3 ms·

No one would be telling sob stories if they thought that they might pull a Warren Buffet w/ their payout. $60k was more than enough to get buffet to billions. M

No one would be telling sob stories if they thought that they might pull a Warren Buffet w/ their payout. $60k was more than enough to get buffet to billions. Maybe the company used the wrong discount? Really roughly those discounts seem pretty generous, they're approximately stock market investment rates. Meaning if the poor recipients put the money in the "market" (maybe not this week) they'd average the same amount of total payout.

IkmoIkmo 11y ago
Not at all. Try doing 60k at a 7% market rate (which is optimistic by the way). You get to about 600k. Now value the monthly payments invested in a similar manner, you get to around $2m. It's a gigantic difference. And no not even Buffet had the returns necessary to make money out of this (which is an average of > 23% annual returns for 35 years). This isn't some government agency giving you the approximate lifetime value upfront as a way to offer choice. It's a for-profit business looking to cash in on the difference, not a charity, not a break-even operation. They're there to make as much money as possible. Doesn't take much to assume they're not going to be 'approximately stock market investment rates', and if you look at the numbers, surprise surprise they aren't anywhere near it because it wouldn't make them any money.
- maerF0x0 11y ago
  > It's a for-profit business looking to cash in on the difference, not a charity, not a break-even operation. They're there to make as much money as possible. Like most/all businesses? They're selling a product, whats being disagreed upon is the price. My back of envelope calcs suggested they were getting about market rates (7-8%) but i also admit that I am not well versed in those maths.
rl3 11y ago
I think you're missing a subtle but important point here - namely, that Warren Buffet can read.

3 ms·

No one would be telling sob stories if they thought that they might pull a Warren Buffet w/ their payout. $60k was more than enough to get buffet to billions. M

by maerF0x0 11y ago

IkmoIkmo 11y ago
Not at all. Try doing 60k at a 7% market rate (which is optimistic by the way). You get to about 600k. Now value the monthly payments invested in a similar manner, you get to around $2m. It's a gigantic difference. And no not even Buffet had the returns necessary to make money out of this (which is an average of > 23% annual returns for 35 years). This isn't some government agency giving you the approximate lifetime value upfront as a way to offer choice. It's a for-profit business looking to cash in on the difference, not a charity, not a break-even operation. They're there to make as much money as possible. Doesn't take much to assume they're not going to be 'approximately stock market investment rates', and if you look at the numbers, surprise surprise they aren't anywhere near it because it wouldn't make them any money.
- maerF0x0 11y ago
  > It's a for-profit business looking to cash in on the difference, not a charity, not a break-even operation. They're there to make as much money as possible. Like most/all businesses? They're selling a product, whats being disagreed upon is the price. My back of envelope calcs suggested they were getting about market rates (7-8%) but i also admit that I am not well versed in those maths.
rl3 11y ago
I think you're missing a subtle but important point here - namely, that Warren Buffet can read.