Karl Rabeder ~ A wealthy man who understands true wealthKarl Rabeder grew up poor and thought that life would be wonderful if he had money. But when he got rich, Karl discovered that he was unhappy … so he decided to give away every penny of his £3 million fortune:
What do you think? Is he doing the right thing or is this just a crazy idea of a rich man?"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."
1 comments:
My feeling is that you are either a happy person or an unhappy person with whatever you have.
I wasn't raised in the lap of luxury or with a silver spoon but when I was in High School we had a larger than average home in an upscale neighborhood. With Grandpa working at Ford Motor Company as an executive we always had new Lincolns or Mercurys in the driveway. It was an embarrassment to me. This was unfair to my parents who had worked hard for what they had, but I didn't like feeling that I was better in some way than others, or that someone might think that. I think I was always determined to have less....which was crazy probably.
Now I think of all I could have done with more money to help the world.
I remember when you were young Marque you always said. "When I am old I am going to have BMW's, a nice house, and I am going to give alot of money to the poor people." You have done just that. You always seem to have that balance in your life. I admire it. You set an example for all of us.
I hope you print this comment.
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