~ Is it worth the effort to become a billionare?

Or is there something in between that is more reasonable to aspire to than either of those?

It would be nice to buy a tank of gas without budgeting it in first.

I’ll let you know after I have achieved thousandaire status.

Depends. I would never be a billionaire, no matter how much effort I put in.

I do think it has been worth the effort to work hard, save some money and be able to buy some things I want. The savings feels really good. We can ride through a difficulty or two without having to worry about paying a mortgage. Check to check sucks in my opinion, totally uncomfortable for me. But, I don’t judge people who live check to check, I have definitely been check to check in my lifetime, unless they are making a shitload of money and are financially irresponsible.

Worrying about bills is way way more stressful than working.

For many people, becoming a billionaire is actually very easy, since it involves being born into the right family. For others it is easy because it involves doing something they love – investing other people’s money.

It is entirely possible to marry into money.

Whatever makes you happy. I find living paycheck to paycheck a bit stressful, so I took steps to increase my income ~50% for doing the same thing I was doing.

How the hell should any of us know if it’s worth the effort to become a billionaire. According to Forbes Magazine there are only 400 of them in the US, a country with a population of 330,000,000. Of those, 30% inherited over a billion. So that means only 280, or .0008% of the US population, are self made billionaires. Forbes blythely claims all those 280 are truly “self made billionaires.”

Well, it’s a little more complex than that. If we imagined a baseball diamond where being up at bat is starting from relative poverty or average middle class, first base is being born into the upper middle class, 2nd base is inheriting a business worth a million dollars, and third base is inheriting a portfolio or business worth $50 million or more, and home plate is a net worth of over $1 billion, then a more complete picture emerges.

Larry Ellison was born in very modest circumstances. He was in the batters box with the whole game ahead of him, and he scored a homerun. He’s part of the 35% who started in the batter’s box, coming from middle class or lower middle class families. 22% of the list were born on first base: they came from a comfortable but not rich background and might have received some startup capital from a family member. This group includes Mark Zuckerberg and hedge funder Louis Bacon, who started Moore Capital Management with help from a small inheritance.

11.5% began life already at second base, with an inheritance or business worth more than $1 million. Donald Trump would be in this class, having inherited his father’s successful real estate development business.

7 percent were born on third base, inheriting more than $50 million in wealth or a big company. This group includes Charles and David Koch, who work tirelessly today to see than none below them have the opportunities they inherited by winning the birth lottery, and that all the benefits of this great nation flow to them and their ilk.

And they there are the remaining group who are born on home plate, already billionaires. I’m sure the effort was worth it for them, because being born is a bit stressful but it’s something we all have to go through. Since we have to go through it anyway, why not join the 0.0003% whi are born billionaires? What effort? Stats from here.

With this damned self employment tax added onto an already high earnings tax, I’d wager there are a few billionaires who’ve finagled themselves into a lower tax bracket than I suffer. I mean really… didn’t Warren Buffet admit that his secretary was in a higher tax bracket than he was?

These fucking taxes are insane people.

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies What finagled are you talking about? Buffet pays less taxes, because he pays tax on capital gains and has more write-offs than his secretary. Buffet didn’t “admit” it, he used it as an example of how unfair the tax code is. The secretary actually does not pay a “self employment tax” as you call it, and she still is paying more than him. I thought you tended to be a republican leaning oerson, correct me there if I am wrong. That is mostly republicans wanting to keep the tax code just how it is regarding those issues.

I would totally be a billionaire but food stamps are more fun. My choice is food stamps.

It doesn’t matter if most voters don’t benefit, they all believe that someday they will. That’s the problem with the American Dream, it makes everyone concerned for the day they’re gonna be rich.

West Wing

@ETpro just hoping that a billionare was a Flutherite. For a first hand account.