Rich and frugal?
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 10 August 2020
⏱️ 19 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Why do some of the super rich describe themselves as frugal? Is it something about the inner psyche that makes us natural savers or spenders? Elizabeth Hotson speaks to Dolly Parton, who despite earning millions, doesn’t particularly enjoy spending it. We also hear from Karam Hinduja, banker and scion of the billionaire Hinduja family. Tech entrepreneur, Richard Skellett tells us why he sees being wealthy as a responsibility, plus we hear from big savers, Tim Connor and Francesca Armstrong. We're also joined by Sarah Fallaw, author of The Next Millionaire Next Door, Rachel Sherman, author of Uneasy Street: The Anxieties of Affluence and Elin Helander, behavioural economist, neurologist and Chief Scientific Officer at Dreams, a money-saving app. Producers: Elizabeth Hotson and Sarah Treanor. (picture of a piggy bank via Getty Images).
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | A bomb that killed hundreds of thousands of people. |
| 0:03.4 | A scientist who wanted it made, but then didn't want it to be used. |
| 0:07.5 | My own grandfather and a picture of a mushroom cloud. |
| 0:12.0 | The bomb, a brand new podcast from the BBC World Service, available now. |
| 0:25.6 | I'm Elizabeth Hotson, and in today's Business Daily, I'll be finding out why some millionaires and billionaires are savers rather than spenders. |
| 0:30.3 | If throwing money left, right and centre is something that's genuinely making you happy, |
| 0:34.4 | then, you know, don't let anyone hold you back. |
| 0:36.2 | But at the same time, if you're a multi-billionaire but you choose to live in a one-bedroom shack |
| 0:41.0 | in the middle of the woods, that's great too. |
| 0:43.8 | I'll also ask whether spending habits are influenced by upbringing. |
| 0:47.9 | I can remember how poor we were that we couldn't even afford potatoes. |
| 0:52.0 | I was brought up to understand the importance of money. |
| 0:55.5 | This is Business Daily from the BBC. |
| 1:05.8 | A while ago, I interviewed music legend Dolly Parton. |
| 1:12.1 | We mostly talked about her music, but I was also interested about her attitude to money |
| 1:16.5 | and that phenomenal wealth that musical success has brought. |
| 1:20.5 | By some estimates, Dolly's worth around half a billion dollars, |
| 1:24.1 | but she claims to be surprisingly thrifty. |
| 1:30.9 | Thanks, Liam. dollars, but she claims to be surprisingly thrifty. I think being brought up poor, that's one of the things that has served me well, |
| 1:34.9 | because I don't take things for granted. |
| 1:36.9 | And no matter how much money I make, I always count my blessings quicker and more than I |
| 1:41.6 | count my money. |
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