December 19, 2024

Your Dad Will Never Have as Much Money As Me

Commentary by Mitt Romney. Whether I am sworn in as the 45th president on January 20, 2013 or have the opportunity to give an incredibly humble, yet patriotic concession speech the night before, I will still, always and forever, have more money than your old man.

by Mitt Romney
Repubican Candidate for President

With only a few days left until the election, I feel this is the perfect time to reach out to young people across the country to talk about the future of our economy and explain to them the enormous odds against their father ever acquiring the amount of wealth that I have – not even a small percentage of my wealth.

Whether I am sworn in as the 45th President of the United States on January 20, 2013 or have the opportunity to give an incredibly humble, yet patriotic concession speech the night before, I will still, always and forever, have more money than your old man.

I will not apologize for this and neither should you. Here’s why:

Let’s say your father possesses an advanced degree and earns  a hundred-thousand dollars a year at some job with a large firm in a fancy downtown high-rise. You think he’ll catch up to  me? If you thought, “No, he’ll never catch up,” you are right.  The math doesn’t work out. The fact is: your pop can work at this so-called “six-figure” job his whole life and still not earn what I make off my investments in one year.

And there’s more —

If your dad is over thirty and not yet a millionaire, forget it.  He will never have a million dollars – not ever, not in this lifetime, not even close – yet alone $250 million.

Yes, you read that correctly. As I write this, my net worth is slightly above $250 million.  One quarter of a billion dollars. Think about it for a moment. If your dad suddenly started making $1000 a day – which is highly unlikely, but for sake of argument, let’s say he did – it would take him 685 years to amass that kind of wealth. And chances are pretty good he’ll die long before that.

Conversely, let’s say that I choose to spend $1000 a day on — oh, I don’t know, let’s just say rich guy stuff – it would take me 685 years to go through it all. And once again, your dad will be long dead before that.

The point is this: Your father will never know what it is like to be as wealthy as me, and you will never know what it’s like to grow up in a family where your father is as wealthy as me. So, wonder about it all you want, it just isn’t going to happen.

A little motto I like to share with people from time to time: If your dad is not wealthy today, he never will be.

And while it’s possible that you, yourself, will grow up to reverse the financial misfortunes of your family, I highly doubt you will do so. This is America, and there’s room for only so many rich folks. That fact that I’m one of them and your dad is not, is something you can take up with your pastor, priest or rabbi – and by the way, none of them will ever be as wealthy as me, either.

So when you hear people on television say that I don’t know what it’s like for ordinary folks — people like you and your father who don’t have a lot of money — you can point to this commentary and say they’re dead wrong.

President Romney knows what is means not to be wealthy. And he’s not afraid to tell you.

Braddon Mendelson