correlation of parents and kids who graduate from college and vice versa? What's the correlation of parents and kids with advanced degrees? What's the correlation of parents and kids who go into the medical profession, or law, or engineering, or other higher paying profession. I'd bet all are VERY highly correlated and also then correlate very high with financial success. The article that HTH posted above on it breaking for blacks was interesting and I don't have a good answer for why that is.

I'd also ask the question, if you take someone with at least average intelligence who graduates from college, maps out a career plan, is willing to relocate for good job opportunities, who works hard and is diligent/reliable, and saves 10-15% of their income starting with their first job, how many of them would not end up living at least a solidly upper middle class life style or better. Then the follow up question is, how hard is it really do do any of those things? That's a rhetorical question BTW... it's not hard at all to do any of those. So how do we better prepare people to do the basic things to set themselves up for success? It's really not hard for roughly half the country (with average or better intelligence).