What do wealthy people buy, that ordinary people know nothing about? (2015)

Re:What do wealthy people buy, that ordinary people know not... by canucker2016 on Sunday May 18, 2025 @03:47PM (#44023871)

In Bill Gates's post about changing his charitable giving goal to give most of it away in the next 20 years, he references Chuck Feeney as someone he admired.

from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Feeney

  Until he was 75, he traveled only in coach, and carried reading materials in a plastic bag." He did not own a car or a house and wore a $10 Casio F-91W watch

He gave away most of his fortune and required recipients not to reveal the source of the donation.

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Re:What do wealthy people buy, that ordinary people know not... by 0xDEAFBEAD on Sunday May 18, 2025 @11:18PM (#44026274)

>He gave away most of his fortune and required recipients not to reveal the source of the donation.

I suppose that's one way to avoid the bad press :-P

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Re:What do wealthy people buy, that ordinary people know not... by albumen on Monday May 19, 2025 @05:52AM (#44028064)

Wiki: "Beyond Mr. Feeney's reticence about blowing his own horn, 'it was also a way to leverage more donations—some other individual might contribute to get the naming rights.'"

NYT article(1):

..when asked what had driven him into such deep secrecy:

“I feel it’s my life,” Mr. Feeney said. “I’d be the last guy to tell a wealthy person what to do with their money. They’re entitled to do whatever they want.”

quote from his kid: "...he sheltered us from people using the money to treat us differently,” Leslie Feeney Baily said. “It made us normal people.”

when asked why he had chosen to reveal himself:

“A lot of wealthy people, they don’t realize they have the alternatives of spending the money for good,” he said. “If they knew it gives so much satisfaction, I wouldn’t have to persuade them."

(1): https://archive.ph/gLfLY

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