Gates: Don’t Try to Be a Billionaire, It’s Overrated

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You know, only a billionaire could say something like being a billionaire is "overrated." Thanks for the advice Bill, but I think I'd like to give it a try anyway. ;)

I can understand wanting to have millions of dollars, there’s a certain freedom, meaningful freedom, that comes with that. But once you get much beyond that, I have to tell you, it’s the same hamburger.
 
I think the biggest issue would be all the people and groups wanting your money. I mean look at all the hoohaa Jobs created when people found out he didn't give squat to charity.
 
To be fair, Gates is one of the least eccentric billionaires. He's no Zuckerberg but nor is he like most european and middle eastern billionaries with their frigate sized yachts and giant empty towers .
 
To be fair, Gates is one of the least eccentric billionaires. He's no Zuckerberg but nor is he like most european and middle eastern billionaries with their frigate sized yachts and giant empty towers .

You're forgetting about his fully wired home that is BUILT INTO THE SIDE OF A MOUNTAIN.
 
Have to say I admire Gates quite a bit. He did a lot of great things for personal computing, some bad sure, but overall I'd count his baby Microsoft as a net positive. While he's insanely rich he's dedicated his "retirement" too using his billions to help those most in need. You've got to admire that.

While I have no personal experience what can you do in day to day life with a few billion that you can't do with say a a few hundred million short of buying controlling interest in large corporations and the like? After a certain point it seems like it'd just become a number that has little meaning in how you live your life.
 
You're absolutely right, Bill. Since you don't like having billions, I'll offer my help and take some of that money off your hands. It's the least I can do.
 
Unless of course you're a dick and you want to use your money to have control over people. Then the more you have the better.
 
I think the biggest issue would be all the people and groups wanting your money. I mean look at all the hoohaa Jobs created when people found out he didn't give squat to charity.

:rolleyes:
 
I'm no billionaire, but I agree with him.

Teenagers often see getting money and getting rich as the number one thing to strive for.

In real life, those with lots of money are seldomly more happy than those without. In many cases wealthy people are less happy than those without significant wealth.

There is something to be said for striving to earn enough money to be able to eat healthily, afford healthcare own a safe car, and maintain shelter over your head, but above that, all money buys is things, and the older you get, the more you realize how irrelevant things are.

If I could do it all over again, I'd choose a college major and a profession that I was really interested in, and excited about. Something I would want to do whether someone was paying me or not.

As it stands now, I am working 60 hour work weeks at a job I absolutely loathe. Sure, it pays well, and I have some financial stability, and can buy a decent car, and own a pretty nice gaming rig, but I rarely get to use these things, as I am too busy between life and work.

So where I think Bill was going is really that wealth is never the goal. if you choose your direction in life based off of what will get you the most money, chances are you'll spend a large portion of your life being pretty unhappy.
 
Maybe if he gave me a billion I could find out for myself ;)
 
I'm sorry, but I have lots of plans for what I would do with billions of dollars.
 
You're absolutely right, Bill. Since you don't like having billions, I'll offer my help and take some of that money off your hands. It's the least I can do.

You may have noticed that he has donated his entire fortune to his (and his wife's) charitable foundation, the "Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation" working to eliminate horrible diseases and improve education all across the world.

Their work has been so impressive that Warren Buffet also decided to leave his entire wealth to the foundation.

he has realized that money is not what makes him happy, and has decided to give it away and do good with it, rather than sing it to satisfy his own overindulgence like so many actors, musicians and professional athletes do.
 
only a retarded rich person would say something as stupid as that. Hey kids money don't buy happiness I only have 15 Lamborghini and Ferrari's and really there's nothing else for me to buy now so this money is over rated, mean while everyone else is struggling to pay utility bills and put food on the table. Some people just don't know... Bill gates was never raised in a poor family. He has always been in an upper class family so how can you actually expect him to know the feeling of needing? Sure he may donate to charity but when you never experienced something for your self you just can't know what it's like.

If he thinks his billions are so overrated, he should make a reality show where he gets a part time job at Walmart and has to live off the income for an entire year so he can understand poverty, and only then I would challenge him to make such a stupid statement that having billions is overrated. :mad:
 
Zarathustra[H];1037945413 said:
You may have noticed that he has donated his entire fortune to his (and his wife's) charitable foundation, the "Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation" working to eliminate horrible diseases and improve education all across the world.

Their work has been so impressive that Warren Buffet also decided to leave his entire wealth to the foundation.

he has realized that money is not what makes him happy, and has decided to give it away and do good with it, rather than sing it to satisfy his own overindulgence like so many actors, musicians and professional athletes do.

Left your humor in your other pants this morning I see. :p
 
only a retarded rich person would say something as stupid as that. Hey kids money don't buy happiness I only have 15 Lamborghini and Ferrari's and really there's nothing else for me to buy now so this money is over rated, mean while everyone else is struggling to pay utility bills and put food on the table. Some people just don't know... Bill gates was never raised in a poor family. He has always been in an upper class family so how can you actually expect him to know the feeling of needing? Sure he may donate to charity but when you never experienced something for your self you just can't know what it's like.

If he thinks his billions are so overrated, he should make a reality show where he gets a part time job at Walmart and has to live off the income for an entire year so he can understand poverty, and only then I would challenge him to make such a stupid statement that having billions is overrated. :mad:

He never said money didn't buy happiness, he said having excessive money doesn't make you happier or matter. So either you are trolling or being obtuse. Which is it?
 
I'd say the lifestyles differences between billionaires and millionaires are stark. Billionaires like Gates and Buffet are philanthropists. They are also not gaudy with their wealth. Millionaires, like professional athletes or successful actors and musicians, are extremely "vocal" with their wealth and are philanthropists in the sense they have some token charity they donate to or tweet about.
 
only a retarded rich person would say something as stupid as that. Hey kids money don't buy happiness I only have 15 Lamborghini and Ferrari's and really there's nothing else for me to buy now so this money is over rated, mean while everyone else is struggling to pay utility bills and put food on the table. Some people just don't know... Bill gates was never raised in a poor family. He has always been in an upper class family so how can you actually expect him to know the feeling of needing? Sure he may donate to charity but when you never experienced something for your self you just can't know what it's like.

If he thinks his billions are so overrated, he should make a reality show where he gets a part time job at Walmart and has to live off the income for an entire year so he can understand poverty, and only then I would challenge him to make such a stupid statement that having billions is overrated. :mad:

He's not talking about the difference between a billionaire the someone in the middle or even lower class. Obviously the lifestyle difference is dramatic. He's talking about the difference between a millionaire and a billionaire.
 
While I'd strive for a chance to get a billion, I guess Bill must've known something else since he's in that position. And because of that he's more credible than any average guy who denies having a billion dollars being overrated. Or, as my cynical side say: capitalists, tsk.
 
I'd say the lifestyles differences between billionaires and millionaires are stark. Billionaires like Gates and Buffet are philanthropists. They are also not gaudy with their wealth. Millionaires, like professional athletes or successful actors and musicians, are extremely "vocal" with their wealth and are philanthropists in the sense they have some token charity they donate to or tweet about.

Perobably because they've been ludicrously wealthy for so long that they've gotten over the whole "showing off" thing. :p
 
Zarathustra[H];1037945388 said:
I'm no billionaire, but I agree with him.

Teenagers often see getting money and getting rich as the number one thing to strive for.

In real life, those with lots of money are seldomly more happy than those without. In many cases wealthy people are less happy than those without significant wealth.

There is something to be said for striving to earn enough money to be able to eat healthily, afford healthcare own a safe car, and maintain shelter over your head, but above that, all money buys is things, and the older you get, the more you realize how irrelevant things are.

If I could do it all over again, I'd choose a college major and a profession that I was really interested in, and excited about. Something I would want to do whether someone was paying me or not.

As it stands now, I am working 60 hour work weeks at a job I absolutely loathe. Sure, it pays well, and I have some financial stability, and can buy a decent car, and own a pretty nice gaming rig, but I rarely get to use these things, as I am too busy between life and work.

So where I think Bill was going is really that wealth is never the goal. if you choose your direction in life based off of what will get you the most money, chances are you'll spend a large portion of your life being pretty unhappy.

This is a completely retarded statement you will only hear from people with money. I work a job I love that pays miserably and I can assure you being broke isn't happiness or anything even close. That is nothing more than a BS lie perpetuated by those intent on keeping the majority under their feet.

Money can't buy happiness, but not having any money sure as hell can't either. I had a job that I loathed and made a ton of money and gave it up. That was the single stupidest decision I have made in my life. Given the opportunity again, I will gladly take a high paying job that I hate every day over one I love. At least then the time that really matters (the time with my family) can be actually enjoyed instead of telling my kids we can't do something because there wasn't enough on this weeks paycheck. :mad:
 
Bill is lame, so is his life. He has no idea how to spend his money or have fun.
 
I would love to be a billionare. I would just keep the news of my wealth hidden from everyone :D
 
You're absolutely right, Bill. Since you don't like having billions, I'll offer my help and take some of that money off your hands. It's the least I can do.

He does give A LOT of his wealth to charity.
 
I would love to be a billionare. I would just keep the news of my wealth hidden from everyone :D

Not possible sadly. There is no way to make any ammount of money without at least one person knowing how much you have and if it is a large ammount like that acquired legitimately then probably no less than 10 people at any given time know how much you have or are worth and it's only a matter of time before one of them tells a friend or family member then another 10 will know.

Unless you plan to keep the money in a safe burried under your floor and assasinate anyone who delt with your money, in which case you might be able to hide it :)
 
I think the biggest issue would be all the people and groups wanting your money. I mean look at all the hoohaa Jobs created when people found out he didn't give squat to charity.

Exactly, if you have say $20 million, you can live pretty damn comfortably as long as you don't try to live like a "rock star"... however if you got billions you can live like a rock star, or you could live comfortably, and then also be like mother fucking santa claus and make tons of people happy, like randomly donating a million bucks to some charity...

I'm sorry if I had $20 mill, while I might donate some money, no way I'd give away a million bucks
 
I don't know what the hell he's talking about but certainly Sir Richard Branson has no problem living his life the way he wants.:rolleyes:
 
Not possible sadly. There is no way to make any ammount of money without at least one person knowing how much you have and if it is a large ammount like that acquired legitimately then probably no less than 10 people at any given time know how much you have or are worth and it's only a matter of time before one of them tells a friend or family member then another 10 will know.

Unless you plan to keep the money in a safe burried under your floor and assasinate anyone who delt with your money, in which case you might be able to hide it :)

as long as only a few know about it and don't try to mooch, i can live with that :D


I would hardly have to spend any of it to enjoy it. Just knowing that I wouldn't have to go back to work and having a crap load of free time would be enough to make me happy.
 
I don't know what the hell he's talking about but certainly Sir Richard Branson has no problem living his life the way he wants.:rolleyes:

Again I think the point is you have 10-20-30 million dollars. Maybe 100 million. But there is a point and its well below 1 billion dollars, where more money really doesn't increase your standard of living.

You are still in the biggest houses, with servants, and yahts, clubs and so on.

Even then most of this is just upscale stuff that people making 200k-300k a year are already doing. They have their 1.5 million dollar house, driving a 911GT, go out in the lake in their 250k boat and so on.

I would really question whether or not with out getting into human hunting, if even millionaires can really have that much more fun then a guy making 300k a year.
 
Even then most of this is just upscale stuff that people making 200k-300k a year are already doing. They have their 1.5 million dollar house, driving a 911GT, go out in the lake in their 250k boat and so on.

There is no way a family income of $200-300k buys that. More like $800k.
 
I don't know what the hell he's talking about but certainly Sir Richard Branson has no problem living his life the way he wants.:rolleyes:

Yeah, but that guy is a hedonist playboy piece of shit, and shouldn't be a role model for anyone... :rolleyes:
 
He does give A LOT of his wealth to charity.

Yes I know that. He didn't give any to me though. I want a slice of his pie dammit. Surely he has enough to give everyone in the country a million bucks. What's $300 million to him? :p
 
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