Interesting Millionaires
The millionaire who decided to give away his entire fortune because he was unhappy
Karl Rabeder grew up poor and thought that life would be wonderful if he had money. But when he got rich, Karl discovered that he was unhappy, so he decided to give away every penny of his £3 million fortune: “My idea is to have nothing left. Absolutely nothing,” he said. “Money is counterproductive – it prevents happiness to come.”
On the block, or already sold, is his luxury villa with a lake in the Alps, his 42-acre estate in France, his six gliders, and the interior furnishings and accessories business that got him rich in the first place. Instead, he will move out of his luxury Alpine retreat into a small wooden hut in the mountains or a simple bedsit in Innsbruck. His entire proceeds are going to charities he set up in Central and Latin America, but he will not even take a salary from these.
The millionaire dog who was a trust fund of over $300 millions
Sure, there will always be people who have more money than you, but did you realize that some pets do, too? Meet Gunther IV, the German Shepherd, world’s richest dog. This dog actually received his inheritance from his father, Gunther III, a German Shepherd who received an inheritance from Karlotta Liebenstein, a German countess. Gunther IV has bought a Miami villa from Madonna and won a rare white truffle in an auction. He’s worth about $372 million right now, thanks to his growing trust fund.
The homeless billionaire
Meet Nicholas Berggruen, a homeless billionaire. You read that right. Nicholas is worth billions but doesn’t even own a home (he stays in hotels) because he’s lost all interest in acquiring things. After making his billions, Mr. Berggruen, 46, lost interest in acquiring things: They didn’t satisfy him, and in fact had become something of a burden. So he started paring down his material life, selling off his condo in New York, his mansion in Florida and his only car. He hatched plans to leave his fortune to charity and his art collection to a new museum in Berlin.
For him, wealth is about lasting impact, not stuff. Forbes magazine estimated Berggruen’s net worth at $2.2 billion as of 2010.
The millionaire whose daughter works at McDonald’s to learn the value of money
The Thai prime minister sent his daughter to work at McDonald’s. The billionaire even turned up to buy burgers from his 17-year-old daughter Paethongtan, the youngest of his three children, on her first day as a part-time employee after taking her university entrance examinations.
Her first task was to learn how to operate the cash register, but she will also learn to flip burgers. ‘In developed countries, children usually work while they study to gain experience and to appreciate the value of money and how to spend it,’ Thaksin said.’ Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra himself worked at KFC fastfood outlet while studying in the US.
Dej Bulsuk, president of McThai who operates the McDonald’s fastfood outlets in Thailand, said: “The prime minister came to me to personally ask if I could give his daughter a part-time job during the school holidays, the Premier asked me specifically to treat his daughter just like any other employee” Thaksin even said to me: “And let her sweep the floor like the others.”
Extracted from: http://www.oddee.com/item_97564.aspx
Sometime I feel confuse in my life too!
What are the actual thing that require in my this short life time!
TOO BAD!!
What an inspiring article – so nice to see people giving back and also teaching that invaluable lesson that acquiring money money money doesn’t equate to happiness. As Rinpoche has always taught us – it is giving away to others that really makes us unhappy. I love the first story about Karl – how fascinating that he started poor, worked his whole life to gain wealth only to find that none of it made him happy… and to give it all away again! It does seem that people who have less are happier. Going to poorer countries and meeting the people there is such direct, clear evidence of this.
From my personal life experience, I think whether you’re super rich or poor, u can still be very miserable about life.
Just like my mum, she’s never been happy all her life because of bloody money. When I was a little kid and when our family used to be rich, she always complains to us about not having enough money. She is always throwing tantrum, nagging my dad and stingy towards her kids when we asked her for our education fee.
Now that all her kids has grown up with their career and life and our family is not as well-off anymore, her obsession with money gets worst. My parents has never had a day without peace due to money. She would ask her kids to pay off the family debts that they borrowed from the bank.
I feel sad with my mum’s ignorant and obsession about money. Everytime when my mum calls me on the phone weekly, she would complain to us about not having enough money. She does not really care for us or even just ask the basic concerns like ” how’s are you doing” . When we were young, we have tried to advise my mum that praying to Jambala doesnt mean that she will get more money, but everytime our conversation will become an argument.
We really don’t know what to do with my parents, they are deeply trapped in the world of money except being compassionate and patient with them.
Money has a disastrous effect in our family, whether my parents are millionaire or poor like a beggar.
Just discovered a pop song by Jessie J called Price Tag with good lyric:-
Chorus:
It’s not about the money, money, money
We don’t need your money, money, money
We just wanna make the world dance,
Forget about the Price Tag.
Ain’t about the (ha) Ka-Ching Ka-Ching.
Aint about the (yeah) Ba-Bling Ba-Bling
Wanna make the world dance,
Forget about the Price Tag.
Such persons, living in materialist cultures, having achieved a level of material security… is merely disillusioned with with the materialist propaganda & wanting to do some good.
But who are to say they are not driven by their egos in wanting to do those good… very hard to say… need to observe & to know their minds for that.
It is so inspiring to know that there are still people existing that are not attached to material wealth and Karl Rabeder proves that wealth does not bring happiness. Nicholas Berggruen,sets a good example to show us that acquiring or attached to things becomes a burden. So if we have less and are not materialistic, we can be contented and have a happier life.
It is silly to say one doesn’t need money. Humans have poisoned the earth so much that you can’t really do anything with it in most places. And most of us aren’t really good farmers.
I mean this Internet was bought and paid for with money. This Internet connection costs money. This computer, it costs money too. So I don’t think we can say that money is not necessary but we can say that money should not be everything in one’s life. It is something but it should not be everything.
Money made me miserable too, I just spent more money when I was miserable. So it was like, spend money, make money, spend money… and all the time I was miserable and didn’t know it
Anyway that’s all in the past now. People like what they like I guess. And just because you don’t like money doesn’t necessarily make you good or noble.
Perhaps one should guard against being proud of having no money.