Wealth can do weird things to a person. Whether we’re talking about the ultra-rich or merely the regular rich , having extra money in your pocket is a surefire way to change the way you act .
If you aren’t insanely rich and don’t know anyone who is, let the r/AskReddit question , “What do insanely rich people buy that poor people have no idea about?” be your guide into the weird world of the wealthy.
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Art as an investment.
“Obscure paintings, like ones you’ve never heard of. There have been cases of art changing hands without ever being seen but the buyer or leaving the vault where it was stored. There are a lot of investment vehicles that are largely unused for their intended purposes and are purchased just because their perceived value is expected to increase.”
Opportunity.
“You can throw a hundred business ideas at the wall and only one sticks, if you are rich enough, when you finally do something right, everyone calls you a genius, like you didn’t buy your way through 99 failures first.”
Exclusive brands you’ve never heard of.
“I work for the super-rich/elite of California. Tycoons and politicians and old money types. They don’t wear the “poor” name brands like Gucci or Prada. They buy these random brands you’ve never heard of where a white t-shirt is 3k. Money talks, wealth whispers.”
Exclusive towns and islands.
“There are a few towns and islands that are only for rich people. It’s just a place you’d never know to go or have access to unless you too are rich. But also things like specific buildings for high frequency trading. Some trading firms move to where they have faster access to the internet and as such can complete trades faster peeling off those tenths of a cent in a transaction that in term can make millions.”
Specific insurance.
“Weird but important different types of insurance on their ‘money-makers.’
Like Taylor Swift has her legs insured for like $50 million. Her legs are part of her brand, her look. If some terrible accident happened that removed her legs or damaged them, she has insurance to cover that loss of income.”
Private doctors.
“My nephew married into a very high net worth family, They employ a general practitioner/hospitalist with privileges at several top level hospitals. He caters, in house, to any and all medical needs they may have.”
“Often with access to unique treatments that normal people can’t get.”
– u/rnb4n8
Highly specific servants.
“My wife’s, cousin’s husband is a chef for a famous Bollywood star. The catch- he is only there to make chai. Apparently his chai tastes exactly the same as his employer’s beloved (now deceased) grandmother used to make. The man makes more than I do per year making chai 2-3 times/day.”
– u/kk1485
Renting theme parks.
“I worked at Walt Disney World in the early 90s. We were closing our drink stand for the night when the manager came and told us to do all the normal closing tasks, but to then reopen everything, because Michael Jackson was there.
He had rented out the entire Magic Kingdom, and had a group of people with him. We had to keep our stand open in case they ‘might’ want a drink.”
Kidnapping insurance.
“It’s called kidnap and ransom insurance. K&R and it includes training so that you know what to do in a hostage situation. It also includes a trained response team.
The statistics on this stuff was/is nasty. Your chance of survival with insurance is about 60%. Without it you’re closer to 0%.”
Ultra-exclusive streaming.
“There a streaming service that’s pretty much netflix for rich people, allowing you to stream current cinematic movies for about 3000 bucks a pop.”
“Have heard about this one. It’s insanely expensive. And for a good reason. Nothing stopping a tech savvy rich person from uploading all those movies to usenet and torrent groups for the world to go ham on.”
Assistants for everything.
“I heard a story where a celebrity (prolly actor or famous band member?) in LA forgot their passport (or possibly more accurately their handlers forgot, haha) on their trip from Canada to LA and needed it to move on to their next location. So they sent an assistant via private jet from Canada to LA to drop off the passport…then the assistant had to just turn around and fly back.”
Pricey spur-of-the-moment trips.
“I work in the film industry and one time I booked a trip for someone to fly from London to California for a weekend and it cost more than my yearly salary.
Edit: This was 2010, and it was $35,000 for first class airfare, private car, & hotel, because they realized Friday morning that based on his contract that he needed to be present while the film was being finished that weekend, and his contract specified he accommodations needed to be first class/5-star hotel, etc.”
A family office with full support team.
“Yeah a proper dedicated FO is really in the $500+ million net-worth territory.
They’re really like an ‘easy mode’ for so many of life’s annoyances. Having trusted lawyers, financial advisors, personal assistants, and other staff on-hand for everything just takes so much of the hassle out of day-to-day life.”
Clones of their pets.
“Cloning pets, one of our investors spent ~$100K cloning his dog.”
“The really scary thing is we have the tech to clone humans.
It would take a very rich and unethical person in a place that would be willing to look the other way on ethics, but cloning a human is not much harder technically than a dog or horse.”
Private vacation clubs.
“There are membership-based vacation clubs. Similar to high-end country clubs, but for travel.
You may pay a one-time initiation fee that can be upwards of $100k – $250k to get 5-10 years of access to purchase incredibly exclusive vacation/resort/rental property experiences.”
Support fleet for their yacht.
“The biggest yachts don’t travel alone, they generally have small cargo ships that do everything from house additional staff, to transport your cars so you always have them when you make port, to holding all of your toys (helicopters, submarines, day-boats, etc.). They’ll often travel a day or two ahead of the yacht to a destination so that your staff can unload your things (cars, clothing, etc.) at the next villa you’re summering in.”
Mini yachts inside bigger yachts.
“So I worked at an airport in the Caribbean. There was a small bay that would be used on occasion in the winter months for yacht parking. A Middle Eastern prince parked his yacht there one day and we watched the hull open and two smaller yachts emerged. That is stupid money right there.”
Access to everything.
“Need to call a governor? He’s on speed dial and will phone the senators too. Need to talk to the CEO of Coca Cola… he’s waiting for you and immediately assigns someone to fix your problem. Do you want to yacht around the Horn of Africa? The closest naval fleet will tell you the safest route and provide “support” so pirates don’t mess with you.”
Pilots on staff.
“I have a buddy pulling in nearly 200k as a chief pilot for a crew of 4 pilots for a billionaire family. They fly far less than your average commercial pilot and he’s in his mid 30s. We live in the south, where you can live like a king on 200k.”
Mechanics on staff.
“On staff mechanics. People see the Floyd Mayweathers and Tom Cruises of the world buying tons of cars and motorcycles, but when you have a fleet like that, you basically need on staff mechanics who at the very least keep your cars clean, but also handle all maintenance.”
