How Long Would You Have To Work To Be as Wealthy as Jeff Bezos?
Jeff Bezos, founder and executive chairman of Amazon, is currently the fourth wealthiest person in the world. While fourth place in most scenarios might seem like a disappointment, for Bezos it means having an estimated net worth of roughly $271.9 billion thanks mostly to his founding of the e-commerce megasite Amazon out of his garage in 1994.
Amassing nearly $300 billion in wealth is an almost unimaginable feat (which is why only three others have been able to do so), especially on the far more average incomes the rest of us make. Which makes you wonder — just how long would you have to work to be as wealthy as Jeff Bezos? Years? Decades? Centuries? Millennia? Even longer?
The answer, depending on your income level, is “all of the above.” Below is a breakdown of just how long it would take you to earn $271.9 billion across various standard income levels.
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Minimum Wage
The federal minimum wage in America is currently $7.25 per hour which, assuming a 40-hour work week, results in approximately $15,080 per year.
To reach the Bezos-level wealth of $271.9 billion with just minimum wage, it would take you approximately 18 million years of 40-hour work weeks. If that level of wealth is your goal, it might be time to start job-hunting.
Middle-Class Income
Say you earn approximately $52,000 per year or $25 per hour — that puts you solidly in the middle class camp of America’s financial structure. While that gives you an edge over minimum wage workers in this race to catch up to Bezos, you’ll still need to live several lifetimes to do so. Several million lifetimes, in fact.
That’s because a solidly middle-class income of around $52,000 per year, worked 40 hours weekly, will still take you about 5.2 million years to earn $271.9 billion.
Upper-Class Income
Let’s take this up a notch. Say you make a salary of $200,000 yearly, definitely making you one of America’s upper-class earners and likely very financially comfortable.
Despite all the comforts of such a high income level, it would take a person making $200,000 yearly approximately 1.3 million years to earn the net worth of the world’s fourth-richest human.
Amazon Employees
Let’s look at this from a slightly different vantage — using Levels.FYI numbers, how long would it take Amazon employees to earn as much as their company’s founder?
Amazon Warehouse/Fulfillment Worker: Folks at this entry-level position typically earn $20 per hour or $41,600 per year — meaning they’d need about 6.5 million years of warehouse work to catch up to Bezos.
Senior Amazon Software Engineer: Earning approximately $300,000 as a upper-level Amazon software engineer certainly sounds like a cushy gig…unless you want to earn Bezos money. Then, it would take you 906,000 years to overtake the world’s fourth-wealthiest human.
Amazon Executive: Nearly anyone would be happy with an Amazon executive’s yearly salary of $1 million — unless they needed to earn as much as Bezos. Then, you’d still have to work for another 27,200 years.
It's safe to say, unless you come up with an idea of financial genius — such as, say, an e-commerce bookstore that evolves into a massive online retailer where shoppers can buy seeming anything — and you’re then able to sell that idea for billions, it’s indeed impossible to earn what Bezos does on a realistic and common American salary.
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This article was provided by MoneyLion.com for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial, legal or tax advice.
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