Why Donald Trump would still be a billionaire even if he never worked a day of his life

young donald trump

(AP Photo/Wilbur Funches))
In 1982, Forbes estimated that Donald Trump's net worth was $200 million.

According to a lengthy analysis by a correspondent for National Journal, real-estate-mogul-turned-Republican-presidential-candidate Donald Trump was always going to be a billionaire — whether he worked for it or not.

As reporter S.V. Dáte notes, Trump took over a $200 million real-estate-development business from his father, Fred Trump, in 1974.

Dáte estimates that Trump's share of the empire — he has three siblings — was $40 million.

"Had the celebrity busi­ness­man and Re­pub­lic­an pres­id­en­tial can­did­ate in­ves­ted his even­tu­al share of his fath­er's real-es­tate com­pany in­to a mu­tu­al fund of S&P 500 stocks in 1974, it would be worth nearly $3 bil­lion today," Dáte writes.

Though Trump says his net worth is $8.7 billion, Forbes puts it at $4 billion.

In 1982, however, Forbes estimated Trump's net worth to be $200 million, an amount Dáte says could've grown to more than $8 billion by now had Trump dropped his fortune into an index fund.

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