More High Income Celebrities Who Spent More than They Earned

Here's a new list of celebrities who spent more than they earned to add to the one I already have. Here are the highlights on this group that can't control their spending:

• Mick Fleetwood - Filed for bankruptcy in 1984. He blew millions on real estate, failed restaurants and drugs. Fleetwood estimates he spent $8 million on cocaine.

• Meat Loaf - Meat Loaf's 1977 album "Bat Out of Hell" earned him millions of dollars, but his managers were stealing most of it before he could see it.

• TLC - The album ended up selling more than 11 million copies, but it wasn't enough to save the band from bankruptcy. They were on the hook for $3.5 million of debt from Lopes' arson, Watkins' medical bills (she suffers from sickle cell anemia), and a bad record deal.

• Marvin Gaye - The Motown legend lost his fortune like a lot of dudes...in a divorce. He filed for bankruptcy in 1979.

• Willie Nelson - Long before Wesley Snipes decided he didn't need to pay the IRS, Willie Nelson was dodging the tax men.

• Cyndi Lauper - Cyndi Lauper got her bankruptcy out of the way before she made a bunch of money.

• Andy Gibb - Gibb was drug-addicted and reduced to playing gigs in hotel casinos. He went broke in 1987 and died within the year.

• Isaac Hayes - Despite the sales, Hayes' record label, Stax, was in dire financial straits and not paying him. Hayes, in turn, was not paying the bank that loaned him money.

• Tom Petty - Tom Petty's 1979 bankruptcy became a negotiating ploy against The Man.

So, what are the few factors that killed these people's net worths? A summary:

1. Bad decisions. Doing drugs and trying to cheat the IRS are not good net-worth-building moves.

2. Poor relationships. Divorces, setting boyfriend's home on fire, etc. is usually not a pathway to financial success.

3. Trusting the wrong people. If you make a ton of money but your manager and/or record label don't manage it properly, you're in trouble.

Still, in the end, it all comes down to two factors:

1. They made a bundle of money.

2. They spent all they had and/or made terrible financial decisions that wasted their fortunes.

As I say, even if you make a ba-zillion dollars, if you spend a ba-zillion and one dollars, you're going backwards financially. These people are certainly examples of this.

Comments

[David]

"...setting boyfriend's home on fire... is usually not a pathway to financial success"

Hilarious.

[guinness416]

I can see that it might actually be tougher in some ways to control your finances when you're a famous actor/singer/whatever versus a boring 9 to 5er like you or I .... irregular income, income and home bases in multiple countries, different streams of income to track, having a bunch of staff to pay and so on. And that's without all the bad behaviour fame seems to bring out in family and hangers on. I mean, we like to think we'd be different but who knows?

[Dar]

Mick Fleetwood-- $8 million dollars up one's nose? Good God...

[K]

Add singer Toni Braxton to the list.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toni_Braxton#1998.E2.80.931999:_Bankruptcy