I put this question to a friend who manages money for what’s called “high-net-worth individuals.” His answer: Because they’re wired that way. They’re restless. A billionaire only becomes a billionaire by working hard, and that’s a tough mindset to let go.
Similarly, a billionaire usually becomes a billionaire by taking risks that most of us would shy away from. Here are three famous examples:
1. Elon Musk
“I was actually always fairly pessimistic about the outcome of Tesla, all the way from the beginning," said Elon Musk. In those very early days, “I thought, we have a maybe 10% chance of success. And we came very close to failing many times, so I never really thought before it actually happened that it would be that successful.”
2. Sheldon Adelson
After taking his company public in 2004, Sheldon Adelson’s net worth grew for 2 years by $1 million an hour. In a few months in 2009, it fell from $30 billion to $2 billion. But by 2013, he had it all back, with billions to spare.
3. Sumner Redstone
Wall Street analysts insisted that Sumner Redstone would never recoup the $10 billion he had spent in 1994 to acquire the Paramount movie studio. By 1998, Forbes declared, “Paramount now looks like a bargain.”
