Can You Gain a Billion from The Donald?

Good afternoon, Live Better than a Billionaire-a-Holics!

Are you feeling motivated this afternoon? I certainly hope so.

There's a famous quote about rich people that management guru Peter Drucker loves to cite: "The purpose of rich people is to lose their money to everyone else." I believe that Lord Keynes is the author of the quote. If that's not right, I hope someone will correct me in a comment.

In past postings, I've pointed out that you can gain at the expense of Donald Trump by staying at one of his properties in Atlantic City. Why? Well, he has had a track record of selling his services there below cost and has been through more than one bankruptcy as a result.

You can also stay at his Miralago resort complex in Florida by simply renting a room. Miralago was his one-time private residence for winter days away from Manhattan when he was married to Ivana. He held his third wedding there recently. I don't know if these rooms are also let out at a loss or not, but I know that you couldn't stay there except as an invited guest when Mrs. Post (of the Post cereal fortune) owned the place.

Today, The Wall Street Journal reported a new way to gain at The Donald's expense. Mr. Trump is suing his investment partners for selling a 77 acre parcel of land and three rental apartment buildings in Manhattan for $1.8 billion to the Carlyle Group and Extell Development Company. After the deal was made public, several other parties offered to pay as much as $3 billion for the same property. The Donald says that his partners owe over a billion dollars as a result.

Why would someone sell property worth three billion for less than two billion? I don't know the answer, but I can venture an uneducated guess. The partners perhaps would have had to share the extra $1.2 billion with The Donald. It's possible that the sellers have some informal understanding with the buyers that's worth more than a billion dollars on some other deal. Who knows?

The key point is that when you're a billionaire, you can lose a billion here and there. It's almost as though there's a sign on your clothes that says "take my money, please."

How would that make you feel? I wouldn't enjoy it very much . . . particularly if the whole world knew that I felt I had been taken to the cleaners. Some people would even be humiliated.

How could The Donald have avoided that? He could have been the lead partner in the deal . . . the one who would control the sale. The fact that he didn't control the deal suggests that someone just rented his name for the development. Perhaps the value of the name has fallen . . . or he didn't pick the people to rent his name to very carefully. In any case, it's hard to imagine that he's going to get a billion dollars this way.

But such a lawsuit can bring lots of aggravation. Lawyers take turns requesting tons of documents and charging hundreds of dollars an hour to sift through the documents. Other lawyers sharpen their verbal knives before asking as many embarrassing questions as they can in depositions that help preview the case.

Now, would you rather do that this summer . . . or would you rather have a nice weekend trip to historic mansions where no one will bother you?

I know the answer that I would give. Keep the lawyers away . . . and send me off to live better than a billionaire on five dollars extra a day!

If you are traveling to the Berkshires this summer, I strongly encourage you to take the time to visit Chesterwood, the summer home of Daniel Chester French, the sculptor who created the marvelous seated statue of Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial. Chesterwood is probably the most interesting home of a sculptor that you can visit in the world, and it's located in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. If you join the National Trust while you are there, you can enter for free and visit dozens of historic sites around the world for the same price. Individual memberships are $20 and family memberships are $24. Here is a list of sites in the United States that you can visit through your membership: http://www.nationaltrust.org/national_trust_sites/list.html

When in Stockbridge, my thoughts always go to Alice's Restaurant of the Arlo Guthrie song and movie. Be sure to enjoy a lovely lunch there at a modest cost.

In the evening, you can go to Tanglewood. If the weather is good, bring a blanket and buy a lawn ticket. If you want to hear the concert for free, a little known fact is that you can hear perfectly well from most of the free parking lots. So you can tailgate as well!

If you find yourself driving south towards New York after the concert, be sure to stop at the beautiful estate, Lyndhurst, in Tarrytown, New York. It has a lovely view of the Hudson. It's part of the National Trust and you can enter for free with your new membership. Lyndhurst was the summer home of Jay Gould in the 1880s, the Donald Trump of his day, someone who was worth many billions of dollars in today's currency. While there, you can use your new National Trust membership to have a free better than a billionaire experience as you enjoy the shady lovely grounds and house.

Have a blast . . . and leave your cares behind!

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright Donald W. Mitchell