The proudly wealthy Donald Trump may not have as much to brag about as he has made the public to believe, particularly in regards to personal finance. Apparently his net worth has not grown so much.
Trump’s net worth was roughly equal to that of Bill Gates in 1988, but whereas Gates was able to increase his net worth by over 7000 percent since that year, Trump’s gains were only 300 percent. Today, his estimated net worth is around $4 billion. Even Donald Bren, a colleague in the high-end real estate business, was able to multiply his gains by 722 percent over the same period of time.
There is no doubt that Trump has done well since his publication of best-seller “Art of the Deal,” but according to The New York Times, the stock market has done better. Perhaps Trump would have developed his financial assets much more effectively had he simply placed his money into an index fund tracking the stock market, leaving it to accumulate. “If Trump had done that in 1988,” noted The New York Times, “he would be worth $13 billion today.”
If Trump had (invested his money in an index fund tracking the stock market), he would be worth $13 billion today.
Business Insider further tracked the financial developments of other super wealthy elites and found that Donald Trump ranks somewhere near the bottom of the pile in terms of net worth growth. Former Oracle CEO Larry Ellison was the top dog when looking at financial figures from 1988 to date. He made gains of an amazing 14,658 percent, giving him nearly $50 billion. Other big names at the top of the list were George Soros, the Koch brothers, Paul Allen, and Warren Buffet.
Trump has rejected the research of Forbes, insisting that he is worth more than $10 billion. Business Insider wrote that even if Trump’s assessment of his assets were to be more accurate than the estimates made by Forbes, he would still be far from the top of the pack among his upper class peers.
