At one point in Tesla's path, Musk was down to a net worth of $200k or so. He laid his entire fortune on the line. How many of us would be willing to do that? Not me.
I did say, "I'm not sure there's anything aspirational there."
But clearly it does have a chance at success, as evidenced by Elon. Or, as it always turns out, it's difficult to fail anywhere but up when you're wealthy.
At a young age and knowing I could easily get a job and rebuild? Why not? $200K to get back is a year a two in Silicon Valley just working in a tech company.
By 2010 with a combination of divorce and over investing in real estate before the financial crisis I had a negative net worth of over $200K at 36 years old and absolutely no money in the bank. I really didn’t stress at all. They were just numbers.
I had a job, a home and parents who could help me out a little when needed mostly for unexpected expenses because my credit was also shot by 2013 with 5 foreclosures/short sales.
At 51, remarried for 15 years and grown (step)kids and working remotely, and a lot of other quality of life changes, we are good.
Young and knowing your future earning potential? That’s. I different than paying $200K for college. That’s only slightly more than the average new grad makes working at any of the BigTech companies their first year.
What else was he going to do? Hoard it in a High Yield Savings account?