McKee Financial Resources, Wealth Management Services Celebrating Over 40 Years of Excellence Since 1985 |
☘ The Luck of the Irish — And What Actually Builds Financial Security What a Gold Rush insult reveals about how we think about money |
The phrase was originally an insult. During the Gold Rush, when Irish and Irish-American miners struck it rich, other prospectors dismissed their success as luck — not skill, not effort, not the willingness to show up at a claim before sunrise and work it until dark. Calling someone “lucky” was a way of saying they didn’t earn it.
The meaning has softened over time. Today it’s festive shorthand, a toast between friends. But the tension underneath still shows up in how people talk about money. When someone else builds wealth, it’s tempting to chalk it up to luck — being born into the right family, catching the market at the right time, knowing the right people. And when we imagine our own futures, we sometimes wait for luck to arrive.
Luck Is Real — Just Not Reliable
Let’s be clear: luck exists. Some people are born into circumstances that make building wealth easier. Some catch a break at the right moment. Markets do reward certain investors who happened to buy before a rally.
But luck, by definition, is not something you can plan around. You can’t schedule it. You can’t repeat it. And you certainly can’t build a retirement on it. |
What you can do is put yourself in a position where luck has room to help — and where its absence doesn’t ruin you.
A person who contributes consistently to a retirement account isn’t hoping for a lucky market spike. They’re building a baseline. If the market happens to surge in a given year, wonderful. If it doesn’t, they’re still making progress. The luck becomes a bonus, not a requirement. |
The Prepared Mind
“Chance favors the prepared mind.” — Often attributed to Louis Pasteur |
The Irish miners who struck gold during the Rush weren’t just lucky. They were doing the work — digging, sifting, learning which geological signs hinted at a good claim. When a lucky strike appeared, they recognized it because they’d been paying attention. The prospectors who dismissed them as “lucky” often hadn’t put in the same hours.
Financial planning works the same way. You don’t control when the market offers a buying opportunity. But you can control whether you have cash available to take advantage of it. You can control whether you understand your own risk tolerance well enough to act instead of freeze. You can control whether you’ve done the thinking in advance.
People sometimes describe successful investors as “lucky” for buying at the bottom of a downturn. What they often miss is that those investors had a plan — they knew what they’d do when prices dropped, because they’d thought about it before it happened. The luck was in the timing. The preparation was in everything else. |
When Luck Becomes an Excuse
There’s a less comfortable side to this. Sometimes, believing in luck is a way of letting ourselves off the hook.
If wealthy people are just lucky, then there’s no point in saving more. If the market is just a casino, then there’s no reason to learn how it works. And if success is random, why bother planning at all? That’s a seductive story. It removes responsibility. But it also removes agency. |
The reality is messier. Some people do start with advantages. Some people do catch breaks. But within the range of what you can control — your savings rate, your spending habits, your willingness to stay invested through volatility — luck is a smaller factor than most people assume.
A person who saves 15% of their income for 30 years tends to build wealth across a wide range of market conditions. A person who saves nothing and waits for a windfall probably won’t. That’s not luck. That’s math. |
What the Holiday Actually Celebrates
St. Patrick’s Day, at its core, is about identity and persistence. The Irish who emigrated to America — during the Famine, during the waves of the late 1800s and early 1900s — didn’t have luck on their side. They had work, community, and a long view.
The holiday we celebrate today is a product of that persistence. It’s a recognition that showing up matters, that building something across generations matters, that identity isn’t erased by hardship. |
One Thing to Consider
Today, while the shamrocks are out and the toasts are being made, it might be worth asking: where am I waiting for luck, and where am I building something that doesn’t require it?
Not as a guilt trip. Just as a question.
Because luck is a fine thing when it arrives. But the people who seem “lucky” with money are often the ones who made decisions years ago that put them in position to benefit. |
Related Reading on Our Site
📘 Buy-and-Hold Investing: Why Doing Nothing Is Harder Than It Sounds |
📗 The Power of Dollar-Cost Averaging: Sailing Smoothly in the Choppy Waters of Investing |
📕 Panic, Patience, and Perspective: What Black Thursday Still Teaches Investors Today |
You Might Also Like |
McKee Financial Resources — Wealth Management Services
Four Locations Serving Indiana Families
📞 812-477-8522
|
| |||
|
|
Written and shared by Anthony S. Owens, on behalf of the team at McKee Financial Resources, Wealth Management Services.
Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only and should not be considered financial, legal, or tax advice. Tax laws are subject to change, and individual circumstances vary. The strategies mentioned may not be suitable for every situation. Please consult a qualified financial professional for guidance tailored to your individual situation. The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. Copyright © 2026 Anthony S. Owens. All rights reserved. |