- Joined
- Aug 14, 2009
- Messages
- 3,634
- Points
- 0
05:55 AM Feb 10, 2010
PARIS - Austrian millionaire Karl Rabeder is giving away every penny of his £3 million ($6.65 million) fortune after realising his riches were making him unhappy.
The 47-year-old businessman is in the process of selling his luxury 321sqm villa with lake, sauna and spectacular mountain views over the Alps, valued at £1.4 million.
His beautiful old stone farmhouse in Provence has also been put up for sale at £613,000. Already gone is his collection of six gliders, valued at £350,000, and a luxury Audi A8, worth around £44,000.
"My idea is to have nothing left. Absolutely nothing," he told The Daily Telegraph. "Money is counterproductive - it prevents happiness to come."
He plans to move out of his Alpine retreat into a small wooden hut in the mountains or a simple bedsit in Innsbruck. His entire proceeds are going to charities he set up in Central and Latin America, but he will not even take a salary from these.
"I come from a very poor family where the rules were to work more to achieve more material things, and I applied this for many years," said Mr Rabeder. However, over time, he had another, conflicting feeling.
"More and more I heard the words: 'Stop what you are doing now - all this luxury and consumerism - and start your real life'," he said. "I had the feeling I was working as a slave for things that I did not wish for or need."
However, for many years he said he was simply not "brave" enough to give up all the trappings of his comfortable existence.
The tipping point came while he was on a three-week holiday with his wife in Hawaii.
"It was the biggest shock in my life, when I realised how horrible, soulless and without feeling the five-star lifestyle is," he said. "In those three weeks, we spent all the money you could possibly spend. But in all that time, we had the feeling we hadn't met a single real person."
Since selling his belongings, Mr Rabeder said he felt "free". THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
PARIS - Austrian millionaire Karl Rabeder is giving away every penny of his £3 million ($6.65 million) fortune after realising his riches were making him unhappy.
The 47-year-old businessman is in the process of selling his luxury 321sqm villa with lake, sauna and spectacular mountain views over the Alps, valued at £1.4 million.
His beautiful old stone farmhouse in Provence has also been put up for sale at £613,000. Already gone is his collection of six gliders, valued at £350,000, and a luxury Audi A8, worth around £44,000.
"My idea is to have nothing left. Absolutely nothing," he told The Daily Telegraph. "Money is counterproductive - it prevents happiness to come."
He plans to move out of his Alpine retreat into a small wooden hut in the mountains or a simple bedsit in Innsbruck. His entire proceeds are going to charities he set up in Central and Latin America, but he will not even take a salary from these.
"I come from a very poor family where the rules were to work more to achieve more material things, and I applied this for many years," said Mr Rabeder. However, over time, he had another, conflicting feeling.
"More and more I heard the words: 'Stop what you are doing now - all this luxury and consumerism - and start your real life'," he said. "I had the feeling I was working as a slave for things that I did not wish for or need."
However, for many years he said he was simply not "brave" enough to give up all the trappings of his comfortable existence.
The tipping point came while he was on a three-week holiday with his wife in Hawaii.
"It was the biggest shock in my life, when I realised how horrible, soulless and without feeling the five-star lifestyle is," he said. "In those three weeks, we spent all the money you could possibly spend. But in all that time, we had the feeling we hadn't met a single real person."
Since selling his belongings, Mr Rabeder said he felt "free". THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
