What RIDICULOUS Things Do Rich People BLOW Their Money On?
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Speaker 1: What do rich people spend money on that we could
never imagine exists? A quote-unquote household chief of staff? Not
a butler, but a logistical CEO for their personal lives
who manages the pilots, the yacht crew, the multiple estate managers,
the nannies, the art curator, and the person who makes
sure the fridge in their fourth home is stocked before
they arrive. They're buying a complete insulation from the friction
of reality. I guess money can't buy happiness, but it
can buy complete insulation from the friction of reality. And
that's basically the same exact thing, right? And before I forget,
other me's on Rufus Stories doing what he does best,
unpacking some crazy relationship stories. It's a good time, I promise.
Links in the description if you're down. Alright, back to
the stories. Story 2. Knew this one dude who bought
a vacant piece of land in the Hollywood Hills just
to pour asphalt over it so his guests had a
valet parking spot right next to the mansion we were
throwing a huge party at. The asphalt had just a
few days to dry before cars started showing up. It
came close to the wire and the guests in their
exotic imported sports cars never knew. Also, the same guy
would have sushi from Japan from the Tsukiji market flown
into the US and before eating it would need to
see a certification that the fish was caught no more
than 15 hours prior. He would also pay the restaurant,
can't mention what restaurant specifically or even where, tons of
money to close down so he could eat the sushi
in peace alone with his wife. The guy was a
schmuck by the way. Story three, family offices. They hire
a team of people to manage their wealth and office
with their own investment bankers, lawyers, accountants, financial planners, etc.
I was approached as a junior slash mid-level lawyer to join.
I wasn't that interested, so I asked for a good
pay bump. I think it was around USD $ 280, 000 per year,
not including bonuses and perks. This was some years ago.
They agreed. Imagine how much more senior bankers, accountants are
getting paid. And then imagine being wealthy enough to pay
for an office full of them. Story four, childcare for
their autistic children. I dated a woman a decade ago
who was a PhD in child psychology and she made
a literal fortune being a babysitter for ultra wealthy kids
on the spectrum. Just to take an ad hoc FaceTime
call if the kids were having a meltdown when she
wasn't there. It was $ 500 every 15 minutes. Took multiple
of these calls daily. Sometimes a dozen different 5-10 minute
calls in a day from the same family. Billed in
at the start of the first minute of each 15
minute block. A 16 minute call was $ 1, 000. It was $ 1, 000
an hour for her to be one-on-one with the kids.
And folks had her booked out for months to watch
their kids on weekends, date nights, etc., And she had
a racket where she had a playgroup and would get
all of them together in a pack, and each kid
was $ 500 an hour, and she'd have like 10 to
15 of them. She was amazing with kids and had
an incredible way of dealing with extreme cases, but she
was making like $ 4 or $ 6 million a year, which
was pretty ridiculous for playing board games most of the time.
Story 5. 24-7 nanny coverage per kid with 3 kids.
They had 12 total nannies on staff, plus or minus
at any given time to cover weekends, holidays, days off, etc.,
I used to work at their kids' private school in
the IT department and they hired me to do some
IT stuff at their home, as well as tutor one
of their older kids. Instead of paying me cash, they
would forward my email bill to the family office in
NYC and I would get an overnight FedEx package with
a check every week. They also got divorced and bought
mansions next to each other for the kids' sake. The
mom found one for sale that she liked and then
went to the neighbor directly next door and made them
an offer I guess they could not refuse. I have
dealt with many high net worth people and they are
usually schmucks and so are their kids. This particular family
was unfazed by their wealth. They were the nicest, most
down to earth people and their kids were awesome. Before
doing some work for them, I knew the kids from
school and you would have never known how wealthy and
privileged they were. They were the nicest, most humble, helpful
kids with a crazy amount of empathy for their age.
They were an old money family, very old money, and
I think it just never bothered them. They did a
great job raising their kids, as is evident by the
fact that you would have thought they were still married,
as they attended all school functions together, talked to each other, etc.
I only found out they were divorced when I was
helping their son for the first time, and he said
he needed to run to his dad's house to get something.
The private school I was working at needed to raise
$ 10 million for an expansion. This family offered to match
all donations up to $ 5 million. Not only did they
match every donation even after crossing $ 5 million, they also
donated another $ 10 million to the school, so over $ 15
million total out of their pocket to the school. We
only found out about their donations a few years ago.
At the time, we were told it was an anonymous
matching gift and an anonymous donation. They did not want
anything named after them or any recognition at all while
their kids were still going to school there. I guess
old money is often much more grounded than new money.
Story 6. I used to work for a privately held
company run and owned by one individual who was earning
$ 2- 3 million a year. He asked me if I was
interested in making extra money running errands for him. One
of the errands was to measure the built-in bookshelves in
his massive new house, then going to Barnes & Noble
to buy enough books to fill every inch of the shelves.
The only prerequisite was that the books had to make
him appear well-read and intelligent. He gave me a credit
card and I spent six hours loading a U-Haul with $ 11, 000
worth of books. After that, I spent an entire weekend
arranging the books on the shelves. He called me out
back a couple of weeks later to rough up the
books because it was obvious they had never been read.
All in all, he paid me around $ 5, 000 plus meals
while I was there to make strangers think he read
a lot. Story 8. One thing rich people spend their
money on that you might not realize is hiding their wealth,
and they often do it for their extended family. It
can be a business under a shell corporation or an
investment fund run through a series of other operations. Family
members contribute money in one way or another to a
business or charity that moves the money around the world anonymously.
Detailed records are kept about who contributed what and how
much their investment is worth. It's not criminal activity they
were hiding, it's the identity of their owner, the source.
On paper, this one family member is only a millionaire,
but they have control of hundreds of millions in wealth
of various forms all around the world. Someone might be
just your average cardiologist in the US, but they and
their family own a large portion of a factory in
Taiwan through a holding company. The holding company is mostly
owned by an investment firm who is owned by another
private equity group that's mostly owned by an anonymous group
in a trust, for example. It can get very complicated.
They don't directly pay taxes on their wealth or income
and it's not attached to them directly, so it's very
unlikely they will lose it if they get divorced or
some other financial catastrophe. Story 8. Support staff and luxury
goods that make TV luxury goods look cheap and paltry
by comparison. The ultra-wealthy have 24-hour concierge access that gets
them the best seats at the best restaurants or events
on the planet. They fly private and have fleets of
luxury cars at their disposal. The best part is their
entire world moves with them from one estate to another.
Duplicate wardrobes and a team brings their essentials from one
place to another so they don't have to adapt their
expectations for different locations. Just top-level everything from security to
private chefs to executive assistants, plus lawyers and investment advisors
as well as public image managers to protect their reputations
and public image. Story 9. Rent a private island with
a personal chef, helipad, and a team to look after
the palm trees. Your own underground bunkers in case of
an apocalypse with a swimming pool and a wine cellar.
An oyster and lobster farm so you always have fresh
from your own sea. Cooled garages for your supercar collection
because a regular garage is too warm for carbon parts.
Petting zoos with giraffes, flamingos, or even tigers. Gold toilet paper. Yes,
this exists. 22 karat gold in the form of a roll.
Story 10. In my country, a billionaire's youngest son is
fond of animals. For him, he got a private zoo
created on hundreds of acres of land. Animals from all
over the world are present in his private zoo. Also,
for the same son's wedding, he got Justin Bieber to
J-Lo perform in his private event. He hired every big-name
singer from our country to sing live in the background.
It was like Spotify, but live. Singers were performing their
hit songs live. Veteran musicians with egos the size of
moons entertaining guests like props. Story 11. I sometimes work
for a family who have 10,000-plus employees. They have a driver,
a live-in chef, housemaids, 24-7 security who sit in a
room with CCTV day and night, multiple gardeners who live
in outhouses, and various other staff. However, that is nothing
to what my sister does for a living. She is
one of five PAs to a Saudi prince and one
of the richest men on earth. I am a sole
trader living in a little three bed in the east
of England eating into my overdraft each month and when
he heard we were having a kid, he bought us
like 5,000 pounds worth of stuff and Hermes' toys for
the baby costing about a grand each. Yes, they went
on eBay. Haha. Story 12. It's also about what they
don't spend money on. I've read and seen documentaries about
Quiet Wealth. which is one of the aspects where you
find the difference between millionaires and billionaires. I've seen this
in real life as well when I worked at a
fancy place. Millionaires will attend banquets and gatherings with a $ 100, 000
Gucci handbag and flaunt it around. The billionaires don't carry
bags because their butler has it and many of them
wear clothes with no brand. Story 13. I met a
guy who designed a meeting room on Putin's yacht. The
room is explosion-resistant and bulletproof. It has a bulletproof screen
that slides to divide the room in half and each
side of the meeting room has access from port or
starboard respectively. So two factions who are at war can
safely get on board and discuss their terms. I've also
met several billionaires and they mostly spend their money on
properties and assets, nothing out of the ordinary. I know Pele,
the football player who loves street workers. He was such
a nice guy, I met him twice but he had
a thing for younger women. No wonder he was always
doing ads for Pfizer's ED's medication. Apart from that, billionaires
spend stupid amounts of money to go see the Titanic
or go to space. Story 14. My brother is a
pilot for a really rich guy and they'll send the
plane to do errands like an Instacart delivery person. The
guy just doesn't seem to trust FedEx so he has
his flight staff go pick things up. For example, he
might say, my wife wants this dress, can you go
to NY to pick it up for her? I once
met a guy who had 100 people on his personal payroll.
About 25 of them were in the family office, but
between personal assistants, house managers, cooks, cleaners, drivers, landscaping, construction, yes,
that's a thing, flight staff, physical therapists, tutors, and coaches,
the payroll really adds up. I remember him saying it
was like $ 10 million plus a year payroll just to
manage his life. At one point, I think it was
Eric Schmidt who said in an interview that he had
over 300 people on his personal staff. That was during
peak Google, so maybe it's been scaled down a bit?
Story 15. My wife has a distant relative who is
extremely wealthy with a net worth in the hundreds of millions.
In addition to a full support staff and a personal
chef who caters to the family's different diets, he has
a team of personal assistants, each with a specific role.
One of these assistants, a haggler, handles a variety of
tasks to maximize savings and benefits. Her job includes booking
all of his cars for servicing and repairs to ensure
he's not overcharged, purchasing his luxury items with the right
credit cards and coupon codes to earn maximum points and discounts,
and arranging wholesale deals for the household with various suppliers.
This assistant also leverages her boss's name and reputation, using
a Karen with real reputational damage type of power plant
to get priority treatment, and a remarkable amount of free stuff.
Just by managing his car fleet and negotiating with dealerships,
she likely saves him her salary many times over. The
wholesale deals she secures are incredible, and it's clear that
wealthy people often get more amazing freebies than anyone else.
It's a testament to the idea that even the wealthiest
individuals can be incredibly frugal. Story 16. I had a
buddy in college whom I met freshman year. We knew
he had money, but he was never flashy or anything.
He was a really down-to-earth guy. However, we could tell
his parents were well off. For sophomore year spring break,
we went to his vacation house in Florida, which was
located in the Keys. When we pulled up, we were
all thinking, damn, man, I didn't realize your parents had
that much money. The house was on a canal, and
on the other side was an even bigger house with
a large yacht parked next to it. His dad came
out and said, yeah, I never see that guy. He
only bought that house to have a place to park
his yacht. Now that's what I call F you money.
Story 17. As an inspector, I've seen my share of
impressive homes, including some with as many as 18 bedrooms
and 18 bathrooms. One house had a full-size in-ground pool
in the basement complete with a gym and sauna. It
also featured a movie theater, a concession room with a
popcorn and candy machine, a full-size lounge, a bar area,
and a secret wine cellar. The basement also included three
guest bedrooms with attached baths, a chef's kitchen with a dumbwaiter,
three utility rooms, and three elevators. In the sub-basement, there
was a space with a 15-foot high ceiling that was
being prepared to be a ballroom with projectors on the
ceiling that could project images onto all the walls, making
it look like you were outside or surrounded by paintings. Essentially,
the owner was building a subterranean holodeck ballroom, and that
was just his basement. He also bought the house behind his,
tore it down, and put in another in-ground pool with
a pool house. He even paid the utility company to
bury the power poles and wires. Another homeowner had two
chandeliers in his dining room that cost $ 150, 000 each. After
they were installed, he didn't like the color, so he
sent them back to the company and paid $ 50, 000 each
for an acid bath to change the color of the metal.
The most recent house I saw had about 4,500 feet
of LED tape light for cove lighting in every room, hallway,
and everywhere else. The electric bill must be insane, but
for these people, $ 50, 000 is just a drop in the bucket.
Story 18. A $ 30 peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I
have a friend who went to a real-life butler school
and now works at a high-end resort in the Berkshires.
He says that even though the guests are incredibly wealthy,
kids are still kids. A common request from the children
is a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich. However, the
ingredients are anything but simple. The bread is artisanal, made
from organic, fair-trade, hand-ground wheat. The peanut butter is from
specially selected, hand-roasted peanuts, ground and jarred by some quote-unquote
one-eyed holy man or something equally extravagant. By the time
you add up all these high-end components, a single PB
& J sandwich for a 9-year-old whose parents are hedge
fund managers ends up costing around $ 30. Story 19. I
met a woman through some non-profit work and we hit
it off. When I mentioned that I like skiing, she
told me her father owned a private ski resort, an
entire mountain, in Aspen, Colorado. I was amazed and thought
she must be mistaken, assuming it was just a small
hill or a ski-in, ski-out condo. A while later, I
ran into her at another event and she invited me
to her dad's mountain. I accepted, still thinking it would
be something modest. I was completely wrong. His private driveway
is a heated road that's 8 to 10 miles long.
To get to the top of the mountain, he uses
snowcasts and helicopters and then he skis down. The entire
place is heated and fully staffed with a guide, a medic,
a butler, a chef, and a maid all year round,
even though no one had used it for a few
years when we visited in 2019. The fridge was constantly
stocked and restocked, which led to a lot of food waste.
When I saw her again about a year ago, she
told me she didn't think anyone had used the cabin
since our trip. Story 20. It's not about spending money
the way most of us think. Sure, the fuel for
a yacht or a jet might cost a few hundred
thousand dollars a year or even a few million for
a 150-foot vessel, but that's just chump change to them.
These individuals often spend their money on throwing exclusive parties,
usually for fundraising. They might spend millions to help build
infrastructure in another country or host fundraisers for politicians, from
governors to presidents or even foreign dignitaries. To attract more
guests and raise more money for their causes, they'll hire
people that most of us consider rich, like a famous musician,
to perform. Their spending also goes towards things like month-long
private vacations in faraway countries, where they'll mingle with royalty, politicians,
and other powerful people. These aren't the influencers you see
on Instagram. They are people you've likely never heard of
because they value their privacy and prefer to stay out
of the public eye. In my experience, they are not
flashy at all. Story 21. I have a family member
who is minorly rich. They don't have to worry about
the cost of vacations. They drive well-known luxury cars, and
they live in a high-cost-of-living area in a house that's
about 6,000 square feet. What really stands out to me
are the little details. For instance, he has the best
coffee machine ever installed directly into the wall that makes
every kind of coffee with the touch of a button.
It's not as good as a high-end coffee shop, but
it's close enough when you can have it in your
own kitchen. All the appliances are hidden behind custom panels
that match the cabinetry. For example, the refrigerator looks just
like a pantry door. The artwork and flowers in the
house are changed out on a regular basis. There's currently
an 1100-year-old Persian bowl sitting in a guest room. Whenever
I'm there, I pick it up just for the fun
of it. I might even drink out of it next time.
I could go on, but it's the small things that
really show their wealth. Story 22. If you look up
Becca Bloom on TikTok, you'll get a glimpse into a
world that is unimaginable to a normal person. She is
the daughter of a billionaire and her fiancé is also
an ultra high net worth individual. She probably spends $ 30, 000
to $ 50, 000 a week on her shopping hauls. She shows
how her private chef prepares food for her cat and
then she'll feed the cat $ 50 to $ 100 worth of
food per meal. She regularly eats $ 200 worth of caviar
with her breakfast for quote-unquote seasoning. She has some exotic
imported items that are just normal to her. She was
currently doing unboxings for wedding gifts she received from her
rich friends and family, and it's just unreal. In some
of her videos, she'll be packing her lunchbox, and people
will point out that her lunchbox is a crazy designer
item that costs $ 3, 000. Yes, she doesn't even mention it
in the video because it's just normal to her. She'll
casually mention that she got a new bag, and when
you look it up, it costs $ 75, 000. She'll discuss how
she gets invited to private shopping events where a place
like Ernie's will give her advanced buying access to new
lines or first dibs on limited edition jewelry and so on.
Sometimes she just casually drops a new piece of jewelry
she got and it's literally a $ 2- 3 million piece. Seriously,
go be mesmerized. Her name is Becca Bloom. Story 23.
I have a wealthy friend who just hired a relocation
concierge This firm advised them on where to move to
protect their portfolio, how to set up operations in these
new places, and then help them execute the entire plan.
They ultimately decided to live in Puerto Rico for six
months a year to take advantage of capital gains tax,
free living, Malta for three months, and the mainland U.S.
for the remaining three months. They moved their businesses and
properties into trusts and then purchased properties and hired staff
in both Malta and Puerto Rico. And if you're enjoying
the video learning a thing or two from these stories,
don't forget to hit that subscribe and like button for
more videos just like this. Story 24. I used to
work in an extremely high-end condominium building. One day, one
of my favorite residents, a small, older woman with a
super sweet cute dog, was standing in front of me.
Another resident, a gentleman who was about a foot taller
than her, walked up and they started chatting about their boats. Man,
oh yeah, we just came back from the Bahamas. We
docked in Nassau and had a great time. Woman, oh,
I love the Bahamas. It's amazing every time we go.
We're going again soon. Man, oh, what part are you
guys docking in? Nassau? Woman, no, I wish. We can't
dock in Nassau, unfortunately. man. Why not? Woman, uh, our
boat is too big. The look on his face was
absolutely priceless. This tall, extremely wealthy man was staring down
at this small, five-foot-two woman in utter bewilderment. He couldn't
comprehend that her boat could be both bigger than his
and so big that it couldn't even dock in the
port of Nassau. I knew from other sources that she
and her husband had a place in the Bahamas with
a dock built specifically for their yacht. That was probably
one of the most hilariously rich things I've ever witnessed.
Story 25. I'd like to add two more points about
the very rich. First, they are often exceptionally stingy and
will not spend money unless it's absolutely necessary. This is,
in part, how they become even wealthier. A prime example
is Donald Trump, who has a well-documented history of cheating, underpaying,
and even failing to pay thousands of contractors. However, it's
worth noting that he's more of a low-class grifter and
not in the same category as the truly ultra-rich we've
been discussing. Second, the very rich often receive extravagant gifts
that would never be offered to the rest of us.
These can include multi-hundred-thousand-dollar cars, expensive jewelry and watches, and
vacations with private jets and huge yachts, all for free.
They also get complimentary access to things like Michelin star
dining and the top suites and five-star hotels. Some of
this is a quid pro quo arrangement, while other times
the giver, often a business or corporation, is seeking publicity
by being associated with the recipient or wants to curry
favor with them. Story 26. My aunt is a personal
assistant for a multi-billionaire. She once told me that he
built a commercial kitchen on his property for their private
chefs to cook in. They already have a full chef's
kitchen inside the main house, but his wife doesn't want
to have to smell the food being cooked. This same
man also bought all the homes directly next to his
house using the expanded property to build a full 18-hole
golf course that backs up to the mountain his house
is built in front of. My aunt said the plan
is to eventually sell it as a resort property when
his family moves on in a decade or so. Story 27.
I worked for a family over 20 years ago as
an interior decorator, organizer, A handyman, always on staff, and
a wedding present for their new son-in-law, a radio station.
I would love to have a handyman available whenever I
needed one. Before I started working for the family, I
had to pass a background check and sign a non-disclosure agreement.
I have so many stories where I just thought, well,
I guess I'll do it if you're willing to pay me.
Story 28. I had a client for whom we were
doing a huge addition to an already giant house, which
was 9,000 square feet. We were adding a new primary
bathroom and closet suite over a three-car garage and more
off the first floor. The husband was going to be
away on a trip for one of the 16 weeks
we were working there, so the conversation came up about
where he was going. He said, I go to Las
Vegas once every year. The wife gives me a budget
and I stick to it. His budget? $ 100, 000. Imagine having
that much money to blow once a year as disposable income.
On this same job, I also saw one of the
most ridiculous things. The client had bought full custom cabinets
for the kitchen, a full-service pantry with a sink, range, fridge,
and dishwasher. the laundry room and the mudroom which had
a huge dog washing area, a crazy detail in itself.
But what was even crazier was when the owner of
the design company that provided the cabinets showed up in
a Maserati MC20. He pulled into the driveway, looked at
me and said, I think that car is nicer than mine.
Story 29 I'm an electrician and I've seen some wild
stuff on the custom houses we work on. I don't
work on them often, but when I do, it's crazy.
One house had lights next to the front door that
weren't powered by electricity. The electricity just started the flame.
The light itself was fueled by natural gas. Another house
had a multi-level basement. It had a regular basement and
a deeper one that was a full basketball court. In
that same house, they spent $ 400, 000 on smart home switches
and another $ 150, 000 on appliances. Their budget for switches alone
was more than my entire budget for my first house.
Story 30. It's not so much about things that we
could never imagine exist, but more about things we wouldn't
even think of. For instance, there are four teams, people
who travel ahead to a location to ensure the security
team has good access and that the food meets your standards,
with the menu adjusted if it doesn't. There are also
assistants who not only plan your private flight and car
trip to your other home, but also make sure the
person in charge of your wardrobe got it to the
destination before you arrived, or if you already have a
second set of clothes that they've been picked up from
your tailor or custom designer, and if you have a
second wardrobe at a different location, it's rotated and altered
as needed. That meeting you have in Tokyo? No worries,
your visa was approved before you even landed, a private
rental has already had its security sweep, and everything you
might crave has already been flown in. Your whims have
been anticipated and there are 15 restaurants where you already
have a private room reserved in case you feel like
going out. Change your mind and want to stay in?
No problem. The chef was flown in three days ahead
of time and has already bought and prepped everything to
make your favorite dishes. There are so many little things
that are just taken care of because that's what you
pay people to do. Story 31. A friend of a
friend interviewed to be the chief of staff for the
Zuckerberg-Chan family and one of the interview questions was about
their sheep herding dogs which I assume are border collies.
The family wants to keep the dogs enriched and stimulated,
so if they asked if the candidate would be willing
to occasionally arrange for sheep to be flown in for
the dogs to herd. Part of me doesn't believe this story,
but another part of me feels that this is exactly
the kind of eccentric, Aspie-like thing that Zuckerberg would suddenly
get into. Story 32. I work at wealthy people's houses
all the time. There's a lot of stuff that I
see that makes me think, there's a real disconnect here.
But one general observation that really sticks out is the
sheer number of people they pay to do things all
the time. As an HVAC guy, I'll be on site
and they'll have a nanny, a housekeeper, someone pressure washing
the house, a pool guy, and a landscaper all there
at the same time. This isn't in the midst of
a home remodel, this is just a regular Tuesday. Most
of us might have someone working on our home once
a year, if that, but these people will have 10
or more workers a week. Story 33. Here are some
first-hand experiences I've witnessed. Calling in favors. I've seen someone
knock on the door of a Michelin-starred restaurant and demand
that the famous chef leave his home and prepare a
meal for their party without any notice. He did. Controlling
the calendar. Another person had a Cirque du Soleil cancel
or move a day from their tour to perform for
their family. Navigating bureaucracy. I've also seen a wealthy individual
get a city to approve an event at a historic
protected site. Bespoke everything. For these people, everything is made
bespoke for their family. Literally everything. Personalized delivery. Everything is shipped, mailed,
or delivered by a personal courier. Cars as commodities. A
car that costs $ 200, 000 to $ 300, 000 is treated like a
seasonal purchase from Temu. Architectural marvels. Homes aren't just built,
they are researched and constructed to be architectural marvels. Full-time staff.
There are aides and assistants for every aspect of life,
mostly full-time, on-demand staff who keep everything perfect so that
you don't have to waste time asking for it. These
were people with close to $ 100 million to $ 200 million
and generational wealth, so I can't even imagine what billionaires do.
Story 34. They have people for everything. If they have
five houses, they need people to manage them, handymen, gardeners,
and housekeepers. If they have dogs, they need groomers, walkers,
and more. If they have kids, they need tutors, nannies,
and trainers. If they own horses, they need trainers and
stable hands. If they like cars, they have on-site mechanics
and detailers. If they want a yacht, they need a
crew of at least 10 people, including a captain, navigator, cook, mechanics,
and housekeeping staff. Wealthy people employ an insane number of
people to maintain their opulent lifestyles. Not saying it makes
it right, but they simply have to. Most of the time,
the labor cost to maintain their hobbies and eccentricities is
significantly higher than the initial cost of the items themselves.
Story 35. I used to work for a high-end wedding
catering company outside of NYC. One bride insisted that her
wedding planner spend an extra $ 60, 000 to line the walkway
from the reception area to the bar and then to
the entryway with special vintage lamps. The planner had to
go all over to find them. Keep in mind, my
company's catering services alone usually cost $ 70, 000 to $ 100, 000 for
just the food and beverages. Another wealthy couple bought their
daughter an apartment in Chelsea as a graduation gift and
bought their son a sailing company so he could work there.
Story 36 On French YouTube, I watched an interview with
a person who organizes vacations for extremely wealthy people. Some
of the wildest things he mentioned were blocking a runway
for a view. Upon landing in Nice via private jet,
they would stop on the runway, open the door, and
just sit there, enjoying the view. They would stay for
a while and pay the fines for blocking the runway
without a second thought. A fleet of yachts. A client
once rented two massive yachts, one blue and one white,
so his wife could choose which color she wanted on
the day they went out. Paying for everyone's hotel. A
client threw a huge party in a house near a
luxury hotel that cost $ 600 per night. Due to noise complaints,
the client paid for the rooms of all the guests
staying at the hotel. A Coca-Cola run. In a different interview,
some Americans believed that Coca-Cola didn't exist in Europe. Upon
landing via private jet, they exclaimed, oh crap, we forgot
the Coca-Cola. They then proceeded to send the private jet
back to the US and return with cans of Coca-Cola.
Story 37. You're asking the wrong question. The simple answer
is that the ultra-rich ask themselves, what can I spend
money on that I haven't thought of yet? That's essentially
a direct quote. Then anything you can possibly imagine, there
will be human parasites who work to get that result,
much like Jeffrey Epstein and his network. The real question is,
what do the extremely rich do with all their wealth
when it far exceeds their ability to spend? They buy assets. We,
all the rest of us, then struggle against each other
more and more for these same assets while they do
the only wise thing to do with excessive wealth. Diminishing
supply means greater demand for available resources, and as resources shrink,
the cost becomes too expensive. We currently live in this
world where oligarchs are ruling and most of us are
just beginning to open our eyes as we awaken. Be
happy and at peace with your life. That is the
only real wealth. Story 38. My family member is part
of numerous clubs, dinner clubs, resorts, golf clubs, and more.
To get his money's worth, he has to spend $ 10, 000
eating at his home resort clubhouse each month. So when
I get an invitation at the end of the month,
I know I'm in for a real treat. Another example
is his sports season tickets. He has them for all
the major sports in multiple cities. I'll be in places
I didn't even know he visited and he'll offer me
50-yard line seats. When I sit in them, everyone around
me asks me if I'm a ghost or a billionaire
because they're so used to seeing the seats empty. This
is especially true if that city is hosting a future
Super Bowl or some other big one-time event. If having
the season tickets guarantees him the right to buy tickets
for those special events, he gets them and just lets
all the other regular season tickets go to waste or
gives them away as gifts. Story 39. Wealthy people often
buy multiples of the same clothes, like a sweater they
particularly like or a piece of jewelry, and then ship
a set to each of their homes so they don't
have to pack. They also use businesses that handle all
the maintenance for them. I know a guy who had
guests at one of his house in a wealthy area
while he was away in Italy. There were hornets in
the yard and they stung the kids. The guests texted
him about it and he texted his contact. Within 15 minutes,
a team of exterminators showed up and cleared out the nest.
Story 40. We sold commercial gym equipment and had a
multi-billionaire client who was building a $ 50 million mansion and
compound in California. He had to have all the equipment
from his gym from a specific brand that was no
longer a business and it had to be white even
though they never produced the machines in that color. He
paid 10 times what the machines originally sold for in
their prime. He worked with a current manufacturer to rebuild
the classic machines and then had them powder-coated white and
had the old emblems and weight stacks recreated. His project
manager also tipped our installation guys $ 1, 000. Story 41. I
met a guy while traveling overseas who was a very
successful online professional poker player. He was genuinely confused when
it came up that my travel companions and I had
planned and booked our holiday ourselves. When I told him
that it wasn't hard to plan a trip yourself instead
of using a travel agent, he still looked confused. He
explained that he just told his boss. what he wanted
to do, and because he was so rich, his bank
organized his and his partner's passports, flights, and travel bookings
for their six-month world holiday. He was genuinely confused that
the average person didn't have this service. I also found
out that he had a second apartment in the same
building that he used as his office because his girlfriend
didn't like the way he behaved while working. Story 42.
I used to work for a plumbing company that serviced
the homes of the ultra-rich. On my first day, we
went to the future home of a beer CEO, and
that's where I learned two things. First, no homes in
that specific area could exceed 10,000 square feet. Second, that
rule only applied to the above-ground portion of the house.
This meant that many properties had massive basements used for
various purposes. Reportedly, one property had four homes above ground
that were all connected underground. In the case of this
beer CEO, he had a massive basement that was meant
to double as a garage. Another thing I learned was
that a different ultra-wealthy CEO had a quote-unquote pit basement
underneath his house with multiple pistons installed to lower the
windows facing the sea for parties. I love telling people
this story after I show them the photos. Story 43.
I work in a high-end cabinetry factory and we make large, expensive,
and fancy kitchen cabinets for wealthy people. On average, a
kitchen from us costs $ 80, 000 and that's just for the
wood cabinets. It doesn't include installation, plumbing, or electrical work.
What really caught my eye with this question is that
we recently completed a show kitchen. This is a huge,
expensive kitchen that will sit unused in one of our
clients' many mansions. Its sole purpose is to be a
showpiece for guests who might visit on occasion. This particular
kitchen was painted high-gloss black and cost well over $ 100, 000.
Story 44. I have a family member who probably has
a net worth in the high eight figures or maybe
a little less. He's very secretive about it, but whatever.
This man had a custom home built that was over 4,000
square feet. But then, he filled his walk-in closet and
all the guest closets with clothes. This started to bother him,
so one day, he was looking out his window and
saw his neighbors, and the thought occurred to him. If
I can see them, they can see me. So, he
went looking for a new place to build an almost
identical house, just with bigger closets. Apparently, the mayor of
the city he lives in was planning to have a
house built on a certain plot, but changed his mind.
My family member was told about the open plot and
bought it. Since it was in a new part of
the community and in the middle of a cul-de-sac with
three plots for the building, He bought the other two
as well, so he wouldn't have any neighbors in the future.
Story 45. I think money spoils everyone. I just listened
to a podcast where celebrities discussed what they bought when
they realized they had money. One celebrity said they didn't
care about that stuff when they first became famous, but
now they love to spend money on all sorts of things.
Skincare products, diamonds, expensive shoes, designer handbags, etc. Another bought
a Ferrari as a teen and then kind of wrote
off capitalism, which I love. One bought first edition books,
which I also appreciate. A guest on the podcast said
she bought a house for herself, fair, a house for
her family, fair, and a Jeep for herself, and that
all of those felt necessary. No details were given about
the houses, but a Jeep is not specifically a necessity.
She then turned and said that once she made it big,
she started wearing designer clothes, but doesn't like that. I
love the cognitive dissonance here. I'm not mocking her. I
genuinely appreciated that she was thinking about it. And I
was surprised that others on the podcast didn't spend much
time on that topic, but it was good to hear.
This feeling will probably fade in a few years when
she gets used to being rich. I just can't imagine
wasting money on looking good with designer clothing or cars.
I can imagine the first I made a purchase being flashy.
But ideally, none of us need to peacock. You can't
convince me that a designer anything will make me happier
with my life. I can kind of understand the books though.
Story 46. I used to clean a house in Croydon
that wasn't particularly spectacular, just a typical detached family home. However,
you could tell it was a wealthy family from the
small details. They had three children, two cars, and only
the husband had a job. The wife, who hired me
because she knew someone I knew from a local shop,
was always at home taking care of the kids. Eventually,
she started sharing with me details about their family trips
during the summer, and I learned they went to some
very nice places. I remember one time she told me
her husband would be away for about a month without
any interruptions. Apparently, he belonged to some kind of club
where every year they would meet on an island near
Korea to watch some kind of weird games where people
would pass away trying to win a prize consisting of
a ridiculous amount of money. Story 47. My husband's stepdad
is rich and as a result, my mother-in-law also benefits.
It wasn't until I visited for the first time that
I learned what a duvet actually was. If you don't know,
it's a cover for a comforter. I was so confused.
I thought, a comforter is a cover. I was under
the impression that a duvet was another layer like a
sheet that goes under the comforter. My mother-in-law laughed and
explained that a duvet is a cover for a comforter.
I was still bewildered. I don't know how many people
I've had in my house, but I don't know many
who have been in my room or who I would
care about the look of my bed covers for. A
duvet apparently makes it easier to wash because it's a
cover that gets dirty instead of the bulky comforter which
takes up a lot of space. My little poor mind
was blown when my mother-in-law told me she spent $ 100
on a goose down duvet. The comforter wasn't even that expensive.
And if any of these stories got to you, here's
more for you. YouTube thinks you're going to love this.
I'll catch you in that video.