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What do wealthy people buy, that ordinary people know nothing about? (2015)

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Re: What do wealthy people buy, that ordinary people know nothing about? (2015)

#71

Post by doubled112 »

immibis wrote: post #66
BurningFrog wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without people to buy from, money is worthless.

Sometimes it's fun to realize that if we all just decided dollars were worthless, they would be. There'd be nothing the government could do about it. Crypto ain't it, though. Even the better-scaling blockchains still don't scale very well. I've heard of a few different mesh-network currency projects, and I wonder if any of them could scale by essentially giving each user their own blockchain. However, in a mesh-netwo…

I’ve tried saying this the other way around to people and I’ve only received blank stares. Maybe I should describe it like that.

Money is only valuable because we decided it has value. It can’t really do anything for you except be spent. It isn’t like a log, which could be burned, or ground into paper, turned into a weapon, etc

Re: What do wealthy people buy, that ordinary people know nothing about? (2015)

#72

Post by 47282847 »

lwo32k wrote: post #69
HardCodedBias wrote: post #5

I really like this post since it shows how very little there is for the wealthy to buy other than status goods. The life of the rich, other than status, is very much like the life of upper middle class. The same phones, the same digital entertainment, the same appliances in their homes. We have very few items for the rich to buy. Honestly, it is a problem it breaks incentives and it drives the rich more towards statu…

> which help no one since they are zero sum Signalling Status plays a big role in group formation/group maintenance/social cohesion etc. The larger groups grow, the more complex the group dynamics get, keeping groups of people together and preventing them from disintegrating is one of the most complex problem we face, given all the differences in culture, religion, language, class, personalities, ambitions, values, n…

In my experience roaming many different groups, the ones who do not signal status typically are the most powerful/influental. Their membership is safe; they don’t need to signal status, or rather, signaling it draws too much attention (annoyances by those seeking to gain status by affiliation). I remember reading a study about this some years back to find my own findings confirmed.

The people I know with a net worth over 10m do not display it. Why would they want to. It only has downsides and no upside. Same applies to other forms of status/rank/belonging.

(Not contradicting your points, merely adding to them.)

If you want to experiment with that, try to NOT match other people’s style AND radiate a deep sense of security/belonging/entitlement. Do not hide your (other) insecurities; those with status don’t have to hide their authenticity. This may sound like a contradiction at first, but you can develop an universal sense of belonging that remains authentic. You will be surprised which people will suddenly find you to talk with you, once you stop seeking their attention.

Re: What do wealthy people buy, that ordinary people know nothing about? (2015)

#73

Post by jbverschoor »

Flamentono2 wrote: post #2

Wrong question, boring answer. I wake up every day with my best friend. We have been together for so long, we have regularly similiar thoughts on things. If i even want to know this, i want to hear the real people using their money in a way that i'm envy. There was a documentary on netflix about a guy who was diving in the ocean in front of his house and befriended an octopus. Besides this story (its well made), i ha…

Resident Alien S02E06 octopus :)

Re: What do wealthy people buy, that ordinary people know nothing about? (2015)

#74

Post by rangestransform »

HardCodedBias wrote: post #33
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We have very few items for the rich to buy Goods, yes. Services, fuck no. Look at the Four Seasons and Amangani yacht and jet programmes for a <$10mm example of the sorts of experiences wealth opens up.

These are mostly positional items. The four seasons isn't materially better than the hilton next door. The rooms are basically the same, the fixtures at the four seasons are fancier, the bedding is prettier, some random furniture may be sourced from a different supplier. The four seasons will be in a location which has somewhat better views. The four seasons has prettier and more attentive staff, and there are less "…

These days I feel like I’m getting nickel-and-dimed more at the grand Hyatt than at Hyatt place

Re: What do wealthy people buy, that ordinary people know nothing about? (2015)

#75

Post by jjcob »

HardCodedBias wrote: post #57
nativeit wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We should have 90% top marginal tax rates instead.

How about we do the exact opposite? Create expensive products which materially improve the lives of those with wealth? Align the incentives of the rich so that they don't spend on these zero sum status goods. Also incentivize the rich to get richer so that they can buy these products that make their lives better in a non-shallow way. Work with incentives instead of against incentives.

That's the current status quo, isn't it?

There's yachts and fancy houses and supercars to buy for the rich. They make their lives better, in some way. A lot of people are employed to make those things.

I don't see how this helps anyone. If wealth were distributed more equally, those people would work on making the lives of everyone better, not just the lives of a small elite.

Re: What do wealthy people buy, that ordinary people know nothing about? (2015)

#76

Post by vjk800 »

SJC_Hacker wrote: post #24
HardCodedBias wrote: post #5

I really like this post since it shows how very little there is for the wealthy to buy other than status goods. The life of the rich, other than status, is very much like the life of upper middle class. The same phones, the same digital entertainment, the same appliances in their homes. We have very few items for the rich to buy. Honestly, it is a problem it breaks incentives and it drives the rich more towards statu…

I'd say it really depends on the mentality of the very rich person The very wealthy are going to fly private. Upper middle class could swing this on a case-to-case basis, but not regularly and especially if not if they frequently travel Other than that, the main difference is the very wealthy having a mentality of getting people to "take care of problems" to a much larger extent. For example, routine tasks like clean…

> Other than that, the main difference is the very wealthy having a mentality of getting people to "take care of problems" to a much larger extent. For example, routine tasks like cleaning. An upper MC person might have a weekly cleaner at best.

Pfft... amateurs. I've solved the same problem by just living in filth.

Re: What do wealthy people buy, that ordinary people know nothing about? (2015)

#77

Post by ifyoubuildit »

HardCodedBias wrote: post #5

I really like this post since it shows how very little there is for the wealthy to buy other than status goods. The life of the rich, other than status, is very much like the life of upper middle class. The same phones, the same digital entertainment, the same appliances in their homes. We have very few items for the rich to buy. Honestly, it is a problem it breaks incentives and it drives the rich more towards statu…

> The same phones, the same digital entertainment, the same appliances in their homes.

This stuff isn't life, it's just the random trinkets we fill our lives with. Time is life. The rich can do with their time what they please.

Re: What do wealthy people buy, that ordinary people know nothing about? (2015)

#78

Post by ownedthx »

never_inline wrote: post #32
HardCodedBias wrote: post #5

I really like this post since it shows how very little there is for the wealthy to buy other than status goods. The life of the rich, other than status, is very much like the life of upper middle class. The same phones, the same digital entertainment, the same appliances in their homes. We have very few items for the rich to buy. Honestly, it is a problem it breaks incentives and it drives the rich more towards statu…

If I were rich, I would have a personal data center, an aeronautics lab, a tropical farm, mediaeval fort, things like that. Not this yatches and crap.

‘The Manor on Stagecoach’

https://g.co/kgs/tgHhdkD

You aren’t alone

Re: What do wealthy people buy, that ordinary people know nothing about? (2015)

#79

Post by squigz »

HardCodedBias wrote: post #5

I really like this post since it shows how very little there is for the wealthy to buy other than status goods. The life of the rich, other than status, is very much like the life of upper middle class. The same phones, the same digital entertainment, the same appliances in their homes. We have very few items for the rich to buy. Honestly, it is a problem it breaks incentives and it drives the rich more towards statu…

> We should have expensive products which actually improve lives.

We do. It's just that "wealthy" is far past the point of diminishing returns when it comes to buying high-quality expensive items.

No, we don't need to come up with things for the rich to buy just to fix their incentives. We should be asking ourselves how to decrease wealth inequality, not how to make it more fair to those on top.

Re: What do wealthy people buy, that ordinary people know nothing about? (2015)

#80

Post by ofcourseyoudo »

This is a great answer.

But I'm curious what the answer would look like if every strata in it was not "things you can buy" but "things you can do with the money" ... if the "IMPACT" section was delineated at each level.

One of the things I envy the most about my rich friends is their capacity to be generous. They can materialize their compassion on a regular basis without having to balance their budget.

I'd like to see what that looks like at each of these wealth levels.

(One funny thing I noticed is that I have multiple friends with virtual personal assistants now, at middle class levels of weath/entrepreneurship... definitely not a rich man's thing anymore.)

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