postaday | wealthymatters

Flashing Money Around

July 26, 2012 6 Comments

Here is the sort of situation you get if you use money as a bait! Think about it.

When John found out he was going to inherit a fortune when his
sick father died, he decided he needed a woman to enjoy it with.
So one evening he went to a singles bar where he spotted the
most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her natural beauty
took his breath away.

I may look like just an ordinary man, he said as he walked up to
her but in just a week or two, my father will die, and I’ll inherit
20 million dollars.”

Impressed, the woman went home with him that evening and,
three days later, she became his Stepmother.

View original post

Filed under Theory Tagged with arm candy, gold digger, Marrying for Money, Marrying Money, Marrying up, postaday, social mobility, sugar daddy, sugar mommy, trophy wife

Insights Into Selling Luxury In India

July 26, 2012 2 Comments

wealthymatters H.H. Tikkaraja Shatrujit Singh of Kapurthala is the chief representative in Asia for LVMH .He has spearheaded the development of Louis Vuitton’s business in India.

He holds that affluent customers in India are very similar to, and have the same needs and wants as, wealthy customers worldwide. The real game changer in the luxury market in India, he believes, is the aspiring middle class. And by being careful to always position a brand is always positioned at a level they are aspiring to reach,”

Hear him speak in the video below to get some insight into selling luxury goods in India.The transcript of the interview follows. Read more of this post

Filed under Entrepreneurship Tagged with aspirational middle class, aspiring middle class, bespoke, billionaire, Bollywood, custodian of the heritage, Delhi University, Doon School, event management, H.H. Tikkaraja Shatrujit Singh of Kapurthala, heritage hotels, Indian consumer, Indian luxury goods market, Jaguar and Land Rover, Louis Vuitton, luxury goods, luxury hotels, luxury market, LVMH, Pierre in New York, postaday, target customer, Tatas, Tikka Shatrujit Singh Kapurthala, Yves Carcelle

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

Filed under Entrepreneurship Tagged with Albert Frère, Alexander McQueen, Alexander Scriabin, Anna Wintour, Anne Dewavrin, Antoine Arnault, Antoine Bernheim, Art Deco, ateliers, École Polytechnique, Bernard Arnault, boot0strapping, Boussac Saint-Frères, building time shares on the Riviera, Carrefour, Celine, champagne- and cognac-making Moët-Hennessy clan, Cheval Blanc, Chinese consumerism, Chloé, Chopin, Christian Dior, Christian Lacroix, Colony Capital property fund, corporate war, Courchevel, Damien Hirst, Delphine Arnault-Gancia, Dior, Dior safari, diversification among products and regions, Donna Karan, emerging markets, FabIndia, Fendi, Ferret-Savinel, Fifth Avenue, Financière Agache, Foundation Louis Vuitton, François Pinault, France’s richest man, Frank Gehry, Gitanjali Gems, Givenchy, Gucci Group, Hélène Mercier, Henry Racamier, Hermès, House of Dior, Hubert de Givenchy, Japanese Luxury Goods, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jeff Koons, John Galliano, John Kluge, Karl Lagerfeld, Lazard Frères, Le Bon Marché, Les Échos, limited edition, Louis Vuitton, Louis Vuitton Stephen Sprouse bags, luxury-goods business, LVMH, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, Marc Jacobs, Maurizio Cattelan, Moët & Chandon champagne, multibrand luxury, Palm Beach Florida, Phillips Auction House, Phoebe Philo, photographer Helmut Newton, Picasso, Pierre Godé, postaday, Prince of Wales check, Raymond Apparel, Reliance MediaWorks, Roubaix, Sidney Toledano, St. Tropez, Tag Heuer watches, Takashi Murakami, Veblen goods, Vogue, Warhol, Yves Klein

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

Filed under Philanthropy, Theory, Tool Kit Tagged with Buddha on hoarding wealth, Buddhist story, hoarding wealth, King Pasenadi of Kosala, miser, miserliness, no heir to his huge fortune, postaday, wealth

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