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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)

#391

Post by Mashimo »

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.

Ah that sounds smart, so in a way the wealth will trickle down to the common man? Someone should try it.

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

#392

Post by al_borland »

o0o0o wrote: post #353

I'm not from the US so I'm just curious why would anyone prefer to spend their time with a senator or president?

Generally for the influence it can give them. If you don’t like how something is happening if your city/state/country, talking to those people can give you the power to get it changed.

Having friends in high places can also help if you happen to run into legal issues. Though there is growing scrutiny around this.

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

#393

Post by Aeolun »

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…

Heated toilet seats with bidet. You will never want to go back.

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

#394

Post by JKCalhoun »

elzbardico wrote: post #369
nickd2001 wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happened to that then? ;) We bought a Miele dishwasher to replace a Neff which broke down after 10 yrs (probably 16 yrs worth of "official" usage) due to a silly design fault that caused it to leak. Thought a fairly basic model Miele worth a shot, as because it a stupid built-in, there's extra costs getting it installed, so longer it lasts the better. So far, it seems to clean to fairly similar standard to the N…

Put some cups of water surrounding the oven in multiple directions from its front (assume that leakage from the back is less likely and that unless you have metal walls, it won't reflect in your direction). Measure their temperature and take note in your notebook. Put another cup away from the microwaves but in the same environment to serve as control. Measure its temp and put in a notebook . Turn off any air-conditi…

Love the Hacker News.

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

#396

Post by Mashimo »

cess11 wrote: post #30
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…

[flagged]

> we should get rid of the rich.

In what way for example?

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

#397

Post by amelius »

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…

Well, they have access to more medical treatments.

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

#399

Post by song »

ta1243 wrote: post #296
song wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Oh yeah of course, depends entirely of the country and the income disparity. I live in HK and regularly I see some members of the Li Ka-shing family go to one of my favourite restaurant (Chiu Tang, a nice but not too expensive fine dining place). They're always accompanied by 4-6 bodyguards and have to dine in a private room.

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

#400

Post by sublinear »

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say "being rich" is not a personality or set of preferences. Lavish spending is still seen as pointlessly insecure by anyone on any budget. Many things are good enough for anyone.

Relevant Andy Warhol quote: "Sometimes you fantasize that people who are really up there and rich and living it up have something you don’t have, that their things must be better than your things because they have more money than you."

https://core100.columbia.edu/article/excerpt-philosophy-andy...

Also worth pointing out that we are commenting on reddit posts. Reddit is the last place anyone should seek advice beyond how to do something or find info about hobbies.

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