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https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/ https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/ #1 was born to a teenage mom (and an alcoholic/deadbeat dad). Si

https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/ https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/ #1 was born to a teenage mom (and an alcoholic/deadbeat dad). Since she was still in high school, I assume she was probably in the bottom quintile of income. #7 was given up by his mother and adopted. #9 was born in the Soviet Union. It's likely his family's income (in rubles) was in the bottom quintile of the United States at the time. (Sources I've found suggest that the top 1% income cutoff in the SU was around 250 rubles per month, which is less than the $5,000--$7,500 cutoff for the bottom quintile in the US at the time.) #13 was born in Yemen before his family moved backed to India. One could probably assume that he was in the bottom quintile by US standards, because even today, the top 10% cutoff in India is below the bottom 10% in the United States. #18 was born in China and I have little doubt that he was far below the bottom quintile cutoff for the United States growing up. You might think it's a stretch to call Bezos's family "bottom quintile", but saying that billionaires Zhong Shanshan, Xu Jiayin, or Qin Yinglin weren't is hard.

jedberg 6y ago
When I look at that list, Jeff Bezos is #1. The first woman on the list is at #10 and inherited her wealth. Are you looking at a different list? Also, people born in foreign countries had completely different experiences, and more importantly, what is relevant is if they were in the bottom quintile in their own country. If you're super rich in your own country then you have a lot of opportunity. For example Sergey Brin may have been born in Russia, but his family managed to come to the US when he was a kid and he was clearly middle class as a teen.
- throwaway_1301 6y ago
  > When I look at that list, Jeff Bezos is #1. The first woman on the list is at #10 and inherited her wealth. Are you looking at a different list? I think the comment does refer to Jeff Bezos. Here is the relevant section from Wikipedia: "At the time of his birth, his mother was a 17-year-old high school student and his father was 19.[17] After completing high school despite challenging conditions, Jacklyn attended night school while bringing baby Jeff along.[18]" IMO a 17 year old attending night school is pretty low in terms of economic status. Also I am sure there are other cases but I know about #17 (Mukesh Ambani) and his father was a petrol bunk attendant - pretty low down even by Indian standards.
  - jedberg 6y ago
    Ok so Bezos was born in a low quintile, but then jumped when his mom married a wealthy person when he was 4. He effectively had the same advantages of a rich person through his adopted father's success.
    - areyousure 6y ago
      His father was a Cuban refugee who came to the US alone as a 16-year old.
      - jedberg 6y ago
        Ok but he was wealthy when Bezos was a child. The point is, for all intents and purposes, Bezos grew up wealthy and had the support of a wealthy family when he went out on his own. He famously got a "small" $250,000 investment from his parents to start Amazon.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
- areyousure 6y ago
  For reference, the people mentioned are #1 Jeff Bezos, #7 Larry Ellison, #9 Sergey Brin, #13 Mukesh Ambani, and #18 Zhong Shanshan. And https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhong_Shanshan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhong_Shanshan "He dropped out of elementary school during the Cultural Revolution and found work in construction." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xu_Jiayin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xu_Jiayin "Xu Jiayin was born to a rural family in Jutaigang Village, ... His father is a retired soldier who participated in the Second Sino-Japanese War in the 1930s and 1940s. After the establishment of the Communist State, he became a warehouseman in his home-village. Xu's mother died of sepsis when he was 8 months old. He was raised by his paternal grandmother. After high school, he worked in a cement product factory for a few days and then worked for two years at home." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_Yinglin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_Yinglin "Qin was born in 1965 in Hexi Village... He grew up in poverty. In 1982, when Qin was in high school, his father saved up money and bought 20 pigs, but all but one died. This motivated Qin to study pig farming at university, so that he could help people in his village earn money raising pigs." I'm not sure billionaires like Eric Yuan ("collected construction scraps to recycle copper for cash"), Jay Chaudhry ("Chaudhry was born in Panoh, a Himalayan village without running water"), Jan Koum ("When he was living on welfare, Jan Koum's family collected food stamps a couple of blocks"), Isaac Perlmutter ("He emigrated to America, arriving in New York City with only $250"), and Romesh Wadhwani ("He contracted polio at age of 2") count as "super rich in your own country" that would thus "have a lot of opportunity".
  - dred_prte_rbrts 6y ago
    Mukesh Ambani's dad was NOT lower quintile by any standard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhirubhai_Ambani https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhirubhai_Ambani
    - areyousure 6y ago
      The comment that started this thread discussed people who > started life in the bottom quintile At the time of Mukesh Ambani's birth, his father was in Aden colony (present-day Yemen). A year later, he supposedly left: > The rise of Ambani began in 1958 when he gave up his clerical job in Aden and moved back to Mumbai with fifty thousand rupees in his pocket. https://knappily.com/onthisday/dhirubhai-ambani-death-legacy-anil-mukesh-reliance-567 https://knappily.com/onthisday/dhirubhai-ambani-death-legacy... If the claim is to be believed, then 50000 rupees of wealth is probably the lowest quintile in the United States (at the time). Of course, Dhirubhai Ambani is probably a better example himself, but he is dead.
lupire 6y ago
Why would you ignore Musk's father, who raised him? Alcoholic doesn't mean poor, and deadbeat is the wrong term for the father Elon lived with. Elon's "teenage mother" was a famous model.
- throwaway_1301 6y ago
  I suspect that was in reference to Jeff Bezos.
atq2119 6y ago
Being in the bottom quintile for the US is not very relevant if you're not from the US. What matters far more is your position within your own society, as that's what gives you the safety net, connections, education, etc.
plandis 6y ago
I think this is misleading since Jeff Bezos’ adoptive father (adopted when he was 4) was a petroleum engineer, and his grandfather was a director in the Atomic Energy Commission according to Wikipedia.

jedberg 6y ago

When I look at that list, Jeff Bezos is #1. The first woman on the list is at #10 and inherited her wealth. Are you looking at a different list? Also, people born in foreign countries had completely different experiences, and more importantly, what is relevant is if they were in the bottom quintile in their own country. If you're super rich in your own country then you have a lot of opportunity. For example Sergey Brin may have been born in Russia, but his family managed to come to the US when he was a kid and he was clearly middle class as a teen.

throwaway_1301 6y ago
> When I look at that list, Jeff Bezos is #1. The first woman on the list is at #10 and inherited her wealth. Are you looking at a different list? I think the comment does refer to Jeff Bezos. Here is the relevant section from Wikipedia: "At the time of his birth, his mother was a 17-year-old high school student and his father was 19.[17] After completing high school despite challenging conditions, Jacklyn attended night school while bringing baby Jeff along.[18]" IMO a 17 year old attending night school is pretty low in terms of economic status. Also I am sure there are other cases but I know about #17 (Mukesh Ambani) and his father was a petrol bunk attendant - pretty low down even by Indian standards.
- jedberg 6y ago
  Ok so Bezos was born in a low quintile, but then jumped when his mom married a wealthy person when he was 4. He effectively had the same advantages of a rich person through his adopted father's success.
  - areyousure 6y ago
    His father was a Cuban refugee who came to the US alone as a 16-year old.
    - jedberg 6y ago
      Ok but he was wealthy when Bezos was a child. The point is, for all intents and purposes, Bezos grew up wealthy and had the support of a wealthy family when he went out on his own. He famously got a "small" $250,000 investment from his parents to start Amazon.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
areyousure 6y ago
For reference, the people mentioned are #1 Jeff Bezos, #7 Larry Ellison, #9 Sergey Brin, #13 Mukesh Ambani, and #18 Zhong Shanshan. And https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhong_Shanshan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhong_Shanshan "He dropped out of elementary school during the Cultural Revolution and found work in construction." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xu_Jiayin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xu_Jiayin "Xu Jiayin was born to a rural family in Jutaigang Village, ... His father is a retired soldier who participated in the Second Sino-Japanese War in the 1930s and 1940s. After the establishment of the Communist State, he became a warehouseman in his home-village. Xu's mother died of sepsis when he was 8 months old. He was raised by his paternal grandmother. After high school, he worked in a cement product factory for a few days and then worked for two years at home." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_Yinglin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_Yinglin "Qin was born in 1965 in Hexi Village... He grew up in poverty. In 1982, when Qin was in high school, his father saved up money and bought 20 pigs, but all but one died. This motivated Qin to study pig farming at university, so that he could help people in his village earn money raising pigs." I'm not sure billionaires like Eric Yuan ("collected construction scraps to recycle copper for cash"), Jay Chaudhry ("Chaudhry was born in Panoh, a Himalayan village without running water"), Jan Koum ("When he was living on welfare, Jan Koum's family collected food stamps a couple of blocks"), Isaac Perlmutter ("He emigrated to America, arriving in New York City with only $250"), and Romesh Wadhwani ("He contracted polio at age of 2") count as "super rich in your own country" that would thus "have a lot of opportunity".
- dred_prte_rbrts 6y ago
  Mukesh Ambani's dad was NOT lower quintile by any standard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhirubhai_Ambani https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhirubhai_Ambani
  - areyousure 6y ago
    The comment that started this thread discussed people who > started life in the bottom quintile At the time of Mukesh Ambani's birth, his father was in Aden colony (present-day Yemen). A year later, he supposedly left: > The rise of Ambani began in 1958 when he gave up his clerical job in Aden and moved back to Mumbai with fifty thousand rupees in his pocket. https://knappily.com/onthisday/dhirubhai-ambani-death-legacy-anil-mukesh-reliance-567 https://knappily.com/onthisday/dhirubhai-ambani-death-legacy... If the claim is to be believed, then 50000 rupees of wealth is probably the lowest quintile in the United States (at the time). Of course, Dhirubhai Ambani is probably a better example himself, but he is dead.

lupire 6y ago

Why would you ignore Musk's father, who raised him? Alcoholic doesn't mean poor, and deadbeat is the wrong term for the father Elon lived with. Elon's "teenage mother" was a famous model.

throwaway_1301 6y ago
I suspect that was in reference to Jeff Bezos.

atq2119 6y ago

Being in the bottom quintile for the US is not very relevant if you're not from the US. What matters far more is your position within your own society, as that's what gives you the safety net, connections, education, etc.

plandis 6y ago

I think this is misleading since Jeff Bezos’ adoptive father (adopted when he was 4) was a petroleum engineer, and his grandfather was a director in the Atomic Energy Commission according to Wikipedia.