Super Tuesday 2.0

[jdshock]

This article doesn't really address how he got to the $200 million figure in 1982 - Trump inherited $40 million in 1974 in addition to the business loan his father gave him (oft cited erroneously by him in the debates as his sole source of funding). To his credit, his high leverage plays succeeded as his inheritance coincided almost exactly with the nadir of NYC commercial real estate prices. However, since around 1980 (so for the last 3.5+ decades), his returns have mirrored the S&P 500 almost identically, falling just short of the performance for a passive fund mirroring that index.

He killed it for a half dozen years following when he got his hands on a huge sum passed down from daddy warbucks and has been completely and utterly average as a businessman since then. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but it certainly is not the image he projects.

I thought the article mentioned that he inherited his starting amount. I misremembered that portion of it.

$40 million is a conservative estimate of his inheritance. The article you cited states that they rely on a $40 million estimate, but there is no way to truly know how much it was. This article from the same source is a much better examination of how much he probably inherited and how much benefit he derived from his father. Like I said, and still standby, "He is hardly self made."

Also, why is there "nothing wrong with that?" His supporters believe he is "self-made" and an astute businessman. In reality, he inherited all of his starting money and benefitted from having a rich dad in a multitude of ways. He is not self-made and he's not a great businessman. Those tend to be two of his biggest selling points, and they're just totally inaccurate. He's a hypocrite, and it should be pointed out as often as possible.

[Play Angry]

"Nothing wrong with that" referenced his performance being largely in-line with the greater equity market over the last thirty-five years, not his braggadocio with respect to his body of work over that same timeframe.

I agree that people who buy Trump's self-projection as something more than a moderately-successful entrepreneur are mostly being duped. It does not mean he has been a failure in business by any stretch - he's just a super duper rich dude who was born on second base and has managed to advance to third on a fielder's choice. There is some merit to modestly advancing the family fortune and not squandering it in due course, but that's not really what his reputation is built on.

[Kung Wu]

He is hardly self made.

http://www.moneytalksnews.com/why-yo...-donald-trump/

I said self made BILLIONAIRE.

[Kung Wu]

This article doesn't really address how he got to the $200 million figure in 1982 - Trump inherited $40 million in 1974 in addition to the business loan his father gave him (oft cited erroneously by him in the debates as his sole source of funding). To his credit, his high leverage plays succeeded as his inheritance coincided almost exactly with the nadir of NYC commercial real estate prices. However, since around 1980 (so for the last 3.5+ decades), his returns have mirrored the S&P 500 almost identically, falling just short of the performance for a passive fund mirroring that index.

He killed it for a half dozen years following when he got his hands on a huge sum passed down from daddy warbucks and has been completely and utterly average as a businessman since then. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but it certainly is not the image he projects.

70% of wealthy families lose their inheritance in the second generation. He grew his into billions.

[SHOCKvalue]

Pretty tough to earn a 401K-level ROI on a free $40M, but with bootstraps, hard work, and some luck you might be able to keep yourself off of the streets.

I always get a pretty good kick out family money types when they beam with pride in reference to their "self-made" business ventures, completely ignoring the fact that the difficulty associated with success is related almost entirely with first amassing a war chest by which to leverage. I could teach my cat how to turn $1M into $10M, but getting that $1M in the first place is the hard part, by like an order of magnitude.

[Kung Wu]

I could teach my cat how to turn $1M into $10M, but getting that $1M in the first place is the hard part, by like an order of magnitude.

Over what time frame, and how? I promise I'm a better student than a cat (well at least my cats).

[SB Shock]

I read Trump AIPAC speech, since most think he's a dumbass he must have some really good advisors because it was pretty good.