I totally agree. In this particular case, Slim became over-the-top wealthy from buying the monopoly "Telmex" right after it was privatized--with some help from the corrupt government.
From wikipedia:"controversially, the payment itself took place over the course of the next several years, using money earned by the phone service."
I'm a little taken aback by your criticism. Did we even read the same letter? What part of (and I paraphrase) "stay busy, keep a balanced home/professional life, live with positive attributes and avoid the bad ones" did you have a problem with?
Granted the other stuff on the page was off-topic, but Carlo's letter itself seemed like excellent advice to me.
Yeah, I know. He was really brave to go against the people who say you should burn out before you're 40, and live consumed with guilt, regret, and envy.
Pretty funny considering this is a site centered around start-ups and their culture. It's easy to be flippant, but I know too many people who have done just exactly that -- burned out before 40, and regretful about their choices. Talk with any 30 year old game developers lately?
Just because he is the richest man in the world doesn't mean his advice is better or worse than any other moderately successful businessmen. So you should judge the merits of the letter by it's content, which I don't think was very good.