What Now? with Trevor Noah Eliza Filby: Hard Work Is a Lie, This Is What Rich People Never Tell You
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Dec 11, 2025 Historian Eliza Filby, author of 'Inheritocracy,' dives into the shifting dynamics of wealth and inheritance. She argues that hard work is no longer the sole path to success, with generational wealth shaping futures more than effort. Eliza reveals how millennials feel the pressure of unmet expectations and explores the nuanced effects of inheritance on identity and opportunity. They discuss the return of multi-generational households, the changing notion of education's value, and propose ways to lessen inheritance's impact on societal structures.
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Meritocracy Replaced By Inheritocracy
- Eliza Filby argues society is shifting from meritocracy to an "inheritocracy" where birth lottery increasingly determines opportunity.
- She frames this as a defining, under-discussed feature of the 21st century that reshapes work, education, and mobility.
Family Stories Preserved On Tape
- Eliza recorded her father's life as he neared death and realised family stories, place, and modest inheritances shaped her identity.
- Her grandfather won the house in a card game and hid the deeds in his wife's name to protect it from being gambled away.
The Scale Of The Great Wealth Transfer
- The great wealth transfer will shift roughly $100–125 trillion across generations, concentrating private wealth with older cohorts.
- In the US over-50s hold about 60% of private wealth, creating huge intergenerational disparities.
