New Twitter owner Elon Musk on Sunday volunteered general investment advice to his 90-plus million followers, encouraging them to pursue stock-buying opportunities with ideas and companies they "believe in."
A few hours later, Musk's mother, Maye Musk, confirmed that her son's mantra has been the golden rule for three-plus decades, dating to young Elon's early teen years.
In a direct-quote response to Elon's tweet, Maye Musk posted the following:
"1) @elonmusk In South Africa, when you were 14, you asked me to buy stock in a company you really believed in. My stockbroker friend said it’s a bad idea, so I only bought R1000 (similar to $1000 at that time), which is the maximum amount I was willing to lose."
"2) The stock quickly rose to R3000. My stockbroker friend panicked and said I had to sell. So I panicked too and sold. You weren’t happy. That stock continued to rise. You also thought it was unfair that I split the winnings between you,
@kimbal and @ToscaMusk Who was right? (emoji)."
Maye Musk then anecdotally added:
"My first stock story is in my book. 1969: Won R100 from a beauty competition. A stockbroker friend told me to put it into the stock market. Dropped to R10. 1971: So disappointed I put it into Elon’s name. 1989: Found it. It was $2000 and paid for @elonmusk to move to Canada (hearts emoji)."
In a previous interview with Business Insider, Maye Musk took pride in encouraging her children to pursue their passions at a young age. For young Elon, that played out through books and computer programming.
Last month, Elon Musk credited his mother for being a major influence in his work, giving him the confidence and curiosity to "answer key questions surrounding the meaning of life."
In the past month, Elon Musk has added roughly 20 million Twitter followers. His mother, a best-selling author, dietitian, and "supermodel," has nearly 533,000 followers.
The world's richest man also had some words of wisdom for those chasing business dreams, even during times of waning or uncertainty.
"Since I've been asked a lot: Buy stock in several companies that make products & services that *you* believe in.
"Only sell if you think their products & services are trending worse. Don’t panic when the market does.
"This will serve you well in the long-term."
Elon Musk's $44 billion Twitter purchase remains the talk of the social-media and business worlds, despite the news being seven days old.
Last week, the Tesla founder reportedly sold $4 billion worth of Tesla shares (9.6 million shares), perhaps as a means of funding his acquisition of Twitter, which reportedly involved buying all outstanding shares at a reported value of $54.20 per.
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