when the rich say 'ill give 95% of my billion away over my lifetime' explained

[franky1]

when the rich say 'ill give 95% of my billion away over my lifetime' they do not mean if they have $1b today they will be at $50m at death. what they actually mean is:

they have $1b in a bank account at 6% interest
meaning it earns $60m a year.
they give just $50m yearly interest away for the next 19 years ... (totalling the $950m pledge)
yet keeping the $1b lump plus earning $10m of personal spending per year

also the % interest is usually more than 6% but they only give 5% to meet their humanitarian/altruistic hustle pledge

enjoy that thought next time the rich try to make it sound like they are going to give up their wealth for humanity.. because reality is they are not.

[Ben Barubal]

  Most rich people make a lot of promises that, in the end, always fall short of the truth. There is also the saying "The rich get richer and the poor get poorer." This saying is also true.

  There are also many rich people who say that they will help with the events, but in reality, it is also true that those promises are not fulfilled. It's rare that I see billionaires who always help those in need, especially during times of calamity. Only a few people know whether it is the rich who really care about the poor or the so-called philanthropists.

[Upgrade00]

At the end of the day it's still their wealth which they acquired and can choose to spend whichever way they want. Acts of altruism or humanitarian services can be done willingly and should not be excessively scrutinized.

they have $1b in a bank account at 6% interest
meaning it earns $60m a year.
they give just $50m yearly interest away for the next 19 years ... (totalling the $950m pledge)
yet keeping the $1b lump plus earning $10m of personal spending per year

In this example, at the end of the 19 year period they should have earned a extra $1,140,000 from interests, totalling $2.1 billion networth but they've given away $950 million away already of their money (cause yeah, the interest is also their money). This is now almost 50% of their entire networth giving to charity helping millions of lives around the world.

enjoy that thought next time the rich try to make it sound like they are going to give up their wealth for humanity.. because reality is they are not.

They did!!

[NewRanger]

This means that he can only give 5% and that is from the profit of his deposit and not from the net value of his assets. but, it's better than nothing at all and that's what rich people in mathematics always live for. ;.

[davis196]

1.The truly rich people(the top 1%) usually don't keep all their money in bank accounts. They diversify their assets.
2.I agree with what you wrote, but I don't agree with the "put money in a bank account and wait for the interest rate" thing.
Usually the rich people declare that they will put their assets in their own charity foundations, in order to deduct taxes. AFAIK, charity foundations are tax free in many countries around the world. All the "rich people donating money for charity" BS is mostly done in order to spend less money on taxes.

[Ucy]

I think one of the reasons they say that is to avoid being criticized for not doing much with their wealth in the midst of poverty and societal needs.
It may have crossed their minds or they are likely encouraged by those who manage them to giveaway so they don't get into problems for piling up riches for themselves like the "Rich Fool" who piled up so much riches and never lived to enjoy it. .
Riches are given for the benefit society/people not to be piled up for your future enjoyments..

I think there could be those who really giveaway so much just to feel better or not to feel too guilty... but not without expecting something in return from the receiver/society. If they do not expect anything in return they would be giving without anyone (except maybe their wives) knowing.

[Plaguedeath]

they have $1b in a bank account at 6% interest
meaning it earns $60m a year.
they give just $50m yearly interest away for the next 19 years ... (totalling the $950m pledge)
yet keeping the $1b lump plus earning $10m of personal spending per year

Don't forget with inflation rate, the average inflation rate is 3%, if you only hold $10M from $1B it means you only hold 1% interest, but you're lose $3,3M your money value. But that's just a small argument with your idea, we're not yet talk about the rich's businesses or other way where he keep making money.

Most people only amazed with the "numbers", but they're not looking about the "percentage".

The rich who make $300M per month will not lose anything when he give $3M, it's just 1% of his monthly income.
While the poor who make $1,000 per month, he give $500 because he care with the other unlucky people, even the amount looks small, but it's 50% of his monthly income.

[_act_]

when the rich say 'ill give 95% of my billion away over my lifetime' they do not mean if they have $1b today they will be at $50m at death. what they actually mean is:

they have $1b in a bank account at 6% interest
meaning it earns $60m a year.
they give just $50m yearly interest away for the next 19 years ... (totalling the $950m pledge)
yet keeping the $1b lump plus earning $10m of personal spending per year

I was thinking how are some rich men thought they are wise but foolish to me for saying that they will give almost all their wealth to charity, I did not know that the money they earn after when they said it are not added. Which means they will even still make more money becuase they are business tycoons. But please can you give me some links I can read about this? I have noticed that rich men are very wise when it comes to money and wealth. And this is another example that rich people are just using to fool people.

[franky1]

But please can you give me some links I can read about this? I have noticed that rich men are very wise when it comes to money and wealth. And this is another example that rich people are just using to fool people.

you can easily google things like warren buffets "giving pledge" which he "says" will give 99% of his wealth.. but when you look at the details he actually says "distribute" 4% annually the amount of the shares he retains"

well when you look at berkshire hathaway, it offers more then 4% profits on investments... he's not getting poorer..
..
bill gates says he pledges to charity.. the charity ofcourse is a foundation.. the bill and melinda gates foundation (donates to himself) to then fund project that then make profit as a separate trust he can benefit from

[avikz]

when the rich say 'ill give 95% of my billion away over my lifetime' they do not mean if they have $1b today they will be at $50m at death. what they actually mean is:

they have $1b in a bank account at 6% interest
meaning it earns $60m a year.
they give just $50m yearly interest away for the next 19 years ... (totalling the $950m pledge)
yet keeping the $1b lump plus earning $10m of personal spending per year

also the % interest is usually more than 6% but they only give 5% to meet their humanitarian/altruistic hustle pledge

enjoy that thought next time the rich try to make it sound like they are going to give up their wealth for humanity.. because reality is they are not.

That's fine! What's the problem in that? At least they are giving out towards philanthropy. Definitely some people do it as a publicity stunt to increase their reputation and to make their brand more visible. But there are some billionaires who does all this philanthropic works without letting the media know.

It's impossible to find things which are straight as arrow. At the end of the day everything boils down to the business.

[kentrolla]

Yes that's how ultra rich people gain the Messiah sort of image by statements as such which a common person fails to understand and beyond understanding of average person.

But I have never seen any billionaire or businessman keep such a huge amount in their bank account as they usually diversify their investment into different verticals because the interest rate which they get from banks are peanuts and don't catch up with the kind of inflation we are getting to see. Maybe they have much more than that and it's just a part which they hold in their bank account.

[Lucius]

Does anyone around them see the changes caused by the fact that the richest people in the world give money to charity? I just see that ordinary people have less and less, and that those who call themselves philanthropists have more and more - and naive people admire them because they throw crumbs from their table. I can't call it anything other than calming their conscience, because deep down they know that all the wealth they have accumulated has denied many people a normal life.

If someone has $200 billion (regardless of how he earned it), why do millions of people admire him, and at the same time struggle to survive from month to month? If that person wants to be a great man, let him distribute 90% of his wealth to the poor and make a difference in the world, and he will still be an extremely rich man.

[tabas]

So it's all about the interest that earns from their principal amount whether it's deposited in the bank or it's worth of their stocks. I have never thought that it is like that coming from these wealthy people, however I am aware that this is how you make money if you've got a huge money sitting somewhere else and you want to make the most of it. Usually these also go to their foundations, the ones that they have setup and they will even be the one to decide where to deposit and send it for all of their charity works. This is another way for them to avoid taxes depending on the country and how the ruling about taxation and charities on where they are going to do it.

[iv4n]

Rich people don't give if they don't expect something in return... with interest. It's always about investing, rich people "invest" in charities so they have some benefits from that from the other side. In the end, they are in profit and their wealth is growing over time, do we need more facts?

If millionaires/billionaires gave away their money, there would be no hungry and poor people... but the fact is that there are more and more hungry and poor people around, so this story doesn't work anymore.

[Upgrade00]

If someone has $200 billion (regardless of how he earned it), why do millions of people admire him, and at the same time struggle to survive from month to month? If that person wants to be a great man, let him distribute 90% of his wealth to the poor and make a difference in the world, and he will still be an extremely rich man.

Humans admire successful people. It's a natural instinct.

I do not think a wealthy person needs to give up a chunk of there wealth to be great.

[Fortify]

when the rich say 'ill give 95% of my billion away over my lifetime' they do not mean if they have $1b today they will be at $50m at death. what they actually mean is:

they have $1b in a bank account at 6% interest
meaning it earns $60m a year.
they give just $50m yearly interest away for the next 19 years ... (totalling the $950m pledge)
yet keeping the $1b lump plus earning $10m of personal spending per year

also the % interest is usually more than 6% but they only give 5% to meet their humanitarian/altruistic hustle pledge

enjoy that thought next time the rich try to make it sound like they are going to give up their wealth for humanity.. because reality is they are not.

I've never really heard it put like that, it's always been "I'll give away x amount of my wealth during my lifetime" and not a fixed number like a billion. The reality is though that most billionaires may only donate after they die because they've become accustomed to reaching ever higher, it becomes a sort of accumulation competition and they feel like they're stuck in some global ranking. There may be the odd billionaire that worded it the way you suggest, but they're generally not stupid people and don't necessarily care to deceive anyone. Even if they were giving away that money while keeping their wealth, they are still making a massive charitable donation compared to the average person which should be applauded and encouraged.

[DVlog]

when the rich say 'ill give 95% of my billion away over my lifetime' they do not mean if they have $1b today they will be at $50m at death. what they actually mean is:

they have $1b in a bank account at 6% interest
meaning it earns $60m a year.
they give just $50m yearly interest away for the next 19 years ... (totalling the $950m pledge)
yet keeping the $1b lump plus earning $10m of personal spending per year

also the % interest is usually more than 6% but they only give 5% to meet their humanitarian/altruistic hustle pledge

enjoy that thought next time the rich try to make it sound like they are going to give up their wealth for humanity.. because reality is they are not.

I didn't think about it this way. If rich people are actually doing this it's still a great help for people who need it. 50 million can be a small amount compared to 1 billion for that person but how many rich people would have done something like that? What most of them do is spread business and give motivational speeches on podcasts and tv shows. 

By the way, what is the percentage of people who have wealth greater than this and want to donate from its interest? I guess not so many and to be honest i didn't heard any billionaires say something like this before. I know they donate a percent of their wealth to charitable organizations, but all of them don't want to publicize it.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

At the end of the day it's still their wealth which they acquired and can choose to spend whichever way they want. Acts of altruism or humanitarian services can be done willingly and should not be excessively scrutinized.

Hear, hear.  My initial thought was that if the ultra-wealthy give anything away to a decent cause, it's a net positive.  Whether they're lying about it or not....meh.  I've never been the type of person to rage against the rich in general; I have way more of a problem with people who've got too much power and lord it over those of us who have much less, and while it's true that powerful people are often quite wealthy there are rich folks who don't have too much power or at least aren't power-tripping assholes.

I haven't read the entire thread yet.  Is Warren Buffett lying about what he's going to do with all his money when he dies?  I'll go back and read after I post this (bad habit, can't seem to break it).

[franky1]

I've never really heard it put like that, it's always been "I'll give away x amount of my wealth during my lifetime" and not a fixed number like a billion. The reality is though that most billionaires may only donate after they die because they've become accustomed to reaching ever higher, it becomes a sort of accumulation competition and they feel like they're stuck in some global ranking. There may be the odd billionaire that worded it the way you suggest, but they're generally not stupid people and don't necessarily care to deceive anyone. Even if they were giving away that money while keeping their wealth, they are still making a massive charitable donation compared to the average person which should be applauded and encouraged.

ok think of it this way..
warren buffet, bill gates, zuckerberg made pledges YEARS ago. so they should be many pegs lower of their wealth compared to pledge date..
now go look at their positions
                        2010      2023
warren buffet    47bill      118bill
bill gates           53bil      116bill
M zuckerberg      6bil      118bill

point is when they say giving away most of their wealth, but never lose any wealth.. but then you see the small % they do give is a below investment interest amount and is also classed as a taxable write off.. its not all as it seems

[Lucius]

If someone has $200 billion (regardless of how he earned it), why do millions of people admire him, and at the same time struggle to survive from month to month? If that person wants to be a great man, let him distribute 90% of his wealth to the poor and make a difference in the world, and he will still be an extremely rich man.

Humans admire successful people. It's a natural instinct.
I do not think a wealthy person needs to give up a chunk of there wealth to be great.

I don't admire those people, nor would I ever want to be in their shoes, because I'm pretty sure that most of them are not happy people who wake up in the morning without a twinge of conscience that with their way of life make the world the way it is today. People who consider it a success in my opinion have a big problem in distinguishing the good from the bad.

I think that these rich individuals should not give anything and show themselves to the world that they are better than they are, because the facts speak for themselves. Anyone who thinks they need billions of dollars to be happy and successful while at the same time half of humanity is literally starving and has no basic medical care is to me personally someone to be despised not admired.