Recently, some personal photos of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg have surfaced on the web and the surprising thing about the pictures is how normal they seem.
Maybe too normal. After all, he’s reportedly worth $17.5 billion dollars. Some people have even made fun of the pictures because they are so tame. Maybe they expected Mark to be popping bottles and living it up at the club like so many other rich people.
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You really don’t expect to see Diddy handing out candy on Halloween like Zuckerberg did in the photos. You are never going to see Jay-Z toasting his friends with plastic cups, but Mark did. In fact, these pictures look exactly like photos of any normal 27-year-old. The pictures are actually kind of boring, but they do bring some insight into Zuckerberg’s(and other billionaires’) lifestyle.
For the most part, most high profile billionaires (Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, etc.) all seem to live pretty normal lives. They are not out there flashing their money. And for good reason. Once a person reaches the billion dollar level everyone else pretty much knows they have money. You are never going to see Bill Gates rolling around in a Maybach in South Beach, or Zuckerberg flossing a diamond encrusted Jesus piece at the VMAs.
A rich man doesn’t have to tell you he’s rich. They just point to the scoreboard and everyone knows what’s up. That’s the difference between a billionaire and any celebrity/professional athlete out there.
To be fair, most of these billionaires come from either upper-middle class or upper class families. They have grown up with a certain amount of wealth and privilege. They have witnessed how to handle money. It’s not something new to them.
Most celebrities or professional athletes come from much harsher backgrounds. They didn’t have financial role models growing up and when they finally “make it” they want everyone to know about it. Unfortunately, it sometimes gets them into financial trouble.
Like most billionaires, Zuckerberg has also set up a charitable foundation called Startup: Education that he has funded with $100 million dollars to help the troubled school systems in America starting with Newark, New Jersey. Most wealthy people do give to charity or set up their own foundations. But when you reach the billion dollar level it gives you the luxury to never have to worry about money again. It sets you free to do good work.
We have all seen many celebrities who made millions in their careers only to wind up broke. They flashed their money and lived large while they were on top, but wound up spending themselves into the poorhouse. You are never going to read a story about how Mark Zuckerberg blew through $17.5 billion dollars. Mostly because that’s a hell of a lot of money to try and spend but also because he doesn’t spend money on crazy stuff. You are never going to see him on an episode of “Cribs.”
He seems pretty content to be just a normal guy. It just so happens that he is a multi-billionaire who created a website that has changed the way the whole world interacts with each other. You know, normal guy stuff.
