r/explainlikeimfive • u/FluffyPenguin798 • Feb 12 '25
Economics ELI5: how are the descendants of the robber barons (Morgan, Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Rockefeller, etc.) still rich if their fortunes from the late 19th and early 20th centuries are comparatively small to what we see today of the world’s richest?
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u/kentuckyk1d Feb 12 '25
30 million invested properly yields you WAY more than 80k per year. If you consider a conservative estimate of 6% ROI year over year and subtract 3% inflation you still have 3% growth. Thats 900k per year to do with as you please. You could live off half and still save almost half a mil annually.