In the 1960s, when billionaire Michael Bloomberg began his career after college, he was earning just $11,500 per year. Admittedly, that was a reasonable salary back then, and would be comparable to…
However, Bloomberg, who had just graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University and an MBA from Harvard University, actually had the chance to earn more. Another firm had offered him a $14,000 salary, but he favored the people he’d met at Wall Street investment bank Salomon Brothers.
Salomon Brothers had initially only offered Bloomberg $9,000, but he negotiated. They then offered him a $9,000 salary along with a $2,500 loan, which ultimately kickstarted Bloomberg’s remarkable business career. In his first year there, he received a $500 bonus to help pay off the loan, and a $2,000 bonus for loan forgiveness the next year.
Although it might have seemed an unusual decision for Bloomberg to forgo a higher salary, it was the first of numerous astute career choices he made.
“In the long run, it turned out well,” Bloomberg stated in an interview published Wednesday with Norges Bank Investment Management’s In Good Company podcast. “Don’t pity me, but I’ll always remember that people err by going to work for a place that pays the most.”
‘Certain jobs you shouldn’t take’
Another legend in the finance world, Warren Buffett, also holds the same mindset of prioritizing the people you work with over the amount you earn.
“Don’t fret too much about starting salaries and be extremely cautious about whom you work for, because you’ll adopt the habits of those around you,” Buffett said at his final annual shareholder meeting. “There are certain jobs you shouldn’t take.”
That’s peculiar advice for a generation grappling with inflation, a sluggish job market, and a persistent housing affordability crisis. But ultimately, both Buffett and Bloomberg were in a similar position to Gen Z when they first began. Most recent college graduates share the experience of fearing the unknown and not knowing which career path to choose.
“Making money isn’t what life is about,” Bloomberg stated. “You need to gain experience, you need to build friendships, you need to try things and see what works and what doesn’t.”
“All these young people are just focusing on the wrong thing,” Bloomberg continued, who eventually built his own media and business intelligence empire and has a net worth of $110 billion.
Buffett had also repeatedly stressed the importance of wisely choosing the people you work with.
At Berkshire Hathaway’s 2004 annual shareholders’ meeting, a 14-year-old boy and young shareholder from California asked: “What advice would you give someone like me, a young person, on how to be successful?”
“It’s better to associate with people who are better than you,” Buffett said, who had just recently retired after an impressive 60-year tenure as CEO. “Choose associates whose behavior is superior to yours, and you’ll move in that direction.”