Yahoo Lifestyle "This Is How You 'Trillionaire'": People Are Sharing Habits Of The Ultra-Wealthy That Sound Made Up, But Are Actually Real
If it ever feels like the ultra-rich live on a totally different planet than the rest of the world, the truth is that they sort of do. Redditor u/infinitemirrorss asked, "What are some things that rich/ultra-rich people do that the average person doesn’t even consider?" Here's what people said...
1."I dated a girl from a super rich family for a couple of years, and every spring, her entire family would go through their closets and donate 90% of their wardrobe and then go out and drop $20k+ on entirely new clothes for the year because they HAD to have the new season of everything. As someone who grew up wearing clothes till they fell apart and patching them if they still fit, this blew my mind; getting rid of perfectly good clothes because they were 'last season' is wild to me."
2."They call boutique stores ahead of time to say they are coming in on a specific date. The boutique high-end store pulls every super expensive item, complete with accessories, on a rolling rack to have ready. I worked in a high-end store back in the day. If it was on sale, they pulled the sale tag off and literally tried to get rid of all the expensive items."
3."Paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for golf course memberships. I photograph luxury homes in my state's most exclusive golf course neighborhoods. I know of one neighborhood where membership runs $400,000+, and there’s a waitlist of people wanting to join."
4."I have a client who is so wealthy she is functionally invisible. No online presence, un-Googleable. The name she uses isn't even her legal name, but I have no idea what her real name is because she has a family office (private wealth management) that handles her money, so checks from her come from that group. But what I love is that she does nothing..."
"Every detail of her life is done by magic; the car is always immaculate, dogs walked and fed, and taken to the vet. Once a week, a beauty staff shows up for a wax and manicure. She legit has no idea how her clothes are always clean and immaculately pressed, her house is perfect, her fridge is always stocked, meals are on the table twice a day, bills are paid, taxes are done, investments are invested, her garden weeded, etc. She knows she has staff, and they do it all, but she has no idea what 'all' is or how they do it. She wanted to try paddle boarding, and an hour later, a top-of-the-line paddle board and accessories were unpacked and ready to go in her car. She just dials a phone number, says what she wants, and gets it immediately. She has a concierge on staff. So that's what the ultra-rich do. Nothing."
5."Hiring a stylist to curate new designer furniture for their house when it needs a refresh."
6."I know a family that had a vacation home on a beach in Mexico. They owned the small house across the street where they let the caretaker and his family live. The caretaker's job was to keep the place in condition so that it could be ready for the family to fly in with three hours notice. The family could call from the US airport at noon. By the time they arrived at 3:00, clean sheets would be on the beds, fresh produce, dairy, and meat in the refrigerator, AC at the right temperature, or a fire burning in the fireplace."
7."My mum's boss buys a brand new top-of-the-range car almost every year and gives the year-old one to one of his kids or family members. I jokingly asked for one. The truth is, I doubt I could even afford the insurance, let alone maintenance and fuel."
8."Having separate sets of clothing in each house so they don't have to take more than carry-on luggage when traveling."
9."They keep their pools heated 24/7, 365 days a year, for homes in multiple countries. It can take longer to heat a pool than the time it takes to fly from country to country, so the solution: The heat always stays on."
10."There are several single-family owned Montessori schools like a family office putting together an entire mini school just for their kids and their friend's kids. It became a thing to do when the pandemic hit. Some are 100% mobile, like teaching on the jet, all over the world."
11."They 'summer' (in the verb form)."
12."Buying a home for their college-age child. Then, they sell the house when their kid graduates. Sometimes, this sale pays for college."
13."Years ago, I read an article about someone whose business was keeping ultra-rich people’s cars ready to go — as in, if you have a Ferrari in multiple cities, they’d keep it fueled up, oil changed, etc., drive it around the block once a week or so, and have it waiting at the airport when the owner flies into town."
14."They pay for kidnap insurance."
15."A former client of mine had two yachts moored in the South of France next to each other. One was fast, and the other was slow. He'd take the fast one down to St. Tropez and have the other one follow because it was more comfortable. He'd have lunch in one of his restaurants there, then relax on the slow yacht for the day. Sometimes, he'd stay overnight, sometimes not. But he'd take the fast yacht back to home port. The captains would hand out thousands to get the best berths in St. Tropez. He used the yachts like his taxi. That's how you're supposed to 'trillionaire.'"
16."They hire assistants to do things we wouldn't dream of doing. I know a very rich person who hired a personal assistant to find land to purchase: 'Here are the criteria... forested land by the sea, cliffs, quiet area but with cell reception and make it so that it isn't an area with lots of boat traffic so I can take my bath while looking out at sea.'"
17."They fly to another country on a private jet just to eat dinner."
18."Most of my rich friends growing up always had stocked and organized fridges. Someone else did all the shopping and kept everything organized."
19."My wife works in an ultra-luxury watch store. Average prices for the pieces they have on hand are usually between $75k and $200k. Some specialty pieces go up to $700–800k, and a few one-off pieces can sometimes go for over $1 million. One day, this kid walks in, maybe 16 or 17, wearing sandals and swimming trunks, which isn't odd for a beach town during tourist season but definitely not their typical clientele. They still treat him like any other customer, and he browses some watches, tries on a few, and leaves. A couple of hours later, he returns with his dad and says, 'This one, this one, and that one.' Dad buys all three for something like $600k without batting an eyelash."
What is something you have seen or heard an ultra-wealthy person do that most people would never even consider? Tell us in the comments or drop your response into this anonymous form.
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
