I did all this over a year ago, and didn't plan on telling anyone. I knew it would sound like smug bragging.
But in a few entrepreneur-focused interviews since then, (VentureVoice, etc) - the interviewers seemed particularly interested in the details on how and why I set up the trust.
Yesterday I did another one of those interviews, and he pushed for details again - so today I thought I should just write it down once and for all, so I don't have to keep re-telling it.
Sorry if it sounds like bragging. Perhaps it is, a bit, but I hope that someone somewhere in the future selling their company might be aware that this is an option and read someone else's experience with how to structure it.
Few people are in a position to donate $20 M to charity. Fewer still who are willing to give up what they worked so hard to make. This puts sivers in the top (some small number) percent of human population in important objectively measurable criteria.
Personally, I enjoy learning more about people I admire, flaws and all.
Nothing he says is new. Choosing a life of utter freedom, security, and modest luxury over the relentless drive for more wealth and power is probably as old as stable urban societies and has probably been admired for the same reasons just as long. So we're not here to learn; we're just here to gawk at one of our celebrities. If HN had channels, this would be E!
Admire the man for what he's done, but for God's sake, have the sense to roll your eyes and stop admiring for a second when he tastelessly brags about it. Resume admiring when this little faux pas passes out of consciousness.