The perils of extreme wealth

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I do not personally know anybody in the centimillionaire club. So, I was only guessing that it may be difficult to conceal your wealth when you are up there, if you want to enjoy it. People say it is possible.

I guess it is good to know, but it is not of help to me, because I will never be there (one has to get to the 8th digit first, and one's lifetime is limited).
 
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audreyh1 said:
What does this crime have to do with the victims being billionaires? It’s hard to see how the perpetrators would gain financially from the victims. Any heir will be scrutinized. If it’s revenge - that can be against anyone. If it was to stop some legal or business maneuver, again that could happen to any business person.
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Agree. It is highly unlikely that the perps were ordinary thieves. By all accounts he was an aggressive businessman, prone to litigation. Likely he created many people with a motive. If I were the police, I would focus on “who had motive” and then check finances to see if any money can be traced to contract killers. Having said that, I suspect the people behind this crime are very sophisticated and will probably not be caught.
 
Danmar said:
Agree. It is highly unlikely that the perps were ordinary thieves. By all accounts he was an aggressive businessman, prone to litigation. Likely he created many people with a motive. If I were the police, I would focus on “who had motive” and then check finances to see if any money can be traced to contract killers. Having said that, I suspect the people behind this crime are very sophisticated and will probably not be caught.
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Roger this. Ordinary thieves wouldn't bother to string up the victims in the way described. Takes too much time.

This one screams "payback" to me.
 
45th Birthday said:
I know three billionaires and half a dozen people with nine figure net worths. None of them has security. The billionaires are not particularly anonymous, and are quite generous.
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I had to think about this. I am familiar (seen regularly, but never met) 2 - 3 billionaires. No security visible to me. One is good friends with a beach friend of mine... and he regularly walks his dog on the beach with my friend and her dog. The dog is not a trained attack dog from what I can tell - and there is no security.

That walk goes by the house of another billionaire, and next door is that billionaire's son's home... who might also be a billionaire in his own right. I see them periodically since my daily walk takes me on the beach in front of their homes... or when tide is high, on the street side. They have staff - but only one live in staff from what I can tell. I see housekeeping, pool guy, etc parking when they arrive... No security that I can tell.

So it's not a given that billionaires have/need massive security. What they have that I envy is GORGEOUS beachfront homes.
 
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rodi said:
The billionaires are xxxx (dad) and xxxx (son) xxxxx.
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I have a great anecdote from the early years of Qualcomm that I will need to post sometime. All these years later, it still makes me chuckle. :)
 
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rodi said:
I had to think about this. I am familiar (seen regularly, but never met) 2 - 3 billionaires. No security. One is good friends with a beach friend of mine... and he regularly walks his dog on the beach with my friend and her dog. The dog is not a trained attack dog from what I can tell - and there is no security.

That walk goes by the house of another billionaire, and next door is that billionaire's son's home... who might also be a billionaire in his own right. I see them periodically since my daily walk takes me on the beach in front of their homes... or when tide is high, on the street side. They have staff - but only one live in staff from what I can tell. I see housekeeping, pool guy, etc parking when they arrive... No security that I can tell.
So it's not a given that billionaires have/need massive security. What they have that I envy is GORGEOUS beachfront homes.
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This above post is another peril of extreme wealth: mentioning billionaires who are not exactly in the public eye as athletes and entertainers might be--and then mentioning where they live and what there security system is like. Was it really necessary to mention their names?
 
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rodi said:
So it's not a given that billionaires have/need massive security. What they have that I envy is GORGEOUS beachfront homes.
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I saw an ad in the paper today for a GORGEOUS beachfront mansion located in a nearby suburb being auctioned without a reserve price. This is fairly uncommon, so I wanted to see if I could learn anything more about the owners. I'm lucky to live in a county where a great deal of info is available online. Often very high net worth folks try to hide ownership behind shell companies, but not these folks. The huge mistake they made was convincing a bank to offer them a $14M line of credit back in 2009, which they apparently enjoyed a bit too much 'cause the mansion is now in foreclosure. Ouch.

In any case, you couldn't pay me to live down on the coast. To each their own, I guess. 😎
 
redduck said:
This above post is another peril of extreme wealth: mentioning billionaires who are not exactly in the public eye as athletes and entertainers might be--and then mentioning where they live and what there security system is like. Was it really necessary to mention their names?
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Indeed. Perhaps both of you should edit your posts to delete their names?
 
Helen said:
It really saddened me. I saw a photo of their house and it didn't have a fence around it. I had the feeling thet were very grounded people.
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Well, I wouldn't go that far.

Barry Sherman was a combative and extremely litigious person, who revelled in bitter, hard-fought lawsuits. That is not a healthy or admirable approach/attitude.

He also had personal views that some might well feel were not especially well-grounded:

  • “Free will is an illusion”
  • “Power and wealth bring no obligation”
  • "We are here with no ‘meaning’ or ‘purpose’ to our lives”
At the time of his death, he was under active investigation for improper lobbying.

Obviously, none of the above justifies murder, if that's what actually occurred.
 
Any billionaire is publicly known (there'a no hiding a billion dollar net worth), so even if they have the disposition of Mr. Rogers they're always at risk.

Look at Branson, who has to buy private islands or isolated retreats deep in the desert, away from any populated areas, to be able to relax.

OTOH, you can live very well, discreetly, on 7 figures (less with a generous pension) here.
 
Branson is a bad example here .. no small part of his business success comes from actively pursuing the camera.

There are unknown billionaires, I'm sure, and also quite a few who are not known by most people. By definition, it is hard to come up with examples.

Still, a few lesser known people: The person or persons who developed Bitcoin, the founder of WeChat, the founder of the Medaillon fund and several of his friends, a few EuroMillions winners etc ..

Do you know who founded Lego, and would you recognize him in the street? Same for the founder of the company that built part of the Palm Islands, he's virtually unknown outside his home town.
 
The Fifth Estate

Thanks for the link. :flowers:

Bizarre.
 
I'm reminded of a news story in the early 90's that actually put me off ever buying an expensive car. A local couple getting into a new car (forget the make) were followed to their home by thugs who hid outside till the lights were off, then broke in, shot the couple in their bed, robbed the home and stole the car (it's how they were caught). Gave me nightmares. Literally drove beaters and cheap cars for decades. Even though our current car is nice, it's not a status make and is seen on the roads in droves.
 
Perhaps if the unfortunate couple in the above case were even richer, they would be OK with live-in guards and a sophisticated alarm system.

Of course, they would have to be somewhat paranoid to spend money for personal protection. In this thread, we talk earlier about rich people who do not take any extra measure. Being followed by an armed guard would take a lot of fun out of your activities, so I can understand why not every billionaire does it.
 
This news does ring a bell. Most of us on this forum are (I believe) self-made next door millionaires by savings & investing. For most of us, such news is un-related however you never know. If you are driving a Mercedes or BMW or other luxury cars living in a mediocre area of the town it can bring some unwanted attention.
But yes I agree that we all need to be more cognizant of the fact that crimes everywhere are on the rise. Unfortunately people with more means are usually the target.
 
retired1 said:
This news does ring a bell. Most of us on this forum are (I believe) self-made next door millionaires by savings & investing. For most of us, such news is un-related however you never know. If you are driving a Mercedes or BMW or other luxury cars living in a mediocre area of the town it can bring some unwanted attention.
But yes I agree that we all need to be more cognizant of the fact that crimes everywhere are on the rise. Unfortunately people with more means are usually the target.
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I don't think that "we all need to be more cognizant of the fact that crimes everywhere are on the rise" for the very simple reason that it is not true. There are some agendas out there that promote the idea you mentioned but these agendas have nothing to do with reality. 5 facts about crime in the U.S. | Pew Research Center
 
The impression of rising anarchy and mayhem across the U.S. is likely the result of publicity attached to the appalling mass shootings, plus the shocking nature of school shootings (which, while not really common, were hardly heard of before 1999).

ejman said:
I don't think that "we all need to be more cognizant of the fact that crimes everywhere are on the rise" for the very simple reason that it is not true. There are some agendas out there that promote the idea you mentioned but these agendas have nothing to do with reality. 5 facts about crime in the U.S. | Pew Research Center
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I doubt many of us are hiring guards (not me certainly!), but if you do then hiring the right people is very very important.

I have relatives who live in NOTAFIRSTWORLDCOUNTRY and had a guard at their house. The guard apparently didn't think he was being paid enough and invited and assisted some of his friends to pull a home invasion. It was an awful experience.

So educate yourself and make sure you are working with the right people.
 
ejman said:
I don't think that "we all need to be more cognizant of the fact that crimes everywhere are on the rise" for the very simple reason that it is not true. There are some agendas out there that promote the idea you mentioned, but these agendas have nothing to do with reality.
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+2.

Amethyst said:
The shocking nature of school shootings (which, while not really common, were hardly heard of before 1999).
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I guess it depends upon how we define "school". IIRC, Charles Whitman was the seminal mass shooter: at the University of Texas, way back in 1966.
 
Yes. But it happened in a university. Now they do it in elementary schools. It's very sad.
 
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