I am a 20 yr old Ivy league rising junior with a 3.7 GPA. Assuming no risk is too big, what is best approach/career path for making 1 billion dollars before the age of 40?
I get that this is extremely aggressive but was thinking about IB, PE, VC, Start ups. I am currently recruiting for IB for the 2020 summer.
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If you didn't go to a target pre-school, you're shit out of luck buddy :/
I’ve been on the waiting list for my kids since I graduated myself.
I'm so glad I did.
Lol what a dumb goal
If we had the answer to that question we wouldn't be on this website...
Let's all pool our money, who's down!
I suggest aiming lower. Marginal utility from $100mm to $1.0bn is essentially zero.
Orangutan FTW. Pay attention to this person kids. He knows of what he speaks.
Straight cash bro
IB -> PE/VC for some exposure to operational aspects of companies and access to CEOs to pick their brain/learn from them -> Start a company -> Exit the company for initial capital -> Start a fund
This is a dumb idea
Look at the list of billionaires. How'd they make their money? They either A.) inherited a family fortune B.) Started a company, or multiple companies, and built the equity value.
You'll never make it to the billionaires club working for someone else.
While I completely agree, there are some rare cases where someone makes billions working for someone else. Jon Gray comes to mind. But to the point of this thread, it's a really dumb goal. Listen to anything spoken by any billionaire and they all said it was for loving what they're doing, not chasing the dollar signs and commas.
Id go to Jeff bezos divorced wife, and pleasure her to the point she turns me into a sugar baby...... Pure profit baby!!
I’m sensing a /s in your comment, but wasn’t she actually an employee there?
To give an actual answer (although I agree this is a ridiculous question), the only way you're getting there is by selling a company. The best, most senior bankers on Wall Street and the biggest PE guys at MFs aren't worth close to a billion.
Your best bet is do something like banking and then go join some some super early tech startup (or start your own thing) and hope it ends up being worth like $20b and you got some equity. Alternative is to start your own PE/HF, but you need a pretty serious track record to be able to build a fund of that size to make you a billion and I doubt that's happening by the time you're 40.
bingo
If we are talking a bil, joining a startup is unlikely to cut it unless you happen to be one of the first employees at a Google/Facebook esque startup. You'll likely have to sell a company for big $$$ to actually have a shot at making $1bn
Whippin bricks
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-seizes-msc-container-ship-after-record…
I think that the this overlooked thing is that no one really needs $1B. Also that statistics of hitting this are so slim that if you realistically want to be rich. You probably only need $20 - $50M
even this is totally off base. I work with the wealthy and have some uber wealthy folks. not including your primary residence, the number is somewhere in the $4mm+ range. you can comfortably live off of $10k/month after tax unless you're materialistic.
(not directed at you dude) can all of the fucking interns and students please stop slow stroking to get to a 9 or 10 figure bank account? money is not a scoreboard, it's a means to an end, and that end is financial independence. if you mind your expenses, your "need" is smaller so you have more options. if you "need" to have all of the finer things in life, you'll be constantly disappointed (because there will always be someone more well off than you).
what do you really want? you want to not have to work, you want your money working for you. take what your mandatory expenses are, divide by 3%, and that's your number. if your number is $20k a month because you want to live a high flying lifestyle, good for you, but if you can get by on $2k a month living in Bali, then your financial independence is a lot sooner than some of the finance meatheads around WSO.
I'm telling you from experience, people that shoot for $20mm and give a shit about status will never be happy. so forget about them, quit being so materialistic, and just focus on getting to your "number"
by the way, to answer you OP, start your own company, run said company well, grow it a lot, refuse private capital as long as possible, favor borrowing money versus giving up equity, and when you're ready to sell, you'll be financially independent. if that happens to be a billion, great. if it happens to be $5mm after tax, congratulations, you can retire with that. don't worry about the number, worry about what it means (financial independence).
/rant
Dr. Evil is running a really solid shop
I wasn't going to take this seriously, then you mentioned you had a 3.7GPA so I know you're legit.
Anyway my advice would be to: 1. Play the lottery 2. Win the lottery 3. Invest money in high growth companies think Enron, Worldcomm, blockbuster, Lehman 4. Welcome to the club
In all seriousness just relax, you are already in Ivy League and probably going to have a lot of success to come. What would you do with all that money anyway that you wouldn't be able to do with say, $1M or $20M? Is it really going to help your life that much? Just relax and enjoy what you have while in college.
Oh buddy.....
The first million is the hardest - Drake The first billion is a helluva lot harder - T. Boone Pickens
I love how WSO monkeys are giving good thoughtful answers to this inane question.
$1bn? Come on man, if you're really in an Ivy ask this in a smarter way. And by 40? You'll be drowning in monkey poo. And that you included VC on the list is somewhat laughable as well.
Now, a better question is - how do I get wealthy / past $5mn, by some point in my 40s / 50s.
And I think many of the above answers are good: start a company and exit, invest in real estate and live off passive income, try to make MD at a PE or ibank, etc.
Another question is - why?
Why are you focused on making $1bn by 40? What are you REALLY passionate about (and if it's just $ for the sake of $, go f- yourself), and go see how you can follow your passion AND make money at it. For instance, my brother was passionate about tech, and he started and built a company now worth a few hundred million. His own stake is a few tens of millions, but it's going to be more than enough and he's living his dream. My wife LOVES real estate, and she buys distressed properties, and she LOVES what she does. Any successful entrepreneur I know made their money finding the intersection of what they love doing, and the practicality of making a business out of it. I know of zero people who made their money simply for the sake of having a big score.
You should create the latest UNICORN comprised of an UBER for SEX DUNGEONS. Once you DISRUPT and REVITALIZE the COCAINE industry, you will join the THREE COMMA CLUB.
You get up two and a half million dollars, any asshole in the world knows what to do.
You get a house with a 25 year roof, an indestructible Jap-economy shitbox, you put the rest into the system at three to five percent to pay your taxes and that’s your base,
Get me?
That’s your fortress of fucking solitude.
That puts you, for the rest of your life, at a level of fuck you.
Somebody wants you to do something, fuck you.
Boss pisses you off, fuck you!
Own your house.
Have a couple bucks in the bank.
Don’t drink.
That’s all I have to say to anybody on any social level.
Easiest way to turn into a billionaire before 40, provided you can actually seduce these people.
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