Gimme more? But Britney doesn't need it with her multi-million-dollar lifestyle

Published on Saturday 3 November 2007 00:38

FALLEN pop princess Britney Spears spends more than £50,000 a month on entertainment, according to court papers.

The documents - part of the bitter child custody battle over her two sons with ex-husband Kevin Federline - revealed that Spears earns nearly 370,000 a month.

The Gimme More singer spends 51,000 under the heading of "entertainment, gifts and holidays", compared to 24,633 in monthly mortgage payments on her two homes.

The court documents also reveal 25-year-old Spears, who has earned 76 million in album sales alone, spends around 8,000 on new clothes in every four week period. And - despite her much-criticised fondness for burgers and fast food - she racks up nearly 2,400 on eating out every month.

Spears, however, spends nothing on savings, investments and education and donates just 250 a month to charitable causes.

Among her other outgoings are 10,000 in support for ex-backing dancer Federline, 29, as well as 7,500 in child support as he has temporary custody of children Sean Preston, two, and Jayden James, one.

But papers detailing Federline's expenditure reveal a much more modest lifestyle. He spends around 3,750 a month in rent for the home he currently shares with the couple's children and 3,000 for security. He spends an eighth of his estranged wife's budget on clothes - around 1,000 a month.

Under the heading of entertainment, gifts and holidays, he lists 2,500 a month, while eating out costs him only 750 a month.

Federline - who shot to fame after he married the former Mickey Mouse Club regular - earned more than 250,000 in 2006, mostly from endorsement deals.

But the financial papers lodged with the California court said that, after business expenses, he grossed only 3,718 for the year.

The court papers also revealed that a judge ordered Spears to temporarily surrender custody to Federline because she defied a court order not to drive her children around without a valid driving licence and insurance. She was photographed driving the children around Los Angeles only days after the court issued the order.

The pair married in October 2004, but they split up in a blaze of publicity only two years later. They originally had joint custody of their children, but Federline, citing increasingly erratic behaviour by the singer, won full custody last month.

Spears was criticised last February after being pictured driving with one of her children balanced on her knee. She was also charged with a hit-and-run offence in September after she hit a car in a car park and drove off. It later emerged she did not have a valid California driving licence.

Fears grew for Spears' mental welfare after she reportedly failed to obey the order of a judge to meet a drug counsellor, take random drug tests and enrol in parenting classes.

After being ordered to surrender the children to Federline, Spears - whom the court labelled a "habitual, frequent and continuous" user of drugs and alcohol - went to a Bel Air beauty salon to top up her tan.

In November last year, she celebrated her divorce by being hitting the town with socialite Paris Hilton. And she was branded unstable in February this year after publicly shaving her head in an LA salon, followed by a spate of admissions to rehab clinics.

Her comeback single and album received critical acclaim. But an appearance at the MTV awards was slated after she failed to lip-synch the words to her new single and appeared to forget her dance moves.

And this is what she should do, says our personal finance editor

ROSEMARY GALLAGHER

DESPITE a monthly income of 368,000, Britney Spears neither saves nor invests a penny.

While blowing money on fast-food and posh pooches may be more fun than thinking about her future, Ms Spears should be making financial plans for herself and her two sons.

First, she should sell one of her two houses as she's shelling out 24,633 on monthly mortgage repayments.

If the buy-to-let market in the United States is anything like the situation in the UK, now is not the best time to be investing in residential property.

She could put the money she makes from this into an investment trust or open ended investment company (OEIC).

A fund that invests in emerging economies, such as India and China, may prove lucrative in the long term. She should also have an individual savings account - or the American equivalent - which she pays into every month to make the most of tax allowances.

To plan for her retirement, she needs a personal pension, known as a 401(K) in the US. Thinking of her sons, children's trust funds would let Ms Spears invest a few hundred a month. The boys can access the investment when they turn 18. Of course, they should get advice on what to do with it.

Term assurance and critical illness cover would also be important investments for her family.

She needs to draw up a will to ensure her assets go to the children and not her former husband, or any hangers on.

She should also think about minimising her inheritance tax liability.

Perhaps she could move to a tax haven. Monte Carlo might be the place for her.