177 Billionaire's in Britain

growstuff “What about all the other people in the world”
well this is a start;

www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwio7JX9vvr5AhWP5RoKHQXGBJcQFnoECAcQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bezosfamilyfoundation.org%2F&usg=AOvVaw3dO9x7Udw677KsiHpwqz6S

RichmondPark1

For the first time in a decade I bought a lottery ticket last week. Sadly I didn't win the £84 million prize, but I had lots of fun dreaming of what I would do with the money. Imagine all the charities you could help and how you could change the lives of those you love who you know struggle to make ends meet.

I wonder why billionaires need to be billionaires and why they aren't tempted to give the vast majority of the surplus away? I suppose some do.

I do the same RichmondPark1 it is very entertaining, although I do rarely buy a ticket.
I think billionaires do give a lot away to charities, research and bursaries from what I have read. Also they may be big employers, which is good.

Bezos and his Xwife give huge amounts to charities. She is one of the wealthiest women in the world and gives generously.

Surely a civilized society is not judged by how many billionaires there are, but on how it cares for and supports the poor, the sick and the needy.

He has given away huge sums growstuff.

Sago

Regarding Geoff Bezos I have to be very grateful to the man as it’s due to his philanthropy our daughter and SIL are having such a comfortable lifestyle, he invested in a small Silicone Valley start up which my SIL now runs part of, it has grown and become a major player.
Our youngest son left university and went to work for Amazon in the Czech Republic his training was outstanding, it was a great stepping stone for him.

Good for them! What about all the other human beings on the planet?

Good. I got the usual response thanking me for reporting so hopefully it’s working. Hope it hasn’t upset you, it can be very unsettling and you think ‘who are you?’ and ‘why me?’. They are nutters who just pick someone at random.

All done GSM, but think GN still having admin issues, so thought I’d post the warning.

I’ve reported him as a troll. I didn’t say I’d reported him because I know that with trolls that can trigger a nasty PM. Sorry you’ve had that experience georgesgran. You’re probably not alone. I hope you’ve reported the PM and blocked him.

I’ve reported this last post - the sender has sent me a distinctly dodgy PM.

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

Regarding Geoff Bezos I have to be very grateful to the man as it’s due to his philanthropy our daughter and SIL are having such a comfortable lifestyle, he invested in a small Silicone Valley start up which my SIL now runs part of, it has grown and become a major player.
Our youngest son left university and went to work for Amazon in the Czech Republic his training was outstanding, it was a great stepping stone for him.

Depends on how you define 1 billion. I know that mathematically, and it was how I was taught, a billion was a million millions, but nowadays it is often taken to mean 1000 million.

When I looked it up the definition I got was that: In the USA meaning of a billion is a thousand million, or one followed by nine noughts (1,000,000,000).

This will mean that the US definition is the one generally used internationally, and I think, increasingly this is how it is defined in the UK.

One source stated In official UK statistics the term is now used to denote 1 thousand million – 1,000,000,000. Historically, however, in the UK the term billion meant 1 million million – 1,000,000,000,000 - but in the United States the term was used to refer to 1 thousand million.

Bea65
You say you can’t process that amount of money.
This might help.
One million seconds equates roughly to 11 days
One billion seconds equates roughly to 31years

?

If he needs any help …

I have read today that Jeff Bezos needs to spend $28Million a day to stay where he is and not accumulate more.

A billionaire is just the same as a millionaire when we were young.

^I can’t process this much money in my mind and do hope they help others and donate to charities etc^?

I can, it's one thousand million, and let's hope they paid all the tax due and paid any employees well as well as supporting charities.

I'm sure you're right M0nica.

RichmondPark1 Most billionaires acquired their money by building up big businesses and much of their wealth is based on the value of the business. To give all the money away they would have to sell the company to someone else. Not an easy thing to do if you own a business valued at £1 billion or more

Others earn their income by investing in other businesses, and again, would need to sell up all their their shares. Where they hold very large tranches of shares this could destabilise the company, and again it may be difficult to find someone in a position to buy a million shares in a company. In other cases the money is invested in land, which again would have to be sold.

Someone with a £1 billions of assets, will not have an income anywhere near that amount, only what those assets earn, which will be a lot, but nowhere near £1 billion.

Many very wealthy people have set up charitable trusts, and given most of their wealth to the charity. It is what Bill and Melinda Gates, have done and also others, like, I think, George Soros, and Warren Buffet.

Many more wealthy people give quietly. The singer George Michael was not a billionaire, but after he died it was revealed that he was a very generous donor to charities of all kinds. Nothing of this was known when he was alive.

I must say, if I was wealthy enough to be able to give enormous sums to charity, I would keep it very quiet indeed. Otherwise, on one side people would be fawning over you and saying how wonderful you are and how generous, on the other side, you would be inundated with begging letters. Either reaction would make me shudder.

I agree with sago and germanshepherdsmum ??

A lot happens about tax evasion Grantanow. Nothing wrong with having money in the Cayman Islands, as one of our friends does. Conservative voters don’t support tax evasion.

Sago is correct, a lot of wealthy people (such as our friend) do good with their money but don’t make a song and dance about it.

Grantanow What is the evidence for your assertion?

Guess which Party most of them support. That's why nothing much happens about tax evasion and the Cayman Isles.

Just under 33 million in the working population in the UK . I make that 0.0000053%, or 1 in 186,441 of the working population.

That does not seem unreasonable. Rare as hen's teeth, and we make so much fuss about them.