wealthy" describes the degree to which your assets are generating income. So someone who makes a large sum of money a year might be rich (they own a Lamborghini and a house, and take fancy vacations) or wealthy (they have all that money in stocks and can retire tomorrow.) With this usage, wealthy people are often also rich.
I became wealthy (I don't consider myself rich, but just doin' okay) when I realized that I was so poor that I had nothing to lose, and everything to gain. I don't think the attitude of pessimism or optimism has anything to do with success... You have to be somewhat good at being optimistic about the right things and pessimistic about the right things... all at the right time. You have to see opportunity, navigate risk and most importantly... actually go for it. The go for it part is super hard because there is great uncertainty on the journey.