Buying, spending, countries where billionaire women live

By Dian Vujovich

Next week I’ll write about how the markets performed in July and what the expectations are for August. But right now, let’s pretend we all have millions to spend any which way we want.

•For the auction lover. If you’re a collector, a fan of “The Wizard of Oz” and missed out on snagging the “cowardly lion” costume that sold for $2.6 million at auction last fall, don’t despair. Judy Garland’s little blue gingham dress—complete with sweat stains—goes on the auction block in New York at Bonhams this November. It’s expected to fetch between $800,000 and $1.2 million.

• For the Ferrari fan. If you can wait until sometime next year, (2016), and have at least $275,000 to let loose, Ferrari’s new 488 Spider could be sitting in your driveway on Billionaires Row. This little puppy can reach 62 mph in 3 seconds; 124 mph in 8.7 seconds and its aluminum roof retracts in 14 seconds. The latter is a task best executed while the 3.9 liter, turbocharged V-8 Spider isn’t moving.

•For the serious I wanna-be-the-richest-man-ever competitor. No, Bill Gates isn’t the richest guy ever. Neither is Genghis Kahn, although he is listed as the 10th richest according to Time. Gates by the way follows Genghis and is in ninth position. Even Joseph Stalin (#5) and Augustus Caesar (#2) didn’t have the scratch the No.1 richest man ever did. And who is he? Mansu Musa, the king of Timbuktu who amassed a fortune made of gold. And you thought Timbuktu wasn’t the name of real place.

•For the extremely wealthy woman who wants to hang with those of like-sized pocketbooks. When it comes to counting really rich women who have made the Forbes list of the 30 richest people, one doesn’t need to use all the fingers they have on one hand.

According to a recent CNBC.com story, only four females are included in that select group and guess what? Not a one of them lives in America.

Turns out, of the countries with a total of at least 10 billionaires living in it, the five countries with the largest number of super-uber females are: Germany with 19, Brazil with 13, followed by Switzerland (8), Turkey (8) and France (8). The order changes a bit when comparing the percentage of female billionaires to male billionaires in each country. In that case, Chile gets the top spot as its four female billionaires make up 33 percent of the countries billionaire population.