Life of a billionaire

I work at a club where virtually everyone is high society, including politicians and the like

They all don't have a clue, and they are all condescending, but they also don't mean to be but they are nonetheless

R1 do they give you advise on how to “make it”?

You lay on your back and spread your legs....or bend over...either way r2

I worked for a company wholly owned by a billionaire. I know he mentioned he couldn't or wasn't allowed to drive "because of insurance".

I know several people in these categories. I'm in the midwest, so I don't think there's the opportunity to live as extravagantly as one would on the coasts, e.g. their houses are nice, beautiful in fact, but they're not "Manhattan Townhouse" opulent. But their lives are definitely more posh as a result of their money; they drive nicer cars, fly first class overseas and stay in fine hotels, etc.. One family actually has access to private jet, owned by their company. However, they rarely use it because, in their words, it's actually a lot more complicated and costly to fly privately than what most know, and it's not as glamorous as TV makes it out to be. But no one I know is a "Dynasty" type, with off the wall clothing and jewelry. No one has Hermes or LV bags. Funny enough, the people who own the private jet actually drive Toyota, Fords and Hondas.

R5 I would say bye to Toyota forever and quite frankly I do believe it’s as glamorous as it looks on tv...jet life darling!

I imagine it's like playing the Sims with a cheat code.

I've known a few millionaires, most of them seemed like normal people with normal family relationships, whose normal dysfunctional family drama took place in really nice houses. In great neighborhoods, and on fantastic vacations. And whose normal whiny ungrateful teenagers went to very expensive schools.

I don't think life really changes until you're rich enough to have an army of servants and nannies living in.

R5 Are you talking about my cousin? You’ve described her Midwest family to a T. Especially about the jet and flying.

[quote]What is like to be a billionaire?

To be completely honest, not any different than being a thosandnaire or a hundrednaire. They get dressed like everyone else and they have problems like everyone else. Money doesn't make problems go away. It just changes the tone of certain problems.

Think more Warren Buffet and less Kylie Jenner.

Billionaire life is a little different - what is described here is multi millionaire life. Succession on HBO has nailed the lifestyle as well as I’ve seen. Houses are temporary backdrops, cars are SUVs driven by someone else, charity and politicalevents are the “social” life. But work and the maintenance of the social standing/money is the primary activity.

They are cheap cunts....I know many.

They eye everyone around them like they are trying to steal something...

There is a difference between new money and old money. The best way I can describe it is, old money people, when they talk to you, if they talk to you it feels like they are an adult talking to a child. New money people are still on your level but give them a few years. The rich ARE different. They don't have the same problems as the 99%. No common experiences etc. Most have no idea what a walmart or target is, could never pump their own gas, pay their own bills, do their own laundry. They don't know because they never learned. I had to laugh once watching the Real Housewives of Dallas and this woman is getting ready for a trip to Thailand where she is flying, ugh commercial and her daughter goes "what is commercial?" Cut to her cut away and she goes "my kids have always flown private tee hee."

They can sit on a gold-plated toilet.

I wouldn’t know what to do with myself. I sure wouldn’t be concerned with trying to be high society, I would have one main home and then just travel a lot. I wouldnt have multiple homes.

I would imagine their day-to-day lives must be somewhat constrained, what with the constant danger of being robbed, kidnapped, or worse. I have to wonder why that soulless fascist-enabling cyborg Zuckerberg bought a house on the edge of the Castro - it’s not like he can just go out and take a walk, not when most of his neighbors hate his fucking guts.

Not that I feel even the tiniest bit sorry for him, but on some level, having multiple billions must not be a lot of fun.

I used to know a billionaire when she was just a multi-millionaire. She was a cunt to everyone, but then her husband died and she took over the oil company they owned, and many years later, now she's a multi-billionaire.

Her family name is on several important buildings around town and even a university campus.

Another multi-millionaire woman I knew back then used to drive a stretch Cadillac limousine around like Cruella de Vil with five or six children in the back. Her husband also died and the kids grew up to run their company, and I don't know if they are individually billionaires, but collectively the family are certainly worth a few billion. That family seems a lot more down to earth than the first woman, because the children all work in the business and although it has had a few ups and downs, they have managed to diversify and keep it going as a major player in their industry.

I was in their house a couple of times, and it was a huge stone manor house not quite as impressive as something out of Downton Abbey, but close. They were nice people, but insular. They didn't allow outsiders to get too close. Also, their kids were required to study hard and get excellent grades. They were smart kids who always knew their destination in live required them to know lots of math, science, business, and so on. If any of them ever wanted to be an artist or to go their own way, none of them ever showed it on the outside.

I've lived in a big, old, grand house, and it was fun when I was young and living there with my family, but now I live in a 714-square-foot arts and crafts bungalow and don't want anything more. It's bigger than the apartments I lived in in NY and a couple of other cities, and it is totally spacious enough for me. I wouldn't mind having enough money to travel more and never have to care about the cost of a house/pet sitter, but I'm happy the way things are. The rich don't have anything I want, and I wouldn't trade anything I have to live like they do.

A few million would give me the freedom to do what I want, a few billion would be an unbearable burden. Billions of dollars would take over my life, and change all my relationships.

I'm with R18, I'd be totally happy in a nice little bungalow, I'd just like enough money to quit my job and travel a bit.

R10 I think money does make problems go away - it makes the money problems go away and it gives you access to so many opportunities. It doesn’t make ALL problems go away.

R10 I think money does make problems go away - it makes the money problems go away and it gives you access to so many opportunities. It doesn’t make ALL problems go away.

They really don't know what to do with all their money.

In 1993, Warren Buffett insisted that Bill Gates buy a $370 million dollar engagement ring. In today's dollars, that would be a $660 million dollar engagement ring.

Bill refused, and ended up marrying Melinda (Gates) instead.

Jesus, R22, I'm trying to imagine Mrs. Bazillionaire going to the gym with the fucking Kooh-i-Noor on her hand...

R19 I feel the opposite I would trade 99% of my friends for money and not even billions just millions. And billions could never be a burden for me.

R20, R21, there's a well-known assertion that about $70,000 -- that number is no longer accurate, I'm sure, and it was never accurate for cities like NY and LA -- is enough to make most people's money problems go away, and people under that income level are indeed less happy than average, because they suffer in ways that money can fix, but above that level, people are no happier when they have millions or billions.

Of course the idea is that if we can afford decent housing, healthy food, access to good healthcare, educational opportunities, etc., more money and luxury does not increase our happiness level. Without enough money for those basics, we do suffer a loss of happiness, primarily due to the stress of trying to survive on not enough.

R25 I think it’s also massively different if you’ve been poor because you know the problems that money fixes and you also know that money problems really are the worst since they can literally fuck up all areas of your life.

Absolutely, R26. There are few things worse than watching someone you love die because neither they nor you have the money to get ordinary, adequate medical care for a condition most people would never have a problem with, because their insurance would pay for therapy and treatment.

I think some of you are confusing the real billionaires with actors and media moguls. Most billionaires and their family members are people that you don't recognize, living lives not that different from yours, except with a lot more money. Most billionaires run from the spotlight and can go out in public and not be photographed because people don't know who they are.

Celebrity culture and the 24 hour news cycle has twisted the idea of what "wealthy" is supposed to look like. To people with real money, it's not about flash. I went to school with the son of a true billionaire and we are still good friends today. The father still drives a 15 year old Mercedes. The Mom has a cute little Mini Cooper and volunteers at the local hospital. They have three gorgeous houses and travel quite a bit, but, except the money, there is nothing outwardly different about their lives.

R17, poor people are far more likely to be the victims of violent crime than rich people

Ask Peter Thiel

R23, no billionaire woman goes to the gym. She has a gym in her house and a trainer comes to her.

I imagine there is so much less fear, not even billionaire but anyone really well to do. For instance, if there is something wrong with my computer or an appliance, I panic. I know if I have to pay to get something fixed or something new it will have to come from somewhere else, food money, laundry money, even pay the electric company a little less, as they won't shut off your power as long as you pay a good portion of the bill. It's fear of what the government will do like fuck around with Social Security or Medicaid/Medicare or that the insurance company will raise your rates and you will no longer have health care. These are problems that never cross the mind of a wealthy person.

I have one friend who isn't filthy rich but my guess is she and her husband have at least a couple of million in the bank and he gets a great pension as does she. Her big problems are codes the city has about things when she redoes her home ever few years, or which huge TV they should buy ever few years when there is nothing at all wrong with the huge TVs they already have in every room.

Then there is the fear of being physically sick or disabled and not being able to afford anyone to do anything for you and watching your apartment/house get in worse and worse shape as there is less and less you can do on your own. My friend has housekeepers that she complains about because they don't clean the way, "I would." Well, then why the hell doesn't she just clean. She's in good physical condition.

So I guess to me it's living without those kind of fears. I can't even imagine what it's like not to wake up afraid, think of things I fear all day and try to go to sleep in fear at night.

Who cares? You really think the disgustingly wealthy ever think about anyone else but themselves?

They're such a tiny minority, with so much wealth that has corrupted them, to the extent they cannot truly be viewed as part of the human race.

You nailed it R33. These days they are sub humans and most are pure evil, never having enough and doing whatever they can to keep others, especially the poor from having even crappy food to eat like taking school lunch away from poor kids or taking away food stamps or the most basic medical care or a roof over their heads. They have no consciences.

R33 even those that aren’t super rich only think of themselves. I would love to be rich it is my number one goal.

My cousin is sort of a minor celebrity, and he started an annual fund-raiser in our small city for the only homeless shelter. It raised about $5,000 every year for several, almost all of it from ordinary people who helped produce it and spend around $25 or less on it per person.

One of our local almost-billionaire's wife told my cousin after the third year, "Don't you think it's time to drop that? No one likes it, they only do it to curry favor with you."

In fact, neither she nor any of her rich friends ever attended or donated or did anything for that event. Their kind of fund-raisers always involve private parties where everyone donates $1,000 or more for an evening with a famous jazz singer and fabulous food, drinks, etc.

She is known, however, as a local philanthropist, and she didn't like that my cousin was hailed as a good guy by hundreds of people in town who were involved in a money-making event that she wasn't part of.

I need to be rich I want it soooooo badly

Everyone has problems they are just different problems if you are rich, I am guessing since I am certainly not rich. Billionaires have to worry about their kids getting kidnapped, people robbing them, the price of caviar, the hired help ripping you off.

There was a documentary done by one of the Johnson and Johnson Kid heirs. He was trying to show how rich people live and they had money handlers taking care of the money and investments. They seemed to spend a lot of time playing croquet.

Different but not necessarily happy. Once you are not living hand to mouth, the stress and issues of not having money dissipate. Being poor is a tough life. Having kids and being poor sucks even more. Single gay men making $75,000 have enough. Then it’s a matter of not getting suckered by advertising and the capitalist need-creation machine.

I knew a couple of multi-millionaires through my sister. The couple I had interactions with were nice but a lot of work. When we went out to dinner they always paid. Usually $600 a dinner and they ate out about every night. Were ‘whales’ in Vegas. The wife won $1 million playing in a slot tournament. They had an Aston Martin as one of their cars. They said they bought the car in Vegas after a win. They walked into the AM dealership in sweat pants and t shirts and the salesperson thought they were homeless. Surprised the shit out of him when they paid cash. They would go out shopping just to buy things due to boredom. As I mentioned they were just a lot of work. Just because you have money doesn’t make you happy.

The Buffett-Gates thing was a joke, referencing how when old Warren was a young man, he spent 6% of his net worth on an engagement ring for his wife. And if Bill were to do that, it would have to be a $370 million ring.

And also funny because Berkshire Hathaway owns a local Omaha jewelry store, and Gates is on the Berkshire board.

No matter how rich or poor you become, your dick will remain the same size.

The east coast older money families I encountered were mostly nice — the women can be a little stuffy and inexplicably dress very frumpy. Not necessarily warm and fuzzy people, but almost always mostly nice. The west coast newer money families I encountered— some were nice, some were ratchet trash. In Newport some nouveaus act like it’s a luxury to be able to treat people like crap. Their humble beginnings showing in very nasty ways. San Francisco is kind of a different scene and feels more genuinely philanthropic and earnest than LA/OC but still different and slightly douchier than the money you’d encounter in the Northeast

More money, more problems.

r43 not true at all - the more money you have the bigger your dick looks.

I knew one, an heiress to an agricultural fortune that had morphed into an oil fortune by the time she and her brother got the money and tried to spend it all. One of her kids drowned in the surf, one husband died, three marriages fell apart, and she got the clap at the age of 66, allegedly from a desk clerk at the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo one summer. She had a diamond you could swim in and a bad habit of losing Cadillacs. She was a good person once but a mess from the drinking and the gigolos by the time she was 60. And more or less "retired" to start the long decline at age 70 - but in Palm Beach on the ocean side with 24/7 nursing and a never-empty glass of gin - for the last 15 years of her life with all the bills paid by the Republic National Bank in Houston. It was a long, beautifully managed twilight, but it was twilight nonetheless.

Whether she'd have been more or less responsible or sober with or without the money (and the yacht, and the Park Avenue co-op and the Hamptons house and the Palm Bay condo and the LA condo done in 27 shades of white and beige) and lived her life differently is anyone's guess - who knows? The life she did live, with all that money, didn't spare her much grief.

Grief is better with money darling it’s worse when poor.

The billionaire I know appears quite normal. He and his family live reasonably normal lives about 90% of the time. He lives in the same house he's owned for 40 years he drives a non-descript SUV, his kids live in equally nice houses wherever in the world they chose to live, and their day to day lifestyles are nothing that would make them stand out in a crowd. His kids all work, not for money to be sure, but they do work at jobs that make a contribution, and the family quietly gives a LOT of money to charity and a couple universities.

That's the 90%, the 10% is the part that endlessly entertaining to watch. They use money as a tool to deal with problems. If they have a problem and money can fix it, it gets fixed and I mean right now. If there's a medical problem the best doctors in the world are in involved within hours, if they need to get somewhere, a private jet is chartered and waiting, if they have a legal problem a small army of the best lawyers in the world are on it. His wife wanted to redecorate so one call to Warren Buffett and there was a small convoy of Nebraska Furniture Mart trucks delivering furniture 900 miles from the store in Omaha.

R32 talked about living without fear and that's a very accurate way of thinking about it.

Why does someone who lives in Palm Beach do with a condo in Palm Bay 90 minutes north?

I've talked to a few for my job. Keep in mind they were just regular millionaires, not Uber wealthy millionaire borderline billionaires.

Some were severely rude, like they don't enjoy their life. Some were witty and gregarious. Some were paranoid and took offense at everything. Some were down right humble. Different personalities.

I think one commonality they all shared was the ability to make themselves rich. A certain amount of determination and focus is what they all shared. They were all responsible. All had just understood it was possible to be rich and did the homework it took to get there.

The ruder and more pretentious they are, the newer the money.

The more down to earth they are, the older the money.

My partner knows an unhappily married couple who between them own half a dozen houses including a place in Aspen, a townhouse in London, and an estate in the south of France. I don't know their net worth but a million dollars is like pocket change to them. Apart from the shopping sprees which I admit to envying their lifestyle sounds sort of crazy and stressful to me.

My stepmother is old money, more money than you or I could ever spend, and is a miserable alcoholic.

My ex had tons of new money that he made as a TV writer and producer. He also had a drinking problem and was desperately unhappy.

R50 The Palm Bay condo was when the Palm Bay Club meant something in the 60's and 70's. The Palm Beach place was later.

I know two. One is self-made, hedge-fund guy. Very unassuming guy, but his wife is the one who’s flashy. They will never divorce, they have some kids who are pretty down-to-earth, considering. Their house is tacky decor in an old-money NYC suburb. Multiple cars, a couple of vacation homes, private jets, the kids had full college funds and trusts at birth. They are actually pretty sane, the wife is a bit bratty, as is the daughter. I wouldn’t mind their life.

The other is actually the soon-to-be-ex of another finance guy. They’re legit Manhattan society people, all the clubs and schools, charity events, etc. the kids are a goddamn mess. She has a good heart but is neurotic as a poodle. Trump supporter. She is beautiful but has slightly trashy taste. Knows everyone, throws money at everything. Honestly, HONESTLY would not trade places with her.

I spent my whole life envying people like them, and honestly? Money doesn’t make you happy if you don’t have a loving family. It doesn’t mean shit. I really do believe that study that concluded that, after a certain point/level, happiness isn’t proportional to money.

I bet there’s more rich happy people then rich unhappy people and those that are unhappy lack perspective on what real problems are probably because they have never been poor.

To not have to worry about money on a daily basis would raise my happiness level into the stratosphere. Yes, you still have to live in the same fucked up world but a pampered lifestyle sure as fuck helps. Just the thought of buying fresh lump crabmeat instead of imitation gives me a boner.

Yes they do have a lot of issues like us BUT I’d rather be a billionaire than a thousandnaire. Sorry but not sorry

R58 everyone would..if presented with the choice everyone would pick to be a billionaire.

^^Everyone would

I've found that people who become rich in their lifetimes eventually stop listening to other people. The people around them laugh at their jokes, tell them how smart they are and ask their opinion on everything. And this leads them to do all the talking and stop listening. It's happened to the people I know who got up to like $50 million or so. I've stopped bothering to see a couple of old friends who became like this - i have no need to just laugh at their jokes and not have a two-way conversation.

R61 - I can see that. You see that in a lot of actors who become extremely wealthy - way too many yes people and they start to go off the bend.

Tom Cruise, Mel Gibson, Michael Jackson, Cosby, Schwarzenegger, the list goes on and on. There really is a point where too much wealth and power makes a person crazy.

Mainly men - however, you know Oprah can be a handful, but she has such iron-clad NDAs with everyone around her. No one speaks about her. Ever.

Right r12. There is a difference in lifestyle between normal rich people who are multimillionaires, and the elite of the elite who have billions.

Madonna is an extremely wealthy cunt

The people on Wall Street I know - now exclusively hedge fund buys because that became the path in the 2000s - made making money the focus of their lives. Only thing that really mattered. Wife and kids were accessories who dealt with their work obsession. I opted out of that path because I just didn’t have the monomaniacal desire to make money at the expense of everything else in life. So I see it as cause / effect. They only valued money - and they got it.

In a way grateful that early deaths in my family and the death of many young acquaintances from AIDS made me prioritize life and deeper meaning. While I wish I had that money, I know if I die tomorrow, I’ve done what I want and had a good life. My greatest fear was dying while still working that job. A miserable life if work / making money isn’t the most important thing to you,

[quote]I've found that people who become rich in their lifetimes eventually stop listening to other people. The people around them laugh at their jokes, tell them how smart they are and ask their opinion on everything. And this leads them to do all the talking and stop listening.

My billionaire is like that. He throws a party every year that I'm invited to, and after years of resisting the temptation I went up and tried to have a conversation with him, mostly because I had heard some trivia about his Father. When I asked him about his Father he became very animated and we had an interesting conversation for about 45 seconds. At that point it was like he was one of the robots at Disneyland--he had said what he had to say so he just shut down on me. His eyes became blank, he broke eye contact, his body became still (he's in a wheelchair) and it obvious that it was over between us so I moved on. It was very odd.

What R28 said. 100%

Context likely matters too: the people I grew up with in Manhattan were surrounded by both people at the same level of wealth and by people who were much, much richer. (Even in the 1% there is a huge difference between someone who is worth $5M and someone who is worth $500M)

Point being that nothing we had/did seemed all that extravagant or out of the ordinary--everyone had a place at the beach or in the country. Everyone flew first class on long trips.

So you never thought of yourself as special or better-- I suspect that for people who live in areas where they are the Rich People in town or for people who have recently become wealthy and everyone they know is still middle class, the experience is very different.

Also the context matters--if you are an IBer, then all your coworkers are equally well off, so nothing you have seems that unusual--the Tesla is no big deal.

But if you, say own a vegan restaurant that suddenly turns into a 10 location chain, then chances are you are the only person you know who makes that kind of money, so things with your friends and family can get awkward

They always have a lot of security around because most billionaires got their wealth through unethical, illegal and screwed up ways, they have stabbed countless people in the back, lied and scammed their way to get to the top. They have A LOT of enemies.

Very small percentage are "nice" people.

What I want to know is how they deal with people asking them for money all the time...esp their friends from high school and cousins that come out of the woodwork.

Again R69, the vast majority of wealthy people in the US grew up surrounded by people like them, so their friends from high school and cousins don't need to hit them up for money.

That would seem to be a problem more commonly faced by pro athletes, singers and some actors.

I found out randomly that a youngish (late 20s) girl I work with is the heir to a 3 billion dollar fortune. I work in advertising and she is an account executive. She is super-nice, works her ass off and very unassuming. If you take a close look at some of her jewelry, you can pick up a subtle wealthy vibe. Other than that...nothing would make you think she is from that rarified world. She also mentions family vacations to Europe but doesn’t elaborate. I met her mom once and she’s actually an aging hippie chick from Minneapolis. You would never guess in a million years she is worth billions.

One thing I don’t understand is that if billionaires just want to present as regular people, why the fuck don’t they give it all away? They’re too greedy to ever do it.

It’s a personal safety thing, r72. Also, that level of money is dangerous. If billionaires love their kids, they try their damndest to give them a normal life with a sense of self, purpose and drive.

R71, I have friend who is like that. When I found out who her parents are, I was very surprised. You would never know. And then I met her parents, who are equally unassuming. She’s gearing up to take over the family business eventually.

Not *billionaires*, but. Their priority is education and making their kids well-rounded and ethical people. That’s what they spend their money on. Considering the business, you’d think they’d be glitzy, but no.

i think most of these responses are bogus. Respondents seem not to comprehend the difference between millionaires and billionaires.

There are only 585 billionaires in the USA, versus 19 million millionaires.

people seem to be conflating wealthy multi-millionaires with billionaires, which are a different species entirely.

a billion is 1000X a million, a huge order of magnitude.

the average net worth in the US is $68,000. 1000X that would be $68,000,000. extremely wealthy but no where close to a billionaire. A $68m multimillionaire would need to increase his wealth my more than 14 fold to become a billionaire.

No one should be allowed to amass a billion dollars. Period.

R61 do you know that many people worth $50+ mil?? How? R71 that girl is living my life!! I think most billionaires are fairly level headed when it comes to wanting their children to be normal because they want to ensure their money lives on for generations and they know wealth can ruin you. Plus for you to amass that kind of wealth, you must be level minded and decent to a certain extent..it’s really difficult to become that wealthy and be a douche unless your doing it by illegal means.

R77, I do know a few. I live in Chicago, which has a fair concentration of wealth. So if you go work in the business community (I'm an attorney) or go to fancy parties (e.g., gay black tie dinners), you're bound to meet some wealthy people.

really dumb thread OP. you should have used something like super-rich, not billionaire

the odds that a single poster on DL would actually know a billionaire, given their scarcity, is practically infinitesimal. The chances that enough would to have a conversation is ludicrous.

also you grossly overestimate posters' math skills

1,000,000 is not 1,000,000,000

Like r585 said, there are about 600 billionaires in America. It is a small, elite group of people.

I know several people who who are millionaires, but I certainly don't know anyone who is a billionaire.

The one I've posted about twice is worth just south of 2 billion according to Forbes. He's actually been giving wads of money away over the last decade, so his net worth is down about $500 million from its peak. For what it's worth, if he inherited anything it wasn't much.

Will any of Peter Thiel's or David Geffen's tricks chime in?

"Plus for you to amass that kind of wealth, you must be level minded and decent to a certain extent..."

R77 is naive as fuck and hasn't been in the real world LOL.

They're just as conflicted and incomplete as anyone else but they don't have to worry about money. That doesn't mean they don't worry about anything. Hardly.

"[R23], no billionaire woman goes to the gym. She has a gym in her house and a trainer comes to her. "

Well, that's what I mean about excessive wealth changing your life and your relationships.

People who like gyms don't just to because they need to work out, they go to meet other people and flirt with the hotties and compare oneself to other clients and participate in classes... it's a chance to be social and participate in group activities, as well as to work out. A lifestyle of staying home and paying people come to you can be very lonely and isolating.

With great privilege comes great assholery.

I'm pretty sure Barbara Bush had that embroidered on a pillow. She used burnt sienna to embroider the asshole on her pillow.

Meanwhile, Jenna Bush used a pinkish beige to embroider the asshole on her pillow.

Anal bleaching has affected embroidery in ways my old embroidery teacher, Mrs Mellinger, would have never imagined.

But that's just not true R85, that's Datalounge Magical Thinking.

I am sure that the vast majority of billionaires who prefer working out at a gym versus working out with a trainer--for all the reasons you cite--continue to go to the gym.

Why would they stop?

[quote]A lifestyle of staying home and paying people come to you can be very lonely and isolating.

Uh...they have anything but a lifestyle of "staying at home".

DLers seem to think that nouveau riche trash and real housewives are what billionaires are like. No.

It's the same reason their kin vote for Trump R89

Because he's their vision of what a successful businessman is like.

[quote]It's the same reason their kin vote for Trump [R89]

You really think a billionaire would vote for Warren or Sanders over Trump?

My cousin, who is more like a younger sibling, through luck and hard work, is now in the 100 million or so club. He's retiring at fifty, reprioritizing his life. He's the same guy he's always been. He's learned to smell BS when it comes to friendships/acquaintanceships when it's about trying to get him to fund something. He's generous with the family without being extravagant (will invite us all someplace nice and foot the bill, I get to use the Manhattan apartment if I'm going to be in NYC etc.) He can do things like jet off to Europe for the weekend with the kids to attend a soccer match in the royal box that show he just lives in a different world. He's smart, made it on his own, and has a good heart.

I'm banking on it R91

Me too R91

I had a step-family member who dated the son of a very wealthy man, worth 100s of millions. We flew a few places in his private jet, once to CO to ski. He was very nice, buy always wary, slightly untrusting as if he couldn't figure out who his real friends were or who was using him.

Went to school with a guy who's dad was a multi-millionaire at the time, is now a billionaire or very close to it. He also was friendly and down-to-earth, at least back then. You wonder how things have changed for him, knowing he'll inherit a huge chunk of change.

I've known a few people from billionaire families. Old money is different than the hedge funders. Kids are given a lot of opportunity but are expected to work hard. There is a great emphasis placed upon education. Cash is often tight, when the funds are all in the family enterprise, the trust distribution is sometimes all you get. The richest people I know are not buying much, they already have it in inherited homes, furniture, artwork. It is an insular life and I have found a lot of paranoia regarding the motivations of outsiders. The clubs, the neighborhoods (or buildings) where they live surround them with people like themselves. It tends to be a more international perspective, friends and travel abroad. There can be great loyalty to people they trust. There are often legal issues between beneficiaries. Family "offices" pay the bills, another disconnect from the real world.

I have been friendly with a well off couple, Ivy League educated. The wife has one sister, the father was a very successful physician. My friends are comfortably upper middle class. I have just learned that the sister in law's husband is now worth $6 billion. The families get together for some of the holidays. I'm not close enough to ask "how has the brother-in-law's success changed your relationship with your sister?" but it would be an interesting conversation.

R76 the problem is corruption.

We ought to just not have money anyway. It's all fake. Imagine how the world would be with no money? It's just numbers in a computer screen. It's weird.

Yet we act like higher numbers means someone work hard, and honorably to amass their wealth, but lots of times people aren't so ethical about it.

There ought to be a way for no one on Earth to be poor. No, I don't like when humans get a bunch of stuff and then think they are more deserving to live a lavish life.

The only difference between the rich and the poor is the rich have more money.

The people I mentioned are legitimate billionaires. If you don’t believe me, that’s fine. I am not exactly one of them, but happen to be on the fringe of a rarefied bubble of New York society and finance people. One I knew when he was just a millionaire, 20 years ago. Do I know everything about their lives? No. Do I know enough to comment? Yes.

Ugh 🤮🤮🤮🤮 billionaires yuckk

I mean, there are all sorts of millionaires.

(I have met two billionaires, but by no stretch of the imagination do I "know" them.)

My father has about $25 million.

I find the nicest millionaires are people who are entrepreneurs, started with nothing, built their own family business--and have family members working for them in multi-generational businesses. The meanest (that I know) tend to be high/c-level executives at public companies, and they tend to be the most disconnected from their families.

I know (and grew up with) a few stupid people who inherited huge fortunes--they are lost in all sorts of ways. A few drugs and drinking (and this was in high school!). I know one who joined a cult. A few just drift out.

Smart heirs are also nice and tend to be big philanthropists.

This is just in my experience. I think this varies immensely by part of the country, kind of wealth (business, entertainment, sports, etc).

Allow me to answer R77--

[quote] I think most billionaires are fairly level headed when it comes to wanting their children to be normal because they want to ensure their money lives on for generations and they know wealth can ruin you.

Are you crazy?

When we talk about the very wealthy, let's include high millionaires, we are talking about a group that is almost entirely male. And these males tend to have multiple ex-wives and multiple little groups of children. They also have NO spare time. Lots of them don't even see their kids regularly, let alone worry about what they are doing or whether they're "normal" or not.

[quote] Plus for you to amass that kind of wealth, you must be level minded

Yes..

[quote] and decent to a certain extent.

No. There's so much you can do that is highly unethical, but legal. Geez, just look into stock buybacks, for the most obvious way.

r92 Oh my.

[quote] They also have NO spare time.

Delusional.

As I said, there are all kind of rich people.

"Theory of the Leisure Class" was about old money circa the turn of the century. Think of the Edith Wharton kind of life--her class. Unless you live in the northeast, you have never really encountered these kind of people.

Once again, as I said in my post, among rich people who WORK, they don't have much spare time. They travel for work a great deal. They're constantly talking to people and taking meetings. Parenting is completely the purview of the non-working wife or ex-wife. (Even when the genders are switched--like in Carly Fiorina's case: her husband raised the two girls (who were from a previous marriage of his, but I believe she adopted).

America does not look like it did in 1899, when Theory was published. Most people on this board were not around in 1899, though perhaps you were?