http://today.reuters.com/news/newsa...61_RTRUKOC_0_US-SWISS-IKEA-KAMPRAD.xml&rpc=23 IKEA billionaire founder proud to be frugal at 80 By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad, ranked 4th richest man in the world, drives a 15-year-old car and always flies economy class, in part to inspire his 90,000 employees worldwide to see the virtue of frugality. The billionaire Swede, who turns 80 on March 30, explained his legendary habits during a rare television interview in Switzerland, his adoptive home for nearly 30 years. His fortune was recently estimated at $28 billion by Forbes magazine -- trailing only Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, U.S. investor Warren Buffett and Mexican industrialist Carlos Slim. "People say I am cheap and I don't mind if they do. But I am very proud to follow the rules of our company," Kamprad told French-language Swiss Broadcasting Corporation. Asked to confirm he drove an old Volvo, he said: "She is nearly new, just 15 years old, or something like that." Interviewer Darius Rochebin teased that Ikea employees were always told to write on both sides of the paper. "Why not? If there is such a thing as good leadership, it is to give a good example. I have to do so for all the Ikea employees," Kamprad retorted. "Everything we earn we need as a reserve. We have to still develop the IKEA group. We need many billions of Swiss francs (dollars) to take on China or Russia," he added. Ikea is the world's biggest furniture retailer, with 202 stores in 32 countries. Known for its inexpensive self-assembly furniture, the family-owned business claims its hefty catalog is the most widely read publication after the Bible. After flirting with neo-Nazism after World War Two -- for which he has apologized -- the small-town Swede set up shop in his garden shed, selling watches, pens and Christmas cards. "I bought seeds for the garden and had great success with it, going around to all the houses in my village. After that year I could buy myself my first bicycle," Kamprad recalled. When Sweden's Social Democrat government launched the "Million Homes Project" in the 1950s, he saw an opportunity and got into the furniture business. He stumbled upon the "flat-pack" idea in 1956 when an employee took the legs off a table to fit it into a customer's car. It saves a fortune in transport, storage and sales space. "Our idea is to serve everybody, including people with little money. We have to keep costs down," he said. His home in the Swiss village of Epalinges near Lausanne above scenic Lake Geneva is mainly decorated with Ikea furniture, apart from a few family pieces. In keeping with Swedish tradition, Kamprad said he prepares and brings glogg, or hot wine, to "good neighbors" at Christmas along with his three sons. Last week he made a donation of 500,000 swiss francs ($379,900) to the Lausanne cantonal art school, where his son studied. "I'm not afraid of turning 80 and I have lots of things to do. I don't have time for dying," Kamprad said.
Right. Be cheap, but exploit and oppress 90,000 people making them poor. Great way to become a billionaire. "I'm not afraid of turning 80 and I have lots of things to do. I don't have time for dying," Kamprad said. Yes, he does. Exchanger
If I have millions, I'm driving Ferrari's and BMW's all day long, or I'm donating all that money to charity, what's the point of just... having money? If you make money just to have money.... it just doesn't make any sense.
IKEA has some good stuff like cheap quality curtains... But it also sells a lot of total junk... That self-destructs 10 minutes after you assemble it. Just like Kamprad is gonna self-destruct any day now. Be not afraid... but proceed with caution. rm+
I don't blame him & I don't judge him - all of us spend money the way we like it. None of us buys something he doesn't feel like it. We all are pretty selective of what we are buying. It does not matter to this how wealthy we are.
Before I thought that Mr. Buffet is unique but now he has a friend. "Why not? If there is such a thing as good leadership, it is to give a good example." What a good example is?
Who was it who wisely said, "Money has no value until you spend it." That is the true power of money. It doesn't mean you should be throwing it away or paying for more than a thing's value, but you can't take it with you and it only opens doors to things in the material world. Many people would have or would live a better life if they weren't rich. Another view point I try to always remember is that money is like the blood in your veins; if it is not allowed to circulate, then it cannot be refreshed. If it is trapped without movement, then it will clot and cause serious damage to you and hurt those around you. Imagine: If this 80 yr old is so frugal, then how do you think the people in his life view him. Does he spend money on them and simply deprives himself? If he is as frugal with the people around him as he is with himself, then what legacy does he leave? How many people are waiting for him to die? Nature cannot fill a void that doesn't exist. One has to spend in order to create the flow of abundance that nature is striving to provide to all of us. Thus ends my philosophical thought of the day.
Spending on yourself is only one way of managing your money. Another ways are: investing, giving it to charity etc. Wealth is produced not only by spending. Investing plays major part in it too. The countries where people are allowed only to spend their money and are not allowed to invest and to live off their investments those countries are pretty poor.
This is one of the most retarded diatribes I have read on ET in quite a while. I can only hope that you at least got some joy out of the joint you were smoking while you wrote this. First of all, the guy is not living in a freaking cave people on a diet of lima beans. The guy has a great home in Lake Geneva Switzerland. He has a car that is 15 years old which probably suits him well because I doubt the guy is driving much these days. He never said anything about not enjoying life. He just is careful with his money. Why do you people people assume because he is careful with his money that he is living a life of deprivation? WTF. The guy is probably happier then 99% of the pikers on this board living off their credit cards and trading their 5k futures account at IB. My God, I really wonder about some of the people on this board and really traders in general that your minds are so warped that happiness can only be achieved when you're running a 10 billion dollar fund from the Cayman Islands. Get a clue guys. And back to the reason why I posted this article, it was not an advertisement for IKEA furniture, but rather a suggestion to the pikers of this board. Your best shot at making it as a trader is not the discovery of the elusive holy grail, but rather in protecting your capital. Not just from losses, but from expenses. Live below your means. Watch your dollar closely. And if you can last it out long enough, then you can decide what to do with your money if you are ever successful. Some of you guys have a really warped sense of what happiness is. Kind of scary.