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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)

#181

Post by petesergeant »

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 "…

> The four seasons isn't materially better than the hilton next door

I think it would be more fair to say that the Four Seasons isn't materially better than the _Conrad_ next door. I've stayed in some amazing Hilton-branded properties, but also some terrible ones. I guess I am expecting the hotel brand to denote the _minimum_ level of comfort, and there are some Hiltons that truly drag along the bottom, where I'd be very surprised to find myself at a shitty Four Seasons (or Conrad, which is the HHG's next step up from a Hilton).

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

#182

Post by JumpCrisscross »

CobaltFire wrote: post #126
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.

Can't say I've stayed at the Four Seasons, but we stayed in the St Regis in SF last year. We got upgraded to the Metropolitan Suite and that was quite the experience. Note that I paid exactly zero as I'm a long time Bonvoy Gold Member and was burning points on one of their regular rooms for a vacation, then they elected to upgrade us. I think it was due calling ahead asking for an accommodation for my autistic son (w…

Now take that experience, put it on a private jet and yacht, with staff who know you personally and can be prepositioned to ancitipate your needs and you're around where the hundred millionaires live. (Billionaires operate like mini heads of state.)

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

#183

Post by IshKebab »

4gotunameagain wrote: post #175
fy20 wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd disagree, once you get wealthy (and it doesn't even need to be that much), you can: - schedule beauty appointments to fix how you look - go on coaching sessions to increase your confidence and how you socialize - take people out on dates without thinking "oh that's a bit expensive" - buy dating coaches who understand the psychology behind dating and successful relationships - buy therapists to heal your past trau…

Just make sure to not mention all those efforts to your date partner, lest she cringes out of existence :)

Probably shouldn't be dating anyone that thinks self-improvement is something to look down on.

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

#184

Post by SpicyLemonZest »

Animats wrote: post #116
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Family offices manage investments. Personal staff are typically separate.

Traditionally, yes. That's for the people who inherited a mansion, retainers, and trusts. Now there are family office concierge services. "Luxury lifestyle as a service" is available.[1] That's for people who made a lot of money all at once and need guidance in spending it. (The people I've known with serious money made most of it themselves, and didn't need a family office. Except for one married couple who blew thr…

Maybe I'm not rich enough to get it, but in the footer this site identifies itself as a member of a travel agency which is itself a member of a third travel agency. I'm getting the same vibe you see from the "wealth advisors" who run around trying to feed people structured notes.

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

#185

Post by kortilla »

bombcar wrote: post #140
naveen99 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would pay to avoid flying : private or public…

You can hire a private rail car: https://www.amtrak.com/privately-owned-rail-cars

Well your link is to have Amtrak tow your private rail car. You have to provide it yourself. There is a different company that offers luxury private cars that I can’t remember the name of now.

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

#186

Post by Bang2Bay »

124123124 wrote: post #139
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 answer is out-of-topic because the question ask what is something that ordinary people do not know.They go on a tangent about perspective and power over society, but nothing listed was a thing that I do not know. like >Access. You now can just ask your staff to contact anyone and you will get a call back. Funnily, my parents always call back within 60 seconds even midnight, while a certain someone get disowned by…

The post is probably written by a non-rich who does not know but suspect that there is something? may be there is that we do not know now? ;)

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

#187

Post by coldtea »

alexey-salmin wrote: post #176

The referenced reply is dull. It's very pretentious but just reiterates common knowledge, it doesn't convey any useful information. For example I wish someone told me about the existence of Miele kitchen equipment before I accidentally rented an apartment of a well-to-do woman. She renovated it for herself but then rented out when circumstances changed. Similarly it took me a long time to realize just how much better…

>Unfortunately you need years to notice such long-term differences, unless someone tells you.

Hardly rich, but that "veneer wood furniture and doors" are much better than "laminated chipwood" is common knowledge. But back in the day, poor and rich alike wouldn't look twice at either, but opt for solid wood furniture.

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

#188

Post by Bang2Bay »

viraptor wrote: post #156
nunez wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Miele makes really good stuff. I have their stackable W1/T1 washer/dryer. It's unbelievably good at washing or drying pretty much anything. They also supposedly last forever, even today. I'll let y'all know how true that is in 20 years LOL

Oh no... Ok, Miele rant - I got a whole set in the new house. Their firmware SUCKS. Turning on the oven/dishwasher takes 5-10s. The dishwasher takes 3 power button presses with no feedback. The oven has no indication when it starts turning on and it's a touchpanel, so you stand there like an idiot deciding is the next press will work or be perfectly timed to turn it off again. Then once you start the drying after ste…

your last line sums it. most rich/powerful have others to deal with UX. those products do not improve in UX.

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

#189

Post by SpicyLemonZest »

candiddevmike wrote: post #9
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…

Yet people still hate the thought of a "maximum wage" or limit to wealth. Everyone should have a life of comfort, not just those who won the lottery or were born into it.

People hate the thought because it's repeatedly failed to work historically, with even explicitly Marxist states deciding that it's best to allow some billionaires.

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

#190

Post by kortilla »

SoftTalker wrote: post #58
analog31 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In fact they depend on the upper middle class in order to have those things. I'm thinking about cell phones. Nobody can have a cell phone unless enough people can afford them to create an incentive to build and improve the infrastructure.

The very wealthy had mobile phones years before they were commonly available/affordable. The only things they can't have are things that are technically/physically impossible. A Gilded Age railroad titan could not have had a mobile phone. But the wealthy had them in the 1940s.

The mobile phones they had were absolute garbage, service was abysmal, and the security was non existent.

There was no way to get to a smartphone without cumulatively trillions of dollars of investment in silicon, software, network rollouts, and so on. A person with 100 billion in 1998 could not have bought one despite it being a decade away for the entire population.

The very wealthy cannot get things that are that special and it’s actually pretty amazing. Warren Buffet has called out several times that he lives like a regular middle class American and the main exception is flying private, but if were forced to choose he would dump the jet over the iPhone.

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