Comment by eru

Comment by eru 3 days ago

9 replies

That seems pretty silly. Why keep your wealth as cash in a safe?

(And why not use a fraction of the money to buy a second safe, if you really have to keep it in a safe at home.)

LanceH 3 days ago

I know nothing about this specific situation, so I'm not speak to that. I am speaking to "why keep your wealth as cash in a safe?"

I'm old enough that grandparents lived through the great depression. I know they kept wealth in a safe. A lot of their kids did as well. The grandparents had their gold money taken away, or their cash disappeared in banks. A lot of their kids followed along.

Being gen X, Elon has parents/grandparents that lived through the great depression and world war. That along with any other local factors makes keeping wealth in a safe not that unusual.

  • eru 3 days ago

    Elon Musk grew up in South Africa.

tonyedgecombe 3 days ago

To keep it away from the tax man.

  • eru 3 days ago

    Maybe. But wouldn't you rather hire a good accountant and lawyer instead of bothering with cash at home?

    • tonyedgecombe 3 days ago

      A good accountant or lawyer would tell you to pay the taxes you can't avoid.

      • eru 3 days ago

        The trick is to make as many taxes as possible avoidable.

prerok 3 days ago

That was probably just their pocket money.

  • eru 3 days ago

    Well, there might have been some weirdness about South Africa at the time. Perhaps financial institutions had some weird weaknesses.

wnevets 3 days ago

> That seems pretty silly. Why keep your wealth as cash in a safe?

Was it during the apartheid boycotts?