Posted by Leonard Steinberg on January 23rd, 2013

While about 75 of the world’s billionaires begin to approach DAVOS for the annual conference of the super-rich, we are reminded of how well billionaires fared in 2012, regardless of all the political naysayers who claimed the future of the rich and all things good economically were doomed. Billionaires added approximately $ 241 billion to their collective net worth in 2012. The aggregate net worth of the world’s top moguls now stands at $1.9 trillion. But just before you break out into a chorus of loathing and jealousy, know that not all the lives of billionaires are that great. They are plagued with excessive work, intense stress, and barely any time to even have a conversation in as important an arena as Davos. And yes, some are even HOMELESS: Nicolas Berggruen, who has been called the “homeless billionaire” because he roams the world in his Gulfstream IV jet living out of five-star hotels is indeed without a permanent home. This confirms what I have said for years: we as real estate brokers often help the very wealthy, pitiless ‘homeless’ who have been either too busy or too distracted to make a home for themselves. Often they are without a good home because the inventory for this rapidly growing demographic is very low. Their plight demands significantly less sympathy than a truly (real)homeless person, yet you cant help but pity some of the very wealthy who have worked so hard, achieved so much, yet live rather poorly.