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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)

#381

Post by martin_a »

ponector wrote: post #348
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…

Next stage is to realize solid wood is better than veneer wood. Also miele has too much marketing hype. Want the ultimate appliances? Buy professional equipment. Like washing machine that are used in hotels.

> Buy professional equipment.

Just what I thought and wanted to add.

I guess if an appliance is used each day for several hours, that will last a lifetime in my home for use once or twice a week.

Downside: Professional kitchen equipment is also optimized for being easy to clean. Could be a problem if you don't like pure stainless steel very much... ;-D

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

#382

Post by enneff »

akdor1154 wrote: post #307
theodric wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

> I have a stone cottage from the 1600s. Is that a thing wealthy people buy but ordinary people know nothing about?

It’s something Europeans buy. :)

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

#383

Post by akvadrako »

ponector wrote: post #348
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…

Next stage is to realize solid wood is better than veneer wood. Also miele has too much marketing hype. Want the ultimate appliances? Buy professional equipment. Like washing machine that are used in hotels.

Those are designed to have a service contract for continuous maintenance. Not the best idea for a home.

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

#384

Post by snowwrestler »

master_crab wrote: post #331
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…

Miele looks and acts high end. And that includes the repair costs because they frequently break. No thanks. I’ll take something that is less so but will work for years without complaint.

So what would you buy instead?

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

#385

Post by atwrk »

randomcarbloke wrote: post #360
sgt101 wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well - there is an alternative take. Whisper it... but we don't actually need to have ultra rich people in our society. They serve no purpose that normal rich people don't, and arguably introduce distortions that are profoundly corrosive.

we didn't arbitrarily select people to make rich, they are externalities of our wants and needs, and a sign that those things are being ~ satisfied.

They are decidedly a result of the taxation system of a country. The country decided they wanted to have this class of people to exist. (The degree of) Wealth inequality is always a product of society.

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

#386

Post by Saigonautica »

Koshima wrote: post #318

I’ve noticed this as well. It’s surprising how often the true value of certain high-quality items isn’t obvious until you’ve experienced them firsthand. It’s not just about status, but often about longevity, comfort, or simply a better user experience. For example, things like handmade leather shoes, solid wood furniture, or even high-end kitchen tools like Miele or Sub-Zero appliances can feel like overkill until yo…

I live in a developing Asian country so the numbers and brands in the equation are a bit different.

Anyway:

1. Good midrange Japanese cooking knives. I got one on a steep discount, and now I understand why people pay a premium for them. I even bought a second one.

2. Good brands of Chinese engineering equipment. I bought a Siglent oscilloscope instead of a Hantek / Uni-T one. Before that, I had only bought the cheapest tool sufficient for the job.

I found as I've reached middle-age, I just have a bit less energy to spend struggling with things I use daily. So in these roles I appreciate something that's better quality than I strictly need. I don't come from wealth, and am a notorious cheapskate even by local standards -- but those two things were able to change my mind!

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

#387

Post by geye1234 »

As St. John Henry Newman put it:

"Contemplate the objects of this people's praise, survey their standards, ponder their ideas and judgments, and then tell me whether it is not most evident, from their very notion of the desirable and the excellent, that greatness, and goodness, and sanctity, and sublimity, and truth are unknown to them; and that they not only do not pursue, but do not even admire, those high attributes of the Divine Nature. This is what I am insisting on, not what they actually do or what they are, but what they revere, what they adore, what their gods are. Their god is mammon; I do not mean to say that all seek to be wealthy, but that all bow down before wealth. Wealth is that to which the multitude of men pay an instinctive homage. They measure happiness by wealth; and by wealth they measure respectability. Numbers, I say, there are who never dream that they shall ever be rich themselves, but who still at the sight of wealth feel an involuntary reverence and awe, just as if a rich man must be a good man. They like to be noticed by some particular rich man; they like on some occasion to have spoken with him; they like to know those who know him, to be intimate with his dependants, to have entered his house, nay, to know him by sight. Not, I repeat, that it ever comes into their mind that the like wealth will one day be theirs; not that they see the wealth, for the man who has it may dress, and live, and look like other men; not that they expect to gain some benefit from it: no, theirs is a disinterested homage, it is a homage resulting from an honest, genuine, hearty admiration of wealth for its own sake, such as that pure love which holy men feel for the Maker of all; it is a homage resulting from a profound faith in wealth, from the intimate sentiment of their hearts, that, however a man may look,—poor, mean, starved, decrepit, vulgar; or again, though he may be ignorant, or diseased, or feeble-minded, though he have the character of being a tyrant or a profligate, yet, if he be rich, he differs from all others; if he be rich, he has a gift, a spell, an omnipotence;—that with wealth he may do all things."[0]

There is a reason that money specifically, and not sex or knowledge or socializing or other good things that can get out of hand, is worshiped as a god by so many.

[0] https://www.newmanreader.org/works/discourses/discourse5.htm...

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

#388

Post by JKCalhoun »

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…

The referenced reply covers several tiers of wealth and, to be sure, can be simplified to: as you move up in wealth so to does your access to real estate, luxury and political power.

But your comment on Meile, nice kitchen cabinets, sounds like you're looking only for what the next tier above you is enjoying. (And go Bosch for the dishwasher, BTW.)

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

#389

Post by JKCalhoun »

TacticalCoder wrote: post #343
safety1st wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On a personal level I know several guys who are worth $10-30M, one who's worth probably $40M, and one who's worth around $700M, this is LNW. Not much in the Reddit reply checks out for me. It's true that the $700M guy socializes with "Senators/Congressmen/community leaders." He travels a lot, and comfortably, but has no ownership in a jet. He retired young-ish and no longer works so maybe that's why. He doesn't flash…

I was invited for coffee at a friend's friend. He seemed a pretty regular guy, very friendly: kids playing in the pool. Nothing out of the ordinary except as many house employees as adult guests (and house employees where calling guests by their name). I happened to know the artist Jeff Koons: not a big fan of the "inflated balloon dogs" but I do like his ballerinas. Well... Turns out the dude had one house destroyed…

Yeah, surprise the linked reply doesn't mention art. There's no ceiling there. I suppose you can add actual Jurassic era bones to the weird stuff the wealthy seek out.

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

#390

Post by JKCalhoun »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #320
oezi wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Price is 3-4 times higher but it lasts 5-10 times longer The problem is that if an Ikea furniture lasts 15 years then that's enough. People no longer need 50-100 years furniture, because nobody wants to inherit old stuff anymore. Life's circumstances change faster and buying quality often isn't worth it. Maybe a Miele dishwasher last twice as long at double the price. But it will become old after 10 years even so.

> People no longer need 50-100 years furniture, because nobody wants to inherit old stuff anymore. I'm going to challenge this assertion: did anyone, ever? Looking around in my parents' house (retirement age), there's no furniture from their parents (post-WW2). I don't remember whether my grandparents had any furniture of their parents in use either. I do recall going to the charity shops and finding older wooden fur…

Beds, tables, chairs. Only "style" has changed.
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