Have him buy the PCs favorite pub, replace the bard with Sir Creed Nickleback, finally restore the new bard after a quest of some kind, and then burn the pub down for s'mores.
S'mores he DOES NOT share with the PCs!
Out bid them at the Great Magic Item Auction.
Have him pay bards to spread rumors of humiliating stories about the PCs....that he scryed from the safety of his own personal mansion that was built on the ruins of their favorite burned-down pub.
Have him run Orphan & Widow Fight Club Gladiator Matches.
Basically, use his money to do really petty things that personally insult the PCs' sensibilities over and over again.
If you really want a nation/global level threat then maybe only the ripple effect of his plans hits the PCs. Maybe he's busy creating an economic Monopoly on magic in order to power his larger plans. Sorry PCs, but all magic shop and spellcasting services are currently unavailable. Please try again later (and expect a global price hike).
If he's really a megalomaniac then his plans should be on a scale that reflects this. Perhaps he's strongarmed his way onto the city council, and still needs funds to complete his doomsday project. Emergency property tax! The PCs need to pay up or lose their Guildhall/homes/Inn etc.
Disregard for human life? Distant worlds setting? Mind for business?
Hmm. If * I* was a megalomaniac wizard with those traits, you know what I would do? Convince some alien race that I was the owner of the planet, and than try to sell it. Hello, aliens! Is your planet mined to exhaustion/ over polluted/ over populated/ destroyed by war/ ready to explode? Well have no fear, we've got a deal for you! Right over here, one slightly used, class M planet with oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere, 70% water/30% dirt mix, plenty of precious metals in the crust, bio organic suitable living conditions; even comes with life forms, ready for eating, slaving, selling, the sky's the limit! Call now, supplies are limited!
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Disregard for human life? Distant worlds setting? Mind for business?
Hmm. If * I* was a megalomaniac wizard with those traits, you know what I would do? Convince some alien race that I was the owner of the planet, and than try to sell it. Hello, aliens! Is your planet mined to exhaustion/ over polluted/ over populated/ destroyed by war/ ready to explode? Well have no fear, we've got a deal for you! Right over here, one slightly used, class M planet with oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere, 70% water/30% dirt mix, plenty of precious metals in the crust, bio organic suitable living conditions; even comes with life forms, ready for eating, slaving, selling, the sky's the limit! Call now, supplies are limited!
I like this a lot. He's basically sold off the PCs homeworld without anybody realizing it and the alien invasion is on the way unless the PCs can bring him before the invaders and get him to admit his deception.
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Here's another idea: he's used his facility with enchantment to transfer his consciousness into some sort of device or machine, and controls a network of constructs and agents from a secret base somewhere. Maybe he's hunting for the magic dingus which will allow him to achieve ultimate power in a new, god-like body? Or maybe he's calculated how to pass the star-stone test and he's collecting what he needs.
watch the fifth element
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As for how to get the party actually invested in stopping him, start small. Have them encounter the fallout of past plans. Or the fallout of his current endevor is already starting to be felt in small ways.
I have a campaign I've ran a couple times that's like that. THe campaign overall is an epic struggle between Good and Evil, where the players have to step up and prevent the corruption of a goddess. Which is the end goal of a cult that's been working towards this for thousands of years.
The last attempt was made a generation ago, and was barely stopped. But now with the cult starting a new bid the players end up having to step up to the plate. I like to start things off with them encountering one of the members of the last group to face the cult, as well as having to stop the plans of a minor cult member. This introduces the factions.
Then as the campaign goes more clues are found. Various seemingly unrelated crisis prove to be linked to the same group, which kick starts the struggle to learn exactly what is going on. And eventually stopping it.
You know, kind of like how nearly all JRPG games start small, with the main characters getting caught up in events far beyond them. The cast of Final Fantasy VI aren't expecting the epic adventure they end up going on. Nor does the central character in Breath of Fire III. When Cecil is sent on a mission by the Baron at the start of FFIV he doesn't know that this mission will lead to a struggle to save the world. Nor does Bart in FFV expect a meteor falling nearby to lead to such events.