3 ms·

Yes they did. Bezos, Gates, Buffet, Zuckerberg were all rich

vpilcx 5y ago
In another discussion, someone tried to make the argument that Buffet was a real-life rags to riches story. Like, my guy, his father worked as a stock broker, and he used to hang out at his dad's office when he was a kid, and his dad eventually became a Congressman. I don't know why people think that's "rags to riches". I might be misinterpreting the facts but Gates got the deal to sell DOS to IBM because his Mom knew someone or was on the board. Bezos went from a successful career in finance to start Amazon. Zuckerberg started Facebook at -Harvard- and partly, the success of Facebook was predicated on Harvard's social prestige. I just don't understand where people come up with these weird bootstrap narratives from.
- throwaway55421 5y ago
  They're not saying that he was poor. They're saying that he didn't start a billionaire. He multiplied his wealth by a factor of a thousand or more.
  - marcosdumay 5y ago
    Some did. Most started as multimillionaire. The ways one can use to multiply millions by a thousand aren't open to people that only owns thousands. And you really don't want to multiply your possessions by a thousand if they are negative.
  - angrais 5y ago
    Yes, but the point is that they started with wealth. Multiplying 1 mil to 1 billion is more reasonable possible than 1k to 1 mil. Simply because if you've such wealth already you're most likely in a position to take risks, etc.
    - throwaway55421 5y ago
      I don't think that's true at all really, there are like 500,000 millionaires in my town alone. A billion is actually just a lot of money, there's a much more finite amount of room at the top. All you need to do to make a million quid in the UK is get a 75th percentile job and save half of it. After a few decades you are now a millionaire. I mean, everyone can't do it, but it's not some unfathomable task. In the US I imagine it's even easier. Your median income is lower but the top end is insane.
      - angrais 5y ago
        >> All you need to do to make a million quid in the UK is get a 75th percentile job and save half of it. After a few decades you are now a millionaire. I mean, everyone can't do it, but it's not some unfathomable task. I agree that it is possible, but it is sadly an impossible task for most. That's my point above: for those who have wealth it is easy to grow it. It takes money to make money. My other point was that those who have a billion started with millions.

In another discussion, someone tried to make the argument that Buffet was a real-life rags to riches story. Like, my guy, his father worked as a stock broker, and he used to hang out at his dad's office when he was a kid, and his dad eventually became a Congressman. I don't know why people think that's "rags to riches". I might be misinterpreting the facts but Gates got the deal to sell DOS to IBM because his Mom knew someone or was on the board. Bezos went from a successful career in finance to start Amazon. Zuckerberg started Facebook at -Harvard- and partly, the success of Facebook was predicated on Harvard's social prestige. I just don't understand where people come up with these weird bootstrap narratives from.

throwaway55421 5y ago
They're not saying that he was poor. They're saying that he didn't start a billionaire. He multiplied his wealth by a factor of a thousand or more.
- marcosdumay 5y ago
  Some did. Most started as multimillionaire. The ways one can use to multiply millions by a thousand aren't open to people that only owns thousands. And you really don't want to multiply your possessions by a thousand if they are negative.
- angrais 5y ago
  Yes, but the point is that they started with wealth. Multiplying 1 mil to 1 billion is more reasonable possible than 1k to 1 mil. Simply because if you've such wealth already you're most likely in a position to take risks, etc.
  - throwaway55421 5y ago
    I don't think that's true at all really, there are like 500,000 millionaires in my town alone. A billion is actually just a lot of money, there's a much more finite amount of room at the top. All you need to do to make a million quid in the UK is get a 75th percentile job and save half of it. After a few decades you are now a millionaire. I mean, everyone can't do it, but it's not some unfathomable task. In the US I imagine it's even easier. Your median income is lower but the top end is insane.
    - angrais 5y ago
      >> All you need to do to make a million quid in the UK is get a 75th percentile job and save half of it. After a few decades you are now a millionaire. I mean, everyone can't do it, but it's not some unfathomable task. I agree that it is possible, but it is sadly an impossible task for most. That's my point above: for those who have wealth it is easy to grow it. It takes money to make money. My other point was that those who have a billion started with millions.