Heyrebate

Flamboyant politicians are particularly vulnerable to legal attacks. Checking with government agencies could easily unearth the full extent of their estate. Some high public officials have no choice but to disclose the full extent of their estate because they are required by law (R.A. No. 6713) to file their statement of assets and liabilities with the Office of the Ombudsman. The rich and the landed gentry are attractive defendants, just like big companies and corporations that are publicly listed in the stock market. Many people are subliminally drawn by the temptation of big game hunting. Most attorneys will refrain from filing a lawsuit once they receive reliable information that the defendant does not have any capacity to pay the judgment. Some filthy rich individuals prefer a low-key lifestyle so as not to attract attention and envy. The profligate rich often maintain homes and investments abroad just in case anything disastrous happens at home. The middle class property owners are the ones left vulnerable to the vestiges of hard economic times.

Conspicuous consumption without asset protection leads to the path of economic perdition. Predators are constantly roaming the earth in search of easy prey.
Even animals, like porcupines and skunks have defensive ways to ward off attackers who wish to have them for lunch. Albeit humans have developed refined ways to discourage carnivores, they are their own worst enemies because they brag about their net worth. Fortune magazine’s annual “Richest People in the World” issue is a veritable hit list for predators. Living a lavish lifestyle is an open invitation to lawsuits.
Driving a brand new Mercedes Benz, Jaguar, Pajero, or Expedition could get you into trouble in more ways than you can imagine. Wearing a Patek Philippe, Jaeger-LeCoultre, or Audemars Piquet wristwatch is a declaration of affluence. If you have a high net worth, you may encounter bigger threats to your properties. Some “bountiful ladies “who dabble in dubious charity work are also at risk. The economist Thorstein Veblen, in his classic work The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899) called such work an example of conspicuous leisure, an aspect of conspicuous consumption. “It advertises that the lady has free afternoons to spend on projects with some specious object of amelioration” (Wflls, Certain Trumpets, 1994).