Hollywood Spendthrifts

November 20. 2009

Nicolas Cage

There's something about fame that causes some to lose focus and touch with reality. This is particularly true in the area of finances. Attempting to foster an image of mysterious celebrity, some go overboard with the spending, purchasing items that do not retain proper value.

Some Hollywood celebrities spend money on things most people would never buy if they were wealthy. Nicolas Cage is a prime example of this. Yes, it is his money, but when spending habits lead to difficult financial falls, it is simply self-defeating, which is not good.

Cage recently sued his accountant, who fired back in a stinging response stating Cage purchased "15 palatial homes, 22 cars, including nine Rolls Royces; 12 purchases of expensive jewelry and 47 pieces of artwork,  four yachts, an Island in the Bahamas and a Gulfstream jet."

Unless you're a sultan, Warren Buffett or Bill Gates, that money was bound to run out spending it in that manner. However, at the end of the day, they are just material things and not what is most important in life. God, faith and your family are what's important.

Accountant: Nicolas Cage Was 'Compulsive' Spender

By the time he had hired Levin in 2001, Cage "had already squandered tens of millions of dollars he had earned as a movie star" and owed millions in unpaid income taxes.

• Levin advised him that he needed to earn $30 million a year to keep up his lavish lifestyle.

• Levin tried to stop the financial bleeding, persuading Cage to sell off a dozen of his automobiles and his $1.6 million comic book collection.

• Following a string of box office hits, Cage went on an "epic spending spree." According to Levin, in 2007 the National Treasure star purchased three homes at more than $33 million; 22 cars, including nine Rolls Royces; 12 purchases of expensive jewelry and 47 pieces of artwork.

• Cage "spent huge sums of money taking his sizable entourage on costly vacations and threw enormous Gatsby-scale parties at his residences."

• By 2008, Cage owned 15 palatial homes around the world, four yachts, an Island in the Bahamas, and a Gulfstream jet.

http://www.people.com