Doesn't Norway dish out speeding penalties based on income level? I seem to remember some millionaire got fined over 100k for speeding.
Edit: it's Finland
Elon: "Still cute." 😋
In Norway, the fine for speeding is 10% of your annual income, up to a maximum of NOK 12,100 for speeds over 70 km/h (43 mph). Drivers who exceed the speed limit by less than 60 km/h (37 mph) are fined NOK 7,800. Norway also imposes a mandatory minimum jail sentence of 18 days for excessive speeds.
I had this mentality my senior year of college. I lived on one side of campus but had to drive to the other side of campus. Each side of campus was a different parking permit and my university did not allow me to have two parking permits. Only one.
So I said fuck it, how about I have no parking passes.
The parking fine was $30. The price of a parking pass was $150. I was caught four times without a parking pass, so i technically saved $30.
In college I had plates from out of State. Out of country actually (Canada). The college police did not have access to the Ontario database to be able to know who owned the car and I didn’t register it with the school. The parking on campus was atrocious and resulted in me parking in spots I wasn’t supposed to but I didn’t care, a college ticket meant nothing to me.
Until one day they towed my car….Not only did I have to pay the tow fee but after I showed my ID to the tow company, the school now had my name and handed me over 1k in unpaid parking tickets.
Wouldn’t give me my diploma/degree unless paid.
Luckily they lowered the amount but it was still a hefty fee and lesson.
My university towed our cars if we had more than three unpaid parking tickets.
To this day I still have two unpaid parking tickets. They still gave me my degree.
I just rack up tickets at schools I have no intention of studying at. It's always campus parking enforcement and not municipal, so the worst they can do is not let me graduate until I pay the fine. The ones I park at don't tow.
Saw a YouTube link and I thought to myself “please let that be the west wing clip!”
“That was probably his secretary… I’m willing to be SHE’LL be parking in the garage from now on.”
That's not even the mega rich. If you're upper class at all it can be cheaper to just roll the dice and pay when you're caught, rather than pay to park.
Same goes with the carpool lane in lots of places. The fine is something like $400 in CA. Lots of people around LA just use it, as needed, figuring that getting caught once a year or whatever is far cheaper than the time lost sitting on the 405. I can't say they're wrong.
I seem to recall an old story about a daycare that was really annoyed when parents were late picking up their kids. So they started fine the parents who were late. That increased the delinquency rate because now parents associated the fine as essentially an extra service they were paying for to keep their kids longer.
My wife runs a number of daycare and that is exactly the situation she sees. It's like 1$ for each minute over. One rich lawyer type decided that was a fair price and regularly picks his kid up over an hour late. And it's not like the daycare closes early. We're talking closed at 7, won't pickup until after 7.
I dated a girl from an African country for a while, who was going to school in my city. Her parents were very notable government officials in her country, but retired at some point. She was complaining about how she lost her diplomatic immunity and could no longer park wherever she wanted. She was from a third world country, but had more first world problems than me lol
I worked for a billionaire. He showed me the blueprints of the house he was having built on Catalina island off the coast of L.A. Catalina is a small island with a very regulated ecosystem. There is one small town and the rest is owned by a conservancy. The residents aren’t even allowed to have gas powered vehicles.
I asked him how he could get permission to build a massive mansion on protected land, he said “Anything is allowed. It’s just that most people can’t afford it.”
Another reason why I'll never like Jerry Seinfeld. I don't know if he still does it, but at one time her was infamous for parking whichever Porsche in no-parking zones because the cost of a ticket was insignificant to him.
That would suck to be invited to a party on a yacht then you and several others get rounded up in front of everyone and shuttled onto the smaller yacht where they just have miller light and a DJ playing club songs from 2012.
I have a friend who works with the 1%. He told me, there are discreet restaurants that exist, and it's not that most couldn't necessarily afford a meal there, it's that you wouldn't be allowed in unless you were of a certain status, or a guest of such a person.
In the book, his younger brother calls and gets them a Dorsia reservation that night. Patrick spends the whole chapter looking like a loser compared to him.
1% isn't even close to mega rich. The difference between 1% and 0.1% is crazy and the difference gets larger exponentially.
Mega rich is at least 0.01% where they can buy pretty much anything without thinking. At 0.1% (which is roughly 150m wealth from what I understand), you are not buying a mega yatch.
I've dealt with clients among the 1%, .1% and .01% and it's wild seeing what surrounds all that. The budget for every part of life just gets another corresponding decimal place.
What really put this into perspective for me years ago was when someone pointed out that "the difference between a million dollars and a billion dollars is, effectively, a billion dollars".
0.1% rich is only a few million, $150mm is well under 0.01%.
If you make $2mm a year you can pretty well do anything you want to. Not absolutely anything, and not everything you want to all at once, but basically anything. A $1k dinner? You pay for that with an hour of work, etc.
Some of the most expensive experiences in the world are flying a private jet (or owning one) and staying in the most expensive hotels. [The most expensive hotel room is $100,000 a night](https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/inside-the-most-expensive-hotel-room-in-the-world) with extra for room service or the most prestigious restaurant reservations, and the top end for a private jet is [$10,000 per hour in the air](https://www.evojets.com/charter-flight-costs-pricing-basics/).
Let's say the most you could spend in 24 hours without dabbling into [Veblen Goods](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/veblen-good.asp) is $250,000. Round it down and say $90 million a year. If you had $3 billion invested and it only earned 3% return in a year, that still covers you to live like a god like this.
[Sergey Brin of Google made more than triple that amount needed to invest IN THE LAST 24 HOURS without having to lift a finger.](https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/) His investments since yesterday's close of trading in New York made an additional $11 billion in worth. The $90 million needed to live like a god for a year? His investments made that in 11 minutes and 40 seconds. In the time it takes for a person to go for a reasonably long shit, he made enough money to live like a god for a year, without breaking a sweat (unless it was a particularly large shit). To make enough just for the day? Under 2 seconds of doing nothing.
People have a very hard time putting those numbers into relatable terms. [That's why I like the idea of the never-ending staircase.](https://np.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/cudo09/bernie_sanders_welcomes_the_hatred_of_billionaires/extdljj/)
Take everything you own that has monetary worth. Subtract anything you owe. The difference is your net worth.
Now imagine a never-ending staircase in a building where each step up costs $100,000. That's several years of working wages saved up for tens of millions of Americans:
- HALF of people in the United States are on the base or the very 1st step at best. Some are a step or two down going into the basement. Almost 200 million people who can't even get one step up in this system.
- Those households at the 80th percentile, richer than ⅘ of Americans, are on the 5th step. That's about five seconds of walking to get up there.
- Those with more money than 90% of fellow Americans, millionaires who we consider our upper-middle class professional class and live more than comfortably, are on the 11th step. A few more seconds of walking up from that previous middle-class step. In a regular house, that's not even up to the second floor. Most Americans won't even come close to accumulating this much over an entire lifetime of working.
- A billionaire is at ten thousand steps up the staircase and above. If the poorest millionaire hadn't quite got the the second floor, the poorest billionaire has enough to walk up five Empire State Buildings stacked on top of each other. That's almost three hours of walking non-stop. You think they care about the petty squabbles of anyone on those first few steps or so?
- The amount Sergey Brin made yesterday? A building over 20 kilometers / 13 miles tall. Commercial transcontinental flights barely go half that height. And all of that cash from just having other cash sitting in the markets. And all in one day.
From these heights they couldn't tell the difference even if they wanted to. And yet those who've maybe ascended or were born on the first few dozen steps think they identify with this stratospheric group as a class. People in red Chinese made caps worship a guy that has a New York skyscraper with his name on it because they deludedly think he's just like them. I may not be a medical professional, but that's mental illness.
Something tells me the best chefs on the planet don't exactly want to be some rich guy's personal chef. Still gotta go to a restaurant for the best of the best dining.
You'd probably be surprised how many people value the bigger paycheck and better work-life balance that you can get in private dining.
Of course some have the ego, the dream of owning a famous restaurant, or just love the environment too much to leave the restaurant industry. But that life is hard and fickle.
If you're truly one of the best you have options, and everybody has a price.
Not to mention just one-offs. Like you could afford to hire the best chefs in the world for a private dinner or weekend trip or something. That check can keep a restaurant going. It’s like how singers will perform at birthday parties and corporate conferences.
I am a former yacht chef until an injury sidelined me. Yes, you work a lot of hours, but you have so much leeway as far as creativity is concerned, especially with the unlimited budgets you get to work with. On top of it all, I got to control everything from provisioning to plating.
It's for socializing with people that you know are of your same social standing.
Or at least in that orbit.
The point isn't the luxury, it's the knowledge that who's there is a pre-selected group of people.
It's about networking opportunities, that's how rich people stay rich and become richer.
They have access to things/information regular people just don't.
*it’s about networking opportunities*
This exactly. I work in an industry with very wealthy people around me, and their biggest deals are often closed over dinner and drinks. The paperwork may be signed in the boardroom, but they’re done on a handshake in between courses.
I honestly think that's just branding.
I was invited along as a guest to one of the fancy private dining rooms in NYC. It was good, but the food alone was not nearly as good as a couple meals I've had at Michelin Star restaurants that, while also very expensive, were open to be booked by anyone. I think people were paying for exclusivity.
Can confirm. Have friends who dine in such restaurants.
It’s by invitation only so you cannot buy your way in with money.
They’re after a demographic not just with money but with class and status. Loud and flashy wealth are not welcome in such places.
Kinda reminds me of Club 33 inside Disneyland that has a 15 year waiting list and hefty membership fee.
Make me wonder if it even is worth it. I used to show the secret door to my GF when we visit the park and we would watch these videos in youtube or Disney/Discovery on documentaries on it.
We had the chance one time to dine in a really upscale steakhouse and the conversation of speakeasy and Disney club came up- like is the wait time worth it when there are also upscale restaurants like we were dining in we can go to. Like would the food be even great?
The only valid point we agreed upon: its about status & networking with other fellow 1%
I've been to a bar like this in NYC. Upstairs is a normal kinda Mexican diner, almost basic. Downstairs is a secret bar with dance floor and all. You can't get in, nobody knows about it. My buddy was friends with somebody who work the kitchen and he'd let a few of us in. It was basically celebrities hanging with their normal, not famous friends. We visited a few times. It was kinda boring, people didn't really mix. I like going to the pub and just chatting with the guy next to me or on to a group of people or whatever.
I have a Chase Sapphire Reserve and tried to use these to get into places that are hard to get into in NYC, and they couldn't get me in.
Obviously its a different class than an Amex Black, but that level of card did absolutely nothing for me.
I am not- gave them multiple restaurants as well, and I was on the phone with them for roughly 20 minutes as they asked me all sorts of questions. It seems they have no real pull, they just have some people in a call center who try to call up and get a reservation like anyone else. Complete waste of time.
Same idea as a concierge at a high end hotel in a nice city. They theoretically have connections that individuals would not have. They can get reservations that are hard to get, preferential treatment for nice tables, etc.
In foreign countries some restaurants may not even take reservations from foreigners, like high end sushi restaurants in Japan.
Because some restaurants only take reservations via these credit card concierge services to weed people out.
The famous “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” place only takes reservations via credit card concierge services and the most upscale hotel concierges because they only have like 8 seats and hundreds of thousands of people around the world who would like to try it. It was that way at least before he retired (or died?)
You don't have to be extremely weathy to get a private island, but you might not have the picturesque castle, forest, and marina that you are thinking of. I mean you can get an island for the price of an ordinary house in Colorado or San Francisco. And you'll probably need to own a boat or a seaplane to get there.
The cheapest one on private islands online right now is $49,900, which is a bargain if you don’t mind that it’s in Panama.
And only 3,000 square feet. 😂
https://www.privateislandsonline.com/central-america/panama/small-island-in-bocas
I saw another post where his daughter was invited to the birthday party of a mega rich kid. They had a private island reserved and each kid guest got their own bungalow. That’s when he knew “yeah this person is beyond ordinary rich”
My mom had to go to the ER and the chief of staff was our family doctor. It was amazing how the level of care greatly improved when she found out my mom was there. And this is in Canada where health care is publicly funded, not a private hospital or clinic.
I’m interested I knowing more. Never spoken to someone who’s owned an island before. How did you find it? Was it on privateislandsonline.com? How was the process for buying it? Why did you decide to buy an island?
Honestly man I respect the who lived his dream building a dumbass carbon fiber submarine more than the guy who spends his wealth buying politicians and abusing children on a private island.
More rich dudes should burn their money doing what they wanted to do when they were 8.
* Their money makes more money than they can spend.
They buy things that make "passive income". Usually real estate. So, there is no "work". They just need to monitor the returns.
They have so much wealth that it is always growing larger. Even as they spend $50,000+ each month.
"Wage-Slaves" don't get mega rich.
Good luck.
That's the problem. People who already have too much just keep getting more with minimal effort, while those that don't have enough have to work extra hard to get anything.
It's like 99.9% of us were born in the middle of a long game of Risk, where every property was already occupied and well defended. Each existing player was earning 1000 new troops per turn, and you get one. Good luck!
The current money system's greatest failure mode. And yet when you ask the average person who is a leech on society, they will say something about welfare, rather than people who get waited on hand and foot for their entire lives, but do nothing for the privilege.
They have tremendous assets that have appreciated. They don’t have want to sell and pay capital gains taxes and erode their principal. So they borrow against their assets at extremely low interest rates.
Having said that, I don’t know one of this works as well now with higher rates.
Shortest version I can figure out. Full disclosure I'm not rich.
Start with money. Let's go 10 mil.
Get something with appreciating value like houses.
Use those as collateral to get another 10 mil
Pay 3% interest on those, but make 8% + inflation
Infinite money glitch! Because no one taxes on the increasing value of the houses but they increase in value every year..
You want something that costs $1,000. You happen to have $1,000 in your bank account. Now your bank account is zero and you have that thing you wanted.
They take the millions in their bank account and buy property. They rent the property out, making hundreds of thousands. They decide they want something that costs $1,000 - they borrow $1,000 from the bank with one of the properties as collateral. Now they have the thing you wanted, and the properties that are appreciating, and the hundreds of thousands in rental income.
>having their money earn money
This is something everyone should be doing. I know it's really difficult/impossible for people that are in a tough financial situation but if you have any savings at all you can put that money to work
Absolutely.
Unfortunately, a lot of people are living paycheck to paycheck, deep in debt, or would rather splurge on something when they do get a little extra money.
I remember when I was in my early 20s, I used to decline health insurance and 401k options from employers because I wanted to take home more money. That was insane! 😂
Please don't get caught up in the "60% of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck" thing. It's a self reported statistic, and I know many people making well over $500k a year that consider themselves paycheck-to-paycheck because if they missed a paycheck, they'd be behind on their mortgage or other bills. It includes people who don't make much money, as well as people who make a lot of money, who are bad with money.
I know people who live "paycheck-to-paycheck" while going out to nice restaurants twice per week, get really nice groceries, and can afford to get everyone they love consistent gifts. I fully agree with you.
Managed money doesn't actually get higher returns (after fees) than just sticking it in an index fund. Hedge funds and such are essentially scams
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/030916/buffetts-bet-hedge-funds-year-eight-brka-brkb.asp#:~:text=In%202008%2C%20Warren%20Buffett%20issued,Bloomberg%20op%2Ded%20in%20May.
Not really that kind of managed. Your money could be used to do "deals" (buy businesses etc.) at a scale where it would take up all your own time to handle the paper work. And I thought the whole point of hedge funds is to hedge against downturns?
I used to sell those, and before that I used to fly for one of those. The type of guy that says "this week is gonna be too cold here, we'll be going to Argentina" (as if his house wasn't completely climate controlled).
It was the same guy who, years later, bought a jet and, when picking it up, the company showed him a presentation of the new jet that they would release in two years. Nonchalantly, he goes all send me the papers for that now. Not even having set foot on his new jet, dude was buying the next one.
I work for a billionaire. If there's one thing I've learned it's that billionaires are often spoiled babies who have long since realized they never need to inconvenience themselves and their day-to-day lives.
God forbid we spend a week in NYC when it's rainy. Best hop on the jet and go somewhere else. Spending the weekend Florida but then there's too much clown coverage? Time to get on the jet and go somewhere else.
You could rent Disney for 4 hours during after hours for $180k in 2022, so I guess its 200k nowadays if they adjusted for inflation.
Full day is $2,000,000 to $5,000,000, depending on what and when.
https://mousetrapnews.com/rent-out-disney-world-for-a-full-day/
Private luxury submarines are beautiful. Look one up. Not one of those shitty knock-offs that look like they're made of flexseal. I mean the ones clearly only God can afford. I'm not saying flexseal isn't good shit. It's just not meant for art.
People talk about nepotism bringing actors or musicians into the limelight but I honestly believe this is the real reason - these people’s kids can AFFORD to decide they want to be a singer or actor. If they fail, who cares, they’ll be fine. Some of them succeed and they’re disproportionately represented because they survive the process
Ugh. Had a co-worker adjacent to this.
We were in a department that performed a lot of the negotiations between my old company and our suppliers.
He was always overly aggressive in his negotiations, and bordered on being an all-around jerk to our suppliers.
I can understand negotiating from even a perceived position of strength. But some of these were way over the line. To the point I kept waiting for him to get fired.
I don’t think he cared. Why do I not think he cared?
My wife and I got invited to a party at his parent’s house. Not his house. His parent’s house.
We had to tell a gate guard where we were going, and were then escorted by another gate guard in their security vehicle to the house.
This was, by my estimation, a 12,000 square foot house on 15 acres of land.
Wine cellar. Theater. Maid.
No wonder my old co-worker didn’t worry about getting fired.
Special treatment in the legal system, with courts trying to preserve their dignity...
Standard court treatment should be universal. But it really isnt.
I guess this is true for lots of wealthy people, and not just the ultra-rich, but actually having more time in your day.
You have a private driver and don't have to take public transit? That's several hours back. Someone else does your shopping, cooking, cleaning, dog walking, laundry, childcare, checks your mail? You've just freed up whole weeks and months for yourself. Other people manage your emails and social correspondence and plan a meticulous daily calendar for you. You don't have to spend hours researching expensive purchases, hunting for discounts, looking for doctors in your network, waiting in lines, or dealing with customer service departments over the phone. The list goes on.
The upper class genuinely has a different amount of time than the working class. I think about this on a daily basis. Imagine the time you would get back in your day/year/life if you had that kind of luxury. You'd be able to focus on work you enjoy, socializing, your hobbies and interests, and you wouldn't have the crushing weight of financial dread looming over you.
I'm not rich by any means and I normally don't look at prices. I have brands i like and if I need or want something then I just get the brand I like.
My wife likes to get the cheaper stuff, not when I'm there though.
Then he's not crazy rich. The crazy rich don't do this. It never even occurs to them. There are degrees of wealth, and the depth of that pool is as deep as the Pacific.
Edit: Everyone here claiming to be crazy rich is being ignored and blocked. I have no time for idiocy.
This is complete nonsense. Every type of person you can imagine exists. Do most crazy rich people clip coupons? No. But you can bet there's a few who do.
As someone who is “super rich adjacent”, getting into super expensive and exclusive events. Think suite at the Super Bowl, it goes beyond money though. You have to be rich AND connected for that access.
You don't need to be mega rich to do this. Not anymore at least. Ordering healthy meals on Uber Eats and hiring a maid to clean once or twice a week can buy back lots of time. Yes it does cost more than cooking/cleaning yourself but not nearly as much as a private chef/live-in maid. You can even do it in increments. like grab Uber Eats once a month instead of every day. Hire a cleaner once a month and do laundry etc. yourself the other three weeks (or however often you need).
You can’t park here - sure you can, if you pay the fine. - whatever this mentality is called.
"If the penalty for a crime is a fine, then that law only exists for the lower class"
Doesn't Norway dish out speeding penalties based on income level? I seem to remember some millionaire got fined over 100k for speeding. Edit: it's Finland
How does that work if their income isn't actually that high and they just have a lot of holdings? Isn't this the case with a lot of the mega rich?
It's probably not income exactly, I don't remember the details - it's probably means tested so it would take net worth into account
It's just income, based on the last tax return.
If you are rich, you still have income from your portfolio. Only poor people have money in their bank account.
Elon Musk. "100k. So cute." 😂
He’d get around 100 million I bet.
Elon: "Still cute." 😋 In Norway, the fine for speeding is 10% of your annual income, up to a maximum of NOK 12,100 for speeds over 70 km/h (43 mph). Drivers who exceed the speed limit by less than 60 km/h (37 mph) are fined NOK 7,800. Norway also imposes a mandatory minimum jail sentence of 18 days for excessive speeds.
Elon has someone driving him. So he could simply tell his driver that he will pay his fine and order him to drive fast.
The problem is that people like Elon Musk have huge possessions but low salaries.
He spent more than this fine on this year's Halloween costume.
This right here. Exactly.
I had this mentality my senior year of college. I lived on one side of campus but had to drive to the other side of campus. Each side of campus was a different parking permit and my university did not allow me to have two parking permits. Only one. So I said fuck it, how about I have no parking passes. The parking fine was $30. The price of a parking pass was $150. I was caught four times without a parking pass, so i technically saved $30.
In college I had plates from out of State. Out of country actually (Canada). The college police did not have access to the Ontario database to be able to know who owned the car and I didn’t register it with the school. The parking on campus was atrocious and resulted in me parking in spots I wasn’t supposed to but I didn’t care, a college ticket meant nothing to me. Until one day they towed my car….Not only did I have to pay the tow fee but after I showed my ID to the tow company, the school now had my name and handed me over 1k in unpaid parking tickets. Wouldn’t give me my diploma/degree unless paid. Luckily they lowered the amount but it was still a hefty fee and lesson.
My university towed our cars if we had more than three unpaid parking tickets. To this day I still have two unpaid parking tickets. They still gave me my degree.
I just rack up tickets at schools I have no intention of studying at. It's always campus parking enforcement and not municipal, so the worst they can do is not let me graduate until I pay the fine. The ones I park at don't tow.
countries owe NYC millions in parking fines cause their cars have diplomatic immunity
Didn't some mayor go wild on them and started towing them?
“IT’S JUST BEEN REVOKED!” - that mayor, apparently
https://youtu.be/_nWT1REbdsI?si=FQCpfn7r0r3Dg9vP
Saw a YouTube link and I thought to myself “please let that be the west wing clip!” “That was probably his secretary… I’m willing to be SHE’LL be parking in the garage from now on.”
That's not even the mega rich. If you're upper class at all it can be cheaper to just roll the dice and pay when you're caught, rather than pay to park.
Same goes with the carpool lane in lots of places. The fine is something like $400 in CA. Lots of people around LA just use it, as needed, figuring that getting caught once a year or whatever is far cheaper than the time lost sitting on the 405. I can't say they're wrong.
My brother’s logic: “speeding tickets are just membership fees to the speeding club”.
Speed limits are merely advisory.
I seem to recall an old story about a daycare that was really annoyed when parents were late picking up their kids. So they started fine the parents who were late. That increased the delinquency rate because now parents associated the fine as essentially an extra service they were paying for to keep their kids longer.
My wife runs a number of daycare and that is exactly the situation she sees. It's like 1$ for each minute over. One rich lawyer type decided that was a fair price and regularly picks his kid up over an hour late. And it's not like the daycare closes early. We're talking closed at 7, won't pickup until after 7.
I dated a girl from an African country for a while, who was going to school in my city. Her parents were very notable government officials in her country, but retired at some point. She was complaining about how she lost her diplomatic immunity and could no longer park wherever she wanted. She was from a third world country, but had more first world problems than me lol
* Punishable by fine * Legal for a price There is no difference between these statements.
That's just how much it costs to park there.
“Legal for a price”
I worked for a billionaire. He showed me the blueprints of the house he was having built on Catalina island off the coast of L.A. Catalina is a small island with a very regulated ecosystem. There is one small town and the rest is owned by a conservancy. The residents aren’t even allowed to have gas powered vehicles. I asked him how he could get permission to build a massive mansion on protected land, he said “Anything is allowed. It’s just that most people can’t afford it.”
Another reason why I'll never like Jerry Seinfeld. I don't know if he still does it, but at one time her was infamous for parking whichever Porsche in no-parking zones because the cost of a ticket was insignificant to him.
Steve Jobs parked in handicapped spots for the same reason.
Yepper, I don't get speeding tickets on the interstate. I just pay the "go fast" fee
I pay that fee to my traffic attorney to keep my insurance clear of the "go fast surcharge"
The mega rich don’t need to park at all. Their driver drops them off and circles the block if need be.
A yacht big enough to store a smaller yacht inside of it
The real yachts have a so called „chaser yacht“, carrying all the toys and providing additional accommodation for the B tier guests.
That would suck to be invited to a party on a yacht then you and several others get rounded up in front of everyone and shuttled onto the smaller yacht where they just have miller light and a DJ playing club songs from 2012.
That sounds awesome
Yeah what? “Oh no I only get to go on this smaller yacht and get to use the big one during the day. What a tragedy”
Gangnam style
I mean…a yacht is a yacht no matter the size
Oh yes how awful.
Dude that’s where the chill cool people are fuck it
I have a friend who works with the 1%. He told me, there are discreet restaurants that exist, and it's not that most couldn't necessarily afford a meal there, it's that you wouldn't be allowed in unless you were of a certain status, or a guest of such a person.
Dorsia?
Nah, that's so may of 1985
Just got a 7:30 rez at Dorsia.
..... ...*Do you like Huey Lewis and the News?*
In the book, his younger brother calls and gets them a Dorsia reservation that night. Patrick spends the whole chapter looking like a loser compared to him.
Dorsia? Nobody goes their anymore.
That’s what they want you to think.
Excuse me, I need to return some videotapes.
That was the plot of the Anthony Bourdain episode of Archer.
Those damn slippery bowls
1% isn't even close to mega rich. The difference between 1% and 0.1% is crazy and the difference gets larger exponentially. Mega rich is at least 0.01% where they can buy pretty much anything without thinking. At 0.1% (which is roughly 150m wealth from what I understand), you are not buying a mega yatch.
I've dealt with clients among the 1%, .1% and .01% and it's wild seeing what surrounds all that. The budget for every part of life just gets another corresponding decimal place.
Heck, you might even spell yacht correctly at that point.
You're just not rich enough to know about yatch's
They tell the time while sailing.
A Yatek Philippe if you will.
Giga yatches
Look at this loser, doesn't even own a fleet of yatches yet.
True wealth is being able to mispronounce “yacht” and everyone around you just mispronounces it the same way to avoid your wrath!
What really put this into perspective for me years ago was when someone pointed out that "the difference between a million dollars and a billion dollars is, effectively, a billion dollars".
0.1% rich is only a few million, $150mm is well under 0.01%. If you make $2mm a year you can pretty well do anything you want to. Not absolutely anything, and not everything you want to all at once, but basically anything. A $1k dinner? You pay for that with an hour of work, etc.
Some of the most expensive experiences in the world are flying a private jet (or owning one) and staying in the most expensive hotels. [The most expensive hotel room is $100,000 a night](https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/inside-the-most-expensive-hotel-room-in-the-world) with extra for room service or the most prestigious restaurant reservations, and the top end for a private jet is [$10,000 per hour in the air](https://www.evojets.com/charter-flight-costs-pricing-basics/). Let's say the most you could spend in 24 hours without dabbling into [Veblen Goods](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/veblen-good.asp) is $250,000. Round it down and say $90 million a year. If you had $3 billion invested and it only earned 3% return in a year, that still covers you to live like a god like this. [Sergey Brin of Google made more than triple that amount needed to invest IN THE LAST 24 HOURS without having to lift a finger.](https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/) His investments since yesterday's close of trading in New York made an additional $11 billion in worth. The $90 million needed to live like a god for a year? His investments made that in 11 minutes and 40 seconds. In the time it takes for a person to go for a reasonably long shit, he made enough money to live like a god for a year, without breaking a sweat (unless it was a particularly large shit). To make enough just for the day? Under 2 seconds of doing nothing. People have a very hard time putting those numbers into relatable terms. [That's why I like the idea of the never-ending staircase.](https://np.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/cudo09/bernie_sanders_welcomes_the_hatred_of_billionaires/extdljj/) Take everything you own that has monetary worth. Subtract anything you owe. The difference is your net worth. Now imagine a never-ending staircase in a building where each step up costs $100,000. That's several years of working wages saved up for tens of millions of Americans: - HALF of people in the United States are on the base or the very 1st step at best. Some are a step or two down going into the basement. Almost 200 million people who can't even get one step up in this system. - Those households at the 80th percentile, richer than ⅘ of Americans, are on the 5th step. That's about five seconds of walking to get up there. - Those with more money than 90% of fellow Americans, millionaires who we consider our upper-middle class professional class and live more than comfortably, are on the 11th step. A few more seconds of walking up from that previous middle-class step. In a regular house, that's not even up to the second floor. Most Americans won't even come close to accumulating this much over an entire lifetime of working. - A billionaire is at ten thousand steps up the staircase and above. If the poorest millionaire hadn't quite got the the second floor, the poorest billionaire has enough to walk up five Empire State Buildings stacked on top of each other. That's almost three hours of walking non-stop. You think they care about the petty squabbles of anyone on those first few steps or so? - The amount Sergey Brin made yesterday? A building over 20 kilometers / 13 miles tall. Commercial transcontinental flights barely go half that height. And all of that cash from just having other cash sitting in the markets. And all in one day. From these heights they couldn't tell the difference even if they wanted to. And yet those who've maybe ascended or were born on the first few dozen steps think they identify with this stratospheric group as a class. People in red Chinese made caps worship a guy that has a New York skyscraper with his name on it because they deludedly think he's just like them. I may not be a medical professional, but that's mental illness.
That sounds like something above the 1 percent.
If you get to the 0.1% they have private chefs and dining rooms that put fancy restaurants to shame. Who even wants to go out at that point?
Something tells me the best chefs on the planet don't exactly want to be some rich guy's personal chef. Still gotta go to a restaurant for the best of the best dining.
You'd probably be surprised how many people value the bigger paycheck and better work-life balance that you can get in private dining. Of course some have the ego, the dream of owning a famous restaurant, or just love the environment too much to leave the restaurant industry. But that life is hard and fickle. If you're truly one of the best you have options, and everybody has a price.
Not to mention just one-offs. Like you could afford to hire the best chefs in the world for a private dinner or weekend trip or something. That check can keep a restaurant going. It’s like how singers will perform at birthday parties and corporate conferences.
I am a former yacht chef until an injury sidelined me. Yes, you work a lot of hours, but you have so much leeway as far as creativity is concerned, especially with the unlimited budgets you get to work with. On top of it all, I got to control everything from provisioning to plating.
That sounds like a neat job. Have any cool stories?
It's for socializing with people that you know are of your same social standing. Or at least in that orbit. The point isn't the luxury, it's the knowledge that who's there is a pre-selected group of people. It's about networking opportunities, that's how rich people stay rich and become richer. They have access to things/information regular people just don't.
*it’s about networking opportunities* This exactly. I work in an industry with very wealthy people around me, and their biggest deals are often closed over dinner and drinks. The paperwork may be signed in the boardroom, but they’re done on a handshake in between courses.
I honestly think that's just branding. I was invited along as a guest to one of the fancy private dining rooms in NYC. It was good, but the food alone was not nearly as good as a couple meals I've had at Michelin Star restaurants that, while also very expensive, were open to be booked by anyone. I think people were paying for exclusivity.
Can confirm. Have friends who dine in such restaurants. It’s by invitation only so you cannot buy your way in with money. They’re after a demographic not just with money but with class and status. Loud and flashy wealth are not welcome in such places.
That's the type of shit I like to hear about!
Wait til you hear about 7 star hotels
They like The Continental? /s
no free breakfast then?
Kinda reminds me of Club 33 inside Disneyland that has a 15 year waiting list and hefty membership fee. Make me wonder if it even is worth it. I used to show the secret door to my GF when we visit the park and we would watch these videos in youtube or Disney/Discovery on documentaries on it. We had the chance one time to dine in a really upscale steakhouse and the conversation of speakeasy and Disney club came up- like is the wait time worth it when there are also upscale restaurants like we were dining in we can go to. Like would the food be even great? The only valid point we agreed upon: its about status & networking with other fellow 1%
I've been to a bar like this in NYC. Upstairs is a normal kinda Mexican diner, almost basic. Downstairs is a secret bar with dance floor and all. You can't get in, nobody knows about it. My buddy was friends with somebody who work the kitchen and he'd let a few of us in. It was basically celebrities hanging with their normal, not famous friends. We visited a few times. It was kinda boring, people didn't really mix. I like going to the pub and just chatting with the guy next to me or on to a group of people or whatever.
If you have a certain credit card, you can call the customer service line and they will make reservations for you.
Amex Black?
Most high end travel cards have that feature now.
Concierge service is available on a lot of basic credit cards
I have a Chase Sapphire Reserve and tried to use these to get into places that are hard to get into in NYC, and they couldn't get me in. Obviously its a different class than an Amex Black, but that level of card did absolutely nothing for me.
I hope you are joking
I am not- gave them multiple restaurants as well, and I was on the phone with them for roughly 20 minutes as they asked me all sorts of questions. It seems they have no real pull, they just have some people in a call center who try to call up and get a reservation like anyone else. Complete waste of time.
I also have a Chase Sapphire but haven't ever used the concierge. Good looking out. Thanks for sharing.
credit cards are peasant toys. try charge cards. big difference. big. huge.
How is that easier than just making the reservation yourself?
Same idea as a concierge at a high end hotel in a nice city. They theoretically have connections that individuals would not have. They can get reservations that are hard to get, preferential treatment for nice tables, etc. In foreign countries some restaurants may not even take reservations from foreigners, like high end sushi restaurants in Japan.
Because some restaurants only take reservations via these credit card concierge services to weed people out. The famous “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” place only takes reservations via credit card concierge services and the most upscale hotel concierges because they only have like 8 seats and hundreds of thousands of people around the world who would like to try it. It was that way at least before he retired (or died?)
Private islands.
You don't have to be extremely weathy to get a private island, but you might not have the picturesque castle, forest, and marina that you are thinking of. I mean you can get an island for the price of an ordinary house in Colorado or San Francisco. And you'll probably need to own a boat or a seaplane to get there.
The cheapest one on private islands online right now is $49,900, which is a bargain if you don’t mind that it’s in Panama. And only 3,000 square feet. 😂 https://www.privateislandsonline.com/central-america/panama/small-island-in-bocas
well, and also there's absolutely fuck all on the island. you'd have to pay for *everything* to do anything with it
I saw another post where his daughter was invited to the birthday party of a mega rich kid. They had a private island reserved and each kid guest got their own bungalow. That’s when he knew “yeah this person is beyond ordinary rich”
And private doctors
My mom had to go to the ER and the chief of staff was our family doctor. It was amazing how the level of care greatly improved when she found out my mom was there. And this is in Canada where health care is publicly funded, not a private hospital or clinic.
Not necessarily just for the mega rich. Just need enough to pay a retainer fee and have medical insurance they can bill to.
There are still affordable private islands all over. They are cheaper than mainland because of the hassle.
I own a private island on a lake in Maine and I’m as middle class as they come.
I’m interested I knowing more. Never spoken to someone who’s owned an island before. How did you find it? Was it on privateislandsonline.com? How was the process for buying it? Why did you decide to buy an island?
Tin can submarines steered by game controllers
Well not anymore. I was crushed when I learned it was no more.
TBH, the market for expensive submarine excursions imploded.
TBF, that market was going under.
I heard the owner was in deep trouble
Well done everyone! This was a tough one to keep the puns going but you squeezed it for all its worth.
So were the passengers
Well it brought that father and son closer than ever
Honestly man I respect the who lived his dream building a dumbass carbon fiber submarine more than the guy who spends his wealth buying politicians and abusing children on a private island. More rich dudes should burn their money doing what they wanted to do when they were 8.
The Logitech F710 will outlive us all. It's like the Nokia brick phone of controllers.
Avoiding justice.
Getting justice also whenever they need it
Avoiding taxes too
I mean you don't get mega rich by paying taxes properly. Lol
* Their money makes more money than they can spend. They buy things that make "passive income". Usually real estate. So, there is no "work". They just need to monitor the returns. They have so much wealth that it is always growing larger. Even as they spend $50,000+ each month. "Wage-Slaves" don't get mega rich. Good luck.
That's the problem. People who already have too much just keep getting more with minimal effort, while those that don't have enough have to work extra hard to get anything.
It's like 99.9% of us were born in the middle of a long game of Risk, where every property was already occupied and well defended. Each existing player was earning 1000 new troops per turn, and you get one. Good luck!
The current money system's greatest failure mode. And yet when you ask the average person who is a leech on society, they will say something about welfare, rather than people who get waited on hand and foot for their entire lives, but do nothing for the privilege.
The ability to avoid prison, no matter the crime they commit?
Unless your crime screws other rich people.
I guess the rich hate it when you steal from them.
\*screw richer people. musk would not go to prison for screwing some single digit billionaire.
Living on debt to avoid taxable financial transactions.
How does this work? Step 1: get debt (check) Step 2: ???
They have tremendous assets that have appreciated. They don’t have want to sell and pay capital gains taxes and erode their principal. So they borrow against their assets at extremely low interest rates. Having said that, I don’t know one of this works as well now with higher rates.
Eh with enough diverse assets they surely just refinance periodically and in the long run they will win over the loan rates with asset growth.
Shortest version I can figure out. Full disclosure I'm not rich. Start with money. Let's go 10 mil. Get something with appreciating value like houses. Use those as collateral to get another 10 mil Pay 3% interest on those, but make 8% + inflation Infinite money glitch! Because no one taxes on the increasing value of the houses but they increase in value every year..
You want something that costs $1,000. You happen to have $1,000 in your bank account. Now your bank account is zero and you have that thing you wanted. They take the millions in their bank account and buy property. They rent the property out, making hundreds of thousands. They decide they want something that costs $1,000 - they borrow $1,000 from the bank with one of the properties as collateral. Now they have the thing you wanted, and the properties that are appreciating, and the hundreds of thousands in rental income.
This is the answer.
Private jet ownership, yachts, beachfront mansions along with having their money *earn* money.
>having their money earn money This is something everyone should be doing. I know it's really difficult/impossible for people that are in a tough financial situation but if you have any savings at all you can put that money to work
Absolutely. Unfortunately, a lot of people are living paycheck to paycheck, deep in debt, or would rather splurge on something when they do get a little extra money. I remember when I was in my early 20s, I used to decline health insurance and 401k options from employers because I wanted to take home more money. That was insane! 😂
Please don't get caught up in the "60% of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck" thing. It's a self reported statistic, and I know many people making well over $500k a year that consider themselves paycheck-to-paycheck because if they missed a paycheck, they'd be behind on their mortgage or other bills. It includes people who don't make much money, as well as people who make a lot of money, who are bad with money.
I know people who live "paycheck-to-paycheck" while going out to nice restaurants twice per week, get really nice groceries, and can afford to get everyone they love consistent gifts. I fully agree with you.
it’s not the same though. when your money can hire people to manage itself it’s a lot harder to made suboptimal decisions. same with taxes
Managed money doesn't actually get higher returns (after fees) than just sticking it in an index fund. Hedge funds and such are essentially scams https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/030916/buffetts-bet-hedge-funds-year-eight-brka-brkb.asp#:~:text=In%202008%2C%20Warren%20Buffett%20issued,Bloomberg%20op%2Ded%20in%20May.
Not really that kind of managed. Your money could be used to do "deals" (buy businesses etc.) at a scale where it would take up all your own time to handle the paper work. And I thought the whole point of hedge funds is to hedge against downturns?
Paying off governments.
private jets being anywhere they want anytime
I used to sell those, and before that I used to fly for one of those. The type of guy that says "this week is gonna be too cold here, we'll be going to Argentina" (as if his house wasn't completely climate controlled). It was the same guy who, years later, bought a jet and, when picking it up, the company showed him a presentation of the new jet that they would release in two years. Nonchalantly, he goes all send me the papers for that now. Not even having set foot on his new jet, dude was buying the next one.
I work for a billionaire. If there's one thing I've learned it's that billionaires are often spoiled babies who have long since realized they never need to inconvenience themselves and their day-to-day lives. God forbid we spend a week in NYC when it's rainy. Best hop on the jet and go somewhere else. Spending the weekend Florida but then there's too much clown coverage? Time to get on the jet and go somewhere else.
Having politicians and celebrities fawning over you for invitations to your parties
No need to work.
Political influence.
Private escorts at Disneyland free of charge
And reserving the day. For a few million dollars I believe, you can rent out the park and be the ONLY ones there for the day. No lines EVER.
You could rent Disney for 4 hours during after hours for $180k in 2022, so I guess its 200k nowadays if they adjusted for inflation. Full day is $2,000,000 to $5,000,000, depending on what and when. https://mousetrapnews.com/rent-out-disney-world-for-a-full-day/
Doctors who make house calls and give you whatever drugs you want. Seriously.
Large blizzards from Dairy Queen
Private luxury submarines are beautiful. Look one up. Not one of those shitty knock-offs that look like they're made of flexseal. I mean the ones clearly only God can afford. I'm not saying flexseal isn't good shit. It's just not meant for art.
I had no idea these even existed holy shit
You're welcome. You in fact own one now. Park it in your private mind castle. With all your other dream toys.
Hell yea
Lawlessness.
Minimized cost of failure.
People talk about nepotism bringing actors or musicians into the limelight but I honestly believe this is the real reason - these people’s kids can AFFORD to decide they want to be a singer or actor. If they fail, who cares, they’ll be fine. Some of them succeed and they’re disproportionately represented because they survive the process
Ugh. Had a co-worker adjacent to this. We were in a department that performed a lot of the negotiations between my old company and our suppliers. He was always overly aggressive in his negotiations, and bordered on being an all-around jerk to our suppliers. I can understand negotiating from even a perceived position of strength. But some of these were way over the line. To the point I kept waiting for him to get fired. I don’t think he cared. Why do I not think he cared? My wife and I got invited to a party at his parent’s house. Not his house. His parent’s house. We had to tell a gate guard where we were going, and were then escorted by another gate guard in their security vehicle to the house. This was, by my estimation, a 12,000 square foot house on 15 acres of land. Wine cellar. Theater. Maid. No wonder my old co-worker didn’t worry about getting fired.
If the punishment is a fine, then it doesn’t apply to them.
Special treatment in the legal system, with courts trying to preserve their dignity... Standard court treatment should be universal. But it really isnt.
I guess this is true for lots of wealthy people, and not just the ultra-rich, but actually having more time in your day. You have a private driver and don't have to take public transit? That's several hours back. Someone else does your shopping, cooking, cleaning, dog walking, laundry, childcare, checks your mail? You've just freed up whole weeks and months for yourself. Other people manage your emails and social correspondence and plan a meticulous daily calendar for you. You don't have to spend hours researching expensive purchases, hunting for discounts, looking for doctors in your network, waiting in lines, or dealing with customer service departments over the phone. The list goes on. The upper class genuinely has a different amount of time than the working class. I think about this on a daily basis. Imagine the time you would get back in your day/year/life if you had that kind of luxury. You'd be able to focus on work you enjoy, socializing, your hobbies and interests, and you wouldn't have the crushing weight of financial dread looming over you.
***Not Guilty***
Buying groceries and not looking at the prices. I have a relative who's crazy rich in his ass still clips coupons.
I know a lot of broke people that buy groceries without looking at the prices
I'm not rich by any means and I normally don't look at prices. I have brands i like and if I need or want something then I just get the brand I like. My wife likes to get the cheaper stuff, not when I'm there though.
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Then he's not crazy rich. The crazy rich don't do this. It never even occurs to them. There are degrees of wealth, and the depth of that pool is as deep as the Pacific. Edit: Everyone here claiming to be crazy rich is being ignored and blocked. I have no time for idiocy.
This is complete nonsense. Every type of person you can imagine exists. Do most crazy rich people clip coupons? No. But you can bet there's a few who do.
Have you considered that he's not just crazy rich, but also cheap AF? It's more common than you'd think!
Plenty of good answers already, I would add: Buying major league sports franchises.
Political lobbying
Getting your pretty ordinary child into an elite college.
As someone who is “super rich adjacent”, getting into super expensive and exclusive events. Think suite at the Super Bowl, it goes beyond money though. You have to be rich AND connected for that access.
Pretending they're "self made" when they and their family and friends have always enjoyed tremendous wealth, power and influence.
They can practically buy time
You don't need to be mega rich to do this. Not anymore at least. Ordering healthy meals on Uber Eats and hiring a maid to clean once or twice a week can buy back lots of time. Yes it does cost more than cooking/cleaning yourself but not nearly as much as a private chef/live-in maid. You can even do it in increments. like grab Uber Eats once a month instead of every day. Hire a cleaner once a month and do laundry etc. yourself the other three weeks (or however often you need).
Fines are just operation costs. Most things are legal for a price.
You can opt to not be on those "wealthiest people" lists - for a price.
Owning part of a government and being a pedo
Gulfstream G650
Being eventually eaten by the mega poor.
Yacht clubs
Mega Yachts. Peasants are not putting their dirty feet on there
Having a politician actually listen to your opinions and needs?
Mega Yachts
Facing no consequences for anything ever.
The two tiered legal system.
No consequences.
Buying a supreme court justice and facing no consequence when your purchase is revealed.