“Peter: Forget them, Wendy. Forget them all. Come with me where you’ll never, never have to worry about grown up things again. “
Unless of course those grown up things happen to be molestation charges and foreclosure. Wendy shouldn’t have listened to Peter, Wendy should have just gone to Disney Land and met the cartoon rodents.
Neverland is the California estate of Michael Jackson. It was formerly called the Sycamore Valley Ranch, but Mr. (Mrs?) Jackson decided to create his own personal theme park. Among other things, Neverland features a zoo, roller coaster, bumper cars, and ferris wheel.
Jackson bought the 2,800 acre estate in 1987. You know, back when times were good and Jackson wasn’t having issues. The property is valued at around $120 million, which Michael owned outright. Unfortunately, greed set in. When one isn’t sitting on $30 million in cash and one of your colleagues has a “great investment idea” of course your bankers will convince you to take a lien on your house. It’s sad the people come into money and don’t know how to manage it.
Michael has been unable to make payments on the house because his money was tied up elsewhere, and therefor the property was foreclosed. It almost went up for auction, but through a tricky real estate deal with a private investment company, Michael has transferred ownership. It is unknown how much of the property Michael still owns, but I speculate he still owns all of, just indirectly.
The Weaky is awarded because celebrities are notorious for poorly handling their money. Just as you can run up credit card debt and get upside down on a mortgage, so can celebrities worth $900 million. The formula is the same, just in greater denominations.
But, just like us poor folks, it’s easy to keep from screwing yourself. If you have $900 million, invest it responsibly in the stock market, in bonds, and in cash. If you wish to burn through tons of money, keep a credit card handy and pay it off every month. If your friend has a great investment idea, divert money from your other investments. If you can’t divert money, don’t invest. Spend less than you make, save at least 10%. Michael may be a victim here, but we are all ultimately responsible for our own funds.
Don’t worry about the scary man in white, he still has plenty of money and hasn’t lived in Neverland for a few years.
 By The Weakonomist |
The Weakonomist is the founder of Weakonomics. Clicking the picture of the puppy will tell you more about him. If you like what you're reading consider subscribing to the blog, following him on Twitter, and checking out the related posts below. Please consider a donation if you really enjoy Weakonomics. |
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