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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)

#441

Post by alexey-salmin »

rsynnott wrote: post #434
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.

> Maybe a Miele dishwasher last twice as long at double the price. But it will become old after 10 years even so. It... won't support the new dishes that come out in the 2030s? Like, other than energy efficiency (and this is basically already into diminishing returns for appliances like dishwashers), what must-have progress are you expecting?

It won't require the Wi-Fi connection to operate (so definitely a reason to stick to my 12 years old appliances)

I'm not even joking: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43463200

> It says options with an asterisk—including Rinse, Machine Care (self-cleaning), HalfLoad, Eco, and Delay start, are "available through Home Connect app only and depending on your model."

This is happening now.

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

#442

Post by sublinear »

Invictus0 wrote: post #418
sublinear wrote: post #400

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…

Warhol must really be lacking in imagination. I live in a college town and none of my friends here can afford to buy a comfortable couch or chair. The difference between the trash on Wayfair and something of higher quality that might cost a few thousand dollars is night and day.

Not sure we're talking about the same topic? I'm pretty sure just about everyone has stuff from Ikea.

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

#443

Post by EvanAnderson »

tmcz26 wrote: post #309
EvanAnderson wrote: post #224

Through some odd circumstances I found myself receiving a lot of catalogs and sales solicitations for a reasonably wealthy person. Most of the stuff was what you'd exoect-- expensive furnishings, clothing, home goods. The two that were most interesting were the travel-related (guided trips in exotic locales w/ profiles and resumes of the local guides), and oddly specific and highly-focused catalogs (gardening, specif…

Do you remember the name of the travel guides/companies? That would actually be interesting.

Ugh. We threw away a ton of stuff. I'll see what I can find. (A change-of-address had lapsed. We let the recipient's family know and they're keeping it updated now, so the torrent has, sadly, stopped.)

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

#444

Post by bluGill »

akvadrako wrote: post #383
ponector wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Most of them don't have a contract. And most homes wouldn't want the type of appliance that needs a service contract anyway.

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

#445

Post by pc86 »

em500 wrote: post #273
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…

If you're over 100m net worth and get 5% returns, you get over 400k/month income on capital. At that point it might not be worth your time and attention to save $50 or even $500/mo if it takes any effort.

Exactly, to use the same math from the linked comment, it's less like comparing $500/mo and $50/mo and more like comparing $500/mo for the high net worth folks to $0.05/mo for someone making a more average salary.

You could have a single part-time minimum wage job and you're not going to waste your time worrying about $0.05/mo. 60¢ a year? Please.

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

#446

Post by LandR »

ccppurcell wrote: post #377

You too can live a life where you can buy whatever you want. All you have to do is change what you want.

All I want is time to go climbing and mountaineering.

I mostly can't because I have to work and getting 4-8 weeks off at a time is impossible.

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

#447

Post by EvanAnderson »

matsemann wrote: post #413
EvanAnderson wrote: post #224

Through some odd circumstances I found myself receiving a lot of catalogs and sales solicitations for a reasonably wealthy person. Most of the stuff was what you'd exoect-- expensive furnishings, clothing, home goods. The two that were most interesting were the travel-related (guided trips in exotic locales w/ profiles and resumes of the local guides), and oddly specific and highly-focused catalogs (gardening, specif…

Huh, for me the nice part of being rich would be to not have to choose between so much goods. Like, when buying a new bicycle I have to spent lots of time figuring out the tradeoffs between what I want, what I can get a different price points etc, as buying something wrong will set me back and be a while until I can try again. But for a reach person, they can just buy the top spec of everything, and if they don't lik…

The specific catalogs seemed to cater to the specific interests these people would have enjoyed nerding-out to. For stuff they weren't interested in it looks like they paid people to just buy the highest-end if everything else (appliances, electronics, HVAC, etc).

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

#448

Post by sublinear »

resource_waste wrote: post #440
sublinear wrote: post #400

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…

>Lavish spending is still seen as pointlessly insecure by anyone on any budget. I seen and lived this until I got my wake up call. I was regular upper middle class, I would laugh at people who thought I was poor for having an Android because I could easily afford a $1000 iphone, I just didnt want it. Then I got into philosophy and inevitably Stoicism, where I found happiness within. Then I read too much philosophy an…

I do agree that demonstrating power, at least to yourself, is important for your self esteem. Pretty damn sure money is just tangential to that.

Consider that there are very powerful people out there who might not even carry a phone with them at all and see that as beneath them. It's a matter of values, not money.

> I could easily afford a $1000 iphone, I just didnt want it.

Rich people are also capable of thinking this? They're just people, man. They're also totally free to not care about anything they don't want to.

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

#449

Post by EvanAnderson »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #407
EvanAnderson wrote: post #224

Through some odd circumstances I found myself receiving a lot of catalogs and sales solicitations for a reasonably wealthy person. Most of the stuff was what you'd exoect-- expensive furnishings, clothing, home goods. The two that were most interesting were the travel-related (guided trips in exotic locales w/ profiles and resumes of the local guides), and oddly specific and highly-focused catalogs (gardening, specif…

Yeah, post the company name — because I'm picturing instead a company posing was a company for the rich and famous. Do we remember The Sharper Image catalog?

There was one that totally had that look. Ugh. I should have made notes of the names. It was a very Sharper Image-looking catalog, filled with wildly eclectic products. It was replete with statements about everything being top-of-the-line, satisfaction guaranteed, and lifetime warranties.

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

#450

Post by dagw »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #390
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Beds I disagree with. Modern high end mattresses are far more comfortable and ergonomic than old mattresses.
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