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He comes from emerald wealth in South Africa for christ sake. Maybe he cleaned manure, but not out of dire need

Given that the mine was worth 40,000 pounds and stopped producing in 1989 it wasn't exactly a great source of wealth.

It's more that he came from such wealth that his family could acquire a nontrivial share in an emerald mine on what amounted to a whim.

> Standing with the cash in his hand, Errol was made another offer he couldn't refuse: Would he like to buy half an emerald mine for half of his new riches?

> "I said, 'Oh, all right'. So I became a half owner of the mine, and we got emeralds for the next six years."

https://www.news24.com/news24/bi-archive/how-elon-musks-fami...

Anybody who considers 80,000 pounds to be riches is not very wealthy.

It's 80,000 pounds dropped on a whim, not that they simply had 80k total. That is wealthy.

It's not on a whim, it's how Errol lived his entire life. Chasing "Get Rich Quick" schemes is not typically a sign of wealth.

The ability to move non trivial amounts of capital on a whim is the very definition of wealth.

> Chasing "Get Rich Quick" schemes is not typically a sign of wealth.

I've found it to be pretty common. The amount of dumb money seeking 'easy' ways to multiply flowing around silicon valley kind of defines the place.

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