Hawaii visit inspires Aussie millionaire to give it all away

Despite making millions through furnishings and accessories, owning a 3,500 square foot villa in the Alps and driving around in a luxury Audi A8, he had never been more miserable. 47-year-old Karl Rabeder has now found something that gives his life more meaning. He’s giving it all away and he first got the idea during a luxurious trip to Hawaii with his wife.

“It was the biggest shock in my life, when I realized how horrible, soulless and without feeling the five-star lifestyle is,” he said. “In those three weeks, we spent all the money you could possibly spend. But in all that time, we had the feeling we hadn’t met a single real person – that we were all just actors. The staff played the role of being friendly and the guests played the role of being important and nobody was real.”

He had similar feelings of guilt while on gliding trips in South America and Africa. “I increasingly got the sensation that there is a connection between our wealth and their poverty,” he said.

England’s The Telegraph newspaper reports that Rabeder has set up a nonprofit, MyMicroCredit.org, to provide micro loans to entrepreneurs in Central and South America. He's not taking a salary from the nonprofit and plans to live, most likely, in a small hut in the mountains.

He told The Telegraph, “My idea is to have nothing left. Absolutely nothing. Money is counterproductive – it prevents happiness to come."