I agree with Cheerskep. As I said, a million, even spending a million a year after taxes is not very hard to do. I gave the example of having 1 billion to spend over a lifetime of 72 years. That would be about 50,000 a DAY to spend (not invest or run a business with). Now that would be very hard to do. wc ----- Original Message ---- From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Mon, November 15, 2010 4:05:11 PM Subject: Re: "This study examines the process of commercialization of art which took place in Antwerp during the long sixteenth century, an era of rapid expansion of both the city's economy and its art market."
In a message dated 11/15/10 10:26:34 AM, [email protected] writes: > no one > can continue to spend $1 million on themselves all the time. > It probably depends on what you have in mind with "on themselves". Most of us would be surprised if we were given an insight into how a selection of very rich people spend their money. If you support other members of your family, and a few indigent long-term close friends, spending a million a year is easy, and indeed for many it often proves to be not enough. William remarked that $250,000 is not enough for certain non-profligate life-styles. If your parents were once rich but are now broke, and you want them to live out their years at a level not hugely below what they were accustomed to, 250K wouldn't approach being enough. And if you have several dependents like that... Granted there are live-alone adults, but most live with someone else. When you take care of your wife and kids, it feels like just fulfilling your responsibilities, and I can imagine some shallow anto-hedonist arguing you're just spending the money to make yourself feel good -- i.e. on yourself. How 'bout if you have four kids going at once to Ivy-League-priced colleges? Add to that, say, someone at home whose illness requires round-the-clock two-persons per shift caretaking. If a rich guy maintains a money-losing company solely because he doesn't want to see the people thrown out of work, would you call that spending it on himself? How about an art collector who intends to give the works to a museum when he dies but will keep them for his own private enjoyment until then? Or someone who backs plays he knows will lose money but which he personally likes? I'm aware this posting is vulnerable to a bunch of counter-observations; I mean only to convey that until we have an idea of where a rich person's money can go, best be slow to say, "No one can continue to spend $1 million on themselves all the time."
