Talk About an Allowance!

Written by Nickel - 11 Comments

Don’t you just feel terrible for this guy?

In January, Alexis du Pont de Bie Sr., 62, who grew up in a du Pont family mansion and inherited $7 million, filed a lawsuit in New York City accusing his estate’s trustees of mismanagement that has reduced his wealth to $2 million and necessitated a cut in his allowance to $3,000 a month, making him, he said, “literally destitute and homeless.”

Granted, I wouldn’t be thrilled if someone mismanaged my funds to the tune of a $5 million loss, but still… Destitute and homeless?

[Source: Arizona Daily Star]

Published on March 7th, 2006 - 11 Comments
Filed under: Humor
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About the author: Nickel is the founder and editor-in-chief of this site. He's a thirty-something family man who has been writing about personal finance since 2005, and guess what? He's on Twitter!

Comments (scroll down to add your own):

NYC does have a high cost of living…
Comment by Blaine Moore — Mar 7th 2006 @ 1:56 pm
Hey, I make $5K/month and it isn’t all that easy to get by in a place that has a much lower cost of living than NYC. $3K/month would pretty much be nearly destitute and homeless.
Comment by Dus10 — Mar 7th 2006 @ 2:11 pm
Well if $3k/month is nearly destitute in NYC, I’d pack my hobo bag a move on because out here in Washington State I’d be living mighty fine on $3k.
Comment by Tim — Mar 7th 2006 @ 3:01 pm
I agree that $36,000/year ain’t that much in NYC, however that is an EXTREMELY conservative 1.8%/year draw rate — particularly for a 62 year old.
Comment by Keith — Mar 7th 2006 @ 3:03 pm
Didn’t he notice anything funny when they lost the first million? What about the second? What a fool.
Comment by jim — Mar 8th 2006 @ 9:22 am
I’m pretty sure that with a JOB, the man could manage to get by on his wages plus $3,000.
Comment by savvy saver — Mar 8th 2006 @ 9:26 am
You’d think he’d ask about his money every once in a while and think, “Gee, it looks like this statement is missing a couple million, I wonder where it went?”
Comment by beren9955 — Mar 8th 2006 @ 9:54 pm
I’m sure a large portion of it went to taxes, the rest, well, why was his trustee managing his money?

$3,000 would be hard to live on….if you’re Paris Hilton.
Comment by Emma — Mar 9th 2006 @ 12:26 am
This article is outrageous - I know Alexis very personally (or did) - and HE mismanaged his life and never even begin a real career, just milked a trust that wasn’t designed just for him and drank away any talent he may have ever had over the past 40 years. Now, he’s just a dillisioned, old fool - victim of his own actions and decisions.
Comment by VanBeez — Mar 14th 2007 @ 5:04 pm
So what’s the update on this guy? I’m sure he has no leg to stand on as far as getting any money back but at least the judge could take into account the diminished amount in the account and lower the ex wife’s alimony. The trust pays the ex wife $12,000 a month and this poor bastard has to get by on $3000!

I understand that he’s an idiot, he was married 5 times, but that doesn’t excuse the crappy alimony laws that helped put him near poverty! I believe that alimony should be percentage based instead of a flat rate based on what was in the past.
Comment by Winthorp — Oct 12th 2007 @ 9:43 am