According to Forbes, as of March 2019, there were 2,153 billionaires in the world. The US has the highest absolute number of billionaires followed by China and the rest are scattered throughout the world.
This represents an extremely small proportion of people in the world. Even if we assumed that all the billionaires were in the US, this number of people would represent only 0.0013% of the adult population and 0.00067% of the entire population. It’s an almost impossible feat to reach. Even those with more than $50 million in net worth are about 0.003% of the global adult population as can be seen below in what I call the pyramid of the rich.
Source: Credit Suisse
If you listen to presidential candidates, the mainstream media and event social media, everyone seems to be obsessed with this tiny group of billionaires.
One of the ways I market Cash Chronicles is through Instagram. I have a personal account for friends, family comedy accounts that make me laugh and maybe a few ladies here and there. Then I have the Cash Chronicles account which I post to every day. I follow back anyone who gives me a follow and I also follow accounts that have themes that touch on similar topics that this blog touches on: finance, investing, real estate, markets, economics and motivation.
Instagram tends to be dominated by the late twenties to mid thirties crowd, while the younger ones prefer Snapchat or now Tik Tok. So in following finance related pages on Instagram, you can get a good sense of how millennials and generation Z look at wealth, motivation, money and success and it can be pretty worrisome.
I constantly seem to see posts that idolize billionaires, especially the tech billionaires like Elon Musk, Mark Zucherberg, Jeff Bezos and infamously as of late, Adam Neuman. I also see a number of posts on more traditionally known billionaires like Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and of course Donald Trump. Even if people don’t necessarily idolize billionaires just all of the the focus on them seems to pull our actions. I see a ton of chatter on social media and investing websites about whether to go long or short Tesla or whether Netflix will be able to handle the coming competition from Disney and Apple. I don’t see as much discussion on the billionaires or business strategy around Wal-Mart, Paychex or Santander Bank.
On the other hand, why would people focus on those billionaires like the Waltons? They don’t have the sexy billionaire story that Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos do. Making money fast, billionaires at a young age, dizzying growth and world changing market disrupters that succeed in taking “moon shots” as some like to say.
The Obsession Comes From Within
Take a step back for a moment and ask yourself, why are we being bombarded with billionaires all the time? Besides the fact that one is president of the U.S., have you ever thought about why the media gives so much coverage to these guys (and they are mostly guys)? The media is subject to supply and demand just like any market. They are searching for ears, eye balls and clicks and they have found out that there are a lot of people that really want to hear about billionaires. Whether people love them or love to hate them, there is a portion of the public that just can’t seem to get enough of them.
Politicians love to attack them because the level of inequality makes some people feel like the system is rigged against them. Others look at billionaires as role models, people who “made it” and embody our cultural narrative of beating the odds to become fabulously wealthy. Either way, the discussion seems to cater to our insecurities and our dreams.
There is a valid argument for progressive taxes and people paying their fair share. There is also a valid argument that people with vast amounts of money wield huge political influence that allows them unprecedented access and the potential to bend the rules of the game in their favor. I am not saying billionaires don’t have these influences and shouldn’t pay their fair share. However, the idea that billionaires shouldn’t even be allowed to exist isn’t fair either. Why shouldn’t any of us have the shot to build a world class company or capitalize on a life changing idea?
This leads me to think there is a bit of self loathing, finger pointing and even envy in those that claim there shouldn’t be any billionaires. Just the existence of a billionaire feeds their sense that society is unjustly skewed and unequal and that we don’t even have a chance to make it. There have always been rich people and the fact that they are rich in itself doesn’t mean that society as a whole is completely unfair. The focus on billionaires plays into the narrative of people that think this way because it offers an excuse for where they are. It’s easier to point the finger at a billionaire then to get your own economic house in order, get a more relevant education or move to a place where there are more opportunities. Billionaires represent the bogeyman that pulls the strings of their lives and allows them to conveniently ignore their own personal responsibility for their position in life.
On the other hand, those that look up to billionaires and see them as the embodiment of some dream also ignore the realities of their existence. If you’ve never had money and never known anyone that had money, you may feel that a billionaire just has something the rest of us don’t but all want. Why wouldn’t you want a person “smart” enough to make themselves a billionaire running things? They solved the riddle of business, now they can solve our other problems. These people see the billionaire as the embodiment of some secret sauce and maybe if they find out more about them, maybe some of that billionaire pixie dust will rub off on them.
For other people, the billionaire represents the ideal that anyone can achieve and one day be rich and their cares will be gone. It must be nice to be that rich, it gives me hope that one day I can be that rich and all my problems will go away. This is false thinking though. As you get more money you still will have problems, you just will have different problems. There is no such thing as a life without any loss, pain or adversity, it’s just a matter of what type of loss, pain or adversity you deal with. The hope that if you have a chance to be a billionaire then you have the chance to solve all your problems is also a naive way to look at life.
Whichever category people may fall in, the media is well aware of these types of thinking and the coverage of billionaires plays into all of them which is why billionaires are so talked about. They ignite interest across the political and social spectrum and the media is more than happy to cater to it all.
Back to Reality
I think the latter mindset, that anyone can become a billionaire, is what tends to dominate social media. I see motivational posts all the time about how You Will Become a Billionaire. Really? The overwhelming odds are that almost no one on Instagram will become a billionaire.
It’s the end result people are falling in love with. Not the work, the setbacks or the risks that people take to become billionaires or even just to become successful. It’s great that people want to achieve things but chances are if you are working for money, admiration or the acceptance of your peers, then you will quit long before you even become a millionaire, let alone a billionaire. The adulation of billionaires plays into our insecurities that what we have is not enough, that we need some great idea or some great achievement which garners attention and tons of money to be complete.
If you really look at billionaires though, it’s likely none of those things are really what drives them. Many of them love the process of their work or love the idea that they are changing the world. They are willing to take outrageous risks, sacrifice family and friends and endure the unrelenting spotlight of being widely known to the public as rich, to do it.
This begs the question of what’s really important to you? I would be willing to bet that if you go back in time and told a young Bill Gates or Warren Buffet, that they would one day be a billionaire, they would be surprised or wouldn’t care. For them it’s about following their passion and their dreams. Your passion and your dreams come from within. Heck, the maker of Spanx is a billionaire, she just wanted to make her figure look better and took it into her own hands to do it. Chasing a result will not leave you fulfilled, chasing a dream and a passion will. Chasing that passion will help you overcome those down moments and the adversity that you are almost certain to face in your journey. It will drive you when the odds are stacked against you and nothing is going right. Dreams and passion, not for money or attention, but something greater than yourself, feeds us in these moments of adversity and push us forward and that drive has nothing to do with money.
So if social media or the mainstream media has you feeling like you need to be a billionaire, I encourage you to take a step back, think about your own journey and what you really want outside of yourself. No matter how crazy it sounds or how weird someone may tell you it is, your passion can offer returns in life like no other and they don’t have to be monetary returns. So take a deep breath and remind yourself: it’s ok to be you, it’s ok to have a dream or passion that society doesn’t reward with a ton of money, it’s ok to chase that dream and yes, it’s ok not to be a billionaire.
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