The Millionaire Who Gave It All Away

On a crisp autumn morning in 2010, Austrian millionaire Karl Rabeder stood in his 3,000-square-foot Alpine villa, surrounded by the trappings of success. Luxury cars gleaming in the garage and the deed to his lakeside mansion on his desk. By sunset, he would begin the process of giving it all away.

"For a long time, I believed that more wealth automatically meant more happiness," Rabeder later told the BBC, his voice steady but his eyes reflecting a profound shift. "I had everything and was not happy."

The turning point had come during a vacation to South America. While there, Rabeder visited a favela. Children with bare feet and bright smiles played in the shadows of extreme poverty. He watched them. Something broke open inside him that day. A stark realization that shattered his world.

"These people had nothing, but they seemed content," he observed. The contrast was both beautiful and devastating. It changed him.