More Money Than Brains?

Absurd Purchases Of The Super Rich:
It's fun to mock the superrich. Partially because we're a wee bit jealous (what we could do with just 5% of their money!) but, often, it's because they make it ever so easy. When the world's wealthiest individuals drop huge sums on things like racing pigeons, we really do think we could manage those riches better than they do.






The $200,000 pigeon
Pigeon racing may not be on your list of the top sports, but in parts of Asia it's kind of a big thing. And while most of the fans and participants aren't of the billionaire class, some are. Consider one Chinese buyer who paid $200,000 for a single racing pigeon. It's a highly pedigreed bird, of course, but the not-quite-billionaires among us can't forget we're talking about a pigeon.

The $11 million watch
Time is money, we're told. And maybe if we were wealthy, we'd understand the importance of keeping track of time with a really, really expensive watch. Consider a pocket watch commissioned by collector Henry Graves and designed and built by luxury watchmaker Patek Philippe. The timepiece design dates to the Depression era, and Graves' commission took eight years to complete. In 1999, an anonymous bidder acquired the watch for $11 million at a Sotheby's auction in New York.

The $1 billion house
Mukesh Ambani, India's richest man, lives in a 27-story home in Mumbai that cost him $1 billion. The building has nine elevators, a 50-seat theater, a two-story recreation center and not one, not two, but three helipads on the roof -- for those times you really need to have three helicopters land simultaneously.

The $19 million car
Cars -- fancy, fast, expensive cars -- have long been a favorite plaything of the rich, and one of the items most of us can relate to spending a large sum of money to own. British radio host Chris Evans purchased a rare 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO in 2010 for 12 million pounds, or about $19 million. The car is capable of accelerating from 0 to 60 mph in 6.1 seconds and has a top speed of 174 mph.

The $6-million-a-year divorce
Of course, not everything the rich buy represents pleasure spending. They pay taxes, of course, and big sums typically change hands when they divorce. When value-fund manager Charles Brandes divorced his wife, Linda Brandes, in 2005, the initial settlement would have given her $150,000 a month to maintain a lifestyle that approximated the one the couple maintained before they split. She rejected that proposal, though, and the couple ultimately agreed that $500,000 a month -- $6 million a year -- would suffice.

The $390,000 reward for good grades
No matter the parent's income level, there probably isn't one alive who can claim (truthfully) never to have bribed or rewarded a child in an effort to get good behavior. But in the case of the very rich, the rewards come in numbers that can be mind-boggling. Consider Sean "Diddy" Combs' $390,000 purchase of a silver Maybach luxury car. Combs, an entrepreneur, actor and record producer, bought the vehicle as a birthday present for his then-16-year-old son Justin, who had made the honor roll at school. Education is certainly important, but at this rate, getting Justin to maintain an "A" average through college could get mighty expensive.

Posted in: