The Homeless and Nomad Billionaire: Burger King Boss Nicolas Berggruen

From the Daily Mail (hat tip Sovereign Man)

Like most nomads, Nicolas Berggruen travels light.

He doesn't own a house, car or even a watch and the few belongings he does have are carried around in a paper bag.

Possessions have 'zero appeal', he says. It's our actions that have real value.

But what sets the 50-year-old apart from nearly all other homeless people is the small matter of his £1.5billion fortune.

Berggruen got rid of his New York pad and private island 12 years ago. Home is far more transient nowadays.

Life for him is a jet-set one - trotting the globe, hanging out with beautiful women and staying in luxury hotels, sometimes in 14 different cities in a month as he builds his enormous business empire.

His most recent acquisition has been a £881million stake in Burger King.

But in spite of his wealth, the Franco-German tycoon insists he doesn't need, or want, material goods.

'Possessing things is not interesting,' he told the Daily Mirror. 'Living in grand environments to show myself and others that I have wealth has zero appeal.

'Whatever I own is temporary, since we're only here for a short period of time. It's our actions that will last for ever. That's real value.'

A billionaire with no house, car, watch and a few belongings but hangs out with different beautiful women exhibits unique values and priorities.

Mr.Berggruen’s life philosophy seem to revolve around the non-attachment creed of Buddhism. Yet where he says ‘our actions’ signifies as the ‘real value’ then his penchant for many chicks must be his ‘real’ non-attachment value.

Since like Mr. Berggruen, I only rent my home, don’t have a car, watch and only have a few treasured belongings (yeah books), and used to desire traveling, he should be my idol.

Unfortunately, I am nowhere near being like him (in money, women, and importantly, in philosophy).