Inside $139 Million Le Palais Royal (Forbes)

As T. Boone Pickens put it, money is just a way of "keeping score" in life. But watch out: The "winners" are often the biggest losers.

We've been rich and we've been poor. We've been desperate enough to need payday loans to get us by then even more desperate when we couldn't pay them back and had to go to a company that offered payday loans consolidation. A lot of people have needed it and a lot more will need it in the future.

Being rich is better... but only marginally. And only because it helps you appreciate poverty. When you finally make some money, you realize it's not all it's cracked up to be.

For every glass wealth helps fill it leaves another one empty. It gives us more freedom to come and go as we please. But the more we come and go, the more we want to stay put.

It gives us more buying power. But the more stuff we buy, the more stuff we want to get rid of. It offers us more leisure time. But the more leisure time we have, the more tedious leisure becomes.

For everything nature gives, she takes back something. Remember, there are only three key decisions you make in life: what you do, whom you do it with and where you do it.

Wealth can make those decisions more difficult. The wealthy can do whatever they want, live wherever they want... and, we presume, with whomever they want.

But we already explained how wealth can take you away from the things you really like doing. It can also take you away from the place you really want to be.

During our career, we have owned a château – a real one, in France, with 23 bedrooms. We've also owned a mud-and-stone house we built ourselves for a grand total of $13,000.

Which one do you think gave us more pleasure?

The château cost a fortune. It was – and still is – magnificent. Splendid. Stunning. One of the last great châteaux built in France before the revolution, it looks a little like Versailles... with perfect classical proportions.

But it is not a nice place to live. You feel as though you have snuck into a museum that is closed for the weekend; you fear the guards will throw you out when they come to work on Monday.

Our little adobe getaway place, on the other hand, is a constant delight. We built it with our own hands (with two of our sons helping) in the semi-desert of northwestern Argentina.

The stones were free. The adobe was free. Almost the entire house was free. And yet, it is a marvel. It has vaulted adobe ceilings... arches... and a cupola at the center. There is also a large stone fireplace. Much of the interior was plastered with the local red mud. The textures are rich and authentic. We faced it toward the sun... and use the incoming sunlight to heat it. It needs no other fuel. We cook over an open fire. We heat water by running water through a black steel tank. Electricity comes from a small solar panel and a single 12-volt battery.

Total cost for utilities: approximately zero.

Compare that to the château in France. There, we can barely touch anything. It's a protected monument!

But here is the problem: As your wealth increases, you tend to be lured to bigger, more monumental... and ultimately less satisfying... places. They eat away at your wealth... your time... and your life.

You get caught up in the "trading up" phenomenon. Pretty soon, you have traded up all over the place. Then you no longer own a home; you have a number of houses, and they own you.

The Wall Street Journal reports, for example, that the owners of the "château" in Houston are selling it because "they have homes all over the world... and are not using this Houston house as much as they thought they would."

Allow us to correct the record – from experience. A home is where you live and where you keep your things. It's where your heart is, as the old saying put it. Many of us will not get the chance to own a chateau during our lifetime, but most of us will probably own a house. Those of us who want to remain in the same house for the entirety of our lives could look at contacting a financial advice company to see how much you could release with a lifetime mortgage. This method could allow you to take out a loan against your home which is then paid back after death or after moving to a retirement home. Loans like this could let us live a more wealthy lifestyle, whilst still remaining ownership of our beloved homes.

In comparison, when you buy one of these monstrosities, you are not buying a home. You're buying a house to show off, not a cozy place for your family to live in.

And because it is so big, you will have to share it with staff. There will be people around you all the time – fixing things, tending the lawn and cleaning the kitchen. A yardman... a pool man... a plumber... a repairman. All of these services are essential unfortunately. You don't want your yard to become messy or your house to be flooded by a burst pipe that a company like Sarkinen Plumbing in Vancouver, WA could've fixed. If you keep a reliable team of service people around you, there shouldn't be many problems in your home. This means that these people won't have to be around you all the time because the job will have been done to a high standard the first time. For some people, you will find it difficult to manage a place like that yourself. So you have to manage a team of people who help you manage it.

Like a trophy wife, it may be beautiful. But it will also be costly.

Regards,

Bill

Further Reading: Russia's move away from the dollar is just another step along the road of the decline of what Bill calls the "US Empire of Debt."

As he puts it in The New Empire of Debt, the book he wrote with Addison Wiggin, "The Roman Empire rested on a classical model of imperial finance. America's Empire of Debt, on the other hand, stands not as a solid pyramid of trust, authority and power relationships but as a rickety slum of delusion, fraud and misapprehension."

To find out how it all ends... and what you can do to prepare... make sure to claim your FREE hardcover copy of Bill and Addison's book. All we ask is you pay shipping. Go here now for full details.