Earlier quoted context omitted.
For many tennis players, love means nothing.
So it does for many ordinary people. Money can't buy happiness but nether could the absence of money. It's not really a good argument against money.
What do wealthy people buy, that ordinary people know nothing about? (2015)
191–200 of 829 posts
Re: What do wealthy people buy, that ordinary people know nothing about? (2015)
#192The 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.
Well that falls under the "unless someone tells you" part.
It depends on your background. I grew up in Russia in the 90s, back then it was considered cool to put plastic panels on the walls of your apartment. Fresh and modern look, easy to wash, clearly superior to wallpaper. It was called "euro-renovation" as opposed to soviet-style or "grandma" apartments.
Re: What do wealthy people buy, that ordinary people know nothing about? (2015)
#193Earlier quoted context omitted.
For many tennis players, love means nothing.
So it does for many ordinary people. Money can't buy happiness but nether could the absence of money. It's not really a good argument against money.
I'm pretty sure the person above you is making a joke, because "love" equals zero in tennis scoring.
Re: What do wealthy people buy, that ordinary people know nothing about? (2015)
#194Earlier quoted context omitted.
So it does for many ordinary people. Money can't buy happiness but nether could the absence of money. It's not really a good argument against money.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/word-origin-of-love...
Ah, funny, thanks. I guess it's one of these things that rich people know and I don't.
Re: What do wealthy people buy, that ordinary people know nothing about? (2015)
#195> There is literally nothing you can't buy except. Love. I feel like Elon is finding this part out the hard way lately.
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…
All of that doesn’t buy the time you spend with your loved ones, laughing at stupid jokes or reminiscing about good times.
Re: What do wealthy people buy, that ordinary people know nothing about? (2015)
#196Earlier quoted context omitted.
What are the major crimes or exploitation that Warren Buffet is guilty of?
Since you bring him up specifically I'm guessing you already know he's a capitalist but is perfectly fine with hereditary wealth extracted from other people's labour, so maybe look into his predatory practices towards the poor, e.g. in lending, or other corporations. Perhaps you also recognise this quote: "There's class warfare, all right, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning."
Look at the context of that quote and you’ll understand he is not arguing either in support of your stance against the rich nor is he supportive of how the rich as a class are minimizing taxes through equity loans/etc.
Re: What do wealthy people buy, that ordinary people know nothing about? (2015)
#197Earlier quoted context omitted.
And it would be heartless not to. Those housekeepers need jobs and incomes.
Yeah I think this is something that people in countries like the US don't instinctively understand, or at least I didn't. My Filipino friend explained to me that back home, if you have more than a certain amount of money, it's seen as incredibly selfish not to employ people as housekeepers, etc. I'd imagine that's true in a lot of places with income disparity and/or high unemployment numbers. It made a lot of sense t…
My mom visited a professor in an African country a few years back, as part of a project.
She told me the professor had a guy employed to open and close the gates for when he drove to work and came home in the evening. That's all the guy did. Full time job.
Sounded so preposterous at first, but after thinking a wee bit I came to a similar conclusion that the alternatives might be a lot worse. It was steady income, albeit not a lot.
Re: What do wealthy people buy, that ordinary people know nothing about? (2015)
#198I 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 90% top marginal tax rates instead.
You can't talk about top rates without also talking about where they kick in. Italy's top rate of 43% kicks in for everything over 50k euros. The 50k feels a bit low to me, and maybe 100k euros would be better. 90% of everything over 5M may work, but then you run into another problem where people that rich are not bringing home a salary. So you lower where it kicks in and then just impact the working professionals, which also isn't who you really want to target. And if you do want to target those working $500k+/year, removing the cap (176,100 this year) on SS payments is probably a better path.
So now we're back to the ultra-rich where you need to first think about taxing dividends as income without hurting retirees, and second think about some wealth tax. It could be small like .2% on everything over 5M or something, but it would actually put some tax burden on the people you're trying to put it on.
Re: What do wealthy people buy, that ordinary people know nothing about? (2015)
#199Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sometimes the question is really asking something else. In this case, it might seem to be "what trick can I use that ultra-wealthy use?" or "how can I be prosperous on a budnget" but it really is "what is it like to be rich?"
Yeah but I really wanted to know what rich people buy that I don't know about. The top answer - while vaguely interesting - didn't actually tell me anything I didn't already know. I think the conclusion is probably that they don't buy anything we don't know about.
One thing I didn't quite realize is that they accidentally spend significant amounts of money. At a party I talked to someone who was like a financial coach for super wealthy people and he helps them clean up their shit. The way we might accidentally have a running $50/mo subscription for something we don't use any longer, they might have a $500/mo club membership they never go to. Or prebooked vacation rentals they don't visit, or maintenance on cars they don't use, etc.
Re: What do wealthy people buy, that ordinary people know nothing about? (2015)
#200This was the most demonstrative part for me: PERSPECTIVE. The wealthiest person I have spent time with makes about $400mm/year. i couldn't get my mind around that until I did this: OK--let's compare it with someone who makes $40,000/year. It is 10,000x more. Now let's look at prices the way he might. A new Lambo--$235,000 becaome $23.50. First class ticket internationally? $10,000 becomes $1. A full time executive le…
> since they're most obviously stealing a whole lot from the rest of the world.
What definition of “stealing” are you using here?
It seems like it somehow includes owning a large equity stake in a profitable or rapidly growing company since that’s how most people that “make $400mm/year” are actually gaining wealth.
Claiming that is stealing is pretty dumb considering it’s how everyone that holds equity gains wealth. So when does it become stealing?