Thoughts on Rupert - Comedy

[Steve]

---  OctobersChild48 at ... wrote:
>
> In a message dated 3/5/07 6:16:57 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
> bboyminn at ... writes:
> 
> 
> > Dan now has great credibility as a Stage Actor, 
> > after Harry Potter, if nothing else, he can get
> > parts in stage plays on the West End and earn a 
> > reasonable living, and keep a reasonably postive 
> > public profile. 
> 
> Sandy:
> 
> Picking my chin up off the floor. Dan earn a reasonable
> living!! Haven't you heard that he is the second richest
> minor in England, second only to Prince Harry? He's a 
> multi-millionaire many times over for Pete's sake! I 
> believe there is such a thing as being too rich and Dan 
> is already too rich. Dan WANTS to act but he does not 
> need to earn a living. Dan is now the English equivalent
> of a Kennedy. His heirs will still be filthy rich three 
> generations from now. Sheesh.
> 
> Sandy

bboyminn:

You are right, but you are also missing the point. In fact,
the 'reasonable living' comment was related to the fact
that Dan has substantial wealth. He is like 'James', he
doesn't need a well paid job, but he DOES need something
to do with his life. What is he suppose to do, spend all
day at the Bank counting his money? 

At this time let me quote ( but I'm not sure whom I am
quoting) -

"I once met a man who was so poor he could have only
money?"

Living a wealthy life and living a 'rich' life are very
different things. I suspect Dan wants to live a 'rich'
life independant of how much money he has. 'Richness'
comes with satisfaction and accomplishment, and from
having the right priorities. A man who has a happy
healthy family is a rich man even if he is poor.

Dan could at the very least, now that he has established
his credibility on the stage, have a long, happy, healthy,
rewarding career as a secondary player on the stage 
(remember this is 'at least', not ideally). No matter how
rich you may be, you don't work for free. You still want
to be fairly compensated for your efforts. So, certainly
Dan would want a reasonable income for his efforts.

As to Dan's fortune, that is another thing that irks me.
As an example, if you win a 100 million in the lottery,
you will be lucky to walk away with 33 million. That TAX
MAN want his share, and he always gets that and more.

Dan may gross £6 million per film, but what does he NET?
His estimated /gross/ worth by the end of the last film
will be something in the neighborhood of US$40 million.
That means his net, depending on the taxes in the UK,
will be something like US$13 million. That's not peanuts,
but it's not hard to burn through that much money in a 
life time. 

Being rich, oddly as it sounds, is expensive. Real Estate
in London is through the roof. Recently some one posted
that a janitors closet in severe need of repairs was being
offerred for US$325,000 (£170,000). It was about 11 ft x 
7 ft, and was being sold as a studio living space. 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6287375.stm

Quoting the article -

"...the average asking price for a house in Kensington & 
Chelsea in January was £1,145,791. (US$2.2 million)."
 
Dan's parents live in the ajoining neighborhood, Fulham, 
just south of Kensington and west of Chelsea.

$13 million sounds like a lot until you blow $2 million on
a house. A basic two bedroom 850 sq. ft. apartment in 
Fulham/Battersea runs about $500,000 to $1,000,000. 

So, yes Dan is comfortable, and if he wants to live off
just his current earnings, he is going to have to live
VERY conservatively. 

But Dan doesn't strike me as someone to spend the rest of
his life in quiet obscurity sipping coffee, quaffing ale,
and reading the newspaper.

As to Rupert, he has definitly said on more than onse 
occassion that he hopes to pursue a career in acting.
Also, while I'm sure Rupert and Emma are making a 
substantial living, perhaps even millions, there income
doesn't approach that of Dan's. If Dan has a clear $13
million, than Rupert probably has a clear $3 million to
$5 million. Yes, that's nice, but it certainly won't last
a lifetime, especially when you are young, an adult, and
sitting on a huge pile of cash. It goes pretty quickly if 
you are not careful. 

As I think I pointed out in a previous post, most, or
many, Lottery winners are not set for life, they are
bankrupt within 5 years. If you can not find wealth and
richness in the other aspects of your life, having money
/is/ a form of poverty.

A wise person invest his money. Real Estate being a form
of investment, and a very good one if you pay cash for
it. If you earn a paltry 5%, you still make US50,000 for
every million you have. Ten million nets you $500,000
per year. Most likely, you can do better than a 5% 
return. The point is, a wise person lives coservatively
no matter how much money they have.

Tom Felton has made it clear that his first love is
fishing, and he could probably make a living as a 
professional fisherman, but doing that would be a lot 
easier if he had money from acting to cushion his life. 
It would be a lot easier, if he had the cash from acting
to invest in building his life in fishing.

Further, while Tom is well off from his HP earnings, I 
doubt they are anywhere near that of Rupert and certainly
not even remotely close to Dan's. (I estimate low 6 figures
per movie.) So, his choices are hundreds of thousands of
dollars for a few months work THEN fishing, or spending his
money very quickly doing nothing but fishing. 

He can do what he wants, but acting, if you can establish
yourself, is a source of fast easy money. He certainly can
do it, so why not?

Just passing it along.

Steve/bboyminn