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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)

#581

Post by mrguyorama »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #314
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…

> Similarly it took me a long time to realize just how much better the veneer wood furniture and doors are compared to laminated chipwood. Price is 3-4 times higher but it lasts 5-10 times longer and is much more pleasant to use. Unfortunately you need years to notice such long-term differences, unless someone tells you. Isn't this also down to age? That is, stuff like that built 100 years ago is - in my head - bette…

>However, this may very well be survivorship bias - of course anything built 100 years ago still around today is good, because anything that wasn't as good is long gone. Like my ikea furniture will be as soon as I try to move it.

It's a 100% surviorship bias. The knockoff "ikea" style flatpack dresser that I assembled (incorrectly) when I was 12 lasted 20 years, and only finally went away because I was moving in with my girlfriend and we could afford slightly more "real" and coordinated furniture. It would have continued to work for longer.

The stuff that lasts 100 years is primarily just whatever is bought by people who treat their stuff well. That has vastly more impact than any product design excluding the modern planned obsolescence and negligence with electronics.

Basically any Toyota can make it to 250k miles, but the Million Mile Lexus is still impressive to people because it tells you about the history of the car more than the manufacturer. If you want to know what cars will make it to 1 million miles, you don't look at reliability stats, you look at what was bought by middle aged wealthy men who were good friends with very careful mechanics.

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

#582

Post by tough »

nerdsniper wrote: post #523
drfuchs wrote: post #482

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, they always had legit California "temporary plates" for the allowable (at the time) 6 months. They were very ticketable; his motivation was to keep his car relatively anonymous when driving around. Source: Me, living near his house and walking by regularly.

This article has a picture of one of Steve Jobs' actual cars with no plates at all (temporary or otherwise). It explicitly talks about a "new" requirement for new cars to be issued temp plates. Before that, brand new cars from the dealer had a 6-month grace period. > "From 2019, California joins most of the other states in the nation by requiring newly bought cars to be issued temporary license plates." https://arste…

Thank you for providing the sources this is probably the article I read and had a vague recollection of

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

#583

Post by tough »

nerdsniper wrote: post #524
tough wrote: post #483

Earlier quoted context omitted.

oh ty ty that does make much more sense than my absurd simplification (note that they owned the parking, so its moot if they parked on a reserved spot on private property of theirs) I guess not being localizable by press/random people is a nice plus if you can afford. but didnt he buy always the same model?

You were actually right. See sibling comment to yours.

Yes, I didnt remember but that's probably the article I had read years ago and was thinking about!

I guess we both where right at different points in time ;)

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

#584

Post by faster »

ackbar03 wrote: post #544
noboostforyou wrote: post #537

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Price is 3-4 times higher but it lasts 5-10 times longer and is much more pleasant to use. "The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. ... A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about…

I'm curious about this though, does a rich man actually wear the same pair of boots for 10 years? That being said, I've noticed that a lot of clothes that I bought 10 years ago or so are of pretty high quality compared to today, (and no, they are not rich man's clothes). Some of them I actually have been wearing for more than 10 years now.

I bought Levi's 501s at a farm supply store in the 80s, $12 on sale. About 10 years ago I gave away my two remaining pairs. They were a little thinner but still intact, no holes anywhere. Modern 501s are made of much thinner fabric; I'd be surprised if they would last 5 years. Looks like the sale price is $45 now, which seems comparable.

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

#585

Post by modo_mario »

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…

My entire house is filled with mostly inherited stuff. I'm frugal and grew up between both lower and old money upper class but i have to say if you can make it look coherent it's fine and has saved me tons. Where it isn't it's a mix and match of thrifted high quality and low quality stuff.

My electric standing desk and chair being one of those modern things that costed a couple of thousands but i got secondhand for a combined 200. The desk is built like a tank. For the chair i replaced the cracking armrest covers with leather.

I also have some hardwood old tables and cabinets that are a couple generations old and as functional now as they were back then.

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

#586

Post by drfuchs »

nerdsniper wrote: post #523
drfuchs wrote: post #482

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, they always had legit California "temporary plates" for the allowable (at the time) 6 months. They were very ticketable; his motivation was to keep his car relatively anonymous when driving around. Source: Me, living near his house and walking by regularly.

This article has a picture of one of Steve Jobs' actual cars with no plates at all (temporary or otherwise). It explicitly talks about a "new" requirement for new cars to be issued temp plates. Before that, brand new cars from the dealer had a 6-month grace period. > "From 2019, California joins most of the other states in the nation by requiring newly bought cars to be issued temporary license plates." https://arste…

Right, not a plate: the 6 month temporary operating permit was taped inside the windshield, not on the back of the car, but was still ticketable. On the other hand, the car pictured is from after his death; all of his were black.

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

#587

Post by tough »

RetroTechie wrote: post #557
tough wrote: post #467

Earlier quoted context omitted.

he got the new cars every 6 months because he could avoid then putting car plates on it (california weird law on new cars) and then not be able to be given tickets when he would park on his disabled spot at cupertino classy mfer lol

There's a story where The Woz pulled a prank on Jobs. Turned out he couldn't even be ticketed, because that parking spot was marked incorrectly: https://folklore.org/Handicapped.html (Apple personnel @ the time probably unaware of that technicality. Story says it wasn't fixed)

Thank you i think i had read that blogpost to exactly from some hn comments months ago!

> he seemed to think that the blue wheelchair symbol meant that the spot was reserved for the chairman.

lol

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

#588

Post by insane_dreamer »

kamaal wrote: post #148
steveBK123 wrote: post #41

Having worked at a few 100~1000 person companies run by billionaires, this tracks. Most of the difference in lifestyle is the quantity and quality of housing they can afford, and having people to take care of problems for them. But they ALL universally have messed up personal lives with multiple messy divorces, embarrassing affairs, NYPost Page Six appearances, etc. The one thing you'd think it gives them is freedom,…

>>The one thing you'd think it gives them is freedom, but they all pretty much end up working til they die so I don't know. I was having this conversation about this colleague a few weeks back about another colleague we knew who made it big working at a start up. You would expect he has lots of free time and mental space at hand to do whatever he wants, instead it turns out he has to now worry about managing that mon…

> And its not exactly a easy job. Managing big money can be hard as any loss even a small percentage is a lot of money. And that begins to weigh heavily on you in form of stress as there is a lots at stake.

Only because the person "needs" to "have more". They could put it in TBills and never think about it again. And they'd be totally fine, still live a life of luxury.

It's only because the growth in money becomes a goal in itself, which is a trap.

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

#589

Post by fakedang »

FrankPetrilli wrote: post #570
ackbar03 wrote: post #544

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious about this though, does a rich man actually wear the same pair of boots for 10 years? That being said, I've noticed that a lot of clothes that I bought 10 years ago or so are of pretty high quality compared to today, (and no, they are not rich man's clothes). Some of them I actually have been wearing for more than 10 years now.

Oh hey I'm uniquely positioned to answer this; though I'm in tech (and at this point frankly speaking well-compensated) my family have been bootmakers for decades. I'm sitting at a tech office right now wearing a pair of boots that my father made for me in 2015 - regardless, they're absolutely spotless and I'd wear them to a formal event without hesitation. Every 6 months or so when I'm by his store I shine them up a…

https://franksboots.com/

Are you these guys? One techbro recommended these to me and my cofounder and I've never looked back. Your boots are going places, literally!

Edit:- Changed link to direct.

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

#590

Post by alexey-salmin »

gammarator wrote: post #562
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…

> veneer wood furniture If I were wealthy, I’d be getting solid hardwood…

Well so would I, too bad I'm not wealthy.
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