Net Worth Is Not Self-Worth

Izchok Palevsky immigrated to the United States on the belief that anybody could become rich in America, and that the streets were paved with gold.

Palevsky did not become rich. But his son, Max, did.

Max Palevsky was born in the right place at the right time, and grew up just as the early computer boom started to take off. He worked at Packard-Bell, and then branched out to form his own computer company: Scientific Data Systems.

Scientific Data Systems went public and Max Palevsky increased his net worth to $64 million.

When asked how the money changed his life, Max Palevsky said that it didn’t. He had the same friends and lived in the same house. If anything, money had actually created new problems — like trying to raise his children to grow up without any pretentions or sense of privilege.

However, there was one benefit.

The money made his father incredibly happy.

Not for material reasons, but because he was proven right “about the streets and the gold.”

Money has practical purposes. You can use it to pay your bills and buy things.

Beyond a certain point, however, money’s value is ego-centric.