REVscene Automotive Forum - Money Can't Buy Happiness, So Man Gives Away Every Penny of His £3 Million Fortune

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Money Can't Buy Happiness, So Man Gives Away Every Penny of His £3 Million Fortune

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/m...1_1574504c.jpg

Quote:

Mr Rabeder, 47, a businessman from Telfs is in the process of selling his luxury 3,455 sq ft villa with lake, sauna and spectacular mountain views over the Alps, valued at £1.4 million.

Also for sale is his beautiful old stone farmhouse in Provence with its 17 hectares overlooking the arrière-pays, on the market for £613,000. Already gone is his collection of six gliders valued at £350,000, and a luxury Audi A8, worth around £44,000.

Mr Rabeder has also sold the interior furnishings and accessories business – from vases to artificial flowers – that made his fortune.

"My idea is to have nothing left. Absolutely nothing," he told The Daily Telegraph. "Money is counterproductive – it prevents happiness to come."

Instead, he will move out of his luxury Alpine retreat into a small wooden hut in the mountains or a simple bedsit in Innsbruck.

His entire proceeds are going to charities he set up in Central and Latin America, but he will not even take a salary from these.

"For a long time I believed that more wealth and luxury automatically meant more happiness," he said. "I come from a very poor family where the rules were to work more to achieve more material things, and I applied this for many years," said Mr Rabeder.

But over time, he had another, conflicting feeling.

"More and more I heard the words: 'Stop what you are doing now – all this luxury and consumerism – and start your real life'," he said. "I had the feeling I was working as a slave for things that I did not wish for or need.

I have the feeling that there are lot of people doing the same thing."

However, for many years he said he was simply not "brave" enough to give up all the trappings of his comfortable existence.

The tipping point came while he was on a three-week holiday with his wife to islands of Hawaii.

"It was the biggest shock in my life, when I realised how horrible, soulless and without feeling the five star lifestyle is," he said. "In those three weeks, we spent all the money you could possibly spend. But in all that time, we had the feeling we hadn't met a single real person – that we were all just actors. The staff played the role of being friendly and the guests played the role of being important and nobody was real."

He had similar feelings of guilt while on gliding trips in South America and Africa. "I increasingly got the sensation that there is a connection between our wealth and their poverty," he said.

Suddenly, he realised that "if I don't do it now I won't do it for the rest of my life".

Mr Rabeder decided to raffle his Alpine home, selling 21,999 lottery tickets priced at just £87 each. The Provence house in the village of Cruis is on sale at the local estate agent.

All the money will go into his microcredit charity, which offers small loans to Latin America and builds development aid strategies to self-employed people in El Salvador, Honduras, Bolivia, Peru, Argentina and Chile.

Since selling his belongings, Mr Rabeder said he felt "free, the opposite of heavy".

But he said he did not judge those who chose to keep their wealth. "I do not have the right to give any other person advice. I was just listening to the voice of my heart and soul."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...miserable.html

karma will repay him back one day...

Quote:

Originally Posted by tonyvu (Post 6811258)

karma will repay him back one day...

He already received payment. He's happy. All he really wanted.

In the end, the results of his hard work went to others. He is now truly rich.

Props.

edit: ^ Couldn't have said it better.

wow. thats amazing, from someone who came from a poor family, working from ground up to reach the level with amazing wealth and owning all these luxuries.

all in the end, he gives it away to the people who really need it

this guy has good heart

watched this on apple daily ... they made him frown when sky diving

"I had the feeling I was working as a slave for things that I did not wish for or need.

this is just one guy, most people would want all the baller material.

Good man, he deserves a medal.

Wow, I dunno to call him stupid or brillant
Posted via RS Mobile

Man of the year. It's true though, we spend so much of our time working so we can live the life we think we need to live, but wherever you go in the world whether someone's rich or poor, whether there's war or no war, there's always people who are happy and appreciate what they have. I think all we need to do is stop for a second and appreciate what it is that we have once in a while. Anyways I'm rambling, but this was a good story. I don't think I could have done what he did, it's great to know there's people like him in the world.

haha I guess his wife should get some credit too, unless she left him to live in the cottage himself.

Its true, the need for materialistic goods is artificially made. This guy is god amongst men. Just look at that smile, its genuine...

mo money mo problems

There ain't going back... couldn't he have just stopped spending it instead of giving it all away? At least if somewhere down the road he realized that this "money equals unhapiness" theory is wrong, he'd be able to back out of it...

I'm sure he's not giving away EVERYTHING. Guy still needs to buy his Swiss cheese sandwich and crappy Swiss bubbletea ya know ;)

It's true though. There was a period in my life when I wanted to own (and went out and bought) a ton of nice stuff. It actually made me more miserable because I was now putting in all these extra hours at work for a crappy boss etc. Ever since I became more unmaterialistic (rare for a Chinaman, I know :lol) I admit my life has become more simple. I've stopped trying to chase money, and am now working on a career that I think I will actually enjoy. :) I mean, I still have my car (sports car, 6 years old) and cell phone (3G but entry level), but I don't live my life waiting for the next upgrade in terms of possessions. A major side benefit is that all my "friends" who used to judge me for "being cheap" drifted away, and were all replaced by friends I truly get along with and appreciate me for who I am (yeah, sounds cliche) instead, and I can definitely say I am WAY happier than a few years back. Trust me, there is nothing worse in life than having fake friends.

Someone once told me this: "Too many people spend money they haven't earned, to buy things they don't want, to impress people they don't like.” (it's a quote but I'm not sure who said it) Sooo true.

Giving loans is going to be $$$$ for him and his charity.

so the guy made even more money by raffling his cottage to make 3mil euros and he tried to buy happiness with 3mil euros or all his worth. lols

on the same line of thought..i can never afford happiness either. i dont think anybody can. Let's say you wanted that new Ipod and finally you were able to get one but is it really want you wanted? You might be wanting the Iphone now.

i dont think he's insane, crazy, or even smart for doing that. I can just say he is himself. Happiness is worth all his money, in his case 3mil euros. A haircut is worth 20$ to you but only 8$ to me. An education is worth 2000$/semester to you but worth 7500$/semester for an international student. now here's something interesting. if guys like this exist that means a lot of opportunity for us to take advantage and take his money and we both end up happy.

btw anyone want to give me money to make themselves happier? i'll gladly take it

This guy really understood what truly defines "happiness" for him. Sometimes, we let the superficial blind us and we'll think that the materialistic wealth will bring us that "happiness" we want. Props to the guy realizing what he want despite being contrary to everyone else.

Btw, this reminds me of the movie "Click" starring Adam Sandler...

That shit is crazy. Money can so buy happiness.

Props to the guy! I know I would never be able to give up all of my wealth.