The world’s biggest YouTuber, MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson), has received all sorts of praises and taken some lashes for his recent video which funded cataract surgeries for 1,000 people.
If you don’t follow MrBeast, he’s the world’s most-subscribed-to YouTuber and his videos include stunts like giving briefcases with $10,000 inside to a random shopper in a store and general outrageous things that usually aren’t cheap.
One of the most notorious videos to date is a real-life re-creation of Netflix’s show “Squid Game”. Producing this single video cost the MrBeast team at least $3.5 million.
For even more context, this video actually surpassed the original Netflix shows opening month viewership in its first five days.
Naturally, they’ve topped that again with this video funding 1,000 people’s cataract surgery.
But how much exactly did it cost, and why does it even matter?
To put a dollar amount on it, one viewer took to the internet…
Healthcare costs depend on various factors like those listed in the picture above, but a quick google search corroborates that the average price of cataract surgery can range from $3,000 – $5,000 per eye.
At either end of this range, the cost of surgery on two eyes of 1,000 people could be anywhere from $6–$10 MILLION.
The surgery cost isn’t all either – some patients received extras like briefcases filled with $10,000, and one even got a brand new Tesla.
At the time of writing, the video has 109M views and Forbes estimates that MrBeast could have earned up to $110 million in revenue in 2022. So don’t worry, he can cover it.
But going back to the latter half of my original question – why does it even matter?
Production studios have spent ungodly amounts on TV shows for decades. So this really isn’t a new concept.
But I do see a couple of takeaways:
- Content Creation – the gigantic amount of money MrBeast gives away continues to bring in new viewers (me included) and in turn generate even more revenue. So much so that it’s become a return on investment for the channel. That is, the more money we give away the more money we make.
- Ultimate goal – MrBeast has said that his long-term goal is to give away all his money before he dies (which is a growing trend among the ultra-wealthy).
The second takeaway is what really hits home for me.
While most of us won’t join the three comma club in our lifetime, we still have bucket list items and financial goals to reach.
If I had to guess, your financial goals probably include charitable giving and helping causes you care about.
P.S. Here’s one I care about.
The proof is in the pudding – lower income Americans actually donate more per capita than individuals in higher income brackets.
Therefore, it’s more of a “when” vs. an “if” that most of us will donate to charity. So, how do you do this consistently and responsibly?
Planning your charitable giving is kind of like when you’re on an airplane and the flight attendant tells you to put on your oxygen mask before helping others.
You need to take care of your own financial situation before helping others.
Don’t be selfish or greedy – just make sure that you won’t backhandedly make yourself unhappy by missing your other financial goals because you didn’t properly plan.
When it comes to your finances, sub-par planning is akin to the tale of Sisyphus – punished by Hades to roll a boulder up a hill for eternity, only for it to roll back down at the top and start again.
In other words, the purpose of financial planning is to achieve your goals. This is where 1Up helps you.
Charitable giving and helping causes you care about are especially significant in leading a fulfilling life.
So imagine for a second if your money had no limits, where would you focus your efforts? What physically EXCITES you?
That’s where we want to go together, and we help content creators like you do this through our unique 1Up Strategy Guide process.
Want to create your own charitable strategy?
Check out the questions in our Strategic Philanthropy guide to help create your own giving roadmap.
In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this quote from Winston Churchill –
“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”
