> Where Students Quietly Learn to Get Super Rich
How the Next Generation Masters AI, Finance, and Entrepreneurship, Before Their First Job Offer
By Coursewell Staff
For decades, conversations about “getting rich” centered on landing prestigious corporate jobs. Today, a different kind of wealth education is emerging—one that trains students how to grow capital, build companies with a purpose, and leverage AI long before they negotiate their first salary.
This article explores the new “wealth-creation learning framework,” analyzes the economic logic behind it, and examines a powerful recent example: the “Mastering Wealth” course taught by entrepreneur Pete Kadens at Chicago State University (CSU), where students—many from low-income backgrounds—are learning how to build multimillion-dollar futures.
Most importantly, we’ll look at how wealth-creation training can democratize the same skills for learners everywhere, including my own students and grandchildren.
1. Why Wealth Creation Looks Different Today
Economists distinguish between:
Labor income (what you earn)
Capital income (what your assets earn)
Students who quietly end up achieving extraordinary wealth are learning early that:
Wealth comes from ownership, not employment.
This means mastering:
Equity
Entrepreneurship
Financial literacy
Capital formation
Building things
AI-driven productivity multipliers
And the most forward-thinking educational ecosystems—universities, startup hubs, AI training programs—are shifting from job-preparation to wealth-preparation.
2. Business Schools as Wealth Accelerators
Elite business programs now function as “wealth factories” that develop capability, not just employability.
A. Financial Rigor
Valuation, risk modeling, optimization, statistics, and market strategy.
B. Entrepreneurship Pipelines
Incubators, accelerators, venture labs, student funds, pitch programs.
C. Social Capital
Networks that produce long-term opportunity velocity.
Students come out able to think like:
founders
investors
strategists
owners
Not just employees.
3. Trading & Quant Labs: Where Analytical Thinking Becomes Income
Modern trading environments teach:
probability-based decision-making
algorithmic thinking
data-driven judgment
risk discipline
execution under pressure
Students exposed to this training often move rapidly into the top percentiles of the income distribution, especially when their analytical skills combine with early investing.
But perhaps the most fascinating real-world example isn’t happening in elite schools at all…
4. The CSU “Mastering Wealth” Experiment — A Case Study in Democratizing Affluence
In November 2025, The Wall Street Journal published an extraordinary story by Jeanne Whalen titled “The Students Learning How to Get Very, Very Rich.”
The article highlighted a groundbreaking class at Chicago State University taught by entrepreneur Pete Kadens, who built wealth in various ventures and is now worth roughly $250 million.
His class rejects conventional job-seeking advice in favor of teaching students how to build real net worth, fueled by ambition, ownership, and entrepreneurial execution.
What makes the class remarkable?
A. Students Set Concrete, Bold Net-Worth Targets
These are not mild goals. Examples:
$3 million in 10 years (expanding a cleaning business + own tax-prep venture)
$10 million by 2035 (aromatherapy products + counseling practice + real estate + publishing)
$25 million by 2036 (founding a company + investment strategy)
$27 million by age 45 (vertically integrated design + build + real estate)
Students map out ownership pathways, not “find a good job” pathways.
B. Identifying Consumer Pain Points
Classes focus on spotting unsolved problems:
automated pothole-repair machines
wearable air purifiers
self-inflating tire systems (the winning class project)
Students learn that wealth flows to those who solve meaningful problems at scale.
C. Developing Business Plans
Teams build:
market analyses
budgets (including a $4M plan for the tire product)
product development roadmaps
risk/return assumptions
It’s applied entrepreneurship—not theory.
D. Learning to Take Risks
Kadens bluntly teaches:
“If you want to be Jay-Z rich… that’s not going to work unless you take real risks.”
He even hands out $100 bills to students who can articulate how they will 10× their income.
Risk tolerance becomes a teachable skill, not a personality trait.
E. Exposure to Real Millionaires and Billionaires
Guest speakers include founders who:
built companies worth billions
entered industries during massive inflection points
leveraged technology and timing
built generational wealth from scratch
The message:
This is possible for you—if you learn the skills and take the shots.
F. Purpose Beyond Money
Wealth plans include:
mentorship goals
philanthropy
community uplift
generational legacy
One student wrote:
“This is a vision of being completely in bliss—fully engulfed in the American dream I have created for myself.”
In short, Kadens is democratizing the mindset and methods of the wealthy.
5. Lessons From the CSU Model
The CSU experiment shows that:
1. Wealth Mindset Can Be Taught
Students learned to think beyond paycheck ceilings.
2. Ownership Is Accessible
Even those working multiple jobs with no safety net can design scalable ventures.
3. Real Wealth Starts With Ambition + Roadmap
Students used Kadens’s class to build detailed pathways, not fantasies.
4. Exposure Creates Belief
Meeting founders worth hundreds of millions removes psychological ceilings.
5. Community Impact Multiplies Wealth
Kadens emphasizes the “blast radius” effect—when someone gets wealthy in an underserved community, everyone around them feels the impact.
6. How We Can Deliver a Similar Wealth Training Everywhere
The CSU case isn't an outlier—it's a roadmap.
We can teach, and you can learn the same components:
A. AI-Enhanced Wealth Literacy
portfolio simulations
compounding exercises
capital vs. labor analysis
risk modeling
business case modeling
B. Entrepreneurship Studios
idea validation
lean startup methods
identifying pain points
building MVPs
pitch development
C. Venture Roadmap Projects
Students design real wealth-creation plans:
5-year and 10-year net worth targets
venture steps
capital needs
talent needs
revenue pathways
Just like CSU students.
D. Community Mentors & Guest Experts
Spotlight:
founders
executives
AI entrepreneurs
investors
niche creators
Each shows a different model of wealth creation.
E. Multiple-Stream Wealth Creation Model
Students learn to build:
a business
cash-flowing assets
digital revenue streams
intellectual property
AI-enabled products
F. Accessible to Everyone
Teenagers, adults, career changers, retirees—anyone with a phone and discipline.
7. Conclusion: Wealth Education Belongs to Everyone
The wealth-creation course proves that:
Wealth is learnable.
Ambition can be taught.
Ownership is accessible.
AI is the great equalizer.
Students don’t need privilege to pursue wealth—they need structure, skills, belief, and bold goals.
That’s exactly what we aim to provide:
an AI-based democratized wealth training for everyone, everywhere.
If we want the next generation—including my own grandchildren—to thrive in the AI economy, we must teach them not just how to earn…
…but how to learn, build, own, invest, and create.