[samsamsam]

I'll be back in 8 years for a status update. Or let me hop in my time machine and find out right now.

Just got back. Nope he didn't do it.

And if you have read my serious posts you know I want the best for everyone. But as many have said setting that to be the goal misses the point. It is like all these fools talking about wanting to be rich but have no idea on how to get there.

If he ends up being worth 10 million by 30 that would be a huge accomplishment.

Smart is a very subjective term. Plenty of smart people that are not successful. Almost every SJW thinks they are a genius. Correct that, they all think they are geniuses. But rather than create a billion dollar business where everyone gets treated the way SJWs think they should, they spend all day on the Internet teling others what they should do to make other people's lives easier.

For some reason I am thinking of Don Quixote.

[samsamsam]

Dupe

[The Beast1]

Funny seeing the mention of Mark Cuban. He's an actual billionaire with a healthy non dork attitude (not a Mark Cuckerburg).

Mark sold his first business for 100 million at 32. Yes 32. It was the early 90s I believe. He then sold his second business in 99 to Yahoo for 1.8$ billion in yahoo stock.

A lot of this is timing. I'm more bummed I missed out on several bubbles in my lifetime. Seeing as i'm 26 and have nowhere near anything that high i'd be happy with a bubble pop and a nice 4 bedroom house. A million? Yeah I sadly don't see that happening. Maybe a business in my future.

I'm more pissed off I missed the 90s tech bubble. A lot of billionaires had their timing with a wee bit of luck just right. I doubt your friend will ever make a million, let alone a billion without a business idea of his own.

[Phoenix]

(09-21-2015 03:26 AM)The Beast1 Wrote:  

I'm more pissed off I missed the 90s tech bubble. A lot of billionaires had their timing with a wee bit of luck just right. I doubt your friend will ever make a million, let alone a billion without a business idea of his own.

Yeah there are a surprising number of names that came out of the tech bubble. For example, Tony Robbins is a product of the tech bubble, having sold his company before the bubble burst.

Trick is not to worry about the last bubble: that's just 'hindsight is 20/20' stuff. Just try to spot the next one and get there ready. There's always another one on the way.

[The Beast1]

(09-21-2015 03:31 AM)Phoenix Wrote:  

(09-21-2015 03:26 AM)The Beast1 Wrote:  

I'm more pissed off I missed the 90s tech bubble. A lot of billionaires had their timing with a wee bit of luck just right. I doubt your friend will ever make a million, let alone a billion without a business idea of his own.

Yeah there are a surprising number of names that came out of the tech bubble. For example, Tony Robbins is a product of the tech bubble, having sold his company before the bubble burst.

Trick is not to worry about the last bubble: that's just 'hindsight is 20/20' stuff. Just try to spot the next one and get there ready. There's always another one on the way.

The tech bubble was unique because of how easy it was to get something off of the ground and then have nitwit VCs practically vomit cash all over you. At least nowadays, I want to avoid a "dot com" or anything tech and do something that requires manufacturing.

I actually have a really solid business idea, but no means of actually getting the wheels on the ground since my background is mostly IT support. I need a few dozen engineers, physicists, and a pinch of computer programmers to make it happen.

Basically, the goal is to create a small thorium based "home" reactor. Once it creates steam you can use that to power AC units, heat homes/ hot water, and run refrigerators.

A lot of the mini thorium reactors go a step further and add a steam turbine for electricity generation that's all in one. I think that's an unnecessary addition for the time being. Keep the "energy" creation in steam only. Even a modest thorium based hot water heater would do wonders without all of the steam creation gizmos.

There are a few universities researching this, but obviously are dragging their feet. I'd have no idea where to start building such a thing, but oddly enough know where I can get angel funding and run the damn business.

[jamaicabound]

Good for him for aiming high but at the same time talk is cheap.

Is he currently doing anything to become a billionaire? I don't even care if it's something small like he started mowing lawns for money or started a blog or started selling stuff on ebay, every entrepreneurial journey starts somehwere but if he's not even doing that there's 0% chance of him becomming a billionaire.

The nice thing about aiming high is if he aims to be a billionaire and he only hits 10% of his goal he's still got a 100 million.

Every one of my friends when I was 18 or 19 said the same thing, maybe not a billion but all talked of cocaine, ferraris and hookers and that crazy life. All of them have good jobs but are working corporate jobs making 40k to 60k a year and none of them have any side hustles or entreprenurial ventures going.

I think the biggest thing anyone wanting success can do is do something. I can't tell you how many people I know talk but never take action. It's better to start something unprepared and fail than to sit around doing nothing.

[Bad Hussar]

A lot of people are billionaires only because of unrealistic current share prices for their companies. In the fullness of time reality will test the implicit assumptions regarding future earnings baked into current share prices. Some will pass the test but many will fail. Many founders on the lower end will no longer be billionaires.

While I wouldn't be as harsh as Tuthmosis, he's right that a lot of smart people are smart, but too focused. A lot of Engineers are smart in the quantitative sense, and a lot of lawyers are smart in the verbal sense. But it's not likely that someone too narrowly focused will achieve really massive economic success. There's a great quote from someone associated with Warren Buffett, I think it was Charlie Munger, who said something to the effect that he has never met a single "ultra successful" person who was not extremely well read. And that Buffett is also an avid reader. Now obviously there are a lot of well read people who are poor, or at least not rich, but that strikes me as one of the more reasonable things that has been said about "how to get (really) rich".

A lot of the tech guys do seem narrowly focused, but I somehow suspect they both read extensively when young (Elon Musk apparently often read 10 hours a day as a kid), and have a natural broad interest in a wide variety of subjects. I mean, consider Bill Gates. Despite him almost certainly having mild Autism as a kid in his life he has still pursued varied interests, rather than remained a focused "geek".

Anyway, back to the OP. Focusing too much on a monetary amount won't work when the amount of money gets really big. That kind of focus is OK if you want to get your money by being a surgeon, Corporate Lawyer or Investment Banker, but if you're talking about US$1 billion + all the rules that work at US$1 - 5 million become warped. And the rate of warping increases the higher you go. Just being diligent, or a "good boy/girl" who follows a set path is not going to get you US1 billion. For that kind of money you will need to find an immense source of creativity that can't come from following a set path.

[Veloce]

I've met two billionaires that I know of.

In both cases, they put an investment of tens of millions of dollars into a particular product that paid off.

Does your friend have $30M to invest?

[Sonoma]

Why aim so out of reach? 1 million by 30 and 10 million by 40 is a much safer bet

[Oilrig]

I think in order to be a multi millionaire or billionaire you have to truly love money, I mean love it more than anything else and put it first in your life above all. You have to literally be obsessed with money, think about it every second of every single day.

Mark Cuban tells a story that when he was younger he didn't know what he wanted to be, he just knew he wanted to be rich and have a lot of money. I would say the odds are against the OP's friend, especially coming from the DR. However never underestimate someone who wants something so bad they obsess over it.

[Merenguero]

(09-20-2015 01:34 PM)Tuthmosis Wrote:  

I consider the fact that he's "intelligent" a further liability. The type of smarts you describe and being wealthy are often inversely correlated. Smart doesn't equal smart doesn't smart. The smarts that make you billions is different than the smarts that make you good at calculus or writing a term paper. I'm willing to bet serious money that you put me in a room with this guy, and I'm "smarter" than him in most fields of the arts and sciences. Am I billionaire? No. Do I think I could become one in 8 years? No. To keep with the examples above, Mark Cuban and Dr. Dre are smarter than 10 versions of me stacked up on top of each other when it comes to business acumen and conjuring things of extraordinary value out of their surroundings.

The person who is by far the weathiest person I have ever known is completely self-made and of average or possibly slightly above average intelligence. This guy is in his 30's and I would estimate that his net worth is at least ten times that of anyone else who I know (I know some really unsuccessful people). How did he get that way? I would say the number one reason was by not screwing up. We all make mistakes and those of us who learn from our mistakes are obviously more successful than those who don't. What I mean by not screwing up is not running up several hundred thousand in credit card debt that he can't afford to pay, not impregnating ten complete losers who he never planned to marry, not buying some ridiculous house which will probably just depreciate in value, not being some ungrateful bastard who is estranged from his parents (my parents helped raise him), not letting himself become a fat slob who people will perceive as being dishonest, not getting involved with drugs and/or not letting alcohol become a problem, etc. In addition to all that, he is really positive and probably has always surrounded himself with successful, positive people.

[travolta]

Yeah it's possible. Becoming a billionaire is impossible. Millionaire before 30 is likely in 2015 though.

[el conquistador]

People in the 80's used to say "I'm going to be a millionaire." It doesn't have the same ring to it anymore. So now, ambitious young people are saying 'billionaire'.

"I want to be a millionaire/billionaire" is a terrible goal. It's like having the New Years resolution "I want to be healthier." It's so vague, difficult to define and very far away at this point.

It will also be extremely difficult for anybody to achieve that goal. Why? Because what makes you think you'll keep going once you get past 5,50 or 500 million? If your goal is purely financial, you'll take your foot off the pedal once you're in the 'one percent'. It's human nature.

I agree with what an earlier poster said about "putting the horse before the cart". In most cases (Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Jack Ma) the billionaire status came as a by-product of impacting the lives of millions. I doubt it was ever the goal of any of them as 22-year-old.

Honestly, I think only a billionaire like Warren Buffett was conscious of the 'money game'. The other people I mentioned, Dr. Dre, Richard Branson etc. focussed on creating. The billions came indirectly and was never the objective in the beginning.

Book Recommendation: The book 'Obliquity' argues that our goals are best achieved 'indirectly'. For example, if you achieve an enviable lifestyle then hot women will come with it. If you create a worldwide brand then the billions will come by itself. Good read.

Finally, the weight of responsibility and loss of peace of mind that comes with being a billionaire might not be worth it. If somebody offered me a check for a billion or a low-maintenance/passive, $10,000 a month for the rest of my life I know which I would choose.

[el mechanico]

I'm on my second billion as of right now. The first one didn't work out.

[Ibagemyoutagem]

Shoot for the stars hope you land on a mountain..... but don't shoot to far or you'll drown in the sea

[H1N1]

It is likely to happen to a few people from any given generation (becoming objectively fabulously wealthy - the value of being a billionaire is relative to the value of money obviously). Given this fact, it is unlikely to happen by accident. Some of those guys who get really fabulously wealthy will have done it by design. How much you make, whether it's 10 mil, 100 mil, or 1 bil, is largely a matter of luck, as has been said - right place, right time, right idea, and excellent execution. I know 3 billionaires, of which one has inherited their money (highly responsible and astute though), one made it as a result of the collapse of the USSR, and one made it through a brilliant piece of engineering which he claims took several thousand attempts to get right.

Neither of the two who made it themselves made it because it was their primary goal. One was just trying not to be poor anymore, and one just had a fanatical belief in the quality of his idea, and his ability to develop it. His primary motivator was that he had a brilliant solution to a problem in every household. Solving the problem was his driving motivation - having solved it, it was inevitable that he would become staggeringly rich as a result, but it could just as easily have made him 100 mil as what ended up happening.

Your friend may end up being a billionaire. I don't see any reason to hate on him - people who are driven by achieving financial success tend to do very well for themselves. And what are you going to say if he falls short and only makes millions instead? 'Haha, you're not a billionaire, your just very rich with a lifestyle I envy, I told you you were wrong and it would end up like this'?

[jamaicabound]

(09-24-2015 03:30 PM)el conquistador Wrote:  

People in the 80's used to say "I'm going to be a millionaire." It doesn't have the same ring to it anymore. So now, ambitious young people are saying 'billionaire'.

"I want to be a millionaire/billionaire" is a terrible goal. It's like having the New Years resolution "I want to be healthier." It's so vague, difficult to define and very far away at this point.

It will also be extremely difficult for anybody to achieve that goal. Why? Because what makes you think you'll keep going once you get past 5,50 or 500 million? If your goal is purely financial, you'll take your foot off the pedal once you're in the 'one percent'. It's human nature.

I agree with what an earlier poster said about "putting the horse before the cart". In most cases (Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Jack Ma) the billionaire status came as a by-product of impacting the lives of millions. I doubt it was ever the goal of any of them as 22-year-old.

Honestly, I think only a billionaire like Warren Buffett was conscious of the 'money game'. The other people I mentioned, Dr. Dre, Richard Branson etc. focussed on creating. The billions came indirectly and was never the objective in the beginning.

Book Recommendation: The book 'Obliquity' argues that our goals are best achieved 'indirectly'. For example, if you achieve an enviable lifestyle then hot women will come with it. If you create a worldwide brand then the billions will come by itself. Good read.

Finally, the weight of responsibility and loss of peace of mind that comes with being a billionaire might not be worth it. If somebody offered me a check for a billion or a low-maintenance/passive, $10,000 a month for the rest of my life I know which I would choose.

You bring up a great point. Most of the billionaires or multi millionaires I hear talk all seem to say if you have an end game your not going to make it.

Meaning if your looking to start something to cash out, your passion isn't what your doing it's money and if your not living and breathing whatever it is you do, your not going to hit that level.

I think Mark Cuban is one who really espouses this but I hear lots of successful people say it and I'd have to say I agree.

I also have to say I strongly agree with what el conquestador said about vague goals. I just recently have been focusing on goal setting but one common sense thing that has recently occured to me is goals are different than wishes or even endgames. For example I have ecommerce stuff going so blogging and content creation is more of a hobby but for years I've said things like I want my traffic to such and such site to be 2000 per day or whatever. It's easy to put that number out there but what does it mean and how will I get there. A better goal would be I want to put out at least 5 new articles per week and 5 new youtube videos. By setting a goal of something like that A. it's measurable, I either hit that goal or I didnt and B. if I hit that goal the traffic goal of say 2000 per day is likely to come as a byproduct of that goal.

[pitt]

I find it interesting how ''every'' member here knows a billionaire. There are no more than 2000 billionaires in the world (not all are americans), yet many of you know a billionaire. Are you sure that they are billionaires? Billionaires are so rare that I am highly sceptical on the number of members here that personally know a billionaire.

[H1N1]

Quite sure. £ billionaires several times over, not $ billionaires.

[Peregrine]

(09-24-2015 08:06 PM)pitt Wrote:  

I find it interesting how ''every'' member here knows a billionaire. There are no more than 2000 billionaires in the world (not all are americans), yet many of you know a billionaire. Are you sure that they are billionaires? Billionaires are so rare that I am highly sceptical on the number of members here that personally know a billionaire.

There's also a difference between personally knowing and briefly coming into contact with someone.

For example, I've met a billionaire (confirmed by Forbes). He bought me lunch. Would I say I know him? Of course not.

[Gringuito]

(09-25-2015 03:19 AM)H1N1 Wrote:  

Quite sure. £ billionaires several times over, not $ billionaires.

http://www.forbes.com/billionaires/list

If by £ billionaires several times over you mean 10B USD or more, then you know multiple people from a group of 124 people on the planet. That's pretty good. Even if you lower the mark to just 4B USD then it's less than 500 people. You should really think about leveraging those relationships.

I've also met and had lunch with billionaires. Much more with "poor" 9-figure net worth guys.

To the OP, good luck to your friend. I was a multimillionaire in my 20s quite a while ago. But I never thought about making millions/billions. I just focused on building my businesses. That took up all of my time.

[El Chinito loco]

(09-20-2015 12:33 PM)pitt Wrote:  

I tell him that I see him having a great future but making one billion before you are 30 is very very hard, taking into account that he is dominican and this country (DR) doesn't offer him many opportunities, his goal may not be so realistic. Obviously I didn't really say that to him and I don't want to discourage him.

Are guys in their 20's planning to become billionaires before 30 not being realistic with their goals?

Not only are there very few billionaires in the world but most of them are heavily concentrated in the developed world or in the fastest growing developing countries ie. China and India. Some countries punch way above their weight when it comes to billionaires..ie. Taiwan (population 20 million) has 33 bilionaires but they are also heavily involved in the tech industry and global branding.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_co...llionaires

There are very few self made billionaires in the rest of the developing world though.

Most billionaires in those developing countries tend to be oligarchs controlling commodities sectors or from families with generational wealth. A lot of them got there through sheer corruption, murder, and or other very machiavellian circumstances. You don't become an oligarch by just hard work.

Even if he has a brilliant idea the laws protecting entrepeneurs and R&D is so low in that part of the world he'd also have to formulate a good plan to market his idea without it being stolen by some established elite first.

Seeing as how he's from the DR and its not exactly known for producing global business i'd say he's probably delusional. Although, stranger things have happened.

[Lime]

(09-20-2015 01:34 PM)Tuthmosis Wrote:  

It also speaks to his naivete: clear in his fundamental failure to understand the context in which he's growing up. Being 22 and ambitious in 2015 isn't the same as being 22 and ambitious in 1980 or even 1990.

Could you or others elaborate on this? What are the differences?

[H1N1]

(09-25-2015 08:12 PM)Gringuito Wrote:  

(09-25-2015 03:19 AM)H1N1 Wrote:  

Quite sure. £ billionaires several times over, not $ billionaires.

http://www.forbes.com/billionaires/list

If by £ billionaires several times over you mean 10B USD or more, then you know multiple people from a group of 124 people on the planet. That's pretty good. Even if you lower the mark to just 4B USD then it's less than 500 people. You should really think about leveraging those relationships.

I've also met and had lunch with billionaires. Much more with "poor" 9-figure net worth guys.

To the OP, good luck to your friend. I was a multimillionaire in my 20s quite a while ago. But I never thought about making millions/billions. I just focused on building my businesses. That took up all of my time.

I mean net worth between £2-6 billion. I'm not up on the exchange rates, but very roughly $1 billion is £600 million, so would not count as a billionaire here in the UK (we like to set the bar a bit higher than you yanks ).

I went to excellent schools due to parental sacrifice, so despite not having much personally, I am good friends with the children of 2 of the 3. The third one offered me a job as his right hand man, and spent a few months courting me. I wasn't able to accept, as I had already started a business, which I still have, and had employees depending on me. I still question whether I was right to turn it down, but I stay in touch with this chap from time to time.

[Suits]

(09-25-2015 06:52 PM)Peregrine Wrote:  

There's also a difference between personally knowing and briefly coming into contact with someone.

For example, I've met a billionaire (confirmed by Forbes). He bought me lunch. Would I say I know him? Of course not.

Hey, no worries man. Maybe next you can pay for me instead.