Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Elbynerual t1_j3r9yon wrote

Fun reminder that he was gifted his initial starting money, which was almost the equivalent of almost 100,000 dollars today.

6

EAS893 t1_j3rnw03 wrote

I don't think that's accurate.

His first fund started with something like 100k in around 1950 which is something like 1.2 million today, but it wasn't a "gift" it was assets under management he convinced investors to let him manage for them.

He definitely has a lot of privilege from his background. He's literally the son of a multiterm US House of Representative member and has attended multiple Ivy League Universities. He had connections to be able to find those investors that were mostly luck and circumstances of birth, and if you listen to any interviews with the guy you'll hear that he acknowledges this "ovarian lottery" as he calls it.

That said, with his returns, he still would have ended up wealthy even without those initial investors and just investing his own money, it just probably wouldn't be centibillionaire level wealthy.

7

twisted_cistern t1_j3tfns1 wrote

I'm a house sitter and I've had customers offer to put their money under my management. It doesn't have to be family connections.

5

Elbynerual t1_j3ro0lc wrote

I'm not referring to his first fund. I'm referring to his first money

0

EAS893 t1_j3royuu wrote

What money are you referencing? Do you just mean the fact that he had parents capable of taking care of him?

I'm asking, because having read a decent bit about this particular guy, I don't remember anything that stuck out to me in his life as a "windfall" of sorts like you're describing aside from just being born to a family with political connections.

It legitimately didn't seem like he had much handed to him that the average upper middle class person wouldn't have also had handed to them. There's privilege from being from that background for sure, but most upper middle class people don't become multi-billionaires.

5

urgjotonlkec t1_j3riarg wrote

That doesn't match the data here..

1

Elbynerual t1_j3rnuai wrote

Oh? Where do you think the initial 5k came from? That's what I'm referring to. The data starts at 5k. And that was many decades ago, where current inflation makes it close to 1 million in today's money

1

positive_bias t1_j3rp7ml wrote

Based on average inflation rates, he was 14 in 1944/45, $5,000 in 1945 equates to about $83,000 in 2022. That’s a tad short of your $1 million claim.

3

Elbynerual t1_j3rtmtf wrote

Oh that's right, 100k is what I had read. Sorry, my mistake.

But yeah starting with 80k is a hell of a lot easier than starting at 0

1

positive_bias t1_j3sz37w wrote

Still a little over 20% error margin with a $100k claim.

In the world of business capital, for a startup $80k is really not that much.

2

twisted_cistern t1_j3tgfq7 wrote

But if you're a teenager without expenses is quite a nice start.

My friend had a job during high school and invested it all. When he went to grad school he bought a house with a ton of bedrooms (in a historically polygamous town) and rented them to his classmates...

On the road to 10 billion the difference between starting at 80k and a million isn't that big.

−1

LordFaquaad t1_j3rn5y9 wrote

Do you mean he had investing partners?

0

Elbynerual t1_j3rnwo3 wrote

I believe it was his father iirc

1

LordFaquaad t1_j3rpkdc wrote

Could you point to the source please, I've not heard this. I know his dad was a congressman but he passed away when buffett was 33. Far before he was a large investor

0

Elbynerual t1_j3ru0o5 wrote

His initial money came from when he was a teenager i believe. Someone else responded to one of my comments and said it was when he was 14. He didn't start from nothing. He started with over 80,000 dollars in today's equivalent

3

LordFaquaad t1_j3s0wgj wrote

80k isn't really alot of money in investing. It's the equivalent of a drop in the ocean. Also he did work during his teen years doing paper routes and other odd jobs. Compared to buffet, bozos, gates etc. Were given far more

1

Elbynerual t1_j3s1lqk wrote

If you game me 80k right now I'd never have to work again, and if I lived as long as him I'm certain I could be a billionaire

−2

LordFaquaad t1_j3sebho wrote

80k would last you 3 years max and that's if you live frugally. If you think growing 80k into billions is easy, please go to r/wsb and let me know how that goes.

8

jrm19941994 t1_j3tk1nd wrote

Lol if thats actually true you must be a hell of a trader, I would consider getting in touch with a prop firm

1

Elbynerual t1_j3tkwfn wrote

I didn't say anything about trading

−1

jrm19941994 t1_j3tssxn wrote

Then please explain what investment will allow you to retire on $80k of capital

3