Meeting one of the world's richest

[ckissick]

The thread on the Ferrari 250 GTO that sold for 48 million got me to thinking of an encounter I had with someone a couple of days ago. I was at a guitar shop with my daughter, both of us noodling around with some acoustic guitars in a small studio in the store. I'm sitting there strumming away when who should walk into the room, but Mark Zuckerberg and his wife.

My daughter was playing a $4000 Taylor. She said she liked it and I told her it was way over our budget. Saying that in front of a guy with 70 bil to his name was kind of weird. And disheartening. I felt like quite the failure. But we talked guitars for a bit. He was a nice guy. I never said anything that would suggest I knew who he was. Neither did anyone else in the store. My daughter marveled at how normal he was. But he could buy a GTO with petty cash.

BTW, he was looking at a $90 guitar for his young daughter, but decided not to go for it just yet. Don't want to make any rash purchases, now do we?

[sc_rufctr]

That encounter would be weird. His type of money buys stuff we don't even think about.

Money has always been a means to an end for me. I'm more interested in what you can do with it than squirreling it away.

(Failure? The fact that you have a daughter means you're not a failure!)

[look 171]

I worked for a few people that have a few bucks and fame over the years. They are definitely not 70 billion rich, but subtrace a couple zeros and they are there. I have gotten to know a number of them and they are actually normal folks but only with disposable income that we never discuss. Other then that, I notice that they do watch their spending. Pretty much what Zukerburg did, they go to Target and buy their kid a cheap little tricycle for 40 bucks. Not bad if you ask me. Hell, even Carole King goes to IKEA and Yes, its the Burbank one.

[URY914]

Years ago my family and I were in a Sports Authority store's shoe dept. In walks the owner of the company I worked for at the time. He was a South FL developer worth about $500 million at the time. I knew him because a group of us had done a lapping school in stock cars down at Miami Homestead Speedway. The sales kid walks up and asked him what he needed and he said I'm looking for golf shoes. The kid says, we have the from $20 to $250. Without hesitation he says, show me the $250 ones in a size 11. I thought it was great.

[LEAKYSEALS951]

Originally Posted by ckissick

BTW, he was looking at a $90 guitar for his young daughter, but decided not to go for it just yet. Don't want to make any rash purchases, now do we?

He scoped out some guitars in the store, went home, got on amazon, and pulled the trigger online to save a couple of bucks.

[p911dad]

When I was a mere lad my very rich Canadian uncle offered this advice on getting and staying rich: "If you want to be rich, stop spending your money". Not an original thought but one I subscribe to.

[Tervuren]

I have noticed:

People for whom wealth is a security need, they tend to not spend but instead look for ways to increase "security".

People for whom spending wealth is the reason they worked to be wealthy.

People who acquire wealth on the side from a quest for power/influence, and only spend where they see it gain these things for them.

[GH85Carrera]

There are many stories about Sam Walton driving around in his old beat up pickup and mingling with regular folks. He was born in Kingfisher, OK and always stayed a humble and approachable man. He family has split his estate and they are all some of the worlds richest.

One story I remember was some high dollar suit was going on about how it is impossible to build a large complex in the middle of nowhere. Sam Walton told him he was wrong, and if you are ever in Bentonville, AR area, you will see Sam was right.

[LakeCleElum]

Mark Zuckerberg: I have a friend on Kauai - He's not popular with the locals there.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jan/23/mark-zuckerberg-hawaii-land-lawsuits-kauai-estate

[HardDrive]

We used to live in the neighborhood where Bill Gates grew up. His father and sister still live there.

I would run into his father occasionally. Very nice, down to earth man. He was still practicing law into his 80s. One day, he drove by our house in a new Mercedes SL convertible. I took note of it, and about 3 weeks later ran into him at Starbucks. I asked him about the SL, and he motioned out into the lot. There was a brand new S class sitting there. Turns about a huge tree branch fell on the SL, and crushed it only few days after he got it. The S was its replacement.

[stomachmonkey]

Freind of mine spent $2M on a new boat.

He sends me an email with the specs, thing burns 100 gallons of fuel an hour. This was back when gas was north of $4.00 per gallon.

Calls me a bit later in the day and as we are chatting tells me he was just in CA and rented a Prius. Thought it was awesome that he drove it all week and did not even use a full tank of gas.

He said he needed to get one because he saved so much money.

I replied, you just bought another boat that costs more to fill the tank once than the Prius costs, you are not saving any money.

People with money who manage to keep their money understand value and don’t spend it just because they have it.

They still understand bang for the buck.

I know more millionaires who drive pick ups than drive Ferrari’s

[tabs]

Now you do have some understanding of why I shop at Thrifts.

[tabs]

Now you have some understanding of why I keep on telling you that Americans have been living higher on the hog than they should because they think they are rich. You are not rich when you have to sustain your self or your nation with credit. Get it. Do you see how fked you are.

[ckcarr]

No bodyguards?

Ha! Sounds like a plot for a movie!


An intimate encounter like that, he should have bought her the Taylor. Just like Elvis and the Cadillac's in Denver long ago...



I have a friend who said he was in a Sears store in Phoenix waiting to checkout. But the holdup was Alice Cooper who, for some reason, couldn't get his credit card to work, trying to buy a washer or dryer... I'm sure everything was fine in the end, but just a funny story at the time...

[daepp]

I've personally known and worked for/with a dozen or so "$100 millionaires". What these guys had in common is/was:

- they never waste money
- they almost never make frivolous purchases
- they didn't mind spending money for quality people (who made them more $$)
- they didn't mind spending money on quality things, quality properties
- most weren't what I think the average person would call "happy"
- most had screwed up families
- most all of them had a primary worry of losing it all

My $.02.

[Nickshu]

Most very wealthy people I have met are very thrifty.

Sent from my Galaxy S9 using Tapatalk

[HardDrive]

True. I'm amazed at the attitudes of some younger folks towards money. They absolutely believe that the appearance of wealth IS wealth. Spending 1/3 of your paycheck to pay for a leased BMW does not make you rich son. It makes you a slave in the worst way.

Originally Posted by tabs

Now you have some understanding of why I keep on telling you that Americans have been living higher on the hog than they should because they think they are rich. You are not rich when you have to sustain your self or your nation with credit. Get it. Do you see how fked you are.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by LakeCleElum

Mark Zuckerberg: I have a friend on Kauai - He's not popular with the locals there.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jan/23/mark-zuckerberg-hawaii-land-lawsuits-kauai-estate

I'm first in line when it comes to declaring they 'white man' has screwed many native people out of their land.

A hundred or so years ago some businessmen screwed them out of the land, then there was a time they couldn't give the land away and encouraged homesteading on the island... over time it turned into a vacation paradise and property values have skyrocketed... one time there was an uproar about a celebrity that bought a huge tract of land and then had a crew of workers clearing out vegetation... it was later discover they were removing invasive species.

[stealthn]

Sad really, other than you are the product, Facebook offers nothing to society, creates nothing, and has no value for our future.

[sugarwood]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

I know more millionaires who drive pick ups than drive Ferrari’s

Some pickup trucks cost more than a Ferrari.