As we grow older, our perspectives change. Our approach to life becomes less brash. Our grow less funky. And, with any luck, our investments begin to pay dividends. Take, for example, the case of Mark Wahlberg. Once, he was a firebrand, fly-by-night pop star, then a rising actor. Then everything changed when he starred in Boogie Nights, the universally-acclaimed story of a man (Wahlberg) who waits until he goes to bed to pick his nose. Full disclosure, I never saw Boogie Nights.
The financial prognosticators over at Celebrity Net Worth, through divination and considered accounting, have put Wahlberg’s estimated personal holdings at a staggering $400 million. They also say that Leonardo DiCaprio has around $300 million to his name. “Mark Wahlberg has more money than Leonardo DiCaprio” might not sound right to your ears, but if you phrase it slightly differently – “Mark Wahlberg could buy more fighter jets with flames painted on their sides than Leonardo DiCaprio” – it’s a fact that goes down a little easier.
The secret to Wahlberg’s success and, by extension, Leo’s relative failure, lies in the fact that nobody would go to a restaurant called “DiCaprese Salads.” Mark Wahlberg’s chain of Wahlburgers restaurants, which he shares ownership of with escaped proto-Wahlbergs Donnie and Paul, is 50 chains strong, generating an estimated $100 million a year. At a $10.99 price point, that’s enough to buy 6 million Our Burgers with Paul’s sauce and pickles and still tip the waitstaff generously.
Additionally – and this is true, ask your friends – Mark Wahlberg stars in blockbuster movies, which is a pretty solid line of work to be in, financially speaking. With Transformers: The Last Knight, Daddy’s Home 2, and All the Money in the World, he became the highest-paid American actor in 2017. Reuters reported his earnings that year at $68 million, beating out Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s pathetic, emasculating $65 million and probably making him feel tiny and weak. Then there are the ad spots. With Hollywood fame comes the promise of endorsement deals, and the 52-year-old actor has made bank on those as well, earning a reported $10 million for his work representing AT&T alone. It’s not wonder the singer of Good Vibrations enjoys a 33% higher personal worth than the star of Titanic.
More than any of that, though? Do you know what Mark Wahlberg has that Leonardo DiCaprio doesn’t? A high school diploma. He graduated in 2013 at age 42. DiCaprio never did. Stay in school, kids. It could mean a difference of $100 million.