Good fortune surely plays a part for many.
But hard work, wise decisions, good decisions {i.e. reading your HOA rules before you buy} are not good fortune for the most part.
Most people do well by blood and sweat and not good fortune.
There isn't a single successful person I know, who along with sweat and hardwork, didn't also have good fortune, a fact that most successful people do not like to admit. They like to think it was ALL their own doing and that somehow it makes them superior people.
I have not ever heard from Rush for instance, the role luck played in his own success, beginning with the fact that his father was a well-to-do lawyer who owned a radio station.
And one must achieve a certain level of success to have the opportunity to make good, profitable decisions.