He hadn't been one of the richest people on the planet in more than a decade.
Definitely did not have enough money for literally any lifestyle, especially seeing as it appears he owed a lot of money in back taxes.
Definitely did not have enough money for literally any lifestyle, especially seeing as it appears he owed a lot of money in back taxes.
He seemed to like his dogs (which I get!), and was out for the little guys of the world. He didn't like authorities whom abused their power.
I found him refreshing compared to most wealthy guys.
I am sad he's gone. I wish it wasen't fear over the IRS though.
(I don't think anyone should do jail time over taxes. You can take their money, but no jail time. Oh yea, I don't care if he was doing drugs (prescribed, or illegial). I don't think anyone should have to go through withdrawls in a cell. That last sentence was not aimed at John. It never felt right hearing that people are expected to withdrawal from any substance while in jail. I see a constant help wanted in my local paper for a Psychiatry position at San Quentin. If I was in charge, every suspect would have a Psychiatrist they can talk to, and medicated if needed, with in a hour of being locked up for any offense. It's got to be one of the most stressful event in a person's life.)
We offered the McAffees a puppy shortly after they moved to TN; they came out and played with the litter for a couple hours in our front yard, and they were both very much "dog people".
Our pack wasn't aggressive, as such, but everyone found them intimidating. John was quite happy being chewed by multiple small hounds, and the rest of the pack was OK with the idea of him having a pup.
Alas, they weren't stable enough to give a good home to a dog at that time (and told us so before the pup was ready), so that puppy went elsewhere; but I was delighted to meet them both and found them decent people to spend a bit with.
That was my instinct as well, after John told the story about paying his Belizean housekeepers to shit into his mouth from a hammock.
He owed a lot of money in back taxes because he made a point of specifically refusing to pay them, not inability to do so.
If you spend a lot of money without paying your taxes, you still owe those taxes, which means you have significantly less money than you think you do. So when his aforementioned wealth peaked at $100M, the real value (i.e. minus taxes) was probably much lower.
Say I have $1M in the bank (or in Bitcoin), but I owe the IRS say $300K.
I leave the country, and take my money out of the reach of the IRS.
My "net worth" on an accounting statement might be $700K, but if I'm making a point of avoiding and biting my thumb at the IRS, I still absolute have access to $1M, regardless of moneys owed or claimed. And if I have no intention of paying those taxes, I'm certainly going to use that money. And McAfee was very actively saying "I'm keeping that owed tax and doing whatever the hell I like with it".
According to [0] he was down to about $4M in net worth after 2008, which isn't nothing, especially in a LCOL country, but for context, if he made 200k per year and put 10% away for retirement from when he was 25, he would have had the same amount.
[0] https://www.therichest.com/celebnetworth/celebrity-business/...
We are assuming McAfee is just not paying taxes because craziness, but when you have volatile situation you can get burned by the rules pretty badly.