Karen Datko, lead blogger, is a veteran journalist in small-town Montana, where her mortgage is $310 a month.
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Miserable millionaire donating all to charity
Karl Rabeder has traded unbridled luxury for life in a two-room flat.
This kind of story gives you faith in humankind, or makes you feel you’ve entered the Twilight Zone: An Austrian multimillionaire is giving away all his money to charity in pursuit of a simple, happy life.
Happiness and self-realization eluded Karl Rabeder as he indulged in a supremely materialistic lifestyle -- a $2.2 million, 3,455-square-foot lakeside villa in the Alps, a farmhouse on 42 acres in Provence, six gliders, an Audi A8. His entire fortune was estimated at $4.7 million.
Rabeder, now 47 and divorced, lives in a two-room apartment in Innsbruck, and gets by on just $1,260 a month. “The worst that can happen to me is that I have to take a small job to get by,” he told the Daily Mail.
''My idea is to have nothing left. Absolutely nothing. Money is counterproductive -- it prevents happiness.''
Really? We’re not so sure about that. And, believe it or not, Rabeder has critics.
- Anglican priest and Telegraph religion editor George Pitcher commented, in part: “If you use it for the benefit of others, employing your time and skill as well as just dispensing the dosh, then you’re probably of more benefit to the world than a former rich bloke in a hovel halfway up a mountain.” (We added the italics.)
- ArabianMoney.net in Dubai asked, “Is he mad or just eccentric?”
We wondered why he isn’t keeping enough money to live more comfortably. Lots of wealthy people give away huge portions of their fortunes but don’t live in two-room flats. Pitcher mentioned Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.
- Bing: Greatest philanthropists
Clearly, there’s a middle ground between indulging every consumer whim and identifying and spending on the things that make you truly happy.
On the other hand, happiness is a very personal thing, which Rabeder realizes. He said, ''I do not have the right to give any other person advice. I was just listening to the voice of my heart and soul.''
His soul began telling him years ago that he was unhappy living the posh life. He mentioned being affected by the poverty in Africa during a visit there. “The tipping point came during a three-week holiday with his wife in Hawaii,” The Sydney Morning Herald said.
“It was the biggest shock in my life when I realised how horrible, soulless and without feeling the five-star lifestyle is,” Rabeder said.
Rabeder sold his home accessories and furnishings business in 2004 -- the same year as the Hawaii trip -- and began supporting orphanages in South America. The gliders and fancy car are now gone. He’s raffling off the house in the Alps and has put the farmhouse in France on the market.
The money is going to a microcredit charity he created to provide small loans and business-development help to self-employed people in six Central and South American countries.
What do you think? Is he saintly or compelled by misguided guilt? Is he on to something or deceiving himself? Before you answer, keep this tidbit from an MSN Money article in mind:
In fact, in a study of members of the Forbes 400 "richest" list, the world's wealthiest individuals rated their satisfaction at exactly the same level as did the Inuit people of northern Greenland and the Masai of Kenya, who have no electricity or running water.
Related reading:
Twevlerock
You sound every bit of self-absorbed, narcissm. Did you read what you wrote? Are you so short on self-esteen that you constantly need "i am so great" rush/pick-me-ups equivalent to drug highs? Did you read what Rabeder has lived and found to be nothing more than soul-less and empty? Maybe you will eventually get there too. In the meantime, watch who you step on, to get to where you want to go.
You can not have complete happiness with yourself until you find peace with God. No money in the world, donating, doing good works, etc will bring you TRUE happiness unless you are doing it because of your love for God and your relationship with Him. It sounds like Mr. Rabeder has the right idea of sharing, but again, without God he is going to start feeling that "emptiness" again.Cowgirl and others are ridiculed in this life by many but there is another life after this one(heaven or hell). The reason that one would attack Cowgirl or Cowboy is that the truth they employ searches to the marrow of the bone and leaves the other person destined for unpeaceful days and nights until he finally comes to grip with what can set him free also. The rich man did what he wanted or was compelled to do. It is in loving not in being loved the heart finds its quest: It is in giving not in getting our lives are truly blessed. For some it may be a portion of their material possessions and for others, it may be all that they own--that decision is based on what God has placed on their heart.
In the final analysis, a decision is required. But remember this.
Julius Caesar was the emperor during the life of Jesus. He was so popular, rich and powerful that it was better for most to be a friend of Caesar that a friend of Christ Jesus. Good Friday may occupy the throne for a day, but ultimately, it must give way to the triumpant beats of the drums of easter. History may so shape events that Caesar might occupy the palace and Christ the cross, but one day, that same Jesus will rise up and split HIS-story into AD and BC such that even the life of Caesar must be dated by HIS name!
Thank God for His Spirit of Goodness---the world needs it before it is to late....
Saving money -- you can do it
Strategies for saving more and spending less. Here's how to build a rich nest egg one paycheck at a time.
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