Meet the 'stealthy riches' who earn their money in the boring way

Copyright © HT Digital Streams Limit all rights reserved. Juliet Chung, The Wall Street Journal 4 min Read May 18, 2025, 18:30 IST WeatherTech CEO David MacNeil in the company’s factory in Bolingbrook, Ill. Summary The road to wealth is paved with cup holders, burgers and miles from the elementary school taping for many medium -sized regional companies, a sector with an increasing interest to the US economy. Derek Olson grew up and dreamed about the excitement of running his own business. Decades later, that dream came true and made him rich – just not exactly as he expected. Olson made a fortune machine that sharpened floor, such as carpet in primary schools. “That’s how sexy it is: The average primary school in the United States has 7 miles carpet – and children are disgusting,” says Olson, CEO of national floor equipment and the father of two, Chuckling. ‘Such primary schools basically need their floors almost every summer. It is this niche industry that no one knows about and everyone needs. ‘ Finance and Silicon Valley offer glamorous, high -profile roads that can lead to significant wealth. But a large universe of traditional routes focused on the provision of goods and services has become increasingly central to the accumulation of significant, if less obvious, wealth in the US ‘we call it the ominous rich,’ says Owen Zidar, an economist of the Princeton University who studied the group with the University of Chicago ERic Zwick. Olson’s annual revenue running its floor equipment business places him in the top 1% of earners in the US, or people who earned at least $ 550,000 from 2022, excluding capital gains. He expects Minnesota-based National to bring about $ 50 million to revenue this year, after recently buying an Australian manufacturer. The luxuries of his family include two Land Rovers, private school for the children and a month -long European summer holidays. Behind a salary, the largest source of revenue for the highest earners of 1% in the US is not a partner at an investment bank or a technical startup of one in a million then. It is owned by a medium -sized regional business. Many of them are clearly boring and extremely profitable, such as car dealers, beverage distributors, grocery stores, dental practices and law firms, according to Zidar and Zwick. Their analysis of anonymous tax data from 2000 to 2022 indicates the importance of such business ownership of the US economy. The share in revenue generating ownership increased to 34.9% in 2022 from 30.3% in 2014 for the top 1% earners. This has increased even more at the upper levels. The top 0.1% earners came 43.1% of their income from such business ownership in 2022, compared to 37.3% in 2014. (The minimum revenue threshold in 2022 to qualify for the top 0.1% of earners was $ 2.3 million, according to Zidar.) The US economy is, ”Greg said. Fleming, CEO of Rockefeller Capital Management, who manages or has more than $ 150 billion for wealthy clients or has broker. In his 37 -year career, Fleming has created significant wealth by Carwashes, businesses that spread lighting and businesses that distribute parts for industrial devices to be repaired. The New York-based Rockefeller has expanded its range to ’emerging wealth centers’, such as Grand Rapids, Mich., And Winter Park, Fla. Zidar and Zwick attribute the growth of this group to tax cuts in recent decades for such business owners and low interest rates that have increased the valuations of the company. The number of such business owners worth $ 10 million or more, adapted for inflation, has been more than doubled since 2001, up to 1.6 million from 2022. Zidar and Zwick have studied what the Internal Revenue Service S corporations and partnerships call, where the profits and losses of the business flow by the owners or partners, and the business itself does not pay taxes. The typical medium -sized enterprise they studied has an annual sales of $ 20 million and 100 employees. David MacNeil, 66, founder of WeatherTech, a car accessories, made his fortune on car floor mats. He worked as a tool-and-death maker, fell out of the university and sold luxury cars. He rented a car on a trip to Scotland in 1989 and immediately noticed his floor mats. Thick, and with a border that prevented water and mud from running away, the rubber mats were better than everything he saw in the American MacNeil, the English producer, when he was back in Chicago, and eventually worked out an agreement to buy a 20-foot-shipping container of the black carpets to sell in the US, and take a second mortgage. ‘At the end of ’91, I earned $ 40,000. At the end of ’92, I earned $ 160,000. By the end of ’93, I earned $ 400,000, ‘recalls MacNeil, who was married by that time and a father. “While it was all going on, if you called my 800 number around three in the morning, do you know who would answer it? I would do that. ‘ The MacNeil company started out of his garage 35 years ago, now employed about 1,800 people in Bolingbrook, Ill., And that makes almost his entire range of car accessories and other products in the US Macneil expects its business to bring about $ 800 million to revenue this year. WeatherTech’s sole owner, MacNeil, lives in Florida, owns several multimillion-dollar properties and enjoys passions such as collecting antique cars and flying his Gulfstream ray. Larry Fleming, 80, a Franchisenemer from Wendy, earned his money in burgers and then beer. The rocking point to focus on liquor came when the Muskogee, Okla., Beer distributor he bought in 1977 began to surpass the fast food restaurants he bought a little earlier. In 2017, Fleming sold its fast food industry-it then counted 43 restaurants for over $ 50 million, including the real estate. Fleming’s liquor distribution business, LDF sales and distribution, sells coors, Miller and other products to about the eastern halves of Oklahoma and Kansas. He grew LDF partly by buying distribution rights and other distributors. The company has about 64% market share in Oklahoma and annual sales of $ 250 million. “Every time two out of three beers are out of a restaurant or grocery store, it’s a good thing,” Fleming said. Catch all the business news, market news, news reports and latest news updates on Live Mint. Download the Mint News app to get daily market updates. More Topics #Kep Wealth -Specials