What motivates millionaires who live like paupers?
Posted
Mar 23 2008, 09:45 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
"Silicon Valley Blogger" at The Digerati Life dug up some old stories about people who lived like paupers and bequeathed millions to charity when they died. What, she wonders, would possess people to live that way?
There's Joseph Leek, who "watched television at a neighbor's house to save on electricity, put off home repairs, and bought secondhand clothes," according to a story at CNNMoney.com. When he died, he left $1.8 million to an organization that provides guide dogs to the blind.
Retired nurse Mary Guthrie Essame also lived simply and surprised those who knew her when she left $10 million to charity. SVB's favorite story is about junkman Joe Temeczko. He changed his will after Sept. 11, 2001, and left $1.4 million to the city of New York. It helped fund the Daffodil Project, a living memorial to 9/11 victims.
Why don't secret savers spend their money on the finer things in life? That question puzzled many Smart Spending readers who posted comments when we wrote about Paul Navone, a frugal retired factory worker who quietly made a fortune as a landlord and investor and has donated $2 million. He seems like a happy man.
SVB says such folks are "living a double life." She adds, "I don't know about you, but I find this somewhat cool and intriguing."
Most of the people she wrote about were happy and enjoyed the thought of leaving the world a better place when they died. However, maybe some had control issues or baglady anxiety syndrome, "where they feel that no matter how much they have, it can all be gone in a split second if an emergency arises," she writes.
Whatever their motivations, "these stories should prove one thing: that ordinary people can indeed find themselves sitting on millions by simply living frugally," SVB says.
