Wise people are those who live within their means. Many rich people all over the world have suffered due to lack of this simple wisdom.
Here is the 10 millionaires and billionaires who went broke.
Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson
This Icelandic former billionaire suffered huge financial losses due to the credit crisis in Iceland. He lost more than $1.1 billion. He and his son and business partner Thor suffered immensely. They were major shareholders in Landsbankin, a bank that went under. He was suspended for his involvement in embezzlement and fraud.
M.C. Hammer
M. C. Hammer’s U Can’t Touch This was everywhere during the early 1990s. He earned around $30 million at the peak of his career. Unfortunately he spent every last cent. He is a classic example of “too much too quickly.” Before 2000 he had filed for bankruptcy. He is now a pastor in California.
Jordan Belfort
This onetime multimillionaire stockbroker got busted by the Feds for securities fraud and money laundering. In his mid-twenties he was earning $250 million annually by floating shady deals to his clients from his boiler room like firm Stratton Oakmont. He was forced to pay-back all the hundreds of millions he owed other stockbrokers. The movie The Wolf of Wall Street was based on the memoir he published with Leonardo DiCaprio as Belfort.
Allen Stanford
This former prominent financier is currently serving a 110-year prison sentence for being convicted of charges that his investment company was a giant Ponzi scheme and major fraud. He cheated people of their hard earned money, and used that money to fund his lavish lifestyle.
Sean Quinn
This Irish businessman was the richest person in Ireland (net worth: $6 billion) in the year 2008. Three years later, in 2011, he filed for bankruptcy. This shocking loss of wealth was due to a very bad business decision. He invested 25 percent of his family’s wealth in Anglo Irish Bank. The bank collapsed during the recession of 2008.
Scott Eyre
This former MLB pitcher was a part of the 2008 World Series Phillies team. He was a victim of Allen Stanford’s fraudulent billion-dollar scheme. He lost almost all his money. In the year 2009 he admitted that he had financial problems and had to asked an advance on his salary from Phillies.
George Foreman
This retired American boxer is a two-time Heavyweight Champion and Olympic gold medalist. He was on the verge of bankruptcy in the 1980s. This pushed him to re-enter the boxing ring at 45 and regain his heavyweight title. This enabled him to turn things around. Today he is a successful entrepreneur and doing well for himself.
Willie Nelson
This country music legend owed $16.7 million to the IRS when he declared bankruptcy in 1990. Fortunately he did not lose his sense of humor. He released a double album The IRS Tapes: Who’ll Buy My Memories. Profits generated by the album went directly to the IRS. He had cleared his debts by 1993.
Johnny Unitas
This legendary quarterback was among the top earners in the league. He diversified his earnings, dabbling in restaurants, real estate and other ventures. Unfortunately none of his ventures succeeded. He filed for bankruptcy in the early 1990s. When he passed away 11 years later, there was a lawsuit on his estate due to all the bad debt from his failed ventures.
Kim Dotcom
This German-Finnish internet entrepreneur, businessman and hacker is the founder of Megaupload and its successor site Mega. Megaupload was an online file sharing service that tread the line on copyright infringement. He is accused of causing $500 million worth of losses to the entertainment industry. The government destroyed his business with one flip of a switch. He is currently residing in New Zealand.
These people hold great lessons for other millionaires around the world.
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