wealthymatters

About Bernard Arnault

July 26, 2012 10 Comments

wealthymatters.com The luxury goods business has always fascinated me.Only a part of this fascination is attributable to the fact that I am something of an aesthete.The other major part is pure common sense:The fat margins possible in real luxury goods.Though today these businesses might be dominated by financiers , almost all of these started out as ateliers catering to the rich and were set-up by individuals with an understanding of the tastes and inclinations of the rich,some artistic talent,an understanding of skilled craftsmanship,an ability to get things made and some flair to market their wares to their select customers.These days luxury goods companies try to extend their reach by producing mass market luxury targeted at the aspiring classes.This makes these companies subject to the vagaries of the business cycles.However by producing Veblen goods in limited editions, a small business could not have to bother about business cycles.These very characteristics of the luxury goods business make them suitable for a boot0strapping entrepreneur.

Bernard Jean Étienne Arnault is today the world’s 4th and Europe’s richest person, with an estimated net worth of US$41 billion.He was Forbes’ “the fashion person of 2011”.Bernard grew up in Roubaix, northern France. After graduating from the École Polytechnique, Bernard worked as an engineer and ran his family’s construction and property business firm, Ferret-Savinel. Read more of this post

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The Buddha On Hoarding Wealth

July 25, 2012 34 Comments

wealthymatters,com Obtaining wealth in immoral ways and using it to harmful ends are two evils associated with wealth. A third is hoarding wealth — refusing to either share one’s wealth or put it to good use. In this story, the Buddha recounts the evils of miserliness:

Once, King Pasenadi of Kosala visited the Buddha. The King told the Buddha that a rich old miser had recently died leaving no heir to his huge fortune, and the King had gone to oversee the transfer of the miser’s wealth into the kingdom’s treasury.

King Pasenadi described the amount of wealth he had to haul away: eight million gold coins, not to mention the silver ones, which were innumerable. And, he said, when the old miser was alive he had lived on broken rice and vinegar, dressed in three coarse cloths sewn together, used a broken-down chariot for transport and shaded himself with a sunshade made of leaves.

The Buddha remarked:”That is how it is, Your Majesty. The foolish man, obtaining fine requisites, supports neither himself nor his dependents, his father and mother, wife and children, his servants and employees, his friends and associates, in comfort. He does not make offerings, which are of great fruit, and which are conducive to mental well-being, happiness and heaven to religious mendicants. Read more of this post

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Wealth And The Golden Middle Path

July 25, 2012 10 Comments

wealthymatters.com Asceticism was experimented with and rejected by the Buddha before he attained enlightenment.

Buddha preached contentment (santutthi) and limited desires (appicchata).However, contentment and paucity of wishes must be accompanied by effort and diligence, not by complacency and idleness.

Poverty (dadiddiya) is never praised or encouraged by the Buddha. “For householders in this world, poverty is suffering” “Woeful in the world is poverty and debt.”Many passages in the Buddhist scriptures exhort lay people to seek and amass wealth in rightful ways. Among the good results of good kamma, one is to be wealthy.The possession of wealth by certain people is often praised and encouraged in the Pali Canon, indicating that wealth is something to be sought after. Among the Buddha’s lay disciples, the better known, the most helpful, and the most often praised were in large part wealthy persons, such as Anathapindika. Read more of this post

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Pros And Cons Of Buying A Flat In A Building Without A Registered Housing Society

July 24, 2012 6 Comments

There are many flats available in buildings where the developer has not yet handed over the building to the flat owners despite its completion many years ago. These flats are often in mint condition and available at a discount.Bank loans for such flats is also a possibility.So it is always tempting to buy one of these.But do proceed with caution.

First find out why the builder has not transferred the possession legally to the registered housing society.There could be various reasons for this, the simplest being that no registered housing society has been formed yet.In such a case it is a fairly simple case of buying the flat and taking the initiative to form a housing society and registering it. Read more of this post