Meat in Sunday Times

[Sapphire Lady]

There's a half page interview with Meat (with colour photo) in the Money section of today's Sunday Times if anyone's interested.

It's much too long to type here I'm afraid but, as you would guess with it being in the Money section, it's all about his finances, investments and pension plans.

[cerysmeatloaf]

meat is all so in the sunday mirror mag 2 page and photos

[Cathie]

If you give me a minute I'll post it for you...

[Cathie]

Hard Man With A Soft Furnishings Side
Meat Loaf, the heavyweight singer and actor, has an unexpected talent for property renovation. By Natalie Graham

The actor and musician Meat Loaf, 55, has sold more than 50m albums worldwide. In 1977 he released Bat Out of Hell, his operatic collaboration with the songwriter Jim Steinman, which has sold more than 30m copies.
The duo’s 1993 follow-up, Bat Out Of Hell 2; Back Into Hell, went multi-platinum and netted Meat Loaf a Grammy award for Best Rock Vocal, for the song “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I won’t Do That). In 1999 he wrote his autobiography, To Hell And Back.
The musician’s latest album, Couldn’t Have Said It Better, took four years to make because he has also been developing his film career, acting under the name Michael Lee Aday.
He was born Marvin Lee Aday. His father was a Dallas policeman and a turbulent character. He gave his son the nickname Meat Loaf and once attacked the teenager with a knife.
His mother, Wilma, was a preacher’s daughter who sang in a local gospel quartet. After her death from cancer, Meat Loaf left Dallas and moved to Los Angeles in 1967 to embark on a career in music He met Steinman in 1974 and formed the partnership that led to Bat Out Of Hell.
Meat Loaf has two daughters from his first marriage: Pearl, 28 a singer, and Amanda, 22, an actress. He lives in Los Angeles with Deborah, his fiancée.

How Much Money Do You Have In Your Wallet?
Right this minute I have none because I used all my cash last night at Maggie Jones’s, a restaurant in Kensington, south west London. In America, I would usually have about $500 (£300) on me, which I use for gasoline, cigars and trips to grocery stores.

Do You Have Any Credit Cards?
Yes, I have two, American Express and Visa, which I rarely use because of the risk of fraud. My fiancée and her sister have both been victims of fraud after using credit cards in gas stations.
I leave money matters to Deborah when I am overseas. The only time I use the Amex is when I have to get receipts for tax and business purposes.

Are You A Saver Or A Spender?
I don’t usually go around and spend a lot of money. I have generally put money into my homes. Otherwise I don’t really spend much. I hate shopping. Apart from on my car – A Mercedes – and my house, I am not a big spender compared with other people.

Have You Ever Been Hard Up?
I don’t know what that means. Poverty is relative. In the 1960s I didn’t consider myself hard up because I was a kid.

What Is The Most Lucrative Work You Have Done? Did You Use The Fee For Something Special?
I have never done any work outside entertainment. In 1979 I got a $285, 000 cheque from the record company, after tax and spent every dime on a house.
I guess it was big money, but it did not represent anything like what I should have got. I had lawsuits totalling $85m with a record company that went on for more than 12 years. I reckoned I was owed a great deal of money. We resolved it, but not to the extent I wanted to

What Properties Do You Own?
In my career I have owned 12 houses, including my current four bedrooms, Georgian-style home, which has a mix of antiques and new furniture that is classical in design.
By the 1990s I owned property worth more than $1m through clever buying and selling. I would have owned France had it not been for the lawsuits.

Do You Have A Pension, Or Other Retirement Plan?
I was in my twenties when I started a pension but I didn’t contribute for long because I lost a lot of money in one of my lawsuits.
I pay 50% of my income in tax, but over the past 10 years I have put the maximum the government allows into my pension. If something happened to me and I stopped working, I would have to consolidate my finances but I could manage.

Do You Believe Pensions Are A Good Thing?
Obviously they are but a huge number of people in America are going to find their pensions are worthless because of companies like Enron.
In a decade we will have a real problem. Right now our social security is okay, but it may not be so good in 20 years time.

What Has Been Your Worst Investment?
About four years ago I got into four Internet companies through a former business manager and I don’t even want to talk about it. I also did really badly with a fibre-optics company in the technology sector. I am not going to say how much O lost – but it was more than I made on several of my houses.
It was terrifying – and it still is. That is why I will never do it again. I prefer to concentrate on property.
I intend to buy apartment houses – what you call blocks of flats in England. And a little house in Nevis in the Caribbean.

And Your Best?
It is the homes that I have lived in. I have only lost money on one house out of 12, and to the average person my profits have been huge.
I have a really good eye for doing up properties. I help friends of mine all the time who just want to renovate, but not have the expense of an architect. I am very creative with interior design, like deciding where to knock down walls and make archways.
I brought my first home for $285, 000 in my twenties. I made a profit of a little over $3000, 000 on the place because I renovated it without spending much money.
That is the key – not to spend too much on doing up a property. The No 1 rule is to put your renovations into the kitchen, the bathrooms and the square footage. Then you need kerb appeal, so that when people drive up to the house it looks pretty. You can do that really simply by buying good plants and flowers.

Do You Manage Your Own Financial Affairs?
For the past three years I have used Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman, a business management company in Los Angeles. I found the firm through other people I know.

What Aspect of You Taxation System Would You Change?
I would make sure that people did not pay so much – and I think that Vat hurts the economy more than anything else. People need to pay taxes to maintain roads and the infrastructure of cities but to my mind tax dollars are wasted on a lot of horrendous red tape.

What Is Your Financial Priority?
To retire without worries in five years. I shall spend my time at home.

Do You Have A Money Weakness?
Yes, for art. I got into it about 10 years ago when I met an art broker, Steve Kennedy, who is very eccentric. I wanted a strange-looking piece of art for an album cover. He introduced me to pop art in America and at the same time I discovered American Impressionist art. I now have the second biggest collection of pop art in America.

What Is The Most Extravagant Thing You Have Ever Brought?
A house with five bedrooms. But I’ve never lived in any one place for more than five years.

What Is The Most Important Lesson You Have Learnt About Money?
That you cannot take it with you, but you shouldn’t worry about it. You cannot be greedy – your life cannot stop because somebody take something from you, even though you feel violated. You have to go on, and you cannot leave hatred or grudges. You just keep working. You don’t quit.

[R.]

Thanks a lot for that monster typing job. :))

[heat]

Thanks so much for posting this, Cathie - must have taken you ages hun. Most appreciated :D

[Jen]

Thanks for posting Cathie, much appreciated :D

[Vickip]

Fantastic article -- thanks for typing it up and sharing it with all of us Cathie :)

Vicki

[Shane]

Could someone please post a link to the other article? Sorry, I'm in NZ and we don't get UK newspapers (assuming these are UK newspapers).

[sherrie87]

Bless you, Cathie! I really, really enjoyed reading that article. I really like that goal for Meat: "to retire without worries in 5 years". While we may miss seeing him on extended tours and hearing new music, it's good to know that he has plans to enjoy his life.

Sherrie (who can maybe "retire without worries" in a scant 19 1/2 years!)

[cerysmeatloaf]

thanks Cathie for posting that was grate read

[Bren]

Thanks very much for posting that Cathie :D

very interesting to read



Bren

[Oriel]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2097-771958,00.html

Sinecure