Portia Richardson, the daughter of a Texas oil man, grew up in a wealthy part of Houston. Anxious to start a family, she got married soon after graduating from Southern Methodist University.

Portia’s husband took a job with one of her father’s companies. Unfortunately, his expectations did not match those of her father, who wanted his son-in-law to work his way up to prominence.

Portia’s husband left the family business but had a hard time finding the “right” job. As he drifted from one sales job to another, Portia began to feel she was financing the marriage from her trust fund. One night, while her husband was away on a sales trip, she called his room; a woman answered the telephone. That was the end of her marriage.

“The hard part was that I was forced to pay support to him for many years,” she says. “In retrospect, I often wondered if it had always been about the money.”

Portia spent the next few years traveling, teaching aerobics, studying Italian and working at an art gallery. But mostly she traveled. While she maintained a home in the Dallas area, she spent a lot of time visiting art galleries in New York. There, she met a real estate developer from Florida. After a short romance, the two married, and Portia moved to Sarasota.

This time, her family made sure a prenuptial agreement existed. Portia felt this precaution wasn’t necessary because she knew this marriage would last forever and her husband had what she believed were substantial assets.

It didn’t work. Her husband’s real estate holdings were highly leveraged, and he began to pressure her to invest in some of his developments. The strain was made worse by an issue the two hadn’t discussed before the marriage: She desperately wanted to have children, but he had a family from a previous marriage and had no interest in starting another.

During the divorce, Portia traveled with a friend to Puerta Vallarta, where she painted. She found the environment warm and friendly and, ultimately, decided to move there.

Portia has now lived in Puerta Vallarta for 15 years and is the co-owner of an art gallery. While she does not work at the gallery on a daily basis, she shops worldwide for the art. She also is active in many local charities, to which she plans to will her gallery.

“Living here has helped me to identify what is important, and that is sitting back and listening. You never know if one day a scorpion is going to bite you. But if you have listened and cared for another that day, it won’t matter.”

Creating Perpetual Wealth provides a periodic glimpse inside the personal lives of the wealthy. The stories of these individuals are true, but all names are changed to protect the privacy of those involved.

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