r/AskReddit • u/DrCompenomics • 13h ago

Who’s the best real-life example of “you either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain,” and what happened?

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u/dpezpoopsies 11h ago edited 9h ago

I've never understood his whole ''I will donate my net worth upon my death so my children can find their own way" thing. Maybe different culture, and I certainly understand not wanting to raise a bunch of spoiled entitled brats. That said, I think I'd personally be so saddened if I died with the ability to provide a saftey net that let my kids fully pursue their dreams and instead they were left to fend for themselves.

I get like maybe not the whole fortune, but not even some of it?

ETA: sounds like I fell victim to headline propaganda, and he has actually stated that he will leave some of his fortune behind

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u/Jetboy01 10h ago

Didn't he say something like he intended to leave them enough to do anything, but not enough to do nothing.

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u/renegadecanuck 9h ago

I thought that was Bill Gates who said it, but I could be mixing it up.

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u/graboidian 8h ago

Yea, I also confuse Jackie Chan with Bill Gates quite frequently. /s

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u/adolfojp 8h ago

I mean, they were both known for their furniture oriented acrobatics.

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u/21Rollie 1h ago

Gates will leave his kids 1% each of his net worth, which is more than enough to do absolutely nothing for the rest of time. Each one of his kids could become a billionaire easily with that kind of inheritance.

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u/Porn-Again-Christian 6h ago

That was Warren Buffet.

There are variations on the quote, but he may have said it different times with slightly different wording.

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/10447262-i-want-to-give-my-kids-just-enough-so-that

https://www.azquotes.com/quote/689453

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u/dpezpoopsies 9h ago

Ah, if that's the case then I understand more. Maybe I just saw the headline bites that implied otherwise

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u/Most-Mix-6666 9h ago

Context: Bill Gates said the same thing. That doesn't mean his children don't have multi -million trusts, just negligible compared to his fortune

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u/WantsToBeUnmade 7h ago

My father in law did that to his children. He didn't even have a huge estate, he was just a dick.

He got mad at his eldest (my wife) because she wouldn't turn over medical proxy to his wife who had dementia (there was a reason my MIL didn't give him medical proxy to begin with.) And then he got angry at his youngest daughter because she wouldn't quit her PHD program to become his full time nurse.

So he left his half million dollar estate to his 84 year old neighbor.

Some people just don't see their kids as anything other than their property.