Billionaires

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

Elon Musk complained about being called a "Billionaire," because he thinks it's a hurtful, unfair term.

Let’s say you have a badass job. A great job. You make $100 AN HOUR. You work 10 hours a day ($1000 A DAY), 5 days a week ($5000 a week!!!), every week ($20,000 A MONTH), thats $240,000 Every Year.

It would take you 4,167 years to make a billion dollars.

[TGLS]

The problem with this comparison is that most billionaires have wealth totals that depend largely on what the markets do. Let's say I own a company that was valued at $1 billion 5 years ago, and it grew in value at the same rate as the Dow. It would have gone up in value by 65%, and I would have made about 650 million dollars. Now that's a little unrealistic, after all, the average tends to do nothing but grow. If I held a billion dollars in Facebook at the beginning of June, I'd have lost 42 million dollars in value by today.

Now, if I had that job, I would probably be able to live well and put enough money in the bank to let my investments work for me, and make a billion dollars in even under a century.

[Madner Kami]

Elon Musk complained about being called a "Billionaire," because he thinks it's a hurtful, unfair term.

Let’s say you have a badass job. A great job. You make $100 AN HOUR. You work 10 hours a day ($1000 A DAY), 5 days a week ($5000 a week!!!), every week ($20,000 A MONTH), thats $240,000 Every Year.

It would take you 4,167 years to make a billion dollars.

If he doesn't want to be called a Billionaire, I can offer him an option that would make both of us happy. And I'd even be so generous and offer another option, where we create a couple of millionaires instead of just one Billionaire.

How this credulous fuck ever got to where he is, is beyond my understanding. A great example for wealth being a matter of luck and not intelligence and hard work.

[Admiral X]

Whenever I see someone bitch about how rich someone is, honestly all it does is make me sigh and wish I made that much money. I would have like all the anime and all the guns.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

The problem with this comparison is that most billionaires have wealth totals that depend largely on what the markets do. Let's say I own a company that was valued at $1 billion 5 years ago, and it grew in value at the same rate as the Dow. It would have gone up in value by 65%, and I would have made about 650 million dollars. Now that's a little unrealistic, after all, the average tends to do nothing but grow. If I held a billion dollars in Facebook at the beginning of June, I'd have lost 42 million dollars in value by today.

Now, if I had that job, I would probably be able to live well and put enough money in the bank to let my investments work for me, and make a billion dollars in even under a century.

Surely you jest.

[TGLS]

The problem with this comparison is that most billionaires have wealth totals that depend largely on what the markets do. Let's say I own a company that was valued at $1 billion 5 years ago, and it grew in value at the same rate as the Dow. It would have gone up in value by 65%, and I would have made about 650 million dollars. Now that's a little unrealistic, after all, the average tends to do nothing but grow. If I held a billion dollars in Facebook at the beginning of June, I'd have lost 42 million dollars in value by today.

Now, if I had that job, I would probably be able to live well and put enough money in the bank to let my investments work for me, and make a billion dollars in even under a century.

Surely you jest.

Alright. The average growth rate of the Dow is 9% per annum (over the last 40 years). If I blow $140k to pay for my lifestyle every year, I have $100k to invest. Suppose I invest my funds in a fund that grows at the same rate as the Dow. In 81 years, I will have a billion dollars squirreled away. If I cut $40k in spending, I'll reach a billion dollars in 77 years.

Compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe.

[Mercury01]

Eat the rich.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

The problem with this comparison is that most billionaires have wealth totals that depend largely on what the markets do. Let's say I own a company that was valued at $1 billion 5 years ago, and it grew in value at the same rate as the Dow. It would have gone up in value by 65%, and I would have made about 650 million dollars. Now that's a little unrealistic, after all, the average tends to do nothing but grow. If I held a billion dollars in Facebook at the beginning of June, I'd have lost 42 million dollars in value by today.

Now, if I had that job, I would probably be able to live well and put enough money in the bank to let my investments work for me, and make a billion dollars in even under a century.

Surely you jest.

Alright. The average growth rate of the Dow is 9% per annum (over the last 40 years). If I blow $140k to pay for my lifestyle every year, I have $100k to invest. Suppose I invest my funds in a fund that grows at the same rate as the Dow. In 81 years, I will have a billion dollars squirreled away. If I cut $40k in spending, I'll reach a billion dollars in 77 years.

Compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe.

Well, I don't have enough knowledge of economics to dispute you on that. It still seems like a pretty staggering inequity.

[LittleRaven]

Well, I don't have enough knowledge of economics to dispute you on that. It still seems like a pretty staggering inequity.

That's not even economics. That's just math.

What's the difference you ask?

Ask ten different mathematicians the same question and you'll almost certainly get the exact same answer from each and every one. Ask ten different economists the exact same question and you'll be lucky if you can any two of them to agree. On basic assumptions.

[TGLS]

I'll admit one thing, I neglected taxes, because that's really complicated.