Why Leaving Your Kids Filthy Rich Isn’t Good For Them: Billionaire Dad-Of-5, John Caudwell Tells Us Why
Leaving money to your children is the aspiration of most parents but we have heard many business moguls, including Microsoft founder, Bill Gates, Billionaire investor, Warren Buffett, and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg view the subject much differently. They all seem to consider donating their fortunes to charity a worthier course of action. Joining these sets of powerful people is mobile phone magnate John Caudwell who in an interview with Mirror UK pledged to donate at least 70% of his fortunes to good causes – at least £1 billion as it stands.
In addition, the entrepreneur, who made a fortune selling Phones4u, says the other 30 per cent of his riches will be split between his five children, Rebekah, 39, Libby, 31, Rufus, 23, Scarlett, 17 and Jacobi, 15.
The pledge is an increase on his previous 50 per cent commitment to giving cash to good causes. On why he will not leave all his fortune to his children, Mr Caudwell, 66, already one of Britain’s biggest philanthropists, said;
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“If you learn something in business and in life, it’s take the pain now, deal with the pain and come through it stronger than ever – and we would.
I don’t want my kids to be broke, but if you left your kids your entire wealth, that does nothing to rebalance the rich-poor divide.
If they are worth several billion, what about giving most of that away and just leaving a few hundred million to the kids? They’re still filthy rich, they can still ruin their lives.
I don’t think leaving your kids filthy rich is going to be good for them. And if it is good for them, it probably isn’t any good for their kids, so sooner or later, the chickens come home to roost.”
Mr Caudwell’s bold move came as the businessman, now a property mogul, turned his fire on tax-avoiding wealthy individuals and multi-nationals. The tycoon claims he has paid more than £300million in UK incomes taxes in the past 10 years.
“I’ve had to work like hell to get where I am, but Britain has been good to me, the people of Britain have been good to me. Why should I feel I can rob them of all that money?”
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The mogul splits his time between Britain, where he owns 50-room £12million Jacobean Broughton Hall in Staffordshire and lavish homes in Mayfair in London and Monaco.
He owns a fleet of cars, a helicopter and flies and 73-metre super yacht the Titania. He lives with his glamorous girlfriend Modesta Vzesniauskaite, a former Lithuanian cycling champion, 35.
One aspect of Mr Caudwell’s life he has been unable to move on from is a chronic illness which has blighted the life of his son Rufus for the past 12 years.
From being an energetic and outgoing boy, aged 11 Rufus deteriorated at devastating speed after being struck down with a mystery illness which left him mentally traumatised, needing 24 hour supervision and house bound for long periods because of extreme anxiety.
At one stage, the condition got so bad Rufus did not leave the house for two and a half years. He was eventually diagnosed with neurological Lyme disease.
But the real breakthrough came when doctors much later pinpointed the main reason for his trauma, a barely known condition called Pans/Pandas.
Talking about the illness for the first time, Mr Caudwell said:
”The person feels like they’re being attacked by a knife and it feels like the same anxiety they would feel if they were being attacked by someone.”
Yet the illness can be treated with antibiotics if diagnosed in the early stages. Studies in the US suggest one in 200 children may have the condition.
It has inspired Mr Caudwell to set himself a mission.
”It’s my job to try to make sure most of Britain has heard of Pans/Pandas in the next year”.
According to reports, Mr Caudwell once worked in a tyre factory and sold used cars but jumped on the mobile phone revolution in the 1980s, trading as Midland Mobile Phones – later renamed Phones4u.
It grew to a chain of nearly 600 shops and was selling 26 phones a minute by the time he sold the business for £1.5billion in 2006. But while he netted a fortune, more than 3,500 workers would later lose their jobs after Phones4u collapsed in 2014 when mobile networks ditched the chain.
Mr Caudwell was married to wife, Kate for 25 years, but they divorced in 2001.
Much of his time is now spent on charitable work through Caudwell Children, which helps disabled youngsters.
He also pumped £10million into the Caudwell International Children’s Centre in Staffordshire, a purpose-built facility dedicated to autism support.
The tycoon is encouraging others with plenty of money to leave a big chunk of their wealth to charity.
“Wealthy people ought to think very seriously about giving most of it away. Just leave a few hundred million to the kids.”
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