i mean, that’s still way more wealthy than most people. i don’t think i know anybody who had 28,000 buckaroos of money to burn on their child’s business venture. and the article that you linked does say that musk’s dad made around 400,000 dollars off the emerald mine, which is… still more wealth than most people will see in their lifetime. according to Errol, he sent money he made off the emerald mine and by selling his yacht to Elon and Kimbal to pay for living expenses while they were studying in the US.
its not easy to become a billionaire. but i think that its disingenuous to suggest that 28,000 bucks of dad’s money for your startup isn’t in and of itself a privilege of the wealthy. starting a business is completely out of scope for most people. it can’t make you a billionaire, but you can’t be a billionaire unless you can start a business, and you can’t do that without money to spend on that business in the vast majority of cases.
and the skill of running a business is just not impressive to me. there is no way to cultivate skill at entrepreneurship without doing entrepreneurial things, and that’s just way easier to do if you can afford to fail, and have a way of making yourself the boss of other people. most people can’t afford to fail, so they can’t take risks with quantities of money they’ll probably never accumulate in their lifetime.
Most people don’t get seed money from their parents, but the median American will inherit $70K from their parents.
Regardless, most people who start a business can take out a loan. And to put things in perspective, even opening a fast food restaurant will require over $200K.
In other words, the advantage that $28K gave Musk was nowhere near enough to open a small restaurant, much less automatically turn him into a billionaire.
i mean, that’s still way more wealthy than most people. i don’t think i know anybody who had 28,000 buckaroos of money to burn on their child’s business venture. and the article that you linked does say that musk’s dad made around 400,000 dollars off the emerald mine, which is… still more wealth than most people will see in their lifetime. according to Errol, he sent money he made off the emerald mine and by selling his yacht to Elon and Kimbal to pay for living expenses while they were studying in the US.
It’s not easy to become a billionaire from 28,000 USD. Definitely not based on luck alone if you grow several businesses.
its not easy to become a billionaire. but i think that its disingenuous to suggest that 28,000 bucks of dad’s money for your startup isn’t in and of itself a privilege of the wealthy. starting a business is completely out of scope for most people. it can’t make you a billionaire, but you can’t be a billionaire unless you can start a business, and you can’t do that without money to spend on that business in the vast majority of cases.
and the skill of running a business is just not impressive to me. there is no way to cultivate skill at entrepreneurship without doing entrepreneurial things, and that’s just way easier to do if you can afford to fail, and have a way of making yourself the boss of other people. most people can’t afford to fail, so they can’t take risks with quantities of money they’ll probably never accumulate in their lifetime.
Most people don’t get seed money from their parents, but the median American will inherit $70K from their parents.
Regardless, most people who start a business can take out a loan. And to put things in perspective, even opening a fast food restaurant will require over $200K.
In other words, the advantage that $28K gave Musk was nowhere near enough to open a small restaurant, much less automatically turn him into a billionaire.