Any Ultra High Net Worth Individual (UHNWI) here? What do you do?

[CoolRich59]

No one with $30M+ would out themselves on a public forum, notwithstanding promises to do so one day by HawaiiShrimp..

Agreed.

In between megacorps, I spent a couple of years with a software company. One of the company's founding employees cashed in his options and was pretty wealthy.

He had a villa in Tuscany and would spend six months there each year. The other six months he spent back in Chicago, working for the company as a software sales exec, to keep from getting bored.

Pretty nice guy and very low key. I don't think he would ever post about his wealth.

 

[NW-Bound]

The biggest benefit of having a private jet is that you do not have to wait around in a commercial terminal for boarding. Even when flying 1st class, you still have to mingle with the uncouth. On the other hand, with a private jet, the boarding process including custom and immigration clearance is much quicker and more personal.

In his autobiography The Wolf of Wall Street, Jordan Belfort recounted the time he flew to a Swiss city, Geneva if I recall correctly, he was surprised to be able to walk from the jet directly out to the street, without encountering any officer checking his paper or luggage.

One does not need a private jet for the privilege. Just a NetJet timeshare will work.

 

[WhenIsItTime]

Not Gumby, but I also flew privately a few times on my company's jet. It was primarily for executives, but if there were seats available they would rather let some low-level manager like me take up a seat for free rather than pay $400 for me to fly commercial.



It is really nice. The things I liked were avoiding TSA and most importantly, within reason the plane waited for you. They had a list and when everyone was there, we just took off. If you were five or ten minutes late showing up, no worries.



Oh, and the pilots were super friendly and there was a stash of candy and newspapers available which was kind of fun.

My Corp experience was mostly like this, but I reported to a couple bosses who had direct access. While our leadership were humble and great to work for, out of respect you either showed up with them or before them. On time was late!

Considerably less hassle. Going transatlantic during the day was nice. Only downside was having to bring your own entertainment and bit hard to get sleep (unlike commercial business class). Always felt special until we landed in Teterboro, place was always packed with private jets.

 

[audreyh1]

One does not need a private jet for the privilege. Just a NetJet timeshare will work.

The uber wealthy I know charter private jets for personal travel.

 

[SecondCor521]

My Corp experience was mostly like this, but I reported to a couple bosses who had direct access. While our leadership were humble and great to work for, out of respect you either showed up with them or before them. On time was late!

Indeed. I was never late, but some of my fellow average class employees occasionally were. Even so, it was not a big deal because we all knew that when the fifth or eighth person (*) walked in the door we could all go - didn't have to wait for an arbitrary departure time. And while we were waiting we could just hang out in a nice hangar office and drink coffee.

(*) My company had two jets, they were both on the small side, maybe 6 to 10 people total.

 

[Ronstar]

My niece’s husband used to fly for a uhnwi. Several houses, jet, lots of fancy cars. I took a ride on his jet once. The thing that I’ll never forget is how clean the jet and hanger were. Spotless.

I suspect that rich people like everything spotless and pay a lot to keep their stuff that way.

 

[Spanky]

It is hard to laying down when there is work (or cleaning) to be done. Ha

 

[HawaiiShrimp]

My niece’s husband used to fly for a uhnwi. Several houses, jet, lots of fancy cars. I took a ride on his jet once. The thing that I’ll never forget is how clean the jet and hanger were. Spotless.

I suspect that rich people like everything spotless and pay a lot to keep their stuff that way.

Wow. Thanks for sharing. I never sit in a private jet; let alone owning one. I hope to get a chance to try it out some day.

 

[F.I.R.E User]

If I was to Fat F.I.R.E. I would definitely go back to where I grew up which was in Bay Area, CA.

Pacific Heights in SF.

 

[JoeWras]

If I was to Fat F.I.R.E. I would definitely go back to where I grew up which was in Bay Area, CA.

Pacific Heights in SF.

I think I'm kind of going in this direction. If I were UHNW, I wouldn't care about taxes or housing expenses, and would go for the moderate climate, beautiful views, and access to other UHNW buddies. California comes to mind for sure. FL is nice, but damn the humidity. CA earthquakes? Who cares? Just throw away the house and get a new one.

The UHNW taxes are one reason CA can stay afloat. Of course, keeping the servant class viable continues to be an issue.

 

[F.I.R.E User]

I think I'm kind of going in this direction. If I were UHNW, I wouldn't care about taxes or housing expenses, and would go for the moderate climate, beautiful views, and access to other UHNW buddies. California comes to mind for sure. FL is nice, but damn the humidity. CA earthquakes? Who cares? Just throw away the house and get a new one.

The UHNW taxes are one reason CA can stay afloat. Of course, keeping the servant class viable continues to be an issue.

Also, Palo Alto or Los Altos Hills are great choices too.

 

[CRLLS]

If I was suddenly UHNWI, there's nothing much about my life would change. I would however try to put together an electromechanical shop, hire, a machinist, mechanical engineer, a physicist, chemist, and who nows what else. And just build sciencey type things. Maybe interactive displays for museums. Possibly work on new inventions or products. Just make cool things.
If interested, put me in your will!

That highlighted part almost sounds like Jay Leno. I had to look him up. One site says he is worth 400mil. That would be enough for me.

 

[Car-Guy]

That highlighted part almost sounds like Jay Leno. I had to look him up. One site says he is worth 400mil. That would be enough for me.

I wonder if that includes his car and motorcycle collections?

 

[NW-Bound]

What about the Queen? What could be more mind numbingly boring than being forced to attend decades of rigidly structured ceremonies where you can't skip them or leave early.

That's why Prince Harry quit. I don't know a whole lot about him, but like his style when I read the news.

 

[rodi]

On the private jet thing - like others here I had the opportunity to fly in my employers jet a few times - these were strictly pleasure type trips... he'd just upgraded to a Citation (had some lesser lear jet prior). One saturday I was in the lab working overtime and he offered to reward me and my roommate (who was in another part of the building, also working overtime) - we flew from Bellingham to Everett, had lunch at the airport and then flew back. Gorgeous day and beautiful views over the puget sound.

I still resent that jet, though. The day he announced he was buying it, he also announced he was cancelling our annual bonuses... Since bonuses were part of the promised "total compensation package" they'd sold us on when hiring, it was a big slap in the face.

Another jet story - from the other end. At my next employer I was getting ready to fly, with another engineer, across country. The CEO's admin called me up to see if I could give one of the execs a ride to the airport to pick up his car. He'd been on a work junket and hitched a ride back to a different airport on the corporate jet... His car was at the Philly airport, and he'd flown into the Allentown airport on the corporate jet. So - he got the luxury of sitting in the back seat of my tiny 3dr honda civic hatchback (The other engineer was tall - the exec was short - so it made sense.) The exec was gracious, but horrified, all at the same time.

 

[O2Bfree]

I'm acquainted with the wife of one of the founders of a rather popular chain of coffeehouses. Very down to earth lady, literally - we've worked in the dirt together on a few small landscaping projects at a local retreat center. I had no idea she was UW until someone mentioned who her husband was.

 

[TOOLMAN]

From the few I know of this list, my advice is: have zero dealing with them.
With 7.7B people on earth, what's the odds they earned their place justly?


https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/

 

[teejayevans]

The biggest benefit of having a private jet is that you do not have to wait around in a commercial terminal for boarding. Even when flying 1st class, you still have to mingle with the uncouth. On the other hand, with a private jet, the boarding process including custom and immigration clearance is much quicker and more personal.

One does not need a private jet for the privilege. Just a NetJet timeshare will work.

Or skip the jet part and get something a little smaller, but you’ll need to learn how to fly.

 

[Koolau]

Or skip the jet part and get something a little smaller, but you’ll need to learn how to fly.

Sweet! AND within reach of many of us though YMMV

 

[JoeWras]

Or skip the jet part and get something a little smaller, but you’ll need to learn how to fly.

That's like driving a Trabant when the rest of your friends are chauffeured in Benzs.

 

[Ronstar]

Another part of the day I rode on the private jet. I was in the jump seat along for a ride on a training flight for my nieces husband to get his next certification. When i got to the hangar , the owner was just returning from a day trip to his Hamptons home. He brought his handyman to the hamptons home to look at a closet that he wanted remodeled.

 

[NW-Bound]

Or skip the jet part and get something a little smaller, but you’ll need to learn how to fly.

Can you cross the ocean with that? Even for domestic flying, it has some limitations about destinations and logistics. I also do not enjoy piloting any plane. It's work to me.

Now, a low-flying aircraft like an ultralight or a gyrocopter to explore the earth is something else, but of course that's not travel.

 

[Spanky]

Another part of the day I rode on the private jet. I was in the jump seat along for a ride on a training flight for my nieces husband to get his next certification. When i got to the hangar , the owner was just returning from a day trip to his Hamptons home. He brought his handyman to the hamptons home to look at a closet that he wanted remodeled.

Just to show that you do not have to be rich to ride on a private jet.

 

[MarieIG]

Not to split hairs, but I know a number of people that probably have about $30M and therefore qualify as a UHNWI. Thing is, they are pretty simple people. Sure, their house is bigger and their life a little more comfortable, but as strange as it sounds, I just don't think $30M is enough to live like the ultra wealthy. The ones I know are CEO's for good size organizations that get paid in the $3M to $5M range and of course, that adds up nicely over the course of a career. They usually belong to a country club, fly first class, eat and drink well and have a very comfortable life. But, they are basically working people in that they go to work every day and run their companies, sit on boards and are involved in their communities. The couple of people in this category that I know real well would fit on this forum nicely. They worked their way up, lived below their means and saved a hell of a lot of money. That LBYM's personality just doesn't change all that much even when you have a lot of money.

I have no idea where a better place to draw the line is, but for the owning a yacht or jet or having multiple residences in multiple countries, I think you need more than $30M. Especially if you're thinking a large yacht with a crew, a jet on call and large staffed residents in multiple countries. That takes serious coin that even those I know of would be a bit envious of.

The great thing is that it is absolutely true that you can be happy at any level (acknowledging that one may have to get to a level beyond sustenance). And if you're not, it's also true that except for a couple people on earth, there's always someone who has more than you, so you're never likely to be happy. Thankfully, I'm happy and most of all grateful for how things have ended up so far.

Don't really see 30M as ultra high net worth either. (Since I'm fiscally conservative, that would be a 2% w/d rate.) I see it as flying first class - no private jets; nice cruises - certainly no yacht. Someone to help with the cleaning and yard work.

As far a multiple homes, with 30 M one could afford certainly afford a second home - but personally, I would not want it. I would prefer one nice home. If I felt like traveling, I would simply stay in a nice hotel, enjoy the change of scenery for a time - and then return home.

 

[Car-Guy]

I am trying to visualize how UHNWI really lives? Thanks.

Have you ever seen the movie Indecent Proposal? If not, watch it... It should give you an idea of how some of the super rich may chose to live. It does however, show you that money might not be able to buy everything, but it comes pretty dang close from my POV.