They must be rich

Quote: beachbumbabs

Rich people have live-in help. Minimum of maid/cook/gardener.
Rich people have a main house somewhere, an apartment where they work, a winter vacation home in Hawaii, and/or an island in the Caribbean.
Rich people have a share of a jet, or have one outright.
Rich people have a yacht.
Rich people carry black credit cards. Forget platinum.

This is not "rich" in the sense of the OP, it is "super-rich." eg: Kennedys, Gates, Clintons, etc. If you are worth this much, why not? I never understood why people get so upset because rich folks hire people to do things for them. To me the #1 perk of being rich is that you don't have to do what you don't want to do, you hire someone for that.

I worked with some woman who dated a guy with the black card. She said she saw it for whatever reason and said to us, "he had this weird card, it was black and made of metal?" Of about 8 people there I was the only one who knew what it was, and I explained you paid 4 figures as an annual fee alone.

I didn't bother telling the group how that card came to be.

Quote: AZDuffman

This is not "rich" in the sense of the OP, it is "super-rich." eg: Kennedys, Gates, Clintons, etc. If you are worth this much, why not? I never understood why people get so upset because rich folks hire people to do things for them. To me the #1 perk of being rich is that you don't have to do what you don't want to do, you hire someone for that.

I worked with some woman who dated a guy with the black card. She said she saw it for whatever reason and said to us, "he had this weird card, it was black and made of metal?" Of about 8 people there I was the only one who knew what it was, and I explained you paid 4 figures as an annual fee alone.

I didn't bother telling the group how that card came to be.

I have never even heard of one. Now I'm going to google it

Quote: AZDuffman

Of about 8 people there I was the only one who knew what it was, and I explained you paid 4 figures as an annual fee alone.

Actually, you only pay $10,000 your first year. Subsequent years are $2500. The average Centurion cardholder has $16.3 million in assets and an annual household income of $1.3 million.


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Quote: Pacomartin

Actually, you only pay $10,000 your first year. Subsequent years are $2500. The average Centurion cardholder has $16.3 million in assets and an annual household income of $1.3 million.

$2500=4 figures, no?

Quote: beachbumbabs

The biggest thing rich people have these days, though, is privacy. They don't flaunt their money and possessions like they used to. They do everything by proxy. .

Read an article a few years ago about the
secret rich in the US. They are old wealth,
some going back to NYC land barons in
the 17th century. They covet their privacy
are never in the papers or the news. We
mostly have never heard of them. But
they've heard of each other and have a
whole secret society that we're not even
aware of.

Quote: Evenbob

Read an article a few years ago about the
secret rich in the US. They are old wealth,
some going back to NYC land barons in
the 17th century. They covet their privacy
are never in the papers or the news. We
mostly have never heard of them. But
they've heard of each other and have a
whole secret society that we're not even
aware of.

That's very true. I used to be Amex Platinum and got a special publication that catered specifically to that clientele, with all articles, ads, and come-ons designed to attract the uber-wealthy. I also used to be at a high level of charitable giving that got me invited to some pretty swanky stuff with some genuinely Big Money people. There were all kinds of hints and references to an entirely different purchasing situation than mass-marketing, special clubs and circulars, groups only attainable thru reference (more exclusive than most country clubs). Since that was at that level, I have to assume there are further, more-exclusive coordinated efforts than were available to me.

Some of this uber-rich thing is conspiracy theory stuff, like suspicion about Trilateral Commisson, Bilderberg Group, Council on Foreign Relations ... these things exist and are secretive, so naturally suspicion abounds.

Quote: beachbumbabs

That's very true. I used to be Amex Platinum and got a special publication ...I have to assume there are further, more-exclusive coordinated efforts than were available to me.

I've gotten offers for some credit cards where you sign up and pay a stiff annual fee. In exchange [for what I've seen] you get a whole bunch of stuff I do not care about one whit. Many involve discounts on things that, if you investigate, you can get anyway if you play your cards right. Additionally, like you say you get invited to places and memberships that to me are just an invitation to spend your money, claims about discounts continuing to be dubious.

As you say, since I am not amongst the super-rich, maybe I only see the phony come-ons and not the real thing.

I guess I tend to wait for an indisputable advantage; as in changing regular Vanguard stock/bond accounts to "admiral" for no cost and enjoying expense ratios that are cut in half .

Quote: odiousgambit

Some of this uber-rich thing is conspiracy theory stuff.

And some of it isn't. We're talking the old
money that laughed at the Rockefellers
and the Vanderbilts. Most of it came from
land ownership and some came from Europe.
Imagine your family bought huge chunks
of Manhattan 300 years ago and still owns
it and leases it to skyscrapers. Or owns them.
They can weather every financial downturn
and still be uber rich.

Quote: Evenbob

And some of it isn't. We're talking the old
money that laughed at the Rockefellers
and the Vanderbilts. Most of it came from
land ownership and some came from Europe.
Imagine your family bought huge chunks
of Manhattan 300 years ago and still owns
it and leases it to skyscrapers. Or owns them.
They can weather every financial downturn
and still be uber rich.

This doesn't often happen. Most large land plots seldom survive the third generation. Most of the land grants from 1780-1830 were sold off fast then the new owners end up chopping it up to the kids at their death. 300 acres becomes 150 which becomes 75 which sells off because the farm was then too small or the kids move on.

The lands west of the eastern coast cities went to both war heroes or sold off to pay debts of the state. In the midwest and plains it went to the railroads. Don't buy the "this 1,000 acres has been in the family since the old man got it in 1750! If that happened, I would have seen it. Never have.

Quote: AZDuffman

This doesn't often happen. .

But often enough. It doesn't take 1000 acres in
places like NYC and Chicago. A 70 story building
can sit on 4 acres. The city block in NYC between
7th and 8th and 42nd and 43rd is a little less
than 4 acres, which is pretty typical. 100 acres in
Manhattan would make you very happy.