In fact, so did 77 other billionaires on Bloomberg’s Top 200
Billionaires list.
The numbers are a little more than disturbing. If you take into account the median
household income in the United States is $53,046 (according to the
Census Bureau), the average American, working from age 22 to 70, would make
a little over $5.5 million by the time they reach 70. (Check out the calculator
here)
That’s if you didn’t spend any money on rent, food, gas,
shoes, Netflix, or the internet bill.
For me, I was a little more optimistic. Best-case scenario, I get a job making
$65,000 right out of college. I’ll
make a little more in my lifetime, with a grand total coming in at around $6.7
million.
But that’s chump change compared to Jack Taylor’s $380.2
million loss.
Here’s what $380.2 million could do:
- Build you a couch (or eight) made of $100 bills
- Pay for NYU tuition. Six thousand times.
- Buy 79,000 pounds of marijuana (legally in Colorado)
- Give every person in the USA $1.20 (hey, that's a soft serve at McDonald's for every single person in the United States)
Even though Jack Taylor lost a ridiculous amount of money,
there is a silver lining. Taylor
is a self-made man. A veteran of
World War II, he came back to his hometown of St. Louis and started a car
rental service company, Enterprise.
His motto from the beginning has been: “Take care of your customers and
your employees first, and the profits will follow.”
With news headlines about manipulative companies and suspicious
activity in the financial services industry, it’s good to know that there’s a
man who’s made his fortune genuinely caring for customers and employees. And that should give us hope, not only
as assurance, but also for our own future successes.
So, yes, Jack Taylor lost more money in one day than the
average American will ever make in her entire life. But he landed on Bloomberg’s billionaires list while
maintaining an honest and caring business. And hopefully, more of us will too.
Rachel
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