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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)

#291

Post by theodric »

anal_reactor wrote: post #202
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…

> but it lasts 5-10 times longer I find it such a weird argument. Ok, your furniture from 1900 is still doing great, fantastic. The problems are: 1. Your great-grandfather had a different sense of esthetics, so shit just didn't fit your modern apartment. 2. You moved to a different country, and shipping fees of the furniture were ten times the cost of brand-new chipwood furniture (literally). 3. The furniture was des…

Not a universal view. I don't have a modern apartment (I've lived in them and don't enjoy the æsthetic of a straight, unornamented beige and glass box full of postmodern slab furniture). I have a stone cottage from the 1600s. If anything, my 19th-century solid wood furniture is too modern!

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

#292

Post by ta1243 »

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 average rural farmer in India has instant access to a world of information and entertainment at his fingertips 24/7 via his phone

Even just 30 years ago the most a billionaire would have were staff who would find information (at a far slower speed) from large libraries and copies of broadcast TV and most films available relatively quickly (perhaps even same day)

A mobile phone today is a world away from Dick Tracy's radio watch, or even a nokia 3210 on a digital network in a western city

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

#293

Post by pjc50 »

coldtea wrote: post #187
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.

More generally, it can be hard to distinguish between "luxury" products that are primarily more exclusive with very little functional benefit (or in some cases more fragile!), versus products that are Actually Good.

The display luxury category: anything by LVMH, Birkin bags, limited edition sneakers, Ferrari, etc

The "better product for more money" category: Miele, wood furniture, Lexus etc

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

#294

Post by cess11 »

kortilla wrote: post #196
cess11 wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If you look at the context here you'll notice that this is about whether Buffett is exploitative, and as the quote shows, he said that he is.

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

#295

Post by d--b »

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…

There are pros and cons for "luxury" items.

Sometimes they're overpriced (Miele is), sometimes they're expensive to maintain (try get a stain out of marble), sometimes they're not durable (think of cashmere sweaters). There is no secret sauce that tells you whether the price of something you buy is a proxy for its qualities. And when you buy something expensive, you're kind of pissed when it breaks.

That's why many wealthy people go for the expensive luxury shit at first, like buying a Porsche, or a 30k kitchen remodel, only to go back to good old Toyota and ikea kitchen, cause they're just as fine and a fifth of the price / maintenance.

You usually learn those things the hard way.

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

#296

Post by ta1243 »

song wrote: post #219
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.)

In my experience, if you value your privacy, freedom etc... I'd say living like a millionaire with close to 100 (but not above) is much nicer than living above that. Below 100 million, you don't need bodyguards and private security, you can be as low key as you want.

Depends where you live, but plenty of countries you're at risk of kidnapping at 1/100th of that net worth and thus need bodyguards

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

#297

Post by arizen »

hgomersall wrote: post #264
tinco wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

This is it really. Being wealthy is the ability to live financially inefficiently without concern. That is very liberating.

They are optimizing for the scarce resource - which is time, since they got money in abundance.

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

#298

Post by ta1243 »

jmye wrote: post #124
chrismcb wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure what you argument is here. But I world rather have inexpensive things that improve lives. There isn't a huge market for expensive things that improve lives. It are you trying to say you want rich people to spend their money trying to build things to improve lives? Some do. Why do you think we have star link, for example

I don’t think StarLink was built to improve lives. See: how it’s being used as a control and power mechanism.

Starlink was built to provide a customer for large numbers of space launches.

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

#299

Post by ta1243 »

bjourne wrote: post #210
andrewrn wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with a maximum wage is deciding what that maximum is. Outsides returns are what incentivize people to start companies. A earning cap will cap that incentive accordingly.

Progressive tax scales solves that problem neatly.

Tax on income keeps wealth with people who have wealth, and people without wealth wage slaves.

If you rent a $10m house you pay $500k a year for it. With 50% tax you'd have to earn $1m a year to pay the rent.

If you own a $10m house you pay no rent, and have to earn $0 a year to live there.

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

#300

Post by decimalenough »

jajko wrote: post #260
IshKebab wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That's easy - experiences. This is what many rich pay their last dime for. You can get much better experiences than they pay for, for much much much less. Going for an exotic tropical beach location? Well they normally stay in sterile 5* bubble which is boring beyond belief and very unauthentic. You can go ie to Seychelles or Bali, live with locals in cheapish airbnbs, swim on same beaches or go to same restaurants t…

I lived in Southeast Asia for years and explored countless beaches at price points all across the spectrum, and while I understand what you're saying and agree to some extent, there are still experiences only money can buy.

Example 1: the overwater bungalow in the Maldives where I could watch fish swim under a glass table and step right off the balcony into the reef to join them.

Example 2: the stupidly expensive hotel in Laos where my wife and I were the only guests one night, so we got to enjoy a tropical sunset at our private pool bar with our private orchestra playing just for us. (The GM, who dropped by for a chat, told us a honeymooning couple last year had dropped six figures to buy out the place to do the same.)

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