Elon Musk is proof that money really can’t buy you happiness

3 hours ago 5

Opinion

October 12, 2025 — 5.01am

Being the richest man in the world isn’t exactly anything new for Elon Musk. In fact, he’s held that title for almost four years. But even by his standards, his latest wealth milestone is pretty jaw-dropping.

Following a rebound in Tesla’s share price last week, the chief executive became the first person ever to have a net worth greater than $US500 billion ($760 billion). Yep, let the history books show that Musk is officially the world’s first half-trillionaire.

Love him or hate him, there’s no denying that Elon Musk is an extraordinarily shrewd businessman.

For the most part, the 54-year old’s exorbitant wealth comes from his stakes in Tesla, his artificial intelligence company xAI, and space exploration company, SpaceX.

While that means his net wealth is subject to the whims of the market and in a worst-case scenario much of it could go away overnight, even if the sharemarket were to take a disastrous dive, Musk would still be a long way from destitute.

Love him or hate him, there’s no denying that he is an extraordinarily shrewd businessman. What is interesting to me though is the price that Musk’s wealth comes at. Because while he’s very much leading the pack, he’s also a cautionary tale for people who think that when it comes to money, you can never have too much of a good thing.

Let’s start with one of the ways he managed to acquire such wealth – his work and his work ethic. In July, shortly after his very public breakup with US President Donald Trump, Musk announced that with his brief stint in Washington over, he would be returning to his pre-White House work habits.

Elon Musk proves that all the money in the world can’t buy you the things that really matter.

And if you’re wondering what the life of a multi-company CEO with 14 kids might look like, according to Musk himself, it’s “working 7 days a week and sleeping in the office if my little kids are away”.

Of course, if you want to be the richest person in the world, there will be trade-offs. But not bothering to go home each night isn’t just obsessive dedication, it’s sad.

To me, it suggests that there’s no one waiting at home for him, which must be lonely, and that he doesn’t understand that all children, no matter their age, need their parents around (Musk’s children range in age from 21 to under 12 months).

Again, most successful people will admit that to get to the top, important moments have been missed or relationships have suffered. With Musk though, it’s turbocharged.

One of his eldest children, who is now estranged from Musk, claims that while he was largely absent for much of her upbringing (hello, sleeping at the office), on the rare occasions that they did spend time together, Musk would bully her over the way she spoke or behaved.

Then there’s his child X (seriously, Elon, find another letter of the alphabet), who Musk at some point took a particular shine to and decided to take him to the Paris Olympics and Trump election events and even the Oval Office.

Aside from how this blatant favouritism probably made his other kids feel, over this five-month period, X’s mother claimed she was kept from seeing the toddler entirely, and had to keep an eye on social media and the news to see where her son was at any given time.

Working such intense hours also comes at a great risk to a person’s long-term health. And according to reporting from the New York Times earlier this year, the way Musk managed so many responsibilities was, in part, with the assistance of drugs including ketamine, ecstasy, psychedelic mushrooms and Adderall.

These long hours, lack of sleep and subsequent mood swings also tend to make you a pretty lousy friend. And increasingly recently, Musk has started losing many people who were once close to him.

Philip Low, a neuroscientist who was as close to Musk as you could get for well over a decade, said earlier this year that “Elon has pushed the boundaries of his bad behaviour more and more”, and described him as “a total, miserable, self-loathing loser” and a “narcissist with an obsessive lust for power”.

Of course, fans of Musk will be quick to say there could be any number of reasons for the breakdown in friendship. Maybe Low is simply jealous? But we all know the importance of good, honest, long-term friends and the role they play in our lives – especially those who are successful in business.

And while Musk’s brand of win-at-all-costs extremism might lead to growing profit margins, it also creates a grim workplace culture where those who don’t stand to become billionaires either tend to burn out and crash. But when workers at Musk’s companies have tried to advocate for themselves or protect themselves in the past, this hasn’t gone all that well.

In 2018, for example, when Tesla workers tried to unionise, Musk threatened their stock options. And in 2023, he ordered former X employees to repay a mere $1500. Good luck getting a warm Christmas card from any of those people.

While dysfunctional billionaires will always interest us mere mortals who dream of having problems like a yacht springing a leak or private jet fees going up, when you get down to the nitty-gritty, here is a story about a man who seemingly has all the money in the world, but tenuous friendships, no long-term partner, children who either don’t know him or are wary around him, homes he doesn’t really call home, and reported health problems arising from his lifestyle.

Sure, most of us would like to have a little more in our bank accounts. But Elon Musk proves that all the money in the world can’t buy you the things that really matter.

As tempting as it may be to envy someone who has a wealth that’s not greater than the GDP of Norway, there are strings attached that show that while he’s exorbitantly wealthy in some ways, in others, he’s flat broke.

Victoria Devine is an award-winning retired financial adviser, a bestselling author and host of Australia’s No.1 finance podcast, She’s on the Money. She is also founder and director of Zella Money.

Advice given in this article is general in nature and is not intended to influence readers’ decisions about investing or financial products. They should always seek their own professional advice that takes into account their personal circumstances before making any financial decisions.

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