| He flies economy class, wears a $15 plastic watch | | | | the United States and Ireland to South Africa and |
| and doesn't have a car or own a house. He even | | | | Vietnam. Feeney is said to have been inspired by the |
| carries a plastic bag instead of a briefcase. Doesn't | | | | great 19th century philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, |
| sound like your typical billionaire, does it!? Well, that's | | | | who incidentally was the inspiration for Napoleon Hill's |
| because Chuck Feeney isn't. | | | | seminal wealth creation book, Think and Grow Rich. |
| Feeney made his fortune when he co-founded Duty | | | | The Billionaire Who Wasn't |
| Free Shoppers (DFS) in 1960 and it became the | | | | In 1997, Chuck Feeney called Judith Miller of the "New |
| world's largest duty-free retail chain making him a | | | | York Times" to correct a widely reported fact. He |
| billionaire. His personal motto was "I set out to work | | | | was not, as "Forbes" and others reported, one of |
| hard, not get rich". He did both. He quietly became a | | | | the 400 richest Americans. He was worth a relatively |
| billionaire and since the mid-1980s he has been quietly | | | | modest $2 million. Yes, he had been a billionaire |
| giving away all his money. | | | | however, but since 1984 he'd been quietly giving |
| One Idea That Never Changed | | | | away all his money. |
| "I had one idea that never changed in my mind - that | | | | Giving While Living |
| you should use your wealth to help people," Feeney | | | | Feeney believes in improving the lives of people who |
| said. This is the key to the enormous fortune Feeney | | | | need change the most. "Try it, you'll like it", he has |
| amassed. | | | | said as regards giving. Although initially extremely |
| Feeney's modest, blue-collar Irish-American | | | | private about his giving Feeney has of late been |
| background stood him in good stead. Reportedly | | | | more public, believing this sets a good example to |
| witty, self-deprecating, frugal and astute; these | | | | other wealthy individuals to do the same. Chuck is |
| characteristics helped him greatly in growing his | | | | driven to highlighting the manifold benefits of |
| business. He often relied on his instincts in making | | | | philanthropy to both giver and receiver. At the last |
| business decisions and reveled in taking risks. He was | | | | count, Chuck's Foundation, Atlantic Philanthropies, had |
| also drawn towards the underdog, often reaching out | | | | given away over $5 Billion!! |
| to help people who were struggling. | | | | The Secret Formula of How to Get Rich |
| As his fortune grew over the decades, his outward | | | | What's noteworthy about Feeney's modus operandi |
| display of the trappings of wealth did not. He was | | | | is that he had this one idea in his mind that dictated |
| extremely private and you might even say secretive | | | | all his actions. It's like as if Feeney had decided earlier |
| about his charitable donations. He secretly gave | | | | on in life that in return for achieving great wealth that |
| almost all of it away through his foundation, Atlantic | | | | his clear statement of intent was to give it all away |
| Philanthropies. He had only one condition when giving | | | | in return. This is the secret formula to getting rich |
| away his money and that was that his name was | | | | that Napoleon Hill wrote about in his book, "Think and |
| never to be mentioned by the benefactor. | | | | Grow Rich". That you must clearly describe your |
| Feeney has helped fund schools, hospitals, | | | | major desire in life and clearly state what you intend |
| universities, medical research and human rights from | | | | to give in return for achieving this desire. |