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

[Amethyst]

The difference in the quality of "staff" whom you and I could afford to hire, and the actual professional house staff that a billionaire can get, is night and day.

Professionals can handle just about anything that might come up without troubling you in the slightest, as long as you pay the resulting invoices. So, the billionaire just shows up in her personal helicopter at whatever house, whenever it's convenient, and everything is ready and waiting, just as if she lived there all the time.

Exactly!!! I completely agree and do not want to put myself through that. In my case, I have zero desire to supervise a staff to manage multiple houses. I have seen what a PITA that can be, and spending my precious time like that is not my retirement dream.

 

[Dash man]

The CEO of the company DW retired from was definitely in the UHNW category. He had a beautiful home we got to see for Christmas parties. His wife was very good at spending his money and the company’s money during a move. Sadly, they divorced. DW retired. I have no idea how he lives now.

 

[NW-Bound]

There are yachts and then there are YACHTs.
This page has an $18M YACHT near the bottom, but they start at $300,000.
https://www.godownsize.com/average-yacht-prices/

I would call the $300K job a boat and not a yacht, not that I know much about boating.

I get sea motion sickness easily, and would not want anything more than a canoe. However, I wanted to have a waterfront home on Bainbridge Island, and on Rockaway Beach Rd to be exact, in order to me to row my canoe out from my backyard everyday to check on my crab traps. I want to find out how long it takes for me to get tired of catching and eating Dungeness crab.

When the economy and the market got pummeled during the Great Recession of 2008-2009, there were houses there on the market for a bit more than $1M. Now, whenever there's one on the market, it goes for several mils. They will be forever out of my reach.

 

[ERD50]

Originally Posted by Gumby View Post
If I had a house in another country, I would be living in it full-time. I think having multiple houses is just a pain in the butt, regardless of how much money you have. If I travel, I stay in hotels. Some of them are pretty darned nice. Same with having boats or planes - just more pain in the butt.

Just curious, if you were really rich, (like 100's of millions or a billion+) why would it be a pain in the butt? Just hire someone to manage the logistics and all the staff that would maintain and manage it all for you. Just tell him (or her) where you want to go, when, for how long, meals, excursions, and "whatever".... Let them work the "details".

I'm thinking along the lines of Gumby here.

Sure, I could "just hire someone", but I find that to be a PITA. I often tackle projects just to avoid having to go through the hassle of hiring someone else.

And with a multi-million $ estate - I'd worry that the staff weren't doing a good job, or they'd be stealing, or worry about the liability, etc. Maybe when you get to that level, there's a network of people you can trust, that you find out about by word-of-silver-spoon-mouth? Hmmm, like all those people heard about that great investment guy, Bernie Madoff?

On the somewhat rare occasions when I hire someone, and they do a great job at a reasonable (not cheap) price and no hassle, that's great. But I find that to be the exception.

Even at my "comfortable" net worth, I'm looking to simplify, rather than take on more responsibilities like boats, planes, multiple houses.

-ERD50

 

[NW-Bound]

Even at my "comfortable" net worth, I'm looking to simplify, rather than take on more responsibilities like boats, planes, multiple houses.

-ERD50

If I had more money, I would rent or lease. I would not need to have a jet with my name on it. Jet timeshare is a lot less headache. And one can rent a castle if he wants to spend a month in it (I don't because I would get bored). There are plenty of nice places one can stay while traveling.

Being [-]filthy[/-] super rich comes with a major baggage: you worry all the time about being robbed or kidnapped. Or your spouse or kids get abducted for a ransom. Too much trouble for not much more pleasure in life, I think. Of course I will never know.

 

[NW-Bound]

The difference in the quality of "staff" whom you and I could afford to hire, and the actual professional house staff that a billionaire can get, is night and day.

Professionals can handle just about anything that might come up without troubling you in the slightest, as long as you pay the resulting invoices. So, the billionaire just shows up in her personal helicopter at whatever house, whenever it's convenient, and everything is ready and waiting, just as if she lived there all the time.

I am sure the above is true. However, it takes a lot of money. More than people imagine.

We read in the press all the time about actors and actresses who have perhaps $100M and live like they are billionaires. And then, they wonder how they get into bankruptcy.

It's the same as people who won a lottery worth a few million, and spent like they are a centimillionaire. No wonder that money is gone in a couple of years.

 

[socca]

Being [-]filthy[/-] super rich comes with a major baggage: you worry all the time about being robbed...

Yep. Theft from guests by staff (especially portable personal electronics) was a real problem at my wealthy relative's Caribbean island plantation (and I do mean 'plantation' - all of the staff were black whereas all of the guests were white ). Interesting factoid: when you sat down to dinner, you were served by staff; you never served yourself from bowls or plates. This would drive me crazy, but maybe I'm just overly sensitive ...

 

[NW-Bound]

OK, let's forget about how billionaires live. They are the ones with yachts of 300 ft, and multiple mansions throughout the world. How about centimillionaires?

I happened to see a video on Bloomberg that covered an interview with J.B. Straubel. Some of you may recognize him as one of the founders of Tesla, even before it was taken over by Musk. He left Tesla in 2019. I was surprised to learn that his NW is about $140M. Not a small sum of money, but less than 1/100 that of Musk's.

The Bloomberg reporter interviewed Straubel at his home near Reno, Nevada, where he started up a company call Redwood Materials that is working on recycling lithium battery. Straubel's home is nice, but not extravagant. He still likes to tinker around, and is putting in some solar panels and battery storage. He said he liked to do it himself instead of hiring the work out. Hey, that's the same as what I am doing.

See: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/vide...x-and-the-fault-cleaving-off-california-video

 

[luckydude]

I have a friend who works as a chauffer.

One time he got an assignment to drive a Chinese businessman and his son for a couple of days in SoCal doing house hunting. They arrived in a private jet at LAX, where he picked them up on the tarmac. He drove them to a number of fancy houses on the coast to browse.

Most times the businessman wouldn't even bother to step out of the limo when they drove up to the house. He would take one look from inside the limo and told the real estate agent "yay" or "nay". He bought a couple of houses the first day without even going inside.

When my friend drove them back to the airport the second day for their flight back to China (private plane, naturally), the businessman told his son to tip my friend. His son, apparently a young lad of no more than 18 or 20, reached into his pocket to pull out a crumpled wad of cash and handed it to my friend without counting. When my friend went home he counted the bills; the tip amounted to almost USD $2k.

I am pretty sure that Chinese businessman was a UHNWI, but I could be wrong.

Lucky Dude

 

[cyber888]

I have a personal friend who fits the bill. He has built several buildings (like 30-50 storey residential condos) worth $50 million - $100 million (approx). He amassed his wealth as a residential condo developer and seller, but his family has several business. He definitely used leverage (bank debt) to build these buildings, and grow his wealth. I've been to his place which is a 2-storey Penthouse ontop of a building he owns. He rents all the floors below him. I know him because his wife and my cousin are best friends, and we all grew up together. The last time we met, he showed me the new 40-storey building he built and the swimming pool on the 20th floor - he explained all design ideas that went into it. He was very proud of his latest building. He knows the cycle of real estate and when to stop building. He told me that when there is a real estate boom, everyone he knows keeps asking him if he's pre-selling a condo and if they could get in early. When real estate is not in season, all his friends that he invites to invest tells him "some other time, not now".

Some things I know about him:
He flies to Japan just to eat his favorite dish.
His entire family went on safari in Africa.
He owns a strip club - and that's one of his other profitable business
He flies commercial, and no personal jet I know of.
When I visit him, he has a driver and a big van - no fancy car. His wife drives a Mini. Obviously, they are not car people.
He always pays when he invites us for dinner or lunch at the best restaurants, but we already accept that he's that rich. He loves food, but does not overeat - like nibble this and that.
His family travels out of the country more than he does, as he takes care of business. His wife - Europe.
When one of his kid went to Manhattan NY to be a college student, he rented a $4,000+/month flat for his kid, and that did not include his allowance, car, or tuition. I figured he must have spent $10,000/month to send his kid for 4-Years of college in NY. I heard the same kid rented a Ferrari to drive from Los Angeles to Vegas for a birthday celebration.

 

[Music Lover]

One of my friends inherited close to $20 million about 8 years ago...his wife about half that a year later. So they're in that group.

Even though his parents were very well off he worked a "regular" job until he was 50. He's always wanted to be a normal guy. No signs of extravagance in public other than a house worth about double the average around here. We go for the breakfast special on occasion each paying for our own meal and when golfing we share coupons. He's so normal that I often forget he's rich and then every now and then he half-ass complains a bit about his wife's occasional silly spending...$30k on high end kitchen pots or her 200 - $100 blouses

 

[F.I.R.E User]

How much net worth is considered Fat F.I.R.E?

 

[Dean56]

I knew one. Fortune 500 CEO then started a cruise ship company. NW was apparently about $800M, but liked to drink Two Buck Chuck at dinner.

I had to Google "Two Buck Chuck", never heard of that before.

 

[Fielding]

How much net worth is considered Fat F.I.R.E?

There's no official definition, but I've seen $5 million in wealth mentioned as the start.

 

[HawaiiShrimp]

How much net worth is considered Fat F.I.R.E?

What Is an Ultra-High Net-Worth Individual (UHNWI)? Ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWI) are people with investable assets of at least $30 million. They comprise the wealthiest people in the world and control a tremendous amount of global wealth.

 

[audreyh1]

How much net worth is considered Fat F.I.R.E?

I’ve read >$100K annual income. Don’t remember if that was spendable or gross income.

 

[Dtail]

I’ve read >$100K annual income. Don’t remember if that was spendable or gross income.

Heard the same and think it is spending. Over 100k might apply to ~15-20% of folks here IIRC from past polls.

 

[JoeWras]

If I had a house in another country, I would be living in it full-time. I think having multiple houses is just a pain in the butt, regardless of how much money you have. If I travel, I stay in hotels. Some of them are pretty darned nice. Same with having boats or planes - just more pain in the butt. It is easy enough to fly on NetJets or the equivalent when you need to. And, quite honestly, after my years in the Navy, going to sea doesn't thrill me all that much.

Maybe I'm too much of a control freak. Thus, I plan out all my vacations in exquisite detail and make all the arrangements myself. If I were going somewhere I did not speak the language, I might need more help. Or I just might learn the language so I could take charge. That's why I learned to speak Italian.

I'm with you Gumby but we are thinking like ultra low net worth people.

As others mention, true UHNWI would just hire rafts of people to take care of all of this.

Your houses? Continuously staffed and taken care of. Your plane? Taken care of. Pilot? On staff. Vacations? Talk to your 24/7 personal assistant, who will check details with you. Language? You got a human translator for that.

And let's not forget all the security guards you'll need.

Worried about staff stealing stuff? Doesn't matter. You won't miss that crystal bowl.

Yesterday on TV someone mentioned that Jeff Bezos makes $2,400 per second. You don't need that kind of wealth to still have rafts of personal assistants. $2000 per hour is good enough.

 

[JoeWras]

BTW, I've heard time and time again that the hardest thing to give up for an ultra-wealthy person is a personal jet. These are highly addictive. I always wonder how some famous people manage to apparently do so much. For example, Gordon Ramsay, the celebrity chef. How? Personal jets.

I can't remember which CEO it was, but about a year ago a somewhat disgraced CEO got a silver parachute when being fired. He managed to make access to the corporate jet (for personal use) as part of the package. This is where I heard the commentary that many consider that more important than pure NW.

 

[Time2]

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!

 

[Boho]

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!

My fantasy is to be in a reality show where the contestants have to write the software to make a robot walk. To save money they'd all get access to the same robot, minus the software. I believe I could have been the first, but making another that uses different software is better than nothing. If I had the money I'd hire an engineer to make the hardware and create the reality show myself.

 

[Sunset]

BTW, I've heard time and time again that the hardest thing to give up for an ultra-wealthy person is a personal jet. These are highly addictive...

..

For us normal folks, it would be like giving up the car and taking a bus all the time.. a transport device full of other people who smell, talk, invade your space... etc. . Horrible

 

[Spanky]

I knew a guy worth about 10 million. He took me out to eat. He smiled when I ordered something cheap. I learned he was frugal and wanted to make more money. I have meet several millionaires under 10 million they all were looking for more money. It kind of spooked me.

Human have a tendency to feel unsecured regardless of how much money do they have. They have an insatiable desire to acquire more, one a goal is meet another is set to acquire even more. They are constantly fighting within themselves that they must have more or at least as much as those to which they are comparing. They ae constantly raising the bar. To those people, good luck.

 

[Spanky]

just for kick, here how billionaires live:

 

[W2R]

just for kick, here how billionaires live:

Can you imagine how excruciatingly boring that would be, after the novelty wore off? Living such a stereotypical "lifestyles of the rich and famous" life, would be such torture.

No more choices, no more free time, no more privacy. Always running from one place/house/country to another. Ugh. Well, each to his/her own, but that type of life is not something I would crave.