How Long Would Billions of Dollars Last if you Were a Pyromaniac?

A lifetime of analysis — and maybe a lifetime of fires.

Pezibear on Pixabay.

This is going to be fun.

Alright, let’s say I’m a pyromaniac (or, you’re a pyromaniac), and to feed my love of fires, I use my money to burn in my fireplace instead of logs.

Now, I have a billion dollars, so let’s say I’m burning cash — literally — every single day.

I’m shoveling $50,000 into my fireplace. Everyday.

In a year, I will have burned $18,250,000.

In this scenario, I have no expenses in my life, or at least my expenses are relatively little since all I do is spend my time shoveling my cash into the fireplace.

After nearly 55 years, I’m an old man.

I also burn all my money away. Poof, it’s gone. Everyday, for almost 55 years is what it took!

Now, let’s reset the clock.

I’m back at 28 years old, with a billion dollars. I still love burning money.

But this time, I take a hundred million dollars, and put it to work on the stock market.

I look at Carl Icahn’s fund, IEP, and see that it pays nearly 12% in dividends.