An hireress has decided to give away her wealth, amounting to nearly $27 million. And how does she plan to do that? By taking advice from 50 strangers out of 10,000 invitations that she sent to random Austrians over the age of 16.
Marlene Engelhorn, the 31-year-old Austro-German heiress, decided to give away the inheritance she received from her grandmother, reports the BBC.
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“I have inherited a fortune, and therefore power, without having done anything for it. And the state doesn't even want taxes on it,” Engelhorn told the outlet. The inheritance tax was abolished in Austria in 2008, and Engelhorn believes that this is unfair. The decision to give away her fortune is her way of fighting wealth inequality.
How will she choose her advisors?
She has launched a project named Guter Rat (Good Council) to find 50 people who will help her. According to the mission statement on the project’s website, “10,000 randomly selected people are contacted. Anyone who wants to take part fills out a survey - and from all the responses, a council of 50 people is put together that reflects the Austrian population as accurately as possible. Gender, age, education, job and so on.”
“Over six weekends between March and June, these 50 people come together to meet. They receive input from experts from scientific and field experts. All discussions are professionally moderated and accompanied,” the statement reads.
{{/usCountry}}“Over six weekends between March and June, these 50 people come together to meet. They receive input from experts from scientific and field experts. All discussions are professionally moderated and accompanied,” the statement reads.
{{/usCountry}}Engelhorn also mentioned on the website that the 50 chosen people will be doing their ‘service to the society’ so they will be ‘compensated for their efforts’.
The news soon made it to Instagram and created a chatter among netizens. While some were surprised by this decision, a few suggested ways the heiress should spend her fortune.
How did netizens react to the millionaire's decision?
“Don’t donate it to any ‘charities’ cause it’ll go right back into the government's pocket. Hand it out to the poor yourself so you see where it goes,” posted an Instagram user. “Wow. Imagine if all billionaires/ millionaires did this,” added another. “What an amazing woman. May she live a long, healthy, and fulfilling life,” joined a third. “Or she could invest it, and use the interest to help charities for years on end. Someone please help her,” wrote a fourth.