To make 100% sure that this statement was true, I asked a friend who works in finance.  Here is his answer:  

    [My real name],

    What I can tell you is it's a very political question, because money is connected to time.  It is a different thing to have a million bucks in your checking account to fuck around with at age 25 than it is to have assets and savings totaling a million bucks at age 65 or 75. 
 
    Conservatives like to subvert the conventional consensus of what "rich" is, by playing with time. 
 
    Conservatives accurately but misleadingly point out that about 90% of people who "become millionaires" do so through gradual accrual of assets — they "earn it” — whereas only about 10% are given a million bucks by mom or dad, or inherit a business worth that much, or something.  However, that 90% that "earns it" is usually very, very old by the time they do, and have not been "living like a millionaire" in the interim, but instead, saving and paying down a mortgage.  Like, I bet that [our mutual friend who is a doctor] and [our mutual friend who is a lawyer] will retire millionaires easy, though they won't "live like millionaires" in the interim.  It is not so hard if you're in a field where you can make 6 figures, and you aren't profligate and irresponsible. 
 
    But, even factoring in rock stars and NBA players, the VAST MAJORITY of people who are rich WHILE THEY ARE YOUNG are Paris Hiltons who have it given to them.
 
    Conservatives also like to use the million-dollar mark because there is a lot of wealth-transferring from rich parents just below that mark.  I saw a statistic the other day that 40% of adults over 65 still support their grown children financially in some way. 
 
    The other thing I can tell you, working at [where he works], is that there are a shitload of legal loopholes allowing people to subvert taxes when transferring wealth to children.  For all of the conservatives' bitching about the estate tax, there are LOTS of ways around that shit.

                                                                                        --[his name]