5 ms·

I mean I don’t like the guy but he’s certainly for the most part succeeded in what he’s set out to do with his life

exelius 8y ago
I’m pretty sure his life goal reads “you’re the best dolan!” He makes the rest up as he goes.
NicoJuicy 8y ago
What's had he succeeded? Trump tower with Daddy's money. Yes. But I'm not really sure what else. Renting out his name is actually based on the Trump Tower. Replicating the same success with casinos and hotels was a stock market disaster. Ps. Yes, he said everything went great to stock market analysts. But he still went broke 2 times shortly after.
- s_y_n_t_a_x 8y ago
  Turning a few million into at least a billion is successful. There aren't that many billionaires. And everyone in real estate got hit by the crash then, not just Trump.
  - NicoJuicy 8y ago
    A few million is a big underestimation for > 410 million... Putting it on the be bank with 3% would even have made him a billionaire. Also, the market wasn't plummeting when he failed. Get your facts straight. Who even says he's a billionaire ( net worth)? Don't believe everything he says. Let see his taxes. Or it was a smart move and he didn't lie ( which I doubt) or he's living on borrowed money and gets away with it for now. Don't forget, his money-maker that still works is his name. If you don't believe that anymore, he's in deep trouble business-wise ( banks too since the property value would decline). He has every motive for dressing things up. Ps. I'm a billionaire 2, if I can borrow a billion. Doesn't mean I would be a success though. > At the time, three individuals with direct knowledge of Trump's finances told reporter Timothy L. O'Brien that Trump's actual net worth was between $150 and $250 million, though Trump then publicly claimed a net worth of $5 to $6 billion.[4] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_of_Donald_Trump https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_of_Donald_Trump Ps 2. Investigation of the Times suggests even 1 billion of his parents through tax schemes. Way more then your "couple of million" https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-tax-schemes-fred-trump.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/02/us/politics/d...
    - s_y_n_t_a_x 8y ago
      https://www.forbes.com/donald-trump/#4452a228992e https://www.forbes.com/donald-trump/#4452a228992e You don't need a tax return to know someone's net worth. The $413 million number is from a NYT article adjusting the supposed $60 million loan from his Father for inflation. Even with the best savings account rates you wouldn't get to a billion. Not even close to the 3 billion he's valued at. Sure, go try to borrow a billion dollars and report back. There's no denying Trump became successful. He made himself a billionaire. You don't need a tax return to verify that. Failed ventures doesn't make you a failure, especially if you have had successful ventures. Even more so if you go on to become President.
      - NicoJuicy 8y ago
        > Critical to the complex transaction was the value put on the real estate. The lower its value, the lower the gift taxes. The Trumps dodged hundreds of millions in gift taxes by submitting tax returns that grossly undervalued the properties, claiming they were worth just $41.4 million. The same set of buildings would be sold off over the next decade for more than 16 times that amount. Here's a > 600 million of his daddy money outside of the 413 million. = Billionaire https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-tax-schemes-fred-trump.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/02/us/politics/d... Ps. You should have a deeper dive into his net worth. Where Trump said the Trump name is worth 3 billion, others say it's 100-300 million. Forbes link with Trump's real estate is mostly acquired by inheritance ( selling and buying something else is still the same money) PS2. Trump would have been much richer, if he just put it in a pension fund. It's all about perspective.
        s_y_n_t_a_x 8y ago
        https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2015-09-03/should-donald-trump-have-indexed- https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2015-09-03/should... This Bloomberg articles goes into our hypothetical discussion. Basically it concludes that if he was to time the stock market margins perfectly he would have made out a bit better in the long run. But that's with great timing of the market, which is hard. Also anyone will say you need to diversify your portfolio, not just dump it all in index funds. Then you have to factor in passion. Trump loves real-estate, why just invest money in the S&P 500 and hope you play all your cards right when you have a passion in a different investment strategy? "The simplest version of the comparison seems to be that if Trump had taken his $40 million inheritance from his father in 1974, converted it into cash, and invested it in the S&P 500, reinvesting all dividends and spending no money along the way, he'd have about $2.3 billion or so today, depending on how you do the math. Bloomberg computes his actual net worth as $2.9 billion, so he's modestly outperformed the S&P over his career, again depending on how you do the math." So he modestly outperformed a typical investment strategy, built a brand for himself, and did what he loves. I'd call that winning. Also an important tidbit from the article: "That, however, understates his performance. For one thing, if he put all his money in index funds and reinvested all the dividends for 41 years, he'd be dead, because you can't buy food with reinvested dividends. As an investing strategy you can't beat compound returns, but as a strategy for life food has key diversification benefits. Also I feel like Trump has unusually high consumption expenses? For instance, to choose one item at random, I gather that he is currently funding his own campaign for president. That would also eat into his returns."

I’m pretty sure his life goal reads “you’re the best dolan!” He makes the rest up as he goes.

What's had he succeeded? Trump tower with Daddy's money. Yes. But I'm not really sure what else. Renting out his name is actually based on the Trump Tower. Replicating the same success with casinos and hotels was a stock market disaster. Ps. Yes, he said everything went great to stock market analysts. But he still went broke 2 times shortly after.

s_y_n_t_a_x 8y ago
Turning a few million into at least a billion is successful. There aren't that many billionaires. And everyone in real estate got hit by the crash then, not just Trump.
- NicoJuicy 8y ago
  A few million is a big underestimation for > 410 million... Putting it on the be bank with 3% would even have made him a billionaire. Also, the market wasn't plummeting when he failed. Get your facts straight. Who even says he's a billionaire ( net worth)? Don't believe everything he says. Let see his taxes. Or it was a smart move and he didn't lie ( which I doubt) or he's living on borrowed money and gets away with it for now. Don't forget, his money-maker that still works is his name. If you don't believe that anymore, he's in deep trouble business-wise ( banks too since the property value would decline). He has every motive for dressing things up. Ps. I'm a billionaire 2, if I can borrow a billion. Doesn't mean I would be a success though. > At the time, three individuals with direct knowledge of Trump's finances told reporter Timothy L. O'Brien that Trump's actual net worth was between $150 and $250 million, though Trump then publicly claimed a net worth of $5 to $6 billion.[4] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_of_Donald_Trump https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_of_Donald_Trump Ps 2. Investigation of the Times suggests even 1 billion of his parents through tax schemes. Way more then your "couple of million" https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-tax-schemes-fred-trump.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/02/us/politics/d...
  - s_y_n_t_a_x 8y ago
    https://www.forbes.com/donald-trump/#4452a228992e https://www.forbes.com/donald-trump/#4452a228992e You don't need a tax return to know someone's net worth. The $413 million number is from a NYT article adjusting the supposed $60 million loan from his Father for inflation. Even with the best savings account rates you wouldn't get to a billion. Not even close to the 3 billion he's valued at. Sure, go try to borrow a billion dollars and report back. There's no denying Trump became successful. He made himself a billionaire. You don't need a tax return to verify that. Failed ventures doesn't make you a failure, especially if you have had successful ventures. Even more so if you go on to become President.
    - NicoJuicy 8y ago
      > Critical to the complex transaction was the value put on the real estate. The lower its value, the lower the gift taxes. The Trumps dodged hundreds of millions in gift taxes by submitting tax returns that grossly undervalued the properties, claiming they were worth just $41.4 million. The same set of buildings would be sold off over the next decade for more than 16 times that amount. Here's a > 600 million of his daddy money outside of the 413 million. = Billionaire https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-tax-schemes-fred-trump.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/02/us/politics/d... Ps. You should have a deeper dive into his net worth. Where Trump said the Trump name is worth 3 billion, others say it's 100-300 million. Forbes link with Trump's real estate is mostly acquired by inheritance ( selling and buying something else is still the same money) PS2. Trump would have been much richer, if he just put it in a pension fund. It's all about perspective.
      - s_y_n_t_a_x 8y ago
        https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2015-09-03/should-donald-trump-have-indexed- https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2015-09-03/should... This Bloomberg articles goes into our hypothetical discussion. Basically it concludes that if he was to time the stock market margins perfectly he would have made out a bit better in the long run. But that's with great timing of the market, which is hard. Also anyone will say you need to diversify your portfolio, not just dump it all in index funds. Then you have to factor in passion. Trump loves real-estate, why just invest money in the S&P 500 and hope you play all your cards right when you have a passion in a different investment strategy? "The simplest version of the comparison seems to be that if Trump had taken his $40 million inheritance from his father in 1974, converted it into cash, and invested it in the S&P 500, reinvesting all dividends and spending no money along the way, he'd have about $2.3 billion or so today, depending on how you do the math. Bloomberg computes his actual net worth as $2.9 billion, so he's modestly outperformed the S&P over his career, again depending on how you do the math." So he modestly outperformed a typical investment strategy, built a brand for himself, and did what he loves. I'd call that winning. Also an important tidbit from the article: "That, however, understates his performance. For one thing, if he put all his money in index funds and reinvested all the dividends for 41 years, he'd be dead, because you can't buy food with reinvested dividends. As an investing strategy you can't beat compound returns, but as a strategy for life food has key diversification benefits. Also I feel like Trump has unusually high consumption expenses? For instance, to choose one item at random, I gather that he is currently funding his own campaign for president. That would also eat into his returns."