Notice I said "your net worth increasing becomes a substitute for income" and not "your net worth becomes a substitute for income". These billionaires can get

Notice I said "your net worth increasing becomes a substitute for income" and not "your net worth becomes a substitute for income". These billionaires can get periodic influxes of cash through taking loans on their increased net worth. So I agree Elon's $220b net worth isn't directly comparable to my income, but the $121b increase in his net worth is pretty comparable to my income. The numbers I made up in that example are obviously made up. I included them to illustrate my point and not as a prediction that all billionaires see their net worth increase 50% every year. That said, Elon's net worth went up over 100% last year.