Eccentric Thrifty Ways of The World’s Billionaires

 Mark Zuckerberg just bought his own home.  Nice.  $7 million dollars.  Too expensive… if you’re an ordinary Joe.  But the 26-year-old Facebook founder is valued at $13.5 billion. 

Even with the traditional, age-old, father of all budgeting strategies of partitioning 30% each of one’s income on food, clothing and shelter with the remaining 10% for savings one multi-billionaire’s own, very first  home at  $7 million seems a little off-calculatedly cheap.

Then again, Zuckerberg and many billionaires like him, though separated by age and nationalities, all hold the same humble principle.  Though many frugal living tips have been printed since time immemorial these accomplished and wealthy people all believe in the same principle:  if the people who made them rich, their customers who mostly belong to the middle class, cannot afford anything of what sorts they, the very rich of the rich, won’t buy it.

Here are some of the world’s richest and how frugally brow-raising eccentric they are.  They’re rich, successful yet simple.  Each one an inspiration and a definite wake up call to people who are always at wits end to make both ends meet.

 Warren Buffett – a most admired American investor worth $50 billion. 

Still lives in his modest Nebraska home which he bought in the 1950s for $31,500. 

Replaced his six-year-old Lincoln Town Car for a 2006 Cadillac DTS.

Prefers to eat hamburgers.

Chooses soft drink over wine.

Bought his second wife’s wedding ring from his own shop and asked for a staff discount.

 Ingvar Kamprad – a Swedish founder of Ikea, an international home products company that designs and sells read-to-assemble furniture, appliances and home accessories and is the world’s largest furniture retailer.  He is worth $31 billion.

Flies economy.

Drives a 1993 Volvo.

Often dines at lower-tier restaurants.

Furnishes his home with his own Ikea’s affordable merchandise.

Known for dumping his barber when he found one that would cut his hair for $13.

Known also for buying his food in the afternoon because this is the time when prices of food drops.

Quoted on why he lives a cheap lifestyle, “If I start to acquire luxurious things, it will only incite customers to follow suit.  I look at the money I’m about to spend on myself and ask if Ikea’s customers could afford it.”

 Jim C. Walton – an American heir of Wal-Mart worth $23.4 billion.

Prefers pickups to sports cars.

Drives a 15-year-old Dodge Dakota.

 Azim Premji – an Indian scion of a cooking-oil business who is $12.7 billion in assets.

Drove a Ford Escort for eight years before buying a new Toyota Corolla.

Usually walks to work.

Stays at budget hotels.

Wears unbranded shirts.

Flies economy.

 Frederik Meijer – an American worth $2.5 billion.  Together with his father they launched the first “one-stop shopping” concept via their Meijer Grocery that was renamed Meijer Thrifty Acres.

Drives cars with high gas mileage.

Wears inexpensive suits bought from his stores.

Stays in cheap motels.

 John Caudwell – an Englishman worth $2.3 billion who just sold his 85% stake in the cellphone business Caudwell Group.

Used to go to work on a bike riding all 14 miles.

Cuts his own hair.

Buys his clothes at the British affordable retailer Marks and Spencer.

Drinks cheap wine.

 David Cheriton – a Canadian worth $1.6 billion.  He owns a large chunk of Google stock

Prefers riding his bike.

Drives a 1986 Volkswagen camper.

Flies commercial.

Cuts his hair.

Read more: http://socyberty.com/people/eccentric-thrifty-ways-of-the-worlds-billionaires/#ixzz1MOQiJzSx

Kate MIddleton's Wedding Dress in Par with William's Royal Cousins'

 It’s disconcerting.  Bold ones out there wouldn’t care if reports are saying that Kate Middleton’s wedding dress didn’t disappoint.  What on earth are they saying?  It was the most disappointing clothing ensemble the former Miss Middleton ever showed us that left many open-jawed in a major historical, disappointing way.

It’s not that the Sarah Burton creation, of the Alexander McQueen label, was bad.  It wasn’t.  It’s just not that in the same level in the impact department that Kate’s Middleton’s engagement dress created.  That Issa blue engagement dress was a class with a smash that made the uneducated aware what a classic dress looks like.

Rumors of Kate wanting a blend of tradition and modernity on her wedding dress coupled with the trademark Alexander McQueen vision turned out bad.  Royals wanting something usually means they get everything.  Kate’s combination of wishes, visions and hopes for her wedding dress didn’t work.  Her dress was a class alright but it is without that smash the whole world was expecting.  It was boring.
 Her sister, who is her Honorary Bridesmaid, Pippa Middleton’s dress turned out nicer though Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen also created this.  Pippa’s dress was a heavy, ivory satin-based crepe with a cowl front with the same button detail and lace trims as that of Kate’s. 

Probably without the pressure to make a big bang on that day Pippa Middleton just left everything to Sarah Burton.  Nice, smashing decision.  Pippa’s dress was a class with a smash and a modern classic.  This is the Alexander McQueen vision serving Kate’s younger sister well.  Though absence of rumours of Pippa working closely with Sarah Burton hadn’t come up yet it is conclusive that Kate Middleton’s working close with the creative director of Alexander McQueen in the making of her wedding dress did it for her.  Royal followers know how many artistically related jobs Kate was rumoured to have applied in, during the 10 years she was a girlfriend-in-waiting and a live-in  girlfriend of Prince William, which she only managed to stay with only for a while for some unknown reasons.

 The only thing that could stand on its own in Kate’s wedding dress ensemble is her lace top.  Really, really disappointing.  Imagine that wedding dress without that lace top and you get the disappointment I mean.

The new Duchess of Cambridge’s veil is of soft, ivory silk tulle with a trim of hand-embroidered flowers made by the Royal School of Needlework (definitely keeping up with the royals’ duties of being walking advertisements of buying British).

This veil was held in place by a Cartier ‘halo’ tiara lent by the Queen.  Her train is over six feet and the outstanding piece of sleeves made of lace is long and cut in a low V in front.  Though the future queen’s dress is made with ivory white satin gazar with its skirt echoing an opening flower with white satin gazar arches and pleats and its satin bodice narrowed at the waist and padded at the hips drawing on the Victorian tradition of corsets it just didn’t have the impact it should.

This boring royal wedding dress naturally comes to mind William’s cousins.  In recent years the House of Windsor saw William’s contemporaries going down the aisle.  Some of them took on the name of humble commoners while some of them took also unlikely commoners and brought them into the royal fold.

Kate should’ve learned a lesson or two from these royal-born and royally married wives:  just be the undeniable well-bred self that their name naturally moulded them to become or what their royal husbands definitely found in them and everything – beautiful wedding dress with a smashing appeal and lasting beautiful look would fall into place.  There’s no need to work on mixing tradition and modernity with an artistic vision of a designer.

 Here are the gowns William’s royal cousins’ wives and cousins-in-law wore to the altar.  They definitely came from humbler designers compared to Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen but some of them surely had that punch that no wedding dress, even if someone marrying off to the conservative British royal family, should lack.  


Read more: http://socyberty.com/people/kate-middletons-wedding-dress-in-par-with-williams-royal-cousins/#ixzz1Lo8IEYDF

Victoria Beckham’s Powerful Fashion Evolution

She is now known not only for the fashion she wears but for the fashion she creates.

 She’s one of the most promising and surprising designers who recently gained attention.  From being the Posh one of the 90s girl band, Spice Girls, and being the wife of a soccer great, David Beckham, she is now known not only for the fashion she wears but for the fashion she creates.
It was a long and painful journey to fashion greatness.  The whole world was a silent, suffering witness with her fearless and painstaking steps along the way.  
Now, it’s a whole new different ball game.  Victoria Caroline Beckham, 36, through her designer brand VB,  heralded a look that, though can be defined by words, is more visibly characterized by that certain recognizable total look that tells who the designer the moment one sees it.  This is Chanel history repeating itself, which Christian Dior also experienced, now only with a different name:  Victoria Beckham. 

VB’s trademark simple creations are stamped with such simplicity that her fashion evokes well-calculated components that is often, to the ordinary eye, just composed of cut and color.  It’s a beautiful architecture which  mere absence of many things, with only an artist’s vision, perfectionism and precision, is enough to lend a creation a beauty and elegance in the most simple, realistic, elegant and beautiful way.  The end result is always an innovative piece of clothing with such timelessness that it heralds a new classic – a truly magnificent creation that creates a whole new level.
With an innate eye and instinct for fashion coupled with the help of some designer friends who gave her valuable tips Victoria Beckham finally found a style that works for her that a surprised public suddenly took notice of and appreciated.  This eventually made her a threat to other designers with each and every collection she turns out with.

Currently Victoria Beckham is in her fourth pregnancy.  This would soon bring forth a daughter in July that she and David are very much hoping for after having three boys.
With the news confirming her pregnancy much speculation came about on how this English style icon, who currently lives in America, would bring forth a surge in maternity fashion.  All it did herald, though, was celebrities in the same pregnant condition.
With the onset of her pregnancy her design label Victoria Beckham (VB) started turning out loose-fitting clothes, still sophisticated and sexy but, a deviation from her trademark hug- the-body silhouette.  With the valuable talent of the people who work under her name no designer label dared touch maternity fashion during her pregnancy.  It’s worthwhile to take note that these loose-fitting clothing of VB are not even maternity fashion themselves but another well-calculated, innovative and timeless pieces.
Just a few days ago Victoria was caught by the paparazzi in a billowing grey jumper dress from her collection while she was in Los Angeles airport.  She was sporting the dress’ coordinating bag and black ankle boots.

Though with only some weight added on by the bump coupled with the tea and toast with lashings of marmalade that served as her pregnancy cravings it makes sense to say that with or without that enviable figure Victoria has truly found fashion, made the public appreciate her for it and had gotten the one in a million opportunity to revolutionize it.


Read more: http://beyondjane.com/fashion/victoria-beckhams-powerful-fashion-evolution/#ixzz1JiURYU5I

Polls Show Donald Trump’s High Probability Running for U.S. President in 2012

 The poll might just show Donald John Trump, Sr., 64, as a second placer in the latest GOP or Republican poll on who might be this political party’s potential bet against the Democratic Party’s in the 2012 U.S. Presidential Elections.

 Trailing behing Mitt Romney who got a 21 percent support and tying with Mike Huckabee wherein they both got 17 percent Trump bested Newt Gingrich who got 11 percent, Sarah Palin 10 percent and Tim Pawlenty 6 percent.

GOP, which is the Republican Party’s nickname that stands for Grand Old Party, is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the U.S. along with the Democratic Party. GOP has the second most registered voters and as of 2004 totals to 55 million which is roughly one-third of the U.S. electorate. However the Democratic party boasts of 72 million voters as of 2004 and is the party where President Barack Obama belongs.

One of the two bright hopes for Trump being GOP’s bet is the result of a poll released earlier this week that found him to be the one who might topple Romney’s lead in New Hampshire.

The New Hampshire primary is the first primary in the quadrennial U.S. presidential election cycle which is the process of choosing the Democratic and Republican nominees for the presidential elections.

Public Policy Polling says that without Trump in the game Romney sits at 31 percent which is actually a 16-point lead over Huckabee. But once Trump joins in the race Romney would just be ahead by six points which could easily change in Trump’s favor.

Likewise Trump is leading the entire potential U.S. candidates favored by the Tea Party.

Though not a political party the Tea Party is a political movement that has caucuses in the House of Representatives and the Senate of the United States. A Gallup poll shows almost 80% of Tea Party members consider themselves to be Republicans.

The psychology of Trump’s popularity may be the reason for the sudden surge of the possibility of this business magnate, socialite, author and television personality running as the Republican’s best bet for United States’ 2012 Presidential Elections.

Read more: http://socyberty.com/politics/polls-show-donald-trumps-high-probability-running-for-u-s-president-on-2012/#ixzz1J0kDI5tF

Carole Middleton: Future Grandmother of a Potential Heir to English Throne Badly Hit with 15/50 Syndrome

15/50 is a phenomenon recently coined because many mothers are now trying hard or unconsciously dressing like their young daughters.

 Nothing actually morally bad with that. It’s just that it becomes quite hilariously funny for anyone who would see a trim and/or fashionably young figure from the back only to be surprised, frightened or plainly head-scratchingly-disappointed to see upfront a 50+-year-old woman who, in spite of all the best cosmetics, toiletries and even surgery done to her face, still looks old.

Not that am even suggesting that Carole Middleton, Catherine Middleton’s (future wife of Prince William) mother, had anything done to her face.

 Instead Carole Middleton is a glaring example of how one who was monetarily deprived in her youth (or plainly never got attention and is still trying hard for attention now) is making up through the dresses and/or shoes she wears. In result she looks like she is dressing like her daughter. However which way Carole Middleton was a flight attendant before she became a millionaire when she and husband Michael Middleton set up Party Pieces – an online mailing company of children’s party accessories. She definitely has more money now enough to qualify them as millionaires.

Not that aquiring things now when one was deprived of them then is bad. One needs therapies in forms like these every now and then. But when a woman is dressing up like one of her daughters it either is a sign of being hardheaded in accepting her age (in spite of the wrinkly skin, cellulite, sagging arms and thighs and lack of figure and all) or just being plain uneducated in how one, six years past the half century mark, should dress.

Middle-aged women should not, on the other hand, look frumpy. They should look like human beings blessed with the wisdom of their years. They should look respectable enough that their experiences and stature as mothers (way past half the century mark) should look.

Royal followers are aware that snobbish noses turned up the very first time Carole Middleton caught the spotlight as one of Prince William’s guests in his Sandhurst graduation chewing gum. “So this gum-chewing-woman is the potential mother-in-law of the future king of England?” they thought. “Not only was being a former flight attendant quite unimaginable for the possibility of this woman being a mother-in-law to Prince William but to chew gum on his graduation? No class at all.”

In the pictures below spot where Carole Middleton got it wrong. Below are proofs detailing where she and many other women in her age range get it wrong. Note that Carole Middleton still dresses the conservative English way (though it’s the conservative yound adult English way) compared to other women hit with the 15/50 phenomenon.

 At 56 years of age and wearing short skirts, flat boots and navy jacket. Forget even her well-toned body. Old is old. No offense but if looks betray a mature woman’s age men and women still know that other parts of her anatony would still give her away.

 The picture of Kate Middleton’s parents after her engagement announcement. Carole Middleton turned up for the world press in tight skinny jeans and high heeled boots with a cropped zipper jacket that looked like it was from Topshop. The thing that glaringly shows how Carole Middleton refuses to dress her age is that Topshop is for the young market. Even Kate Moss, the somewhat old supermodel now, who was in charge for some years of the clothes from Topshop, was around 36 years old when she got that job. How young is 36 compared to 56? One is a mother to a six-year-old child and the other is a mother to a 29-year-old-daughter.

  Trying to look young makes a woman look old. Tangerine cocktail dress even more revealing than that of her daughter’s. Too young, too tight, too bright. Too trying hard. Too bad taste. Too needy to be educated on how to dress her age. Too many like these happening these days.

Here is a bright shining example of how women of Carole Middleton’s age and stature should dress. Princess Michael of Kent may be 10 years older that Mrs. Middleton but she definitely looks younger, more cultured, wiser and more in command of the respect women way past the century mark deserve.

      

Read more: http://socyberty.com/people/carole-middleton-future-grandmother-of-a-potential-heir-to-english-throne-badly-hit-with-1550-syndrome/#ixzz1J0cAqHzX

Kurt Cobain Remembered Seventeen Years After His Death

 Kurt Cobain is known worldwide for his music. Though many probably may not reconcile his name with his face and sound they had been a common fixture everywhere as the presence of the faces on our coins are. Cobain is not something alien to a whole slew of people belonging to Generation X or Gen X (born after the post-World War II baby boom ended which are those born in the 1960s, ’70s and not later than 1982).

 Kurt Donald Cobain, February 20, 1967 – c. April 5, 1994, was remembered by his hometown Aberdeen in Washington on Tuesday, seventeen years after his suicide, with a guitar sculpture memorial located in a park near the Young Street bridge where Nirvana’s frontman spent some of his childhood days. Notably, during the guitar sculpture dedication on Tuesday, many of those who went to the unveiling were born after his death in ‘94.

Nirvana, Cobain’s grunge band, found breakthrough success with “Smells Like Teen Spirit” from their second album Nevermind. As much as they sold millions of albums the success of their impact is really measured when Cobain, a singer-songwriter and frontman of this band, was hailed as the spokesperson of Gen X.

 Before he died Cobain was struggling with heroin addiction, bronchitis and laryngitis, depression, his fame and public image as well as the professional pressures between himself and his wife, musician, Courtney Love. It’s reported that his death was the result of a second suicide attempt.

On April 8, 1994 an electrician, who was supposed to install a security system in Cobain’s Seattle mansion, found him on the floor and thought he was sleeping until he saw the gun pointing to his chin. Apart from the blood that came out of his ears there was no sign of trauma. A suicide note, to his childhood imaginary friend named Boddah, was found paraphrasing, “I haven’t felt the excitement of listening to as well as creating music, along with really writing…for too many years now”. High doses of heroin and Valium was found in his body. He had been dead already for three days before his body was found.

      







His death and life had been explored in films and books.

Cobain’s wife Courtney Love hired a private investigator to look for Cobain after he left rehab, a few days of only being in the program, before his death. On April 5 he barricaded himself in the granny flat behind his mansion and killed himself.

Love was in a hospital in L.A. because of a drug overdose. She was taken there two days after Cobain’s death when his body haven’t been discovered yet. A day after, on April 8 when Cobain’s body had already been found, Love went out of the hospital after a friend informed her of the discovery.

 His daughter with Love, Frances Bean, was just 19 months old.

Read more: http://musicouch.com/genres/rock/kurt-cobain-remembered-seventeen-years-after-his-death/#ixzz1ItdJfdNW

No Wedding Ring for Prince William

There’s still that forthcoming wedding though. England’s second-in-line-to-the-throne decided to forgo the wedding band, the simplest and surest sign that anyone is legally and morally taken. Palace officials confirmed this staggering news with the clarification that this is with William’s future wife, Catherine Middleton’s, blessings. Buckingham Palace clarified that Catherine would be the only one to get to wear the family heirloom Welsh gold band to be given by Queen Elizabeth.

The choice of not wearing a wedding band is one of the accepted modern acts couples exercise these days. This goes alongside a bride’s choice not to take on her husband’s surname coupled with the now most popular separate bank accounts. However Prince William marrying without a wedding band may be considered too drastic as a decision for an heir to an institution steeped with tradition.

Blessed with the wisdom of any couple their age, Catherine is 29 while William a few months younger at 28, Kate and William already know what they can get away with even if they are a young couple of a royal institution.

Reports of a finger food buffet, charitable donations instead of gifts and some emailed invitations are sure signatures of the young, modern couple who had been living in together since their university years albeit reported quiet disapproval from the late Queen Mother and the present Queen. This birth of a new, modern, no nonsense, wise young royal couple had been signaled right from the start when the very first news regarding their wedding is the bride’s limo ride, instead of the usual carriage ride, to Westminster Abbey.

 As much as the only ring that would be visible forever on William’s hand would be the signet ring that men of his position wear there’s no need for any wedding band to ward off any potential, however subtle temptation, as the whole world would be watching and reading about his wedding to the incomparably beautiful, statuesque, patient and understanding Kate Middleton on April 29.

Read more: http://socyberty.com/people/no-wedding-ring-for-prince-william/#ixzz1IYE8Wdpt