IF you were SUPER wealthy ($1B)

Test, isn't 17 still underage...?

 

not in all states, and by the time you train them, they are old enough... by the time they are 20, they are used goods anyway.

 

if i were a billionare, my garage would look like this

how many ferraris can you count?

 

I'd prefer secrecy until after I engineered the takeover of a small tropical nation. At that point I could be on the front page of the NY Post and I wouldn't care.

 

Anonymity is like a childhood blanket, it keeps you warm and safe.


TVRfreak, it is possible once you cross $20MM net worth. My best friend is worth well over $100MM and I guarantee very few people from the general public would know his name.

The only billionare I know doesn't drive exotic cars(only Mercedes and Chevys), doesn't live in the biggest house in town, and doesn't waste money on silly things like I do. You would never guess he's loaded if he was standing next to you.

 

Point taken, but you are always anonymous to the general public unless you are a public figure (ie. famous or holding office) or you really flaunt it. I was actually wondering about the ability to keep it "secret" or hidden from your friends and close associates. I think that would be virtually impossible to pull off once you cross $20M ie. you have a house with a pool and invite everyone to a party and they come and go thinking you are a well-off professional or successful businessman, without any inkling of the fortune you are sitting on.

The mega-wealthy venture capitalists and businessmen in this area are all known to be mega-wealthy by those they associate with. Their kids are known to have mega-wealthy parents by all their classmates and teachers. Etc., etc.

 

I agree with you there. Small circles. It takes money to make money and people do like to talk. It is probably very close to impossible to be very wealthy and not have your close friends and associates know it.

 

I know two billionaires. Everyone knows who they are, mostly through philanthropy. I think that I would prefer to be known by what got me there as opposed to the money itself; i.e. "a great businessman," or "turning this fledgling flailer into one of the top companies in its segment." That kind of thing.

The other thing is that I used to be professional athlete. You don't choose to be something like that unless you can stand some kind of public criticism.

 

I would prefer utter secrecy. Though my daily driver F40 might give a little something away.

 

It's possible, but you just have to be very careful. If you want to see totally anonymous people worth between $10-$60 million that you'd never even guess, go to College Barbeque for lunch or K&W Cafeteria for dinner in Salisbury NC.

The Dole's used to hang out at The Big Pig after church on Sundays, but they've moved home to DC.

The only people in the know are family, business associates and the bankers in Charlotte. Everyone keeps a very low profile, lives orders of magnitude below their means, and only makes anonymous charitable donations. Some great values to be learned for those just starting out in their careers.

What fun is it to impress people that are only impressed by money? What a waste of life. Besides, its more fun to laugh at the ones that think it really matters.

 

Of course when you are looking at a nice round $20M, ppl will know you have at least SOME wealth, but the difference between that, and say $500M, you could choose to share, or be private about...Not really sure what good can come of flaunting publicly, you can pamper women in secrecy, take care of your family, buy all your toys, but still not wave it in peoples faces, "offer" (i.e. insist!) to do articles on your success, and go to celebrity hangouts bc they are "in".

 

You can have the fame, just give me the fortune.

 

Sure, I'd like to keep my life private, but considering the line of work I plan to go into it could be nearly impossible. However, I think so long as you don't try to get attention (Richard Branson, Hiltons, Ellison, etc) then the public won't latch on to you.

I am up for that "taking over a small Carribbean nation" thing though

 

Small islands are cool, though when your young as I am, Im not going to lie and say that a little "ooh and ahhh"ing would really BOTHER me

 

You mind me asking what professional sport you played. Just curious.
Erik

 

I wouldnt mind being known or not..as long as i have the billions !

 

Very, very true. I dont know why people have to throw themselves at others to be impressed by money. What i really find disgusting is the fact that some people who never worked a day in their life go around and try to put others down because they inherited some cash. My parents have a friend like this and everytime i talk to this person its as if whatever they have in their possesion is worth X amount of dollars and whatever i own is worthless or next to it.

I am not putting down people inheriting money its not their fault, but to put down others who work and dont want people to know what they are worth because its irrelevant to them is not cool.

The answer to the question before my rant is i wouldnt want anyone to know about my net worth. I just want people to like me because after all its just me.