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The 1 Easy Way Donald Trump Could Have Been Even Richer: Doing Nothing
National Journal ^ | September 2, 2015 | S.V. Dáte

Posted on 01/25/2016 2:44:59 PM PST by Zhang Fei

As "really rich" as Donald Trump is today, he might have been even richer if, instead of dabbling in skyscrapers and casinos, he'd simply taken his eight-figure inheritance decades ago and sunk it into the stock market.

Had the celebrity businessman and Republican presidential candidate invested his eventual share of his father's real-estate company into a mutual fund of S&P 500 stocks in 1974, it would be worth nearly $3 billion today, thanks to the market's performance over the past four decades. If he'd invested the $200 million that Forbes magazine determined he was worth in 1982 into that index fund, it would have grown to more than $8 billion today.

Even the smaller figure exceeds the lower range of his possible net worth as reported to the Federal Election Commission, while the larger number exceeds by billions recent estimates of Trump's worth by financial publications. And it would have come without the high-drama, roller-coaster career that has included four corporate bankruptcies.

That a purely unmanaged index fund's return could outperform Trump's hands-on wheeling and dealing calls into question one of Trump's chief selling points on the campaign trail: his business acumen.

(Excerpt) Read more at nationaljournal.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: cruz; hillary; sanders; trump
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1 posted on 01/25/2016 2:44:59 PM PST by Zhang Fei
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To: Zhang Fei

The stock market is like going to Vegas on a good day.

You win big.

Then you think you can do it again...


2 posted on 01/25/2016 2:47:15 PM PST by DoughtyOne (Free Republic Caucus: vote daily / watch for the thread / Starts 01/20 midnight to midnight EDST)
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To: Zhang Fei

What a fool this guy would have looked if he was worth as much as Trump and put it in today’s stock market. The idiot probably would have lost his ass in 2008, and would be losing it again today seeing as how the stock market is due another downturn.


3 posted on 01/25/2016 2:47:30 PM PST by Greetings_Puny_Humans (I mostly come out at night... mostly.)
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To: Zhang Fei

Bovine Scatology.


4 posted on 01/25/2016 2:47:49 PM PST by IC Ken
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To: Zhang Fei
Already proven to
be false.
5 posted on 01/25/2016 2:48:13 PM PST by donna (Radicalized Christians become missionaries; then, they tell everyone that Jesus loves them!)
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To: Zhang Fei

Those who can’t second guess.


6 posted on 01/25/2016 2:48:16 PM PST by stocksthatgoup (how many laws has Cruz sponsored that have become law?)
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To: Zhang Fei

And how many thousands of people Donald Trump employs would not have had a job? Trump is job oriented. He likes to build things. He’ll have a full time job bringing the constitution bck into America and building back what has been destroyed. He is the only one who will protect our sovereignty.


7 posted on 01/25/2016 2:49:35 PM PST by Mollypitcher1 (I have not yet begun to fight....John Paul Jones)
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To: Zhang Fei

Saw that book title: How to make a small fortune in the stock market—Start with a big one.


8 posted on 01/25/2016 2:52:43 PM PST by Jim Robinson (Resistance to tyrants is obedience to to God!)
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To: Zhang Fei

Yes, let’s all just do nothing but collect all our income from stock dividends.


9 posted on 01/25/2016 2:53:28 PM PST by dfwgator
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To: Zhang Fei

For sure, The Donald is not running for President because of the economic opportunity. A fairly good slice of his present net worth is going to be eaten into as a result of this run. The day-to-day operation of his financial and real estate empire, however, is left in good hands, that of his children.

And some day, he shall return to his business enterprises.


10 posted on 01/25/2016 2:53:59 PM PST by alloysteel (If I considered the consequences of my actions, I would rarely do anything.)
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To: Zhang Fei

Hindsight is always 20/20.

To be honest, I have more respect for someone who TRIES to improve their lot in life than one that sits back and lets life happen to them.


11 posted on 01/25/2016 2:54:57 PM PST by taxcontrol ( The GOPe treats the conservative base like slaves by taking their votes and refuses to pay)
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To: Zhang Fei
They're suggesting Trump is stupid because he only has 10 billion? And suggesting further he should have dumped it all in the stock market?

And someone is mad about this? Suggesting he got ripped off because he a lousy business man?

Good grief. And we're supposed to believe this claptrap?

12 posted on 01/25/2016 2:55:37 PM PST by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: Zhang Fei

Just another guy underperforming the market. Badly underperforming it.


13 posted on 01/25/2016 2:56:04 PM PST by St_Thomas_Aquinas (Isaiah 22:22, Matthew 16:19, Revelation 3:7)
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To: Zhang Fei

So, he put his money to work, made some jobs and shared the wealth.


14 posted on 01/25/2016 2:57:06 PM PST by Cboldt
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To: Jim Robinson
Saw that book title: How to make a small fortune in the stock market—Start with a big one.

He could have bought an index fund and saved his Chapter 11 creditors a lot of money. Heck, he could have bought Berkshire Hathaway shares and left sleazy eminent domain maneuvers over casino properties to someone less ethical. Unfortunately, he chose to become that someone.

15 posted on 01/25/2016 2:57:33 PM PST by Zhang Fei (Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always.)
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To: Zhang Fei

The same idiot that writes this kind of ignorant crap is a poor schlep that has never followed their own thinking.


16 posted on 01/25/2016 2:58:19 PM PST by CodeToad (Islam should be banned and treated as a criminal enterprise!)
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To: Zhang Fei

BS...money in the hands of wall street is money lost or embezzled


17 posted on 01/25/2016 3:00:24 PM PST by ldish (Have had enough...you??????)
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To: CodeToad

This is an old article and shows up here every week by Cruz zombies.


18 posted on 01/25/2016 3:02:00 PM PST by jennychase
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To: Zhang Fei

No doubt that would have been true, but he is not the kind to sit around waiting for money to quadruple and whatever comes after that.


19 posted on 01/25/2016 3:02:18 PM PST by Theodore R. (Liberals keep winning; so the American people must now be all-liberal all the time.)
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To: Zhang Fei

Does this account for all of his personal expenditures in the index fund scenario? If not, this is meaningless.


20 posted on 01/25/2016 3:03:08 PM PST by I Hired Craig Livingstone
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