Virginia Blackburn

ALL that money and what an utter waste of a life. Matthew Mellon, who turned a stake of $25million into $1billion through early investments in cryptocurrencies, has died aged just 54. He spent his life battling various addictions, most recently the painkiller OxyContin, on which he apparently spent $100,000 (£70,000) a month. He set up various companies and leaves behind three children so one doesn’t want to be too harsh. But still.

The link between huge wealth and self-destructive behaviour is well established: a combination of boredom (when you’ve seen it all and done it all what’s left?) and money being no object proves too much for many. The case of Eva Rausing, who was part of an even richer dynasty than the Mellons (her father-in-law is worth $12.5billion) springs to mind. She died in 2012 after an overdose and her equally drug-addled husband hid her body in their bedroom for two months.

But elsewhere we see the even richer ($92billion) Bill Gates and has he spent his life blowing himself into oblivion? He has not. Apart from building up a hugely successful business, to date he is the most generous ever philanthropist, giving $35billion to charity.

It has just been announced that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will invest a further $1billion into combating malaria, an exceptionally worthwhile cause he has been supporting for years.

With enormous wealth comes enormous opportunity. There may be a difference between making your own fortune (Gates) and inheriting it (Mellon, although in fairness he did expand upon it) because if you have the oomph to make that sort of money you probably won’t have the