Got a billion dollars to spend? Here's how!
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 10,134
Likes: 0
From: Baltimore
Got a billion dollars to spend? Here's how!
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/invest...rbes/P76879.asp
Forbes
How to spend $1 billion
Once you've bought the flat-panel TV, found a trophy spouse and waxed the new Benz, it's time to think big.
By Patricia Huang, Forbes
Ever dream about being a billionaire and how you'd spend the loot? Keep in mind that's a lot of zeros. If your idea of a shopping spree involves movie stars, mansions and Maseratis, you're still not thinking big enough. Herewith, Forbes suggests some grand ideas geared for the superrich.
Real estate
Neverland Ranch
Estimated price tag: $20 million
Michael Jackson's sprawling, 2,700-acre ranch in Santa Barbara, Calif., is up for sale. Forget its creepy past -- that's what the snooty decorators are for. Set amid lush rolling hills near the Los Padre National Forest, the ranch boasts amenities best suited for the boy-at-heart billionaire: a petting zoo, movie theater and amusement park. Though Jackson is rumored to have put it on the market two years ago for $50 million, real estate agents say it'll go for something closer to $20 million.
Private islands
Estimated price tag: $3 million to $7 million
Wife nagging you to take out the trash? Cast off to your own private hideaway in the middle of the ocean. Flanked by the blue-green waters of the Caribbean, Belizean Island is located just 45 miles east of Belize City. The island is at the northern end of a popular snorkeling spot known as Lighthouse Reef, not far from the world-famous Blue Hole, a 450-foot-deep hole known for its sea life and frighteningly long stalactites (rock-like formations made of water droplets). Go ahead and develop 200 acres of this 360-acre island -- the remaining lagoons and mangroves are best left untouched.Your money, fast.
File your taxes online.
It's easy at H&R Block.
Looking for an island already in move-in condition? Try Pirate's Cove in the Florida Keys, less than a half-hour from the Keys. On the market for $3.5 million, the 14-acre island has a four-bedroom, three-bath home; a pool; and, naturally, an unparalleled oceanfront view. Put Grandma in the 600-square-foot guest house. (Both homes feature satellite TV and high-speed Internet connections.) In case of a quick getaway, Pirate's Cove has a grassy clearing wide enough for a helicopter landing pad and a par 3 golf hole. The price includes two boats and a barge!
Shop til you drop
The Beatles catalog
Estimated price tag: $800 million
If Jackson's digs don't suit your style, try making a play for his catalog of classic Beatles hits, technically called the Sony/ATV catalog. (Half of it is owned by Sony.) That means collecting royalties every time a DJ spins greatest hits like "Help!" and "I Want To Hold Your Hand." Legally, the Beatles tunes are bound up with hits by Babyface and Oasis, hence the incredibly high price tag. But who wouldn't pony up for the Fab Four?
A year of Manolo
Estimated price tag: $400,000
Carrie Bradshaw, eat your heart out. Only seriously deep pockets could afford a single year's worth of all new designs from stiletto impresario Manolo Blahnik. The price tag for 600 pairs of these most-wanted shoes -- only one color per pair, please -- includes New York City sales tax.
The good life
Galactic holiday
Estimated price tag: $20 million
Virginia-based Space Adventures says it can arrange for customers to launch into space and orbit around the Earth 120 times, or roughly eight days. The $20 million price tag includes a six-month training course and ride aboard the Soyuz Russian Rocket to the International Space Station. From there, a week of weightlessness in orbit. No Guinness Book entries, though: Two civilians, American millionaire Dennis Tito and South African businessman Mark Shuttleworth, already have made the trip.
Party at the pyramids
Estimated price tag: $3.5 million to $5 million
Impress your friends with the soiree of the century. Invite 5,000 of them for a six-hour shindig at Egypt's Giza Plateau, overlooking the Pyramids. The baseline price tag of $3.5 million rents this open-air venue for your pals with security, according to the Egyptian Tourism Authority. Throw in some hookahs, tents and a private concert by techno artist Moby (available for $200,000), and you've got a real party. For another million, Elton John, Bon Jovi, Billy Joel or Gloria Estefan will stop by. Proceeds go to the Egyptian Department of Antiquities. (Just don't make off with any mummies.)
Join the jet set
Estimated price tag: $60 million
Flights to Cairo booked? No problem! Fork over $60 million to buy your own private Boeing Business Jet. Only 71 are even in service. Furnished with a lounge, dining room, private office, conference room, guest room and master bedroom large enough to fit a queen-sized bed and bathroom (shower included).
Do good deeds
School for the underprivileged
Estimated price tag: $1 billion
Send at least 16 million kids -- that's all the children currently out of school in 14 Third World countries, including Cambodia, Sierra Leone and Rwanda -- to five years of primary school. This according to the United Nations Development Programme. Uniforms not included.
Buy America a Coke
Estimated price tag: $58.6 million
In a feel-good mood? Don't try buying the world a Coke. Even with $1 billion you can't afford it. But for less than $60 million you could buy everyone in the United States a can of Coke.
A-Rod teaches Wiffle Ball
Estimated price tag: At least $250 million
Buy out the contract of new New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez. Send him to the backyard and have him teach your kid how to swing. (Rodriguez's original contract was worth $252 million. The Yankees bought him out for $112 million, with Texas paying an additional $67 million for the remaining money due on the contract.)
Immortality is yours
Preserved for eternity
Estimated price tag: $300,000
Alcor Life Extension Foundation, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based cryogenics group, can preserve the body and brain of two people -- say, for instance, yours and your wife's -- for eternity. (Or until the cure for that fatal illness is found. Or the money dries up.) The company vows to keep the body in a "biologically viable state." The sooner they preserve you, the better. So consider paying an extra $3,000 a day, if you are nearing death's door, to have a standby team ready to whisk you away.
-- Additional reporting by Cristina von Zeppelin
Forbes
How to spend $1 billion
Once you've bought the flat-panel TV, found a trophy spouse and waxed the new Benz, it's time to think big.
By Patricia Huang, Forbes
Ever dream about being a billionaire and how you'd spend the loot? Keep in mind that's a lot of zeros. If your idea of a shopping spree involves movie stars, mansions and Maseratis, you're still not thinking big enough. Herewith, Forbes suggests some grand ideas geared for the superrich.
Real estate
Neverland Ranch
Estimated price tag: $20 million
Michael Jackson's sprawling, 2,700-acre ranch in Santa Barbara, Calif., is up for sale. Forget its creepy past -- that's what the snooty decorators are for. Set amid lush rolling hills near the Los Padre National Forest, the ranch boasts amenities best suited for the boy-at-heart billionaire: a petting zoo, movie theater and amusement park. Though Jackson is rumored to have put it on the market two years ago for $50 million, real estate agents say it'll go for something closer to $20 million.
Private islands
Estimated price tag: $3 million to $7 million
Wife nagging you to take out the trash? Cast off to your own private hideaway in the middle of the ocean. Flanked by the blue-green waters of the Caribbean, Belizean Island is located just 45 miles east of Belize City. The island is at the northern end of a popular snorkeling spot known as Lighthouse Reef, not far from the world-famous Blue Hole, a 450-foot-deep hole known for its sea life and frighteningly long stalactites (rock-like formations made of water droplets). Go ahead and develop 200 acres of this 360-acre island -- the remaining lagoons and mangroves are best left untouched.Your money, fast.
File your taxes online.
It's easy at H&R Block.
Looking for an island already in move-in condition? Try Pirate's Cove in the Florida Keys, less than a half-hour from the Keys. On the market for $3.5 million, the 14-acre island has a four-bedroom, three-bath home; a pool; and, naturally, an unparalleled oceanfront view. Put Grandma in the 600-square-foot guest house. (Both homes feature satellite TV and high-speed Internet connections.) In case of a quick getaway, Pirate's Cove has a grassy clearing wide enough for a helicopter landing pad and a par 3 golf hole. The price includes two boats and a barge!
Shop til you drop
The Beatles catalog
Estimated price tag: $800 million
If Jackson's digs don't suit your style, try making a play for his catalog of classic Beatles hits, technically called the Sony/ATV catalog. (Half of it is owned by Sony.) That means collecting royalties every time a DJ spins greatest hits like "Help!" and "I Want To Hold Your Hand." Legally, the Beatles tunes are bound up with hits by Babyface and Oasis, hence the incredibly high price tag. But who wouldn't pony up for the Fab Four?
A year of Manolo
Estimated price tag: $400,000
Carrie Bradshaw, eat your heart out. Only seriously deep pockets could afford a single year's worth of all new designs from stiletto impresario Manolo Blahnik. The price tag for 600 pairs of these most-wanted shoes -- only one color per pair, please -- includes New York City sales tax.
The good life
Galactic holiday
Estimated price tag: $20 million
Virginia-based Space Adventures says it can arrange for customers to launch into space and orbit around the Earth 120 times, or roughly eight days. The $20 million price tag includes a six-month training course and ride aboard the Soyuz Russian Rocket to the International Space Station. From there, a week of weightlessness in orbit. No Guinness Book entries, though: Two civilians, American millionaire Dennis Tito and South African businessman Mark Shuttleworth, already have made the trip.
Party at the pyramids
Estimated price tag: $3.5 million to $5 million
Impress your friends with the soiree of the century. Invite 5,000 of them for a six-hour shindig at Egypt's Giza Plateau, overlooking the Pyramids. The baseline price tag of $3.5 million rents this open-air venue for your pals with security, according to the Egyptian Tourism Authority. Throw in some hookahs, tents and a private concert by techno artist Moby (available for $200,000), and you've got a real party. For another million, Elton John, Bon Jovi, Billy Joel or Gloria Estefan will stop by. Proceeds go to the Egyptian Department of Antiquities. (Just don't make off with any mummies.)
Join the jet set
Estimated price tag: $60 million
Flights to Cairo booked? No problem! Fork over $60 million to buy your own private Boeing Business Jet. Only 71 are even in service. Furnished with a lounge, dining room, private office, conference room, guest room and master bedroom large enough to fit a queen-sized bed and bathroom (shower included).
Do good deeds
School for the underprivileged
Estimated price tag: $1 billion
Send at least 16 million kids -- that's all the children currently out of school in 14 Third World countries, including Cambodia, Sierra Leone and Rwanda -- to five years of primary school. This according to the United Nations Development Programme. Uniforms not included.
Buy America a Coke
Estimated price tag: $58.6 million
In a feel-good mood? Don't try buying the world a Coke. Even with $1 billion you can't afford it. But for less than $60 million you could buy everyone in the United States a can of Coke.
A-Rod teaches Wiffle Ball
Estimated price tag: At least $250 million
Buy out the contract of new New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez. Send him to the backyard and have him teach your kid how to swing. (Rodriguez's original contract was worth $252 million. The Yankees bought him out for $112 million, with Texas paying an additional $67 million for the remaining money due on the contract.)
Immortality is yours
Preserved for eternity
Estimated price tag: $300,000
Alcor Life Extension Foundation, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based cryogenics group, can preserve the body and brain of two people -- say, for instance, yours and your wife's -- for eternity. (Or until the cure for that fatal illness is found. Or the money dries up.) The company vows to keep the body in a "biologically viable state." The sooner they preserve you, the better. So consider paying an extra $3,000 a day, if you are nearing death's door, to have a standby team ready to whisk you away.
-- Additional reporting by Cristina von Zeppelin
Registered User
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 2,899
Likes: 0
From: Purple sky
As a matter of fact, I do have a billion dollars lying around. I need to look into the preservation of my brains and body. 
Then I'll buy an island to run around naked on. After that, I'll send 16 million kids to school. They're children after all, can't go wrong helping them. 
Then I'll buy an island to run around naked on. After that, I'll send 16 million kids to school. They're children after all, can't go wrong helping them.
Registered User
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 28,465
Likes: 0
From: SLC, UT
Originally posted by EvoVII
The part where it says grab 5,000 friends.. who the hell even knows 5000 people??!
The part where it says grab 5,000 friends.. who the hell even knows 5000 people??!
If I had a billion dollars, all I'd need is a HUGE garage, a race track in my back yard, and cars galore. 
