10 Billionaires With Surprisingly Frugal Money Habits - TIME Business

10 Billionaires With Surprisingly Frugal Money Habits Posted: 23 Jul 2017 07:00 AM PDT As Belarusian-American chess master Charles A. Jaffe once claimed, “It’s not your salary that makes you rich, it’s your spending habits.” Not surprisingly, many of the wealthiest people on earth have distinct penny-pinching habits that have paved the road to their success and vast fortunes. Incorporate some of these habits into your own life and perhaps your own net worth will grow. 1. Mark Zuckerberg drives a $30,000 car  Getty ImagesDespite being able to buy a Ferrari for every day of the month, the Facebook founder drives a non-ostentatious Volkswagon GTI with manual transmission, which costs only $30,000. Other cost saving tricks: He reportedly married longtime girlfriend Priscilla Chan in their backyard, and the two were seen eating at a McDonald’s during their 2012 Italian honeymoon trip. When Zuckerberg bought his most recent home in 2011, a $7 million house in Palo Alto, some called it “still well below his means.” 2. Warren Buffet still resides in the same home he bought for $31,500 in 1958  ReutersKnown as the ‘Oracle of Omaha,’ longtime chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Warren Buffet is one of the richest people on the planet. But he still lives in his 6,000 square-foot, five-bedroom stucco house in Omaha. He’s described the purchase as “the third best investment I ever made.” A similar five-bedroom house located next door went on sale in 2015 for a list price of ten ‘A shares’ of Berkshire Hathaway stock, equal to over $2.5 million today. 3. Bill Gates wears a $10 watch  ReutersForget Rolex. Adorning Bill Gates’s wrist is a $10 watch. And perhaps most frugally, Gates remains old-fashioned in that he still likes to wash the dishes at home every night for his family. Dishwashers use electricity after all! 4. Charlie Ergen, founder and chairman of Dish Network, still packs a brown-bag lunch from home every day  Denver Post via Getty ImagesOf course eating out is super expensive. Dish Network founder battles those costs with a simple and inexpensive paper-bag lunch before work every day, consisting of a sandwich and Gatorade from home. He and his wife have lived in the same Denver house for over 20 years. Until recently, the Dish CEO also stuck to company policy by sharing hotel rooms with colleagues while traveling for business. As Ergen once told the Financial Times, “My mom grew up in the Depression… I don’t have a mahogany desk.” 5. Carlos Slim Helú, Mexico’s richest man, drives himself around town and to work everyday  AP ImagesMany who dream of being rich dream of a chauffeur. Not Mexican telecom magnate Carlos Slim Helú, who drives himself around town in an old Mercedes-Benz, buys clothes off the rack at his own retail stores, and for over 40 years, has lived in the same modest six-bedroom house in Mexico where he raised his kids. 6. Jim Walton works out of a plain old brick building in his hometown ReutersWalmart scion and member of America’s richest family, Jim Walton inherited the down-to-earth spending habits of his father, Walmart founder Sam Walton. These days, he runs the family’s Arvest Bank, which boats assets of more than $16 billion, from the upstairs floor of a “plain old brick building.” Despite his massive fortune, Jim Walton prefers pickup trucks to fancy sports cars; he reportedly drives around a rusting Dodge Dakota pickup that is over 15 years old. 7. John Caudwell, English businessman and co-founder of mobile phone retailer Phones 4u, cuts his own hair  Getty ImagesThis now-retired, self-made billionaire who built a British cellphone empire still maintains many aspects of a budget lifestyle. He reportedly still cuts his own hair, refrains from buying expensive wines, and buys his clothes off the rack at British retailer Marks & Spencer. He once told Forbes, “I don’t need Saville Row suits.” 8. Amancio Ortega, founder of Spanish multinational clothing conglomerate Inditex, eats lunch with employees in the Zara cafeteria  APThe tycoon behind Zara still lives humble. Not only does Ortega live in a discreet apartment building with his wife, but he also frequents the same local coffee shop, in his home city of La Coruña, Spain, on a regular basis. Known as the pioneer of “fast fashion,” Ortega dresses very modestly given his status – with a uniform of a blue blazer, white shirt, and gray pants everyday. Perhaps most surprising, however, is that he still eats lunch alongside his employees in the company cafeteria. 9. David Cheriton, the ‘Professor Billionaire’ who teaches at Stanford University, reuses teabags  The New York Times/Redux PictureFood can be a huge source of wasted money, as computer scientist and Stanford professor David Cheriton attests. He makes sure to save half of his meal for the next day when eating at an expensive restaurant. Instead of luxury cars, Cheriton prefers to ride his bike; when he does need to drive, he relies on his 1986 Volkswagen van or an old Honda sedan. He has also said that he only flies commercial, prefers jeans instead of expensive designer clothes, and even reuses his teabags. 10. Azim Premji, India’s wealthiest tech tycoon, is said to monitor the number of toilet-paper rolls used by employees  Getty ImagesDespite his success serving over five decades as chairman of Indian tech-services giant Wipro Ltd., Premji lives a surprisingly low-budget lifestyle and is extremely careful with his spending. The “bare bones billionaire” often takes a three-wheel auto rickshaw from the Bangalore airport when returning home from business trips. When traveling, he only drives secondhand cars – such as an old Toyota Corolla, flies in economy class, and stays at company guest houses instead of five-star hotels. His well-known frugality also extends beyond his personal life. At Wipro facilities, he reportedly keeps close tabs on toilet-paper usage and always reminds employees to turn off the lights when leaving their offices. As one worker anonymously told Bloomberg, Premji “makes Uncle Scrooge look like Santa Claus.”

Donald Trump's Boy Scouts speech broke with 80 years of tradition - Independent

Donald Trump's Boy Scouts speech broke with 80 years of tradition

Most Presidents have spoken about unity, citizenship or coming together. Current White House occupant talked about crowd size, 'fake news' and Hillary Clinton

• Katie Mettler, Derek Hawkins
• Wednesday 26 July 2017

For 80 years, American Presidents have been speaking to the National Scout Jamboree, a gathering of tens of thousands of youngsters from around the world eager to absorb the ideas of service, citizenship and global diplomacy.

In keeping with the Scouts' traditions, all eight presidents and surrogates who have represented them have stayed far, far away from partisan politics.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt used the occasion to talk about good citizenship. Harry S. Truman extolled fellowship: “When you work and live together, and exchange ideas around the campfire, you get to know what the other fellow is like,” he said.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower invoked the “bonds of common purpose and common ideals.” And President George H.W. Bush spoke of “serving others.”

For a brief moment at this year's jamboree in West Virgina, President Donald Trump indicated that he would follow that tradition - sort of.

“Who the hell wants to speak about politics when I'm in front of the Boy Scouts?” he said.

Then, standing before all 40,000 of them, he bragged about the “record” crowd size, bashed President Barack Obama, criticised the “fake media” and trashed Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. In the 35-minute speech, the President threatened to fire his health and human services secretary if he couldn't persuade members of Congress to vote for the Republican healthcare bill.

• READ MORE

PARENTS PULLING SONS OUT OF SCOUTS OVER TRUMP'S 'DRUNK STEPDAD SPEECH'

At one point, he told a rambling story about a conversation he had at a New York cocktail party with a once-successful home builder who “lost his momentum.” The lesson, apparently: “You have to know whether or not you continue to have the momentum. And if you don't have it, that's okay.”

Throughout the address, Trump dropped in praise for “the moms and the dads and troop leaders” and thanked the Scouts for upholding “the sacred values of our nation.”

It was yet another example of Trump ignoring the custom that past presidents have dutifully observed in such public ceremonies. In his first full day in office, Trump bucked tradition at the CIA when he delivered a campaign-style speech in front of a memorial wall for fallen agency employees. In May, he used a commencement ceremony at the Coast Guard Academy to lament that he has been treated “more unfairly” than any other politician in history. And so it was at this year's jamboree. Trump, who promised to be different from all the rest, was indeed just that, talking to the Scouts in a way no president ever has.

Here, by way of illustration, is an abbreviated history of American presidents and their encounters with the Boy Scouts jamboree.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1935 and 1937)

Roosevelt, once called the “greatest friend Scouting ever had in the White House,” helped secure support from federal and local officials to host the inaugural Scout Jamboree in Washington, DC, in 1935. There were plans to line the scouts along Constitution Avenue and throw a party on the White House lawn. But the gathering was derailed when a polio outbreak near the nation's capital put the Scouts at too great a risk.

The President, who said he had looked forward to the jamboree for more than a year, addressed the Boy Scouts by radio instead.

Roosevelt said that Boy Scouts, present and former, “constitute a very real part of our American citizenship” that relies on unselfishness and cooperative attitudes. “Scouting revolves around not the mere theory of service to others but the habit of service to others,” he said.

The young boys should be engaged in civic affairs in their home communities, even before they can legally vote, Roosevelt said, praising “the many contributions that individual Scouts and Scout organizations have made to the relief of suffering, the relief of the needy, to the maintenance of good order and good health, and to the furtherance of good citizenship and good government.”

The great outdoors, he added, are to be loved and understood, and he reminded the boys of their Scout Motto to always “be prepared.”

“When you go out into life, you have come to understand that the individual in your community who always says 'I can't' or 'I won't' or 'I don't,' the individual who by inaction or by opposition slows up honest, practical, far-seeing community effort, is the fellow who is holding back civilization and holding back the objectives of the Constitution of the United States,” Roosevelt said.

“We need more Scouts,” he added. “The more the better. For the record shows that taking it by and large, boys trained as Scouts make good citizens.”

Two years later, Roosevelt joined the Scouts in DC, where they found his face on the first page of the Jamboree Journal with a greeting and plug for good citizenship, according to Scouting Magazine.

The former president toured the camp site, took 12 Eagle Scouts to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game and visited with a group from New York that had built a large replica of the Roosevelt family home, reported the magazine.

President Harry S. Truman (1950)

This jamboree was on July Fourth at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, where General George Washington brought his army in the winter of 1777. Truman noted the soldiers' struggles - the bitter cold, lack of food, poor shelter and tattered clothing - to make a greater point about perseverance.

“But the men of Washington's army stuck it out,” Truman said. “They stuck it out because they had a fierce belief in the cause of freedom for which they were fighting. And because of that belief, they won.”

Truman's speech morphed into a lesson on international diplomacy, world peace and freedom for all. He listed off the many states and foreign countries from which Scouts had come to attend the jamboree.

“When you work and live together, and exchange ideas around the campfire, you get to know what the other fellow is like,” Truman said. “That is the first step toward settling world problems in a spirit of give and take, instead of fighting about them.”

The “Scout movement,” the former president said, is “good training” for nation building work across the globe. Truman took shots at the dictators Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, then shifted his criticism to “Communist-dominated countries” that are giving children “a completely distorted picture of the world.”

He said:

“'The great tragedy of our times is that there are movements in the world that deny this fundamental ideal of human brotherhood. These movements have devoted themselves to preaching distrust between nations. They have made a religion of hate. They have tried to turn the peoples of the earth against one another - to create a gulf between different peoples that fellowship cannot bridge. As a part of this effort, they have tried to poison the minds of the young people.'”

The United States, Truman said, “is striving to build a world in which men will live as good neighbours and work for the good of all.” He said he hoped all Boy Scouts in attendance would take home an understanding of “human brotherhood” and “work for freedom and peace with the same burning faith that inspired the men of George Washington's army here at Valley Forge.”

President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Vice President Richard Nixon (1953, 1957 and 1960)

Eisenhower, who visited the jamboree in 1950, was unable to physically attend three years later as president but recorded a video message for the Scouts.

Like Truman, he noted the importance of rubbing elbows with fellow Scouts of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. He predicted they would leave the gathering with “a new sense of the vastness and complexities of this nation and of the world.”

“I am confident that, in meeting and talking with your fellow Scouts, you will gain a renewed awareness of the need for cooperating - working together - in our country and in the world,” Eisenhower said. “Bonds of common purpose and common ideals can unite people, even when they come from the most distant and diverse places.”

Nixon spoke on Eisenhower's behalf in 1957 and Eisenhower delivered another speech three years later, but the transcripts were not readily available.

President Lyndon B. Johnson (1964)

Johnson, eight months into his first presidential term, built his address around the theme of the great “American idea,” encouraging the Scouts to remember the country's history as they work to better its future.

“This country of ours is a community built on an idea,” Johnson said. “Its history is the history of an idea. And its future will be bright only so long as you are faithful to that idea.”

He used their location - again at Valley Forge - to speak of the “idea and a dream” that gave the troops at Valley Forge “the strength to survive the winter.”

The “American idea,” Johnson said, was what the founders outlined in the Constitution: a government of and by the people, religious freedom and the right to speak without censorship.

“As a result, in America we have a Government which exists to protect the freedom and enlarge the opportunities of every citizen,” he said. “That Government is not to be feared or to be attacked. It is to be helped as long as it serves the country well, and it is to be changed when it neglects its duty.”