Plenty Enough

Some examples of people choosing something else (purpose, charity, principles) over wealth-maximization. They all did well-enough financially, but didn’t optimize for money.

• John Bogle: Could have easily been a billionaire, but instead ended up making decisions around Vanguard’s operating model and ownership that passed value back to his investors and made him “the biggest undercover philanthropist of all time“.
  • “The great game of life is not about money; it is about doing your best to join the battle to build anew our communities, our nation, and our world.”
  • “I’ve been lucky to earn enough—actually, more than enough—to assure my wife’s future well-being; to leave some resources behind for my six children (as it is sometimes said, “enough so that they can do anything they want, but not enough that they can do nothing”)”
• Steve Wozniak (Woz): Gave away a lot of potential money and wealth from Apple to focus on charity and happiness.
  • “I gave all my Apple wealth away because wealth and power are not what I live for. I have a lot of fun and happiness.”
• Brian O’Kelley: Sold AppNexus for $1.6 billion but gave most of it away to charity.
  • ““I don’t believe in billionaires. I think it’s just ridiculous.”
  • “We just figured out a number that we thought was enough money—to be able to buy a house and things like that—and then we doubled it, and we gave the rest away.”
• Chuck Feeney: The Duty Free Shoppers founder gave away an estimated $8 billion (which included his ownership in DFS) in secret. He was often referred to as the “James Bond of Philanthropy”, and lived in a rented apartment and had a net worth of $2M in his final years.
• Yvon Chouinard: The Patagonia founder donated his entire ownership to a trust to ensure profits are used for environmentalist causes.
• José Mujica: Former President of Uruguay known as the “world’s poorest president”. He lived an austere lifestyle, donated most of his presidential salary, and declined to use the presidential palace.

FAQ

This looks like Patrick Collison’s “Fast”?

Yes, it’s inspired by it. “Fast” is a great list, but I find this list more interesting.

What about The Giving Pledge?

It’s a great initiative, but I’m more impressed by people who gave more than people who kept less (ie gave a lot of what they had, or stopped amassing wealth), especially if they did it quietly.

For the record, I think both public giving and private giving are great (public is great in that it encourages others to do so, and private giving in that it represents purer intentions).

Why isn’t _____ on this list?

Send me their name and I’ll add them.