The richest person you have personally known

[Red Badger]

Maybe I'm missing the point of this thread (wouldn't be the first time). Met DW when she didn't have a pot to piss in, or a window to throw in out of (I on the other hand, had a pot to piss in, no window) . She taught me more about money than anyone else.

Perhaps one can learn a lot from a wealthy person. I learned a lot from a person of sizable means, just not the moneyed kind.

 

[omni550]

At a recent meetup get-together, I met a guy who was #12 employee at Border's Books. His wife died of cancer recently. After her death, he donated to the local hospital where she had been cared for, and now there's a wing named after her.

omni

 

[calmloki]

...... I learned a lot from a person of sizable means, just not the moneyed kind.

I like this.

 

[kaudrey]

A client of my ex-husband's, who is also his friend, founded a third-party billing business. I've been on his private plane, and on 3 of his yachts, one of which is almost 200 feet long. His mansion on the bay is also amazing.


We have a friend who just sold his law firm for $60M, and who's partner is also rich in his own right through stock options with a software company.


There's a lot of money in my neck of the woods....

 

[CardsFan]

Not someone I personally know, but my closest brush with BIG wealth:

Several years ago I had a meeting with a vendor in Tulsa. When I got there, he asked if I minded if his new boss attended. They had recently been purchased by Koch Industries, and his new boss was billionaire David Koch. Fortunately for me, I really did not know much about the Koch business, so I was not initially intimidated. Regular meeting. David was not impressive (though I am sure that was his intent).

A few years later, we were working on a business venture, and my boss flew on David's private jet to a meeting.

On a side note, the venture went no where and my boss got RIF'd a few years later. So it goes.

 

[cyber888]

I know a couple who owns several buildings and condos. They construct it and sell units. They’ve invited us to dinner a few times. The wife stayed at my house once because she’s the classmate of my cousin, and my cousin visited me with her. They live on the Penthouse of their own building. Im pretty sure they have at least $100 million. They sent their kid to study in NY and rented a $4000/month flat for their kid. Im pretty sure they spent $8000-$10000 a month for that kid alone. They have 4 kids. The guy would fly to Japan just to eat his favorite food.

I personally met Bill Gates at a Tech conference.. he tried to demo a beta Microsoft software, but it didnt work at first haha. This was when he was CEO.

 

[Scrapr]

I personally met Bill Gates at a Tech conference.. he tried to demo a beta Microsoft software, but it didnt work at first haha. This was when he was CEO.

and you told him.....

get a Mac?

sorry it was just sitting there

 

[HighOnLife]

For those who have asked about the purpose of this thread, my original purpose was curiosity about how people have excelled financially to an extreme, especially if there are take-aways. In my case the ultra wealthy folks I've known seem to have made their fortunes in business and real estate. It's surprising to this recent boglehead convert that few seem to have made their fortunes through stock investing.

 

[COcheesehead]

For those who have asked about the purpose of this thread, my original purpose was curiosity about how people have excelled financially to an extreme, especially if there are take-aways. In my case the ultra wealthy folks I've known seem to have made their fortunes in business and real estate. It's surprising to this recent boglehead convert that few seem to have made their fortunes through stock investing.

I won’t single out just one, but of the people I know who have serious amounts of money, most made it through their job/ownership. Most are business owners, two are RE developers. One got it in a lawsuit settlement. All of them put their riches into stocks, but none that I know of got the foundation of their wealth through equities.

For anyone who says money doesn’t buy happiness, I say hogwash. Everyone I know with lots of money is pretty darn happy. Filling their lives with giving back, travel and friendships.

 

[jollystomper]

I won’t single out just one, but of the people I know who have serious amounts of money, most made it through their job/ownership.

I would agree with this. of the six friends I mentioned earlier only 1 directly or indirectly made their fortune through the stock market (he was an investment banker). The others (either themselves or their family money) were primarily through owning a company, being an early part of a startup that got bought out for big bucks, law, or commercial real estate.

 

[Ronstar]

I know rich people, but I have no clue how rich they are. All either own their own companies, or are real estate developers. They have several houses, etc, but I don't know anyone personally that has a yacht or private jet.

 

[pjigar]

For anyone who says money doesn’t buy happiness, I say hogwash.

My DW always says this and my response to her is "Money gives you choices". e.g. happiness, arrogance, giving, content, etc. Choices without money are very limited, most are not pretty and some are downright horrific.

 

[cyber888]

and you told him.....

get a Mac?

sorry it was just sitting there

Hahaha .. Bill was already a bit embarassed. This was during the boom in E-commerce software and he was demo-ing a middleware that if you order something from a vendor like Amazon online, the application will automatically call your phone to confirm the order. He had a mobile phone with him, and he was waitin for the Microsoft software to call his phone .. but after a few minutes it did not. Eventually, it did call his cell .. but after like 10 minutes later.

 

[COcheesehead]

The somewhat hidden secret to wealth accumulation that to a lot of people is a dirty word, is leverage. If you own a business or are in RE development, you can use borrowed capital to leverage into greater gains. I know when I started my business I used other people's money at first to purchase equipment that we used to create something with even more value. When I bought a commercial building the same thing was true. My appreciation was on the asset value, not my equity and there in turn is the advantage of leverage.

 

[45th Birthday]

My DW always says this and my response to her is "Money gives you choices". e.g. happiness, arrogance, giving, content, etc. Choices without money are very limited, most are not pretty and some are downright horrific.

This is exactly how I think of it. When I was in college (paying for a very expensive private school with work study, grants, loans, scholarships and a bit of help from parents), I was living in a crappy apartment with roaches and neighbors who were routinely hauled out by the police.

One day I was walking from apartment to campus and it struck me that not having money means you don't have many choices. I resolved then and there to make sure I had lots of choices later in life...

 

[Rustic23]

I've met some folks that I think have more money than we do, but rich? Not sure about that. It's like other's have eluded to, 'rich is in the eyes of the beholder'. We are in the top 25% of the income/wealth statistics for the U.S. For the area we live in, it might be the top 10 percent. It is said that our county is one of the poorest in Texas. I would say, like us, our neighbors got to where they are by getting a college degree, working, staying married, and saving. None of them would be considered exceptional. The one I think might be the wealthiest, drives his cars to the 200,000 mile limit. So LBYM also played a part.

 

[unclemick]

The guy in work clothes who repaired the washing machines in the apartment building laundry room when I lived in greater Denver. Got to talking to him about rental real estate vs stock market - turned out he owned the 30 unit plus about a dozen more some even bigger. Started out in aerospace 20 years ago and had a nervous breakdown. Took his severance and started buying rental units in and around Denver.

Collecting the money and working on the washer/dryers in multi buildings with a hired helper keep his mind occupied.

heh heh heh - I suppose in the 70's he was a millionaire several times over.

P.S. Keep in mind how flat the Dow Jones was circa 1966 - 1982

 

[pjigar]

The guy in work clothes who repaired the washing machines in the apartment building laundry room when I lived in greater Denver.

Hehe, I can picture myself! I am affluent now but I am going to be rich later. I am dressed up in my "workshop cloths" half the time and shop to Lowes in them. I also fix everything in my rental houses.

 

[ikubak]

About 15 years ago I was in Mexico with DW and my son. We went to visit an uncle at his property outside of Mexico city. The property has horse stables, tennis court, pools, guest houses, and a small church. I spent the day with his daughter and her husband at the pool by one of the back guest houses. We had a great time drinking tequila and translating cuss words between English and Spanish. Me and my cousin's husband were like besties by the end of the night. Through small talk I learned that he worked at Telmex and had been there for years. A few years later I went back to Mexico for a wedding. I asked another uncle if my cousin's husband was coming (I'll call him Marco to keep this confidential) and he said, "Who?" I said, "Marco" the one that's married to my cousin. My uncle said, "Oh, Marco Slim. No, he won't be here." I said, "Slim?? As in Carlos Slim?" Uncle says yeah, he's Carlos' nephew. So there you go, I am related to Carlos Slim through marriage. I haven't personally met him, but it is possible that I will run into him one of these days.

 

[braumeister]

I am related to Carlos Slim through marriage.

OK, you absolutely win this thread!

 

[iloveyoga]

I've thought about this question and I guess I don't really know any rich people. I know quite a few people who have a very comfortable lifestyle, but I don't really know that they are rich.

 

[Oz investor]

that would be hard to pick for me

most of the wealthy folk i have known are very private about their net-worth ( and very careful with their expenses .. you might never suspect they were even millionaires )

even the twin estates i inherited were much larger than i suspected ( but that could have been because i didn't think i would inherit anything from either estate , so wasn't 'sizing them up )

 

[Moemg]

My former sister in law who is still very close to the family is filthy rich . Her Dad was a self made billionaire but he was very frugal and she and her brothers never realized they were rich until later .She also had a very successful career . She is famous in her own right.Her Dad died last year and besides already having a very high net worth she inherited a lot , ..She is so down to earth and so are her children my niece and nephew who are also very successful. She is generous and donates a ton of money .You would never guess her wealth if you met her .

 

[lwp2017]

My mom’s uncle was Scrooge McDuck rich. Graduated from Rice University, was an attorney.

Supposedly changed his dad’s will and thus inherited his dad’s( a banker) wealth, cut his sisters completely out of the will, they got zero. My mom’s side of the family despised him. They had grown up very privileged, finishing schools for girls, university in the northeast ( my grandmother went to Parsons School of Design in NYC in 1910). Suddenly as they called it “ daddy’s” money was gone so they all had to get real jobs like teaching school. They were certainly spoiled.

My mom grew up on a wheat and small dairy farm helping milk the cows so it was all a fairy tale to her listening to her schoolteacher mom.

Great Uncle parlayed that inheritance into hundreds of millions buying Houston area pasture cheap in the 1940s and later developing it into neighborhoods in 1950s-1970s as Houston boomed & rapidly expanded. He was visionary how the city would grow and how to make money - had a long view.

He gave me a quarter once, the only time I ever met him. Even as a kid I thought he was a lonely & sad man. Money didn’t buy him true happiness.

I literally have no idea what happened to his money, he had no kids and his wife died before he did. Probably gave it to Rice.

 

[Scrapr]

OK, you absolutely win this thread!

Have I told you about my step cousin 2nd removed? Initials Mark Zuckerberg. 23 & me told me