Of course privilege affords you a cushion for many things, not only taking risks. That happens in any environment since "money" correlates to a safety net which could translate into the ability to take time to work on what you want. Some countries which have more supporting social systems also support more risk taking, because if the risk taking doesn't work out, the social system will support you to your next career change or re-education programs will let you shift to another field you are interested in. It is much easier in these countries to stop working in your current field and shift to another field. Since education is payed by the state. In the US the divide between the risk takers and the stable situation agents can't only be associated with wealthy support network(family). Since peoples values and levels of what comfort is can vary dramatically. So dvts example actually illustrates this quite strongly. People from a third world country have put up with different levels of poverty or non-access to comforts, so what they consider risks or comforts are different than what people in first world countries consider risks and comforts. The other thing is that people that live with more risks and are brought up in risky environments are more comfortable with taking risks. Success in an immigration story is dependent on many factors, hard work and a lot of luck.