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I am pretty sure this has been a thing for as long as there have been rich people. In fact historically it’s been common for there to be plenty of noble titles

I am pretty sure this has been a thing for as long as there have been rich people. In fact historically it’s been common for there to be plenty of noble titles and ministries that have no responsibilities at all, but have a title, pay, and “prestige” - which could be staffed by heirs and unlanded sons to help them build their “career” or give them some perfunctory thing to do. Now that private enterprise is the hallmark of wealth/status instead of nobility, we have bullshit businesses. I’ve run into several of these people myself and it always takes me a while to figure out where the money’s coming from until it clicks. I’ve also seen these be quite common for wives (don’t mean to be sexist here, but I don’t know if examples for husbands) of rich men to do, either through straight up grift a la Newmann’s wife or something very very lifestyley like interior design or crafting. What’s worse is that a lot of these fake entrepreneurs are in tech now too. Some of them are even “serial entrepreneurs”. I’m sure VC people run into them a lot, and I’m also sure a lot of them are actually talented and know what they’re doing, but to me too much involvement of the Bank of Mom and Dad makes a person/company lose a lot of legitimacy.

regitempus 5y ago
Bezos got $250K from the Bank of Mom and Dad to start Amazon. Not legitimate?
- filoleg 5y ago
  He only got it initially, that’s not what the parent comment was talking about. Future investments into the company came purely through the company’s success and growth (and VCs attracted to that). Just the initial investment would hardly count as “too much involvement from mom and dad bank”. Especially when that investment managed to grow to $1T+ without any involvement from them since then.
- fouc 5y ago
  That kind of sum is still within reach of middle class parents
  - SamoyedFurFluff 5y ago
    No??? How is a middle class income of 50k/yr gonna raise 250k for a child separate from childcare, college, etc?
    - corndoge 5y ago
      50k is not middle class
      - bryanrasmussen 5y ago
        https://eu.usatoday.com/story/money/2021/10/05/what-middle-class-household-income-savings-and-assets-play-role/5940236001/ https://eu.usatoday.com/story/money/2021/10/05/what-middle-c... "Some experts say you are American middle class if you made between $51,200 to $153,000 in 2020." what was the middle class income in the year that Bezos got the money? I guess it seems reasonable to say though that actual median middle class is around 100,000 so the parent poster's question remains, where are they going to get the money. Well probably take a loan on the house for their son's crazy new-fangled internet scheme I guess, that seems unlikely.
        roenxi 5y ago
        If it is reasonable to survive on $51,200 then a family on $100k could reasonably be saving the balance $48,800 a year. Say half of that goes to tax because I'm too lazy to look up the tax rate, it'd take 10 years of savings to save up $250k. So practically speaking, a small syndicate of middle class families (4-5) could reasonably found Amazon. Probably not one alone. Although I echo corndoge in that anyone describing 50-150k as the middle class income range is being polite rather than realistic about what what the class is.
        bryanrasmussen 5y ago
        >If it is reasonable to survive on $51,200 then a family on $100k could reasonably be saving the balance $48,800 a year. yep, it sure would be possible in theory. Although in practice I don't think that's how it is for most people. Also in a range of 50 - 150k obviously you have to assume that 50k is in the poorest parts of the country, and of course there is nothing saying that only nuclear families or larger can be middle class so I guess, a young single guy could be middle class. so let's say https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/how-much-to-earn-middle-class-in-state-2021-4?r=US&IR=T https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/how-much-to... California $111,206 $80,440 Tennessee $50,629 $56,071 In the case of Tennessee you might be earning enough at 50k a year to be ok, but it seems unlikely that in your region and class you will be getting the chance to invest in Amazon. on edit: the money per year, first number middle class income in region, second number median income in region
- Rastonbury 5y ago
  Bezos was like a VP at DE Shaw, that investment wasn't make or break, it does offload some risk. Someone else stated his parents invested in a later round with professional investors. It's odd how people focus on a parents investment, ignoring he was already probably in the top 1-2% in terms of income and so was his wife.
bkav 5y ago
There’s absolutely a male equivalent. Almost every male “real estate professional” I know makes money mainly through nepotism. They do tend to have the same thing in common: flashy IG posts and the constant refrain of “work hard, play hard”.

regitempus 5y ago

Bezos got $250K from the Bank of Mom and Dad to start Amazon. Not legitimate?

filoleg 5y ago
He only got it initially, that’s not what the parent comment was talking about. Future investments into the company came purely through the company’s success and growth (and VCs attracted to that). Just the initial investment would hardly count as “too much involvement from mom and dad bank”. Especially when that investment managed to grow to $1T+ without any involvement from them since then.
fouc 5y ago
That kind of sum is still within reach of middle class parents
- SamoyedFurFluff 5y ago
  No??? How is a middle class income of 50k/yr gonna raise 250k for a child separate from childcare, college, etc?
  - corndoge 5y ago
    50k is not middle class
    - bryanrasmussen 5y ago
      https://eu.usatoday.com/story/money/2021/10/05/what-middle-class-household-income-savings-and-assets-play-role/5940236001/ https://eu.usatoday.com/story/money/2021/10/05/what-middle-c... "Some experts say you are American middle class if you made between $51,200 to $153,000 in 2020." what was the middle class income in the year that Bezos got the money? I guess it seems reasonable to say though that actual median middle class is around 100,000 so the parent poster's question remains, where are they going to get the money. Well probably take a loan on the house for their son's crazy new-fangled internet scheme I guess, that seems unlikely.
      - roenxi 5y ago
        If it is reasonable to survive on $51,200 then a family on $100k could reasonably be saving the balance $48,800 a year. Say half of that goes to tax because I'm too lazy to look up the tax rate, it'd take 10 years of savings to save up $250k. So practically speaking, a small syndicate of middle class families (4-5) could reasonably found Amazon. Probably not one alone. Although I echo corndoge in that anyone describing 50-150k as the middle class income range is being polite rather than realistic about what what the class is.
        bryanrasmussen 5y ago
        >If it is reasonable to survive on $51,200 then a family on $100k could reasonably be saving the balance $48,800 a year. yep, it sure would be possible in theory. Although in practice I don't think that's how it is for most people. Also in a range of 50 - 150k obviously you have to assume that 50k is in the poorest parts of the country, and of course there is nothing saying that only nuclear families or larger can be middle class so I guess, a young single guy could be middle class. so let's say https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/how-much-to-earn-middle-class-in-state-2021-4?r=US&IR=T https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/how-much-to... California $111,206 $80,440 Tennessee $50,629 $56,071 In the case of Tennessee you might be earning enough at 50k a year to be ok, but it seems unlikely that in your region and class you will be getting the chance to invest in Amazon. on edit: the money per year, first number middle class income in region, second number median income in region
Rastonbury 5y ago
Bezos was like a VP at DE Shaw, that investment wasn't make or break, it does offload some risk. Someone else stated his parents invested in a later round with professional investors. It's odd how people focus on a parents investment, ignoring he was already probably in the top 1-2% in terms of income and so was his wife.

bkav 5y ago

There’s absolutely a male equivalent. Almost every male “real estate professional” I know makes money mainly through nepotism. They do tend to have the same thing in common: flashy IG posts and the constant refrain of “work hard, play hard”.