If You Were a Billionaire and could live anywhere, WHERE would you live?

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by Baronvonellis

I'm sure a billionaire can afford to hire a good accountant to take care of all the IRS issues.

I agree there are no problems money can't gloss over but the IRS issue isn't so much a problem for YOU as for the bank with a result they don't want your business, even if it's BIG business.

Foreign banks freezing out U.S. millionaires
By Sanat Vallikappen
May 12, 2012

Go away, American millionaires.

That’s what some of the world’s largest wealth-management firms are saying ahead of Washington’s implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, known as Fatca, which seeks to prevent tax evasion by Americans with offshore accounts. HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Bank of Singapore and DBS Group all say they have turned away business.

“I don’t open U.S. accounts, period,” said Su Shan Tan, head of private banking at Singapore-based DBS, Southeast Asia’s largest lender, who described regulatory attitudes toward U.S. clients as “Draconian” . . . .

https://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...=.2c1db2dd4436

But I suppose those are just millionaires. Maybe they'd work with a billionaire.

On the other hand, poor little me had to fill out 9 copies of IRS Form 926 (Return by a U.S. Transferor of Property to a Foreign Corporation) this year. It's ugly out there.

[jg6544]

San Francisco. Huge house in Pacific Heights with a view of the Bridge.

[Cirrus]

Main home: Paris.

Secondary homes:
- A Mediterranean island somewhere (maybe Malta? not sure)
- NY or DC (probably DC at first but eventually change to NY)
- Something in the Colorado mountains, for family

[NiHao]

Make a yacht out of an oil tanker.

Or build that freedom ship.

[the urban politician]

Interestingly, what would the IRS do if the wealthiest Americans left the US in droves? Can't you switch citizenship?

[Vlajos]

Paris

[N90]

South of France

[dubu]

i would get a couple houses. one here and one in illinois

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Ive always wanted 3 houses.. One in the high Sierra near Mammoth but secluded, one on the Strand in Manhattan Beach and a penthouse condo in Downtown LA.. If i was a billionaire, id probably also want a NYC penthouse, a Costa Rican beach house and a Parisian flat

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Double L

How easy is it to have homes in multiple countries? How do the laws concerning citizenship work out?

It is country-by-country. Some countries have no restrictions on foreign buyers, some don't allow foreigners or non-residents to wholly own a property, and some put restrictions on how many properties can be sold to foreigners.

[montréaliste]

I'd buy myself an old El Camino and sleep in the flatbed in the general vicinity of Bonneville Salt Flats. I'd get my water from a five dollar tarp strung on the four corners of the flatbed in the daytime.

[Qubert]

Manhattan, for sure. I wouldn't want multiple houses as most of my time will be traveling either to Europe/East Asia/Rockies for recreation and to Africa/India/Latin America to volunteer for some org like Doctors w/o borders, UNICEF, etc. I'll just book hotels and NYC would be my actual "true" home.

[dc_denizen]

cali, maybe carmel or monterey. the land of the setting sun.

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

New York penthouse and a large, ocean-going yacht. Maybe something on the beach in La Jolla too.

=
Can't go wrong in La Jolla. I'd have a manse there too, probably up on Mt. Soledad with expansive coastal views. In recent years seals and sea lions have colonized the beaches, and the stink can be quite bad. Maybe a secluded property in the redwoods up in the Santa Cruz mountains too where I would grow wine grapes. Or maybe in the Sonoma Valley around Jack London's "Beauty Ranch". And definitely a big house on Lake Tahoe, complete with a boathouse and several fast speedboats. Would spend July-September there. And maybe a big ranch on the south island in New Zealand when I really want to get away. And then a chateau in the Loire Valley. And a home up in the hills near Ravello on the Amalfi coast. I would tend vines there too. Maybe I'd buy a small island in the outer Hebrides, and live like a hermit when I got tired of people and needed silence. A little of everything. If lunar travel became feasible, maybe I'd have a getaway in Tycho crater and a huge telescope to stargaze in the airless silence.

[333609543]

I'd probably make my primary home in a small(ish) Japanese town close to Tokyo or Osaka (small town atmosphere to counterract being a gaijin). I'd have other homes in Toronto (probably a Bridle Path mansion for my parents and myself whenever I visit, maybe buy a few homes for my very close friends and family), Victoria BC, Melbourne, and maybe somewhere on North Island in New Zealand.

[Centropolis]

in the olive trees of the ojai valley (california) i guess...

guilded age mansion in the central west end of st. louis for autumn and holidays, and lots of traveling.

[Obadno]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

I think I would be a nomad, traveling the world. When I found the best place, I'd settle. New York? San Francisco? West L.A.? San Diego? Seattle? Paris? London? Australia? New Zealand? Hawaii? Maybe homes in all the nice places? Warren Buffett, one of the richest men in the world, still makes his primary home in Omaha, although I'm sure he has homes elsewhere. But most billionaires seem to settle in the "usual suspects"--SF, NYC, London, L.A. etc. Maybe homes are a burden. Why not just stay in high class hotels? Or roam the world on a luxury cruise ship? Eventually you'd want to call some place home though. WHERE?

On a giant Yacht with a full crew and I would go from city to city and island to island all around the world forever.

[10023]

If I were a billionaire I wouldn’t spend 180 days of a year in one place, let alone all of my life.

[pj3000]

Probably here...

[sopas ej]

A no-tell motel is always the best!

Originally Posted by 10023

If I were a billionaire I wouldn’t spend 180 days of a year in one place, let alone all of my life.

Yeah I wouldn't either. I would still get one permanent residence, though.