Real Estate Agent · Circleville, OH · Member since 2008 · 633 posts · 488 votes
I've been pondering this over the past few months when I was out of town on vacation.
I'm curious about the possibility of setting a lifetime goal of developing a company with a 1b net worth over a lifetime.
I've delt with individuals from the most of the financial spectrum. From a joe six pack with $1 in the bank and no assets all the way up to a individual with over $150m in net worth.
So I'm quite curious about the goal of developing a net worth of $1b starting out at 0 and working up to the $1b goal over many many years.
I don't see how it's impossible if you're young (As am I) In a little over a year my brother and I should be able to break the $1m net worth goal in about 2 years from start to finish, starting at nothing.
1B Net worth. Ya it is possible. As a matter of fact, the Forbes 400 is littered with people who started with no money whatsoever. Sam Zell, Kirk Kerkorian, David Murdock, Alex Spanos, Thomas Flatley, Jorge Perez, Sheldon Adelson, George Argyos, Roland Arnall, Ronald Burkle, Wayne Huizenga, and a whole bunch of others.
Someone posted earlier about Sam Zell. I highly admire him as well. He had $35 in his wallet when he was 23 years old. As of right now I think he's worth over $5Billion. Started with a small 3 unit building which he bought for no money down by exchanging management services for a cut of the deal. As of 2000 his companies owned over 220,000 units of apartments, and over 135 Million square feet of commercial real estate, this was all done in less than 40 years. Is it possible?? If you think it is, then it is.
Also look up Kirk Kerkorian and a guy named Philip Ruffin. Kirk dropped out of 8th grade, and now owns half of the casinos on the Las Vegas strip. Ruffin started out flat broke, now owns RE all over the country including 40 acres on Las Vegas Blvd. the list goes on and on.... A guy named Stephen Seigel is on his way, google him he bought his first apartment building in his 30's in 2001, flipped it a year later and made $4Million. Now his companies own 20 hotels, 3 casinos and a bunch of other stuff. Yes, it is possible..... will you have to sacrifice a lot? No doubt.... just depends how far you can go and how bad you want to know what can be accomplished.
But, what do I know. I'm not a billionaire just a 25 year old trying to duplicate what Sam Zell did, and so far I'm ahead of where he was. Hopefully it continues to stay that way.
To make that kind of money from nothing you would have benefit from a “positive†random event. Serendipity if you will. AKA Black Swan.
Remember, NO money's been lost, just transferred to somebody who'll keep it longer. The real key would be what you would do if you made the Billion? There are 2 problems when it comes to money. Not enough and too much. I have seen both destroy.
It depends if the future is going to mirror the recent (last 70 years)financial past. As previously stated,several have done it (most notably "tech" oriented people),therefore at least IT WAS possible. I am 58,and have seen a number of men go from nothing to approximately $150 million in personal net worth, over an approximate 30 year period. They all made fewer mistakes than their financial peers,were pretty large risk takers,and involved themselves in either public companies,highly leveraged LARGE acquisitions or oil and gas. You definitely do need some luck,or providential oversight (for the Christians among us). I think most of the older guys here would agree that you need to consistently make good investments with few mistakes to amass even $5M in LIQUID,LEGITIMATE net worth over a period of 10-15 years. (I am not referring to bloated financials as the result of a bundle of highly leveraged large assets.)
I do not believe the historically employed techniques for acquiring wealth will be as successful as things that meet the need of the "global" community,and further that we have a very, very long recovery in the US financial markets.(If it comes at all.)
Most extraordinary leaps in net worth seem to occur as a result of "new" developments or "unique" investments.
Think outside the box is my advice to the younger guys,
It's also possible that 1B will buy you a new Mercedes 20 years from now... -
I have a different take on the $1 Billion dollars concept. My personal goal is to create $1 Billion dollars in wealth for my investors. I believe if I achieve that (which I track monthly) I will be far better off than just being worth $1 Billion dollars.
I speak my goal because my intention is to achieve it!
While I don't know that answer I can tell you what I do know.
My life did a 180 when I discovered the power of relationships. I say power because that's what it is. When you meet the right people your really just increasing your own luck. Some have said I'm the luckiest guy they know but that's BS. 15 years ago I didn't have a pot to pi$$ in and had a very negative attitude. And guess what, I was really unlucky and broke.
I can explain exactly what I did differently but this isn't the place.
Once I discovered that the right people can make a difference I focused all my energy on this and everything changed. This year I ate dinner 6 times with (I think) will be the next Gov of Wisc. This isn't luck, I just decided I wanted to meet him, so I did, and he introduced me to every Senator and congressman in the state.
Relationships are everything and it's your choice to foster this. Can you hit a billion? I'm thinking it's just a matter of meeting the right people and helping others achieve.
After contemplating if I shoudl post a response in this thread, here is the trigger pulled. (and no offense to anyone, specifically the OG poster)
Yes or No, who cares (in my opinion). Anything is possible, but I don't see a need to even have such a goal. $1B is more than you can ever spend in 3 lifetimes (again, my opinion) and is an over inflated goal. My goal remains in the double digit millions as that will be enough for my family, my kids and their kids to have very comfortable lives and always have a nest egg.
I do like Kevin's response the best, creating $1B in net worth for clients is certainly a goal worth achieving! :cool:
I read a book called “Succeeding†about a year ago and it had a lot of good commentary on this subject. One of the biggest takeaways was setting the RIGHT goals…not ones that will impress others. I agree with those that have said a billion in net worth is more than one could ever possibly need and is mostly just for showing off.
Those that commented on having REAL net worth are spot-on too. Having a million in net worth with $9M in debt is a lot different than a million in net worth with no debt.
It is certainly possible to achieve that net worth in a single lifetime and many have done it. Luck and a propensity to take risks when you have more money than you will ever need are ingredients to get there in most of the cases I have seen.
Those that commented on having REAL net worth are spot-on too. Having a million in net worth with $9M in debt is a lot different than a million in net worth with no debt.
True, and correct me if I am wrong, but Net worth equals assets minus liabilities. So if one has $9M in Net Worth, they have (for example) $12M in assets and $3M in liabilities for a total NET Worth of $9M, correct?
I know this post is old but very interesting. I have a friend with a net worth that clears $100 million. I asked him how did he achieve this(he started with nothing) and he told me that he never dreamed of being worth $100 million, when he started his dream was being worth a thousand bucks and once he achieved that his dream grew to two thousand and so on and so forth.
He told me to make goals that are reachable so that way you won't consider yourself a failure and every time you reach your previous goal it's like a dream come true.
I forgot to mention that I've read books and articles about a majority of all the billionaires(self-made) and they all said that they received that achievement through hard work, sacrifice, etc but most of all LUCK...