The part about the billionaires not picking up the check does not surprise me. Some of those filthy rich guys can pinch a penny so tight, Abe Lincoln screams sexual harassment.

Who picks up a check is a matter of business etiquette in this case. You would never take an investor you are courting out to lunch and stick them with the check.

All of the rich people I know are pretty generous, some almost to a fault. I could not get near a dinner check on that recent ski trip and all of the cabins were paid for by one person, etc... Stunning generosity.

Just joking, meant for it all to be in green. :D

All good, my brother. :cool:

Lest I sound like a bitter middle class white collar worker... I am very comfortable, I have a great wife, a good job with medical insurance, a nice house, etc.

Life is good.

At 55 would I rather be retired, attending classes, driving a 997... yeah sure...

But if you look at the big picture... how the majority of the people on this planet live without proper food and shelter... who am I to complain?

Looks like you're one water pump away from paradise.

Served lunch to a group of homeless Veterans today. God bless em'

I guess I'll throw in my 2c.

I'm in a pretty good MBA program here in SoCal and have met a lot of these "movers and shakers" in the past 6 months; founder of Kinkos, co-founder of MySpace, former CEO of Porsche Design (boy has he told me some funny stories about the family)...etc.

I agree with LubeMaster that they do listen very well and their answers are often self-depracating, but extremely valuable. They are dudes you just can't help but like. Even though they carry themselves "like a boss", you get the distinct feeling they'd chat up a drunk homeless person the same way they would the guy who wants to buy their company for 9 figures, only on different topics.

Yep, the studies show peak happiness at $161k (that seemed awfully specific to me) and starts going down below $75k. 5 billion doesn't make you much happier than 250k I guess.

Are you talking about annual income or net worth?

^Thats gotta be annual income. $161K net worth even if your entire net worth was wrapped up in your house doesn't get you anything anywhere worth living in this country. Of course I am assuming that you would want to own the place you call home...

i am almost sure that if it wasn't for my kiddos I would have pretty much liquidated everything and moved to Belize...

My guess for initials of one ....MA.

I can't figure out why a guy worth a billion dollars would be interested in another start up venture.
That doesn't make any sense to me.

^Because it's not about the money anymore. It's because he thinks it's a good idea, he's passionate, he likes the guys involved, he wants to help and he has the means...and he wants to be a part of another successful venture.

For a lot of these dudes, it stops being about the money long before they're billionnaires.

+1 Dipso
They never stop.

Or, they just want more.

^Sure, but there can be reasons besides that.

That makes sense, and for a guy to be worth a billion in the first place, he definitely must like business.
It's just strange to me, that's all.

Had Lunch With Two Men Worth Over a Billion Each...
 

Meh. I've had billionaire bragging that they had lunch with me.