Here's a question that's been bouncing around the internet: Is "the harder you work, the luckier you get" actually true, or is building wealth mostly about gambling and being in the right place at the right time?

Someone posed this exact question to multimillionaires in Reddit's r/RichPeoplePF thread, and the responses reveal something interesting. Luck absolutely matters, but people who work hard and position themselves strategically seem to have far more chances to benefit from it.

Hard Work Won't Guarantee Success, But It Opens Doors

One commenter put it bluntly: "Working hard doesn't ensure that you will be lucky, but not working hard will almost always ensure that you won't be."

Another offered a golf analogy that neatly captures the dynamic. "Luck does require some opportunity," they explained. "For instance, you can't sink a long putt if you aren't on the green."

Throughout dozens of comments, the wealthy Redditors emphasized that while randomness exists in any success story, being prepared and showing up consistently creates more opportunities for those lucky breaks to happen.

One person shared a family comparison: "I look at it in comparison to my sister. She literally sits at home to take care of her dog – she refuses to look for work. My wife and I were heads down building our business for 13 years. Our [net worth] has grown to about $10 million."

Effort Alone Isn't Enough: Work Smart And Build Relationships

While grinding matters, several commenters warned against confusing hustle with strategy. "You can dig a lake with a spoon," one person said. "But it's easier with a bulldozer, and much easier if someone else runs the bulldozer."

Networking emerged as a critical theme. "Everything I ever made was due to relationships I had with people smarter than me," one multimillionaire wrote. "If I went to one dinner, that's luck. But I went to hundreds of dinners and conventions seeking out the sorts of connections that would build my businesses. That's hard work."

Several people referenced the concept of increasing your "luck surface area," entrepreneur-speak for the idea that the more actions you take, the more likely you'll stumble into a breakthrough opportunity.

But not everyone was sold on pure hustle culture. "The hardest working people I've ever known died broke," one commenter cautioned, noting that knowing what to work on and when to pivot can be more valuable than raw effort alone.

Another got real about the trade-offs. "Sacrifices are part of the game," they shared. "Missing birthdays, anniversaries, soccer games is no fun and heartbreaking, but business is also your kid, and sometimes that kid takes priority."

Being In Position When Opportunity Knocks

The consensus from this wealthy crowd is that financial success stories typically come from showing up prepared when opportunity arrives. But recognizing and seizing that moment also requires confidence, planning and sometimes outside guidance.

For people earning solid incomes but unsure how to convert that into lasting wealth, working with a financial advisor can help. It's one thing to put in the work, but another to deploy your money strategically so it compounds over time.

One Redditor may have summarized the entire debate best: "Every success in life is based on a dice roll. How hard you work determines how often you get to roll the dice."

That's the insight here. Luck matters, obviously. Nobody's arguing otherwise. But the people who built serious wealth didn't wait around hoping lightning would strike. They positioned themselves on the green, showed up to hundreds of dinners, built relationships with smarter people and gave themselves as many rolls of the dice as possible. Some of those rolls came up big. Most probably didn't. But they kept rolling.