Arnold Schwarzenegger has amassed a staggering net worth of $450 million. The 76-year-old is the richest bodybuilder by a massive margin. However, very little of his massive wealth came from bodybuilding. Even today, bodybuilders earn less than athletes from the MLB, NBA, NFL, and many other sports. In the 70s, bodybuilders earned even less. However, Schwarzenegger was smart with his money.

The bodybuilding icon invested most of his earnings from competitions, photoshoots, and sponsorships. Arnie even loaned $10,000 from IFBB co-founder Joe Weider for real estate investments. However, like every novice investor, Arnold Schwarzenegger also made a mistake after following “the worst advice” he ever got.

Arnold Schwarzenegger at first thought the investment was a good idea

Schwarzenegger recounted someone advised him to buy land in the Antelope Valley in California. The Austrian Oak had recently arrived in America and had earned some money to invest. The bodybuilder had bought that land because his advisor had told him about plans for a supersonic airport that would be built on the land. However, Schwarzenegger did his research before investing.

“I saw it here in the papers that the plan is to build a supersonic airport, which is around 60-70 miles away from Los Angeles,” said the 76-year-old while speaking to Ryan Holiday. “It was $15,000. I had $5,000, and they put that down and the rest of it they paid off,” added Arnie. However, two years later, they canceled plans to build an airport for supersonic transport.

The government passed a law that forbade sonic booms over land, especially near residential areas. Fortunately, the man who advised him to buy it came to rectify his mistake. He advised the bodybuilding champion to keep the land “for his grandchildren.” So, the Mr. Olympia winner did just that. “This $15,000 property is now worth $1.5 million… but it took 55 years,” laughed Schwarzenegger. However, Schwarzenegger wasn’t the only one to fall for the supersonic travel hype.

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Why it seemed like a great idea

While Arnie made a bad investment worth $15,000, he eventually recovered and multiplied it many times. Yet, entire governments spent billions developing supersonic tech, only to abandon it. During the 60s and the 70s, the supersonic transport (SST) hype was at a fever pitch. People had entered the jet and wanted to travel faster than ever.

In the 60s, Boeing, Lockheed, Douglas, Corvair, and North American Aviation poured billions into developing SST airplanes. England and France teamed up to build the Concorde. The world raced to make the first commercial SST and usher in a new age. However, these plans ultimately proved unsustainable, and the supersonic bubble burst. While Schwarzenegger emerged financially unscathed, many might have not been so lucky.

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