Here's how quickly the richest CEOs in America can pay your bills
Amazon’s founder and CEO Jeff Bezos generates enough money in a matter of seconds to pay off the debt of an average student loan borrower.
Joining Bezos in the realm of generously compensated CEOs in the U.S. are Tesla’s Elon Musk, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Apple’s Tim Cook, and Uber’s Dara Khosrowshahi, who round out the top five highest earners.
To truly illustrate how much these billionaires earn, SimpleTexting, a text message marketing company, built a calculator that computes how quickly the tech powerhouses would earn your salary or the equivalent of your bills.
Here’s how quickly the top five moguls can pay the average amount for bills and expenses based on their annual compensation packages.
Housing
Regardless of renter or homeowner status, the average annual expenditure for housing is $20,091. Bezos can cover that in less than 8 seconds.
Bezos: 7.8 seconds
Musk: 4.62 minutes
Zuckerberg: 4.85 minutes
Cook: 1.41 hours
Khosrowshahi: 3.91 hours
Student debt
Borrowers in the U.S. owe $1.64 trillion worth of student loan debt, according to the Department of Education. For the class of 2018, the most recent available, 65% of grads carry student loans and the average loan burden is $29,200.
Khosrowshahi could work a half-day and still earn that much.
Bezos: 12 seconds
Musk: 6.72 minutes
Zuckerberg: 7.04 minutes
Cook: 2.05 hours
Khosrowshahi: 5.68 hours
Groceries
Since self-quarantine measures were enacted at the onset of the pandemic, Americans haven’t had the luxury of dining in restaurants and are now relying on themselves for food preparation.
A “moderate” grocery bill for two adults who eat a nutritious diet is $647.50 per month. For the top tech CEOs, that’s earned in less than 8 minutes at the office.
Bezos: <1 second
Musk: 9 seconds
Zuckerberg: 9.6 seconds
Cook: 2.72 minutes
Khosrowshahi: 7.56 minutes
Transportation
Americans spend an average of $9,761 on transportation every year, with that figure inclusive of vehicle purchases, and ongoing expenses like gas and motor oil. For Zuckerberg, that could be made on a visit to the water cooler.
Bezos: 42 seconds
Musk: 2.25 minutes
Zuckerberg: 2.35 minutes
Cook: 0.68 hours
Khosrowshahi: 1.90 hours
Child care
Child care in the United States is one of those expenses that is essential but notoriously expensive. For one infant at a daycare center, the average cost is $860 per month.
For Khosrowshahi, he’s likely earned that on the walk from his car to his office.
Bezos: 6 seconds
Musk: 12 seconds
Zuckerberg: 12.6 seconds
Cook: 3.62 minutes
Khosrowshahi: 10.04 minutes
Healthcare
Either private or public option, healthcare coverage runs Americans an average of $4,968 annually. Bezos likely makes that in the amount of time it takes him to yawn at work.
Bezos: 1.8 seconds
Musk: 1.14 minutes
Zuckerberg: 1.20 minutes
Cook: 20.89 minutes
Khosrowshahi: 58.02 minutes
Stephanie is a reporter for Yahoo Money and Cashay, a new personal finance website. She can be reached at stephanie.asymkos@yahoofinance.com. Follow her on Twitter @SJAsymkos.
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