Personally I’m finding it difficult to believe a billionaire can go broke due to the worse state of an economy. When I mean broke. To the extend of selling off properties and barely afford a living.
Asking from this question because I know of a billionaire who right now is going about asking people for help because he has gone broke.
Some of the wealthy men we see in the society are owing huge debts due to loans they took from bank to make investments, and they use some of their properties as collateral. You should not be surprised that a billionaire went broke because if you are opportune to be close to those people we see as wealthy, some of them face more severe challenges even more than the ordinary man but the only difference is that they take high risks and when it goes well for them their wealth increases. Some big men invested their money in high risks businesses such that if it fails, it will cause great havoc to them. I have had the privilege to be close to some wealthy people and to be frank, what mostly makes a big man to fall is getting involved in businesses that has high risks conditions and taking too many loans.
This is true, although they are considered billionaires, businessmen or rich people, it does not mean that all of them own huge fortunes and live lavish lives as they want to show us. There are many businessmen and billionaires but their assets are mainly used as collateral and belong to banks. Just one small mistake and their huge fortune will disappear overnight and they could become homeless at any moment. Stories of billionaires and businessmen suddenly becoming homeless after a short period of time are not new and there have been many such cases.
There is no denying that billionaires are talented and intelligent people. But after all, they are just human like us, they are not gods so sometimes they will make mistakes and the price to pay will be very high. They are better than us and they deserve admiration and respect but don't exaggerate too much about them.