The World’s Richest People and How They Spend Their Money

On 9^th March 2011, Forbes magazine released a list of 1210 names of the world’s richest people. The first ten slots comprised a mixture of citizens from various countries. The list revealed that for two years running, Carlos Slim Helu Family (Mexico – $74bn from $53.5bn in 2010), Bill Gates III (U.S.A – $56bn from $53bn in 2010) and Warren Buffet (U.S.A - $50bn from $47bn in 2010) continued to occupy the first, second and third positions as the most affluent people in the world. The fourth, fifth and sixth slots were occupied by fresh names like Bernard Arnault (France - $41bn from $29bn in 2010), Larry Ellison (U.S.A - $39.5bn from $28.7bn in 2010), and Lakshmi Mittal (India - $31.1bn from $28bn in 2010). The seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth positions went to Amancio Ortega (Spain - $30bn from $27.5bn in 2010), Elke Batista (Brazil - $27bn from $27bn in 2010), Mukesh Ambani (India - $25bn from $27bn in 2010) and Christy Walton and Family (U.S.A - $26.5bn from $23.5bn in 2010).

According to Forbes, out of the total of 1210 billionaires, Europe had 24.79% (300 billionaires), U.S.A had 34.13% (413 billionaires), Asia had 27.44% (332 billionaires) while among world cities, Moscow scooped 6.53% (79 billionaires) the largest portion ever taken by a single city. These people have much more money than they can possibly spend. Now, where does some of this end up?

With so much money in their bank accounts, one cannot help wondering how some of this money is spent. A brief research restricted to five items reveals some habits that are worth noting. While a few billionaires prefer to live a simple life, others over-extend themselves. I observed that quite a bit of their money goes into at least five of the items listed below:

There has been a tendency among the very rich to target prime property in real estate, which drives the value of land very high, making some regions unaffordable to common citizens. The Wall Street Journal reports that most wealthy men and women prefer to own more than two places they can call home. The more an individual owns such homes, the better and more secure they feel. The Vancouver Ethiopian Blog reports that, Bill Gates lives in a large 66, 000 square feet of a mansion, while Carlos Helu has maintained a modest abode for four decades without shifting.

The wealthy seem to have strong ties to good health and their own general wellbeing. Talk of loving yourself. A lot of money is spent in hotel events, treatment sports, health spas and holiday resorts where they recuperate in seclusion and far away from public scrutiny.

The rich also love travelling in style. The choice extends from helicopters to fast sports cars. Larry Ellison loves spending on cars. One car that is selling very well in these high echelons is the Bugatti Veyron. The Bugatti Veyron, which is custom made for buyers by Bugatti Automobiles and Volkswagen Group – the parent company, is the most expensive car in the modern world whose cost is $1,600,000. Its Super Sport version can attain a top speed of 431.07 kilometers per hour and costs $2,500,000. The second most popular car among the affluent is the Dodge Viper. The latest Dodge (Viper Competition Coupe) can only be built and purchased directly from Chrysler, is the most expensive best-selling car in the world going at U.S$155,000 has an engine capacity of 6200 cc and hence a very high consumer of fuel which enables it to attain a very high speed.

Classy furniture is highly preferred in an attempt to remain above others of the same class. Most of the fittings are made in situ to ensure they resemble no other that might wish to compete. A few billionaires have been known to buy an item today at a high price only to dispose it of cheaply tomorrow.

The variety of perfumes is also not lacking with strange ones like Clive Christian coming in 10 ounce bottles with lids made of diamond and sells at US$215,000. It is known to be produced and sold in small quantities only to the affluent.

A large chunk of money goes to rare art, clothing, watches and jewelry.

They are an ignorant lot that would rather someone else open their mail and pay bills for them, for they don’t have the time or the patience to do these simple tasks. They prefer hiring a professional financial adviser. This however, opens them up to manipulation by “faithful” servants. How would you spend the money if you had such wealth on your hands?