The other day we were watching tv and it is surprising when they featured the houses of celebrities in different places costing $10 million at the minimum. There was the house of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt with a swimming pool aside from the mansion. Actually all those houses that were featured were mansions and sitting on big lots of maybe half a hectare at least. It's nice to imagine that I can someday live in that kind of house.
I don't hate them for being successful, I hate them for being show-offs. Seriously, why would you need a 10+ room house with two swimming pools if not just to show off your wealth? I won't believe, even if you kill me, that they use both swimming pools at the same time. Give some of your wealth to the poor guys, at least, they'll remember you forever for changing their life! Which I think is a lot better than the 'Oh! this room is beautiful, but do you know my room has an inbuilt armored vehicle for me to play!' kind of comments from equally rich people who are either jealous of your fortune or just don't give a damn about your mansion.
Many of them do give wealth to the poor. The wealthy not only pay the majority of taxes, but they also are the largest contributors to charitable causes. Do I agree that I could think of better ways to spend 10 million then on fancy cars and homes? Of course I do. But at the same time, these big purchases do help to keep the economy going. Homes and luxury items employ a whole bunch of skilled craftsman and other businesses, which just giving all your money to the poor would not do. I think there is a healthy middle between robin hood and trickle down. Also the more I think of it, the more that I see these types of things as "rich people credentials." Wealthy types and inherently distrusting of a lot of people, because they think they are only interested in getting money from them. If you are hanging around the high net worth crowd in a 50K Toyota and a 500K house,you won't be treated with trust even if you have a high net worth. If you have the trappings of wealth, they might be more trusting you don't just want their money because you have your own.
Agree about the wealthy being some of the most charitable people on earth, and also paying most of the taxes on the whole. As for appearances, I learned a long time ago that you can't really make any sort of definitive judgement on someone's actual wealth (net worth) just by the car they drive and their home. I do know and know of some people worth literally hundreds of millions who live relatively modest lives. You'd think they were perhaps upper middle class or even lower on the totem pole if you didn't know their financials. I also know and know of many who earn tons of money and spend it all, and who also often borrow heavily. They may have ridiculous cars and homes, but have everything mortgaged to the eyeballs and live from payday to payday. Some may even be stealing from business associates to fuel their high lifestyles in some cases. I've found that people's behaviors are better indicators of their actual wealth - someone who has to have 10 high end vehicles instead of just one is probably somebody borrowing heavily (or worse) and who is headed for the poor house. When I read about this or that "businessman", athlete, or entertainer spending $100k a night on the crap tables at Vegas, or $200k a night on private parties for themselves and their "posses", it's a pretty safe bet that they aren't as rich as they want everyone to believe, and are headed towards disaster. [video]http://www.cnbc.com/live-tv/american-greed/full-episode/the-playboy-of-indiana/387488835843[/video] http://www.cnbc.com/id/100000033
We have a neighbor whom we fondly call Mansion because his house looks like a mansion. And for more effects, his cars are all SUVs but not the ordinary type. He has a Mercedes Benz, BMW, Audi and some other car brands that are obviously expensive. Just by that, we already know what kind of person he is. Right? Wrong. Because can you imagine his wealth but he has no garage for his 7 SUVs? That is unimaginable.
That's funny, because growing up, there was a house across the street from us like this. We also called it the Mansion. lol I see it now, and it doesn't look as big as I remember. It was larger than a lot of the houses in our neighborhood, but it was more of an illusion because it was on a hill and the builder designed the house to look big from the street. Hedges prevented us from seeing the back of the house. now, the hedges have been cut back, and the house looks far less impressive.
11.5k sq ft on a 1 acre lot. That house is a 1/4 acre in size. lol Beautiful house though. Did you notice it's $694 per sq ft too? Man, that's nuts! The big, custom homes in this area max out at about $240 per sq ft.
