$2 Million Mistake

[Dunbar]

Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin

The good thing is that he doesn't need the money. Forbes has his worth listed at about $4 billion, so $2 million is just a drop in the bucket. But still, nobody wants to make bad decisions like that.

$2 million is 1/2000 of his net worth.

To put that in perspective, $2 million is to $4 billion what $500 is to $1 million. So, as a percentage of net worth, his $2 million mistake is like a $500 mistake to someone worth $1 million.

If your net worth is $200,000 and you make a $200 mistake, it's twice as big a dent on your net worth as Hughes $2 million mistake was on Hughes' net worth!

One more way to look at it: If Hughes could make his $4 billion liquid, he could give away $2 million 1000 times and still have $2 billion left to play with. Of course I recently heard Ted Turner say that a billion isn't what it used to be. (somewhat jokingly, I think!)

--Dunbar