# How do most celebrities who've earned megabucks go broke? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 5, 2008, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-most-celebrities-whove-earned-megabucks-go-broke/451812 "2008-06-05T00:06:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2008, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-most-celebrities-whove-earned-megabucks-go-broke/451812/141 "2008-06-07T17:39:41Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] But you’ve been repeatedly citing numbers in your posts. It’s reasonable for people to ask where the numbers are coming from. If it’s a source that can’t even reconcile its own figures then its reliability is suspect. And if the numbers are suspect then the conclusions derived from those numbers are as well. [/QUOTE] What number have I been citing in my post? My only point is that there are a lot of millionaires in the US, but very, very few when compared to the rest of the population. Do you dispute that the number is significantly more than 400, but only a small fraction of 350 million? I have made no effort to say “cite” anything more spcific than that. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2008, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-most-celebrities-whove-earned-megabucks-go-broke/451812/142 "2008-06-07T17:45:41Z")
[QUOTE=Labrador Deceiver] What number have I been citing in my post? My only point is that there are a lot of millionaires in the US, but very, very few when compared to the rest of the population. Do you dispute that the number is significantly more than 400, but only a small fraction of 350 million? I have made no effort to say “cite” anything more spcific than that. [/QUOTE] ETA: On top of that, it has been clearly stated by a moderator that the number of millionaires in the US is a topic for another board. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2008, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-most-celebrities-whove-earned-megabucks-go-broke/451812/143 "2008-06-08T09:10:54Z")
> [@](#): > > Less than 10 percent of Richistanis are from Old Money, and only 3 percent are celebrities. Where do the Richistanis come from? > > 1. Founders: This category includes the Big Enchiladas we hear about every day in the Media – the Bill Gateses, Michael Dells and Ted Turners. They are entrepreneurs who started their own companies and sold their shares to investors through an initial public offering. Stakeholders: These are the lucky executives and employees who are not founders but have stakes in a private company, then cash out when it goes public – the “Microsoft millionaires,” for example. > 2. The Acquired: Companies have made more than 108,000 acquisitions totaling $11 trillion since 1985 and these are the executives who benefit by selling their firms to another buyer for stocks or cash. > 3. Money Movers: Today’s hedge-fund managers, Frank says, “make investment bankers look middle class (or Middle Richistani) by comparison.” The money movers direct and invest the vast river of cash flowing throughout the world and keep a share for themselves. > 4. Salaried Rich: Executives of established companies can now amass the kind of wealth once reserved for risk-taking entrepreneurs. That’s because the pay of U.S. CEOs has ballooned to more than 170 times the average worker’s pay (up from 40 times in the 1970s), Frank notes. Even managers two or three levels down the corporate ladder are racking up millions in pay. [Richistan](http://knowledge.wpcarey.asu.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1477) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-most-celebrities-whove-earned-megabucks-go-broke/451812.md?page=7)