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Ross Stevens Donates $100M to Pay Every US Olympian and Paralympian $200k
- nerdsniper 10mo ago> Starting with the upcoming Milan Cortina Olympics, [Billionaire financier Ross Stevens] will give $200,000 to every U.S. Olympic and Paralympic athlete—even if they don’t win a medal. Per the Wall Street Journal, “Half will come 20 years after their first qualifying Olympic appearance or at age 45, whichever comes later. Another $100,000 will be in the form of a guaranteed benefit for their families after they pass away.” I wonder if this will adjust for inflation / earn interest at all. If a 20 year old olympian dies 70 years later, then when their family gets $100,000 USD nominal, it will be the equivalent of getting $8,400 in today's money. Assuming the same average inflation from the last 70 years (1956->2026).
- JumpCrisscross 10mo ago> If a 20 year old olympian dies 70 years later, then when their family gets $100,000 USD nominal, it will be the equivalent of getting $8,400 in today's money Did you inflate over 70 or 50 years? My read of the original article [1] is it’s a defined benefit. That said, “athletes will receive $200,000 for each Olympics they compete in,” so an athlete who competes for four seasons could stand to get $400,000 when they turn 45 and potentially borrow against their death benefit. [1] https://www.wsj.com/sports/olympics/team-usa-milan-cortina-e131245d https://www.wsj.com/sports/olympics/team-usa-milan-cortina-e...
- hsbauauvhabzb 10mo agoMy guess is the figure is after interest, that way because of compounding interest, 100k ~20 years after debut and another 100k which occurs let’s assume 50 years later on average would be substantially less than it sounds on paper. And for me at least, a smaller amount in my 20’s that I could use for a house deposit or similar would be worth farm more than 100k in my 40s and another 100k on my death This seems like some billionaire trying to inflate their donation amount by talking in terms of decades not now. I’m sure there’s conditions attached too (some reasonable but I’m sure some are just intentional land mines)
- JumpCrisscross 10mo ago> seems like some billionaire trying to inflate their donation amount My reading is Ross made a $100mm donation to the USOPC. > I’m sure some are just intentional land mines You’re sure based on zero evidence.
- hsbauauvhabzb 10mo agoWeird aggresssion. You trust billionaires?
- JumpCrisscross 10mo ago> Weird aggresssion It’s aggressive to call out baseless conclusions being represented as sureties?
- hsbauauvhabzb 10mo agoYou need to touch grass lol
- Jblx2 10mo agoI wonder what the "breakage" will be in 2096. How would your surviving family members know to cash in this benefit? You keep a certificate in your safe deposit box, next to the expired term life insurance papers, that says, be sure to contact so and so to collect some money after I die?
- JumpCrisscross 10mo ago> How would your surviving family members know to cash in this benefit? Same way all benefits and assets are passed down. One part trustee’s work. Four parts the beneficiaries’.
- darig 10mo ago[dead]
- mkmk 10mo agoI’ve been close to some people who tried to make a living as a professional athlete. This is a really special way to help passionate, hard-working people live out their dreams and potential.
- zck 10mo ago> “I do not believe that financial insecurity should stop our nation’s elite athletes from breaking through to new frontiers of excellence,” Stevens said upon the announcement of his gift. So his goal is to prevent money issues from being a thing getting in the way of athletes achieving. But he has structured it in a way that prevents the money from helping this goal. > Per the Wall Street Journal, “Half will come 20 years after their first qualifying Olympic appearance or at age 45, whichever comes later. Another $100,000 will be in the form of a guaranteed benefit for their families after they pass away.” So half of it will never be seen by the athlete. Ever. And the other half will not be seen for at least two decades. What Olympic athlete is not able to achieve as much because they don't have money decades down the road? Or because their heirs don't have enough money? I might be missing something, but how do these two incredibly-delayed payments help them train now? They can't use money they won't see for 20 or 30 years to hire coaches, buy equipment or pay for track time. They can't buy food or pay rent with money they will never see.
- apparent 10mo agoIt allows them to "income smooth". They will know they're getting $100k down the road, so they can count on having that money to use for their kids' college or part of their nest egg. In the meantime, they can spend more freely. As for the gift to their heirs, that also allows them to consume somewhat more freely, instead of purchasing (as much) life insurance. Most young people don't, but people who compete in dangerous sports probably do.
- reactordev 10mo agoCheck the fine print
- jimmydddd 10mo agoI remember in the 1980's, some rich guy gave a commencement speech in which he said he would pay for college for the entire graduating class in some high school in NJ. He got great press from this. But then it turned out in the fine print that the kids had to max out student loans, and he would cover the difference for tuition, but not including room and board. :-)
- deleted 10mo ago[deleted]
- Arcuru 10mo agoFrom what I can piece together from Wikipedia/news that is ~1000-1200 athletes in the most recent 4 year cycle (~600 for Summer Olympics, ~250 for Winter, and ~200-400 for Paralympics). That therefore requires ~$200-250M per 4 year cycle. Granted, that's 20 to 60 years down the line... Oh this explains it: > Starting with the Olympic and Paralympic Games Milan-Cortina 2026, and going at least through the 2032 Games, every U.S. Olympian and Paralympian will receive $200,000 in financial benefits for each Games in which they compete:
- vincefutr23 10mo agoNpv the fine print
- FpUser 10mo ago$100K after they pass away? I am curious what those will be worth by then. This whole thing sounds like some tricky scheme. He can probably take these 100M from his profit, stuff it into some fund to avoid taxes and let the fund grow, meanwhile the real value of what he has to give will be shrinking as the years pass.
- greggh 10mo agoThe real answer here is that he is mad about people protesting what Israel is doing in Gaza. This $100M donation is being made with funds he had given to UPenn. He has taken it back, via lawyers, because they allowed the protests to go on. He is now just taking that original donation and moving it somewhere else. Not that I am against the Olympians getting paid, just some context. Sources: https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/donor-pulls-100-million-gift-to-upenn-after-antisemitism-hearing https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/donor-pulls-100-mill... https://thehill.com/homenews/education/4348656-upenn-loses-100-million-dollar-donation-after-antisemitism-hearing/ https://thehill.com/homenews/education/4348656-upenn-loses-1... https://www.timesnownews.com/world/who-is-ross-stevens-stone-ridge-ceo-pulling-usd-100-million-donation-from-pennsylvania-university-article-105823250 https://www.timesnownews.com/world/who-is-ross-stevens-stone... (many more)
- jimmydddd 10mo agoThis answer is correct.
- an0malous 10mo agoI would have never guessed that a significant portion of western society would not only be ok with killing thousands of children but be outraged that anyone would protest it. I feel like I have more information about the world than ever and understand it less than ever.
- sixo 10mo agoWhat people feel about things is almost an entirely a function of their information environment, rather than the facts of the events themselves. Almost nobody truly aware of the number of slaughtered and starved Palestinian children would be "okay" with it; the people defending it are more-or-less viewing these events in terms so different from that that those basic facts cannot reach their understanding at all.
- JumpCrisscross 10mo ago> Almost nobody truly aware of the number of slaughtered and starved Palestinian children would be "okay" with it A lot of people aren’t okay with it but also choose not to engage on it.
- godelski 10mo agoKinda of a side note but a way I try to talk to people about how much a billion dollars is is "how many people can you hire each day at X dollars before you start losing money". Here's the setup: you have a billion dollars invested in some account earning some interest, let's say 5% because that's like bond rates (lower than S&P500). Day 1 you generate interest and don't hire. All following weekdays you hire a new employee and day then daily at a yearly rate of Y, say $250k/yr. Most people are going to be surprised that you can basically go an entire year before your account has less than a billion dollars. I do this because it's so much money the daily interest is not negligible. I mean 1000000000*0.05/365~=$137k. Is back of the envelope and estimating, but it gets the point across. (So you can hire people daily at $100k indefinitely...) Anyways, googling suggests there's ~600 American Olympians that participated in 2024 and another ~250 paraolympians. So what, we need on the order of $10bn to solve this? I can think of a lot worse ways we currently spend that kind of money and about 15 Americans where this would be less than 10% their total wealth and 11 of those people made more than twice that just last year... I'm not saying anyone should but hey, Elon could solve issues like these without blinking an eye. Probably better PR than anything else he could do
- dataflow 10mo agoYou'd need to account for inflation right?
- snowwrestler 10mo agoJust use a real rate of return and it still works. However, 5% real return is not likely from bonds alone.
- godelski 10mo agoTrue, but also very few billionaires are getting only 5% back a year... The estimate was supposed to be conservative on purpose
- underwater 10mo agoYour illustration is really long winded. If you invested a billion dollars at a conservative 5% interest rate, you could employ 200 people at 250k a year on the interest alone.
- nunez 10mo ago> Billionaire financier Ross Stevens is changing that. Starting with the upcoming Milan Cortina Olympics, he will give $200,000 to every U.S. Olympic and Paralympic athlete—even if they don’t win a medal. Per the Wall Street Journal, “Half will come 20 years after their first qualifying Olympic appearance or at age 45, whichever comes later. Another $100,000 will be in the form of a guaranteed benefit for their families after they pass away.” > His entire donation to the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC), announced last March, is $100 million—a record breaking gift to the organization. Just...lol.
- UncleMeat 10mo agoTotally outrageous. "I want to give a ton of money to olympians but... they are too young and dumb to get it now and also they should get half of it after they die." Unreal paternalism.
- prakhar897 10mo ago> Half will come 20 years after their first qualifying Olympic appearance or at age 45, whichever comes later. Another $100,000 will be in the form of a guaranteed benefit for their families after they pass away. The terms are atrocious. imo dude will move money into a his own charity which will hold onto it since no athlete qualify for the next 20 years. After a few years, he will quietly cancel the grant and use it elsewhere.
- deleted 10mo ago[deleted]
- winddude 10mo agonice sentiment, that it. Most of the financial challenges faced by athletes trying for the Olympics are immediate, affording to train, travel to compete, and gear. Especially in more niche sports, like bobsleigh, fencing, sailing, etc.
- kurtis_reed 10mo agoI thought the Olympics were supposed to be for amateur athletes
- defrost 10mo ago* yes, but payment after the fact doesn't count. * "amateaur" meaning independantly wealthy, or supported by patron or state. It's rare to see a kid from the lowest demographics on the gymnast team unless they've been scouted and picked up by a state or national institute. Similarly horse racing is about the fastest horse with a certified pedigree. It's about the bloodline, the trainers, the owners, and not about a Waler that can run four miles into a machine gun nest.
- mkipper 10mo agoThere's a pretty stark contrast between an MLB player making $50M per year and a bobsledder who's promised $100K 20 years after reaching the pinnacle of their sport. Given the total amount of training that an Olympian puts in over their life, even if that $100K is adjusted for inflation it probably works out to less than minimum wage in many states. That's a pretty bad profession IMO.
- bastawhiz 10mo agoWhat actually guarantees that this money doesn't evaporate? Who's managing it? Who's collecting the interest on the money?
- AngryData 10mo agoIll believe it when I see people with cash in hand. Otherwise I will continue to believe this is just another financial grift, like everything else billionaires do publicly with their money. If billionaires weren't the most greedy people in existence to start with, they wouldn't have ever become billionaires, they would have learned how meaningless endless greed is 900+ million dollars ago when everything they, their kids, their grand kids, and great grandkids could ever want was already paid for.
- RickJWagner 10mo agoSo happy he included Paralympians. That’s the good part.