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People Are Sharing Things The Ultra-Rich Do That Sound Made Up, But Are Actually All Too Real
By Hannah Loewentheil,
27 days ago
If you've ever watched shows like Succession , Gossip Girl , or Hacks , you might be inclined to think that wealth, as it's portrayed in the media, is far-fetched. But the ultra-wealthy have some habits and tendencies most of us can't even imagine. So redditor u/animetroy asked, "What are some things that the ultra-wealthy do that the average person couldn't even dream of?" Here's how people responded (including some members of the BuzzFeed Community ).
1. "I used to work at a high-end casino. The amount of money that high rollers will throw around to gamble and show off is wild. That casino used to fly out VIPs in a private jet and would expect them to spend one million or more dollars in a single weekend. They don't even spend it on luxuries; rather, they just gamble it away."
2. "Some ultra-rich people will buy a house for the children to live in while studying at university, then sell the house when the child finishes university, and the appreciation for the house will be used to pay for the cost of university."
3. "Having a personal chef. Many regular people may have a weekly cleaner or something like that, but a personal chef is something normal people couldn't dream of. Imagine having restaurant quality food prepared and cleaned away for you daily."
4. "They're able to use the seasons as verbs. Like, 'oh, we winter in the Alps, and we summer in the Maldives.'"
5. "They reap the benefits of compound interest. It is being able to have a passive income from savings and investments. They always say the first $100k is the hardest. Once you have that, things only get easier from a savings perspective because it just starts generating its own wealth."
6. "Never worry about money. I know it sounds obvious, but everything in my life hinges on the question of 'Can I afford it?' Socializing, renting (or buying, if you're lucky) a house, paying the bills, going on holiday, having a kid, etc. The first question, every time, is, 'How can I afford to do this?' Not having that constantly nagging at you must be the most amazing feeling."
7. "They own superyachts. The annual maintenance and fuel costs can far exceed the gross salaries of Fortune 100 CEOs and sporting celebrities people think of as 'rich.' These yachts can employ dozens to hundreds of people. These aren't employees in a company producing economic value. These are just people on hand to make your life slightly better and more comfortable."
8. "In México, membership to the most expensive golf club costs three million dollars per half a year. And on top of that, the committee has to approve your request if they like you and you have the status. I swear, rich people live on another PLANET."
9. "I had the (dis)pleasure of working with royalty once. One standout was how he had employed a coffee guy whose job was to be driven to a nearby cafe and come back to hand over a cup of coffee in the morning. That's it. Nothing else; the coffee guy would just laze around the mansion for the rest of the day until the next morning again. I wonder how much he got paid for that."
13. "Buy a mansion. Rip it down and build a new mansion with a slightly different layout. I'm in $10 million homes all the time. The carriage house or groundskeeper house is nicer than mine."
14. "A crew on a superyacht lived on the boat. The owner often wouldn't give notice before showing up but would demand fresh lobster every morning if he did, so the crew prepared fresh lobster every day of the year in case he happened to show up."
15. "I know a man who bought a beautiful million-dollar vacation home and did not like the new swimming pool and hot tub that came with it, so he had the original pool and hot tub torn out and a new pool put in. No one ever even used the original pool."
16. "I consulted for a luxury designer clothing brand. They said that the store's personal shopper would assemble various outfits and accessories for one of their clients and be flown from the large city to the client's home a couple of states away on her private jet. The client would keep what she wanted, and the personal shopper would be flown back with whatever she didn't want."
17. "I was the right hand to a Bay Area billionaire for a few years. Most of his wine was $1,000 to $3,000 a bottle, and a lot would be left in the glass. We had plenty of liquor ranging from $20,000 to $40,000 a bottle. Some crazy stuff. His butler would hide behind a wall, visible only to him throughout the dinner, to attend to his every need immediately without a word."
18. "I used to work for a Canadian luxury tour operator. One time, we had a lovely family show up in a private limo. They couldn't find one of their small bags when a son piped up and said, 'Mom, I bet you left it in the elevator.' He was talking about their house. They called someone, I assume an assistant, to have the pilot of their private jet fly back to the US to collect it and then meet them at their next destination."
—Anonymous
19. "My mom used to work as a housekeeper for an older, very wealthy lady in Manhattan. We're talking someone with a net worth of $150 million. Even though everything she needed was within a five-minute walk (she wasn't bedridden and in good enough physical shape to move freely), she was chauffeured everywhere. In a Rolls Royce."
20. "They have access to anything. If Beyoncé is coming to town, ultra-wealthy people don't go through Ticketmaster; they have someone call the venue's owner or Beyoncé's manager directly and get tickets."
What is something the ultra-wealthy do that most "average" people probably haven't even considered? Tell us in the comments or in this anonymous form .
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
How about buying a shit load of farm land and then just let it sit there unproductive just because you can, that's pretty stupid for someone that rich and supposedly intelligent!
Larry Poe
26d ago
i.met Sam Walton once when I was a kid here in sw Missouri. he was hunting on a neighbors property and I was hanging around as a bunch of neighbors talked with him at the gate. someone asked him how much he was worth as his reply always stuck with me. he said he could tell us what he had in his wallet, but never looked at his "net worth" from day to day because the daily changes (mostly stock prices) would drive you crazy. he was the richest man in the world at the time, I was told that after he left btw, but was driving a beat up old pickup truck with a plywood dog box. didn't look out of place with all the other farmers and others there. I never met a more down to earth "rich person" to this day. Tom Osulliven, who owned one of the biggest RTA furniture factories was close second in personality, but not nearly as rich as Sam.
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