I couldn’t help but report on this one: A rare but intriguing example of the opposite thinking of most of the world. Sadly, we see so many from client to employee who really need to consider this. His actions are extreme, but perhaps there is a “middle ground” between the two views? Enjoy…

Research tells us over and over that great wealth doesn’t bring greater happiness. It also tells us that large wealth can create problems of its own.

Yet you don’t see too many wealthy people voluntarily giving up their entire fortunes to be happier. Sure, there is philanthropy. But even Bill Gates and Warren Buffett (and their children and grandchildren) will be supremely wealthy after their charitable gifts.

Now, one millionaire is making the research a reality–he is giving up all of his wealth in hopes of being happier.

Austrian businessman Karl Rabeder is giving away his entire $4.5 million fortune, including a villa in the Alps, a farmhouse in Provence, planes, luxury cars and antiques. His plan is to give all the money to his microfinance charities in Latin America and live in a small wooden hut in the mountains.

“My idea is to have nothing left. Absolutely nothing,” he told The Daily Telegraph. “Money is counterproductive–it prevents happiness to come.

“For a long time I believed that more wealth and luxury automatically meant more happiness,” he said. “I come from a very poor family, where the rules were to work more to achieve more material things, and I applied this for many years.

Click through to read the full article: Millionaire Says Money ‘Prevents Happiness’ – The Wealth Report – WSJ.

By popular demand, a widely recognized security consultant to many of the world’s leading public figures and prominent families will be the expert guest at the Second Sunday Chapter Meeting of the IAPSP on 14 February 2010! Just as he did for Northern California, he will share with Southern California his firm’s thirty years of institutional knowledge and experience in the following areas:

Access-control philosophies and strategies for prominent estates

Household staff screening and training procedures

Confidentiality and privacy as a security precaution

Basic early warning systems and philosophies

How to be a less attractive target to inappropriate visitors

How to best use CCTV video camera systems

Hiring residential security staff

Managing security at multiple and/or remote properties security badge

Our expert security consultant will answer questions and openly share his experience related to establishing a practical and meaningful security and privacy program on all types of prominent estates.

via Attend Second Sunday in LA!.

So we’re thinking of opening a Butler School with this as our floating classroom. Anyone out there want to loan us a few hundred million?

Belgian-based Emocean Yacht Design has unveiled a rendering of a 200-metre gigayacht which if completed would be the world’s largest yacht by far – eclipsing Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich’s Eclipse (ha ha) by a whopping 30 metres. Who’s laughing now pal? It can’t be dismissed as a mere pipe dream either – Emocean’s awesome 165-metre design for the UK’s Devonport Yachts will be featured at the upcoming Abu Dhabi Yacht Show. Both are completely bespoke designs, with equipment, styling, configuration, class and all completely tailored to the desires and tastes of the client.

via Emocean Unveils 200M Gigayacht Design | James Spotting.

Everyone pay attention: Filing taxes properly is the responsibility of every household employer, AND the required knowledge base of any Household or Estate Manager!..

As an employer, you are responsible for paying Social Security, Medicare and unemployment taxes, as well as possible state taxes. Employer tax requirements apply to any domestic helper who is hired as an employee rather than a contractor.

If you neglect your filing duties as an employer, the tax consequences could be costly.

In addition to owing back taxes if you get caught, possibly years down the road if a former employee eventually applies for government benefits that you should have paid into, you’ll also face the customary Internal Revenue Service penalties and interest charges.

via Household employers face Feb. 1 tax deadline. – Bankrate.com

Some numbers from the holiday season are showing the “rich” coming back out to shop. It sounds dubious to me, but I’m no analyst!

Expectations for sales in 2010 are now more bullish, as the rich, who had pulled back on their spending, start to splash out again.

In the three months to December, Richemont reported a 7% rise in sales at constant exchange rates, and a 2% rise at actual rates. The aggregate over the past nine months was a decrease of 9%, reflecting the poor trading environment up to the end of September.

Richemont, whose brands include Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Piaget, Montblanc, Alfred Dunhill and Chloe, said: “The improvement in trading is welcome in the context of a generally difficult economic environment, although the figures should be viewed against the weak comparative figures of the same period in 2008.”

via Figures show the rich are different – Times LIVE.

Savor the essence of fine wine with us!

Please come meet with your IAPSP colleagues on Saturday, January 30th, at 12:30PM for another monthly workshop. For this month’s event we will meet at the Thomas Fogerty Winery just outside Woodside, CA to study and enjoy wine!

What began as a pastime is today one of the San Francisco Peninsula’s most respected wineries. A Stanford Cardiovascular Surgeon and world-renowned inventor, Thomas Fogarty took up home winemaking in the early 1970’s Read the rest of this entry »

Here is an interesting item to watch in the President’s current agenda. Better credit for spending on child care. Nannies may be back in vogue pretty soon!:

President Barack Obama will propose nearly doubling the child-care tax credit for middle-class families on Monday, according to a White House official.

The proposal is one of five recommendations from the president’s Middle Class Task Force, which was established one year ago this week.

It comes as an increasingly populist White House struggles to regain political momentum among middle-class, independent voters frustrated by the slow pace of the economic recovery.

Click through to read more…

via CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive – Obama to propose almost doubling child care tax credit « – Blogs from CNN.com.

Starkey International is presenting this year’s RTA conference in Denver:

Restoring The Art Conference

2010: The New World of Household Management

March 18th – 20th, 2010

Denver, Colorado

WE ARE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THE

10th ANNUAL RESTORING THE ART CONFERENCE

Overnight Accommodations Provided by The Warwick Hotel,

1776 Grant St., Denver, CO 80203. (303) 861-2000

All presentations will take place at The Starkey Mansion

1350 Logan St., Denver, CO 80203

phone: (303) 832-5510 | toll free (800) 888-4904

The focus of this year's conference will be on bringing Household Management into the year 2010! Starkey International is again proud to host this event where we are excited to bring our Starkey Graduates and the rest of the private service industry together for education and networking.

This year promises to be another intimate and enjoyable event at the Starkey Mansion with time to connect with real resources and reconnect with fellow graduates. An outline of our program this year includes: Read the rest of this entry »

Robert Frank of the Wealth Report hints at a rebound in luxury spending:

“I think we have reached the bottom,” said Christian Barbier, sales director at top-end watchmaker Parmigiani. “The consumer is getting used to working with a more difficult environment….It is time to live again.”

The luxury rebound, if that is indeed what we have, may strike some as shocking. What about 10% unemployment. Aren’t we in the midst of a cultural, seismic values shift toward thrift, rejecting the material, status-driven economy for hearth and home and things that “really matter?”

Maybe not. Maybe all that “really matters” for consumers is disposable income.

via Wealthy Consumers: ‘It’s Time to Live Again.’ – The Wealth Report – WSJ.

The IAPSP announces a new chapter in Chicago!

The International Association for Private Service Professionals (IAPSP) http://www.iapsp.net is proud and delighted to announce the inaugural meeting of its new Chicago Chapter!  IAPSP member George Mandas and other Chicago metro-area private service colleagues will convene on January 24^th at the Peninsula Hotel on the “Magnificent Mile” for a meet-and-greet and behind the scenes tour of one of the world’s top hotels!

This magnificent five-star venue is consistently rated among the best hotels of the world, and is dedicated to providing guests with exceptional service, elegant surroundings, award winning restaurants and unsurpassed spa facilities.

During the tour, Read the rest of this entry »