What Billionaires Really Spend Each Month

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/personal-finance/what-billionaires-really-spend-each-month-n232461?adbid=926451584041539&adbpl=fb&adbpr=155869377766434&cid=sm_fb_20141026_34438497

By Robert Frank
Oct. 23, 2014

Court filings related to different cases involving Wyly and Griffin offer a rare look into the real spending habits of billionaire families. While all billionaires are different, with some living large and others more frugal, the filings show the so-called burn-rate, or monthly spending, for many of today's upper crust can dwarf most people's annual incomes.

Take Wyly, a former billionaire who made his fortune from Michael's Stores and Sterling Software.

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In court filings, Wyly filed his monthly expenses for the court's approval and the SEC is asking for an asset freeze. The SEC said Wyly has spent a total of $450 million over the past 10 years, "a burn-rate of approximately $3.75 million a month."

Of course, much of that may have been lawyer fees to battle the SEC. But the SEC says his everyday expense include $2,200 a month for "pool, home maintenance and landscaping," $2,000 a month for groceries, and $32,000 a month for "two personal writing assistants" (he's written several books). The salaries for the writing assistants and his housekeeper total $523,345 a year.

He pays $29,000 a month for the mortgage on his wife's bookstore, Explore Booksellers in Aspen, which is for sale. He also spends $7,000 a month "to support family and friends."

Wyly also reports paying more than $100,000 a month to his family office, which runs his investments and his finances.

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In a similar vein, court filings from billionaire hedge funder Ken Griffin against his estranged wife Anne Dias Griffin seek to seek to paint a picture of a woman with a large personal budget. She's seeking to break their pre-nup and said Ken has cut off her credit cards and fired her staffers. She said he has an annual income of around $900 million a year. [$900 million a year = $900,000,000/year = $75,000,000/month = $2,465,753/day]

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