If you’re a regular visitor of Celebrity Net Worth, you probably hope/plan to be insanely rich some day. Rich enough to quit your job and never work another day of your life. Rich enough to buy an absolutely insane mansion. Rich enough to have a fleet of cars and a private jet that flies you all over the world to luxurious locations.
If you’re a regular visitor of this site, you are probably looking forward to the day when your bank account holds millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions… or even BILLIONS of dollars.
But have you ever thought about how your life might actually change when you eventually make those millions and billions of dollars? It begs the question – What do insanely rich people experience and know that is shut off to non-millionaires? Perhaps more importantly, how does life change at the various levels of wealth? What can someone who has $50 million actually do that someone with $15 million can NOT do? What does the billionaire know that the hundred-millionaire can only dream of?
To get some insight into these questions, we can look at a Reddit forum post that asked the following question:
What do insanely wealthy people buy, that ordinary people know nothing about?
The question got hundreds of interesting responses, but a user with the handle “a1988eli” posted a answer that turned out to be particularly amazing. To start out, a1988eli says we need to separate wealth into five distinct levels/gradients:
- Level 1: $10 million – $30 million
- Level 2: $30 million – $100 million
- Level 3: $100 million – $1 billion
- Level 4: $1 billion – $10 billion
- Level 5: $10 billion+
You’re gonna drool over what he says about the life of someone at Level 4, $1-10 billion. It’s mind-boggling. Oh, and before you get too excited about Level 5, he actually doesn’t spend too much time on the lifestyles of these insanely lucky few because, according to a1988eli, anyone with more than $10 billion basically lives the life of a head of state. A life that is essentially unimaginable unless you are a King or the President of an extremely wealthy country. The first four levels, on the other hand, are a bit more conceptually ascertainable… even for us mere mortals.
(Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
I’m gonna cut and paste exactly what he says for each level because it’s all really amazing. Again, I want to credit a1988eli for everything you are about to read:
Level 1: $10 million – $30 million
(liquid net worth, not including primary residence)
At this level, your needs are met. You can live very comfortably at a 4-star/5-star level. You can book a $2000 suite for a special occasion. You can fly first class internationally (sometimes). You have a very nice house, you can afford any healthcare you need, no emergency financial situation can destroy your life. But you are not “rich” in the way that money doesn’t matter. You still have to be prudent and careful with most decisions unless you are on the upper end of this scale, where you truly are becoming insulated from personal financial stress. (Business stress exists at all levels). The banking world still doesn’t classify you as ‘ultra high net worth’.
Brendon Thorne/Getty Images
Level 2: $30 million – $100 million
At this point, you start playing with the big boys. You can fly private (though you normally charter a flight or own a jet fractionally through Net Jets or the like), You stay at 5 star hotels, you have multiple residences, you vacation in prime time (you rent a ski-in, ski-out villa in Aspen for Christmas week or go to Monaco for the grand Prix, or Cannes for the Film Festival–for what its worth, rent on these places can run $5k-20k+ per NIGHT.), you run or have a controlling interest in a big company, you socialize with Congressmen, Senators and community leaders, and you are an extremely well respected member in any community outside the world’s great cities. (In Beverly Hills, you are a minor player at $80 million. Unless you really throw your weight around and pay out the nose, you might not get a table at the city’s hottest restaurant). You can buy any car you want. You have personal assistants and are starting to have ‘people’ that others have to talk to to get to you. You can travel ANYWHERE in any style. You can buy pretty much anything that normal people think of as ‘rich people stuff’.
JEAN CHRISTOPHE MAGNENET/AFP/Getty Images
Level 3: $100 million – $1 billion
I know its a wide range, but life doesn’t change much when you go from being worth $200mm-$900mm. At this point, you have a private jet, multiple residences with staff, elite cars at each residence, ownership or significant control over a business/entity that most of the public has heard of, if it’s your thing, you can socialize with movie stars/politicians/rock stars/corporate elite/aristocracy. You might not get invited to every party, but you can go pretty much everywhere you want. You definitely have ‘people’ and staff. The world is full of ‘yes men’. Your ability to buy things becomes an art. One of your vacation homes may be a 5 bedroom villa on acreage in Cabo, but that’s not impressive. You own a private island? Starting to be cool, but it depends on the island. You just had dinner with Senator X and Governor Y at your home? Cool. But your billionaire friend just had dinner with the President. You have a new Ferrari? Your friend thinks their handling sucks and has a classic, only-five-exist-in-the-world-type of car. Did I mention women? Because at this level, they are all over the place. Every event, most parties. The polo club. Ultra-hot, world class, smart women. Power and money are an aphrodisiac and you have it in spades. Anything you want from women at this point you will find a willing and beautiful partner. You might not emotionally connect, but damn, she’s hot. One thing that gets rare at this level? Friends and family that love you for who you are. They exist, but it is pretty damn hard to know which ones they are.
Level 4: $1 billion – $10 billion
At $1b, life changes. You can buy anything. ANYTHING. In broad terms, this is what you can buy:
ACCESS. You now can just ask your staff to contact anyone and you will get a call back. I have seen this first hand and it is mind-blowing the level of access and respect $1 billion+ gets you. In this case, I wanted to speak with a very well-known billionaire businessman (call him billionaire #1 for a project that interested billionaire #2. I mentioned that it would be good to talk to billionaire #1 and B2 told me that he didn’t know him. But he called his assistant in. “Get me the xxxgolf club directory. Call B1 at home and tell him I want to talk to him.” Within 60 minutes, we had a call back. I was in B1’s home talking to him the next day. B2’s opinion commanded that kind of respect from a peer. Mind blowing. The same is true with access to almost any Senator/Governor of a billionaires party (because in most cases, he is a significant donor). You meet on an occasional basis with heads-of-state and have real conversations with them. Which leads to,
INFLUENCE. Yes, you can buy influence. As a billionaire, you have many ways to shape public policy and the public debate, and you use them. This is not in any evil way. the ones I know are passionate about ideas and are trying to do what they feel is best (just like you would). But they just had an hour with the Governor privately, or with the Secretary of Health, or the buy ads or lobbyists. The amount of influence you have can be heady.
TIME. Yes, you can buy time. You literally never wait for anything. Travel? you fly private. Show up at the airport, sit down in the plane and the door closes and you take off in 2 minutes, and fly directly to where you are going. The plane waits for you. If you decide you want to leave at anytime, you drive (or take a helicopter to the airport and you leave. The pilots and stewardess are your employees. They do what you tell them to do. Dinner? Your driver drops you off at the front door and waits a few blocks away for however long you need. The best table is waiting for you. The celebrity chef has prepared a meal for you (because you give him so much catering business he wants you VERY happy) and he ensures service is impeccable. Golf? Your club is so exclusive there is always a tee time and no wait. Going to the Superbowl or Grammy’s? You are whisked behind velvet ropes and escorted past any/all lines to the best seats in the house.
EXPERIENCES. Dream of it and you can have it. Want to play tennis with Pete Sampras (not him in particular, but that type of star)? Call his people. For a donation of $100k+ to his charity, you could probably play a match with him. Like Blink182? There is a price where they would simply come play at your private party. Love art? Your people could arrange for the curator of the Louvre to show you around and even show you masterpieces that have not been exhibited in years. Love Nascar? How about racing the top driver on a closed track? Love science? Have a dinner with Bill Nye and Neil dGT. Love politics? have Hillary Clinton come speak at a dinner for you and your friends, just pay her speaking fee. Your mind is the only limit to what is available. Because donations/fees get you anyone.
The same is true with stuff. You like pianos? How about owning one Mozart used to compose music on? This is the type of stuff you can do.
IMPACT. Your money can literally change the world and change lives. It is almost too much of a burden to think about. Clean water for a whole village forever? chump change. A dying child need a transplant? Hell…you could just build and fund a hospital and do it for a region.
RESPECT. The respect you get at this level is just over-the-top. You are THE MAN in almost every circle. Governors look up to you. Fortune 500 CEOs look up to you. Presidents and Kings look at you as a peer.
PERSPECTIVE. The wealthiest person I have spent time with makes about $400mm/year. I couldn’t get my mind around that until I did this: OK–let’s compare it with someone who makes $40,000/year. It is 10,000x more. Now let’s look at prices the way he might. A new Lambo–$235,000 becomes $23.50. First class ticket internationally? $10,000 becomes $1. A full time executive level helper? $8,000/month becomes $0.80/month. A $10mm piece of art you love? $1000. Expensive, so you have to plan a bit. A suite at the best hotel in NYC $10,000/night is $1/night. A $50million home in the Hamptons? $5,000. There is literally nothing you can’t buy except,
LOVE. Sorry to sound so trite, but it is nearly impossible to have a normal emotional relationship at this level. It is hard to sacrifice for another person when you are never asked to sacrifice ANYTHING. Money can solve all problems for someone, so you offer it, because there is so much else to do. Your time is SOOOO valuable that you ration it. And that makes you lose connections with people.
Level 5: $10 billion+
With a net worth of $10 billion and up, your life is basically no different than that of an elite head of state. You live a life that is essentially unimaginable unless you are a King or the President of an extremely wealthy country. Think the King of Saudi Arabia, Vladimir Putin or the King of Thailand. Money, time, wants, needs… nothing matters and nothing is in your way or is unattainable.
Instead of owning multiple private jets, you own an airline.
Instead of owning a fleet of cars, you own the entire luxury car company.
You own a military.
Wars have been started over your emotions.
You have the ability to put people you dislike in prison forever… or worse.
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So there you have it! Now when you go out and make your fortune, you’ll know exactly what to expect at each level of success.
Which level of success do you think sounds most appealing? You might assume everyone would say Level 5, but perhaps not. Having that much money might not have such an awesome impact on your children, and your children’s children. Let us know in the comments which level you’re aiming for!
Oh, and as always, when you do make tons and tons of money, please don’t forget to invite your friends here at CNW to hang out at pool parties and go on private island vacations 🙂