Curt Sutherland, Entrepreneur, Real Estate Investor, Consultant (1981-present)
A few months ago a wealthy friend invited me and another friend to fly with him on his plane from Austin to New Orleans for a World Series Poker event.
It turns out that his plane is a $17MM jet. I ask him the approximately cost of each person to take the trip. He said the short trip would cost him about $25,000 an hour. We flew for about an hour and a half.
I didn't feel like sitting backwards…thankfully the seats swivel so we could all face each other and have a wonderful conversation during this nice flight.
I asked him why he would fly when it was so expensive. He said that he drives an old pick up truck, he lives well below his means, but still in the most exclusive address downtown, in an exquisite townhouse.
He doesn't waste money on anything at all. He is extremely analytical when it comes to spending, but said that this is the one thing that he rewards himself with: having a jet waiting on him and always ready to go. There were five people on the plane: the three of us, the Captain/pilot and a co-pilot. It was going to cost the same whether we flew with him or not, so since we were each going to play cards in the World Series that week, he thought that we would like to fly with him.
I appreciate what he was saying, and truly appreciated the ride to New Orleans, but couldn't help but think that it was a waste of his funds.
The thing that I appreciate the most is that he made his money by selling his business and by continuing to invest wisely… and as a result, he is entitled to use his money how ever he sees fit.
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