If you earned $1 per second.
Then to make 1 million dollars would take you about 11 and a half days.
But to make 1 billion dollars, would take you over 31 and a half years.
You see, it’s easy to think of wealth in terms of rich or poor, but broadly speaking,
there are arguably 5 different levels of rich, and at each level, things change very drastically.
The difference between what a millionaire can do, and a billionaire can do, is simply
staggering.
In this video we’ll be exploring what life is like at each of these different wealth
levels, and delving into how the ultra-rich spend their money, including some of their
most bizarre and extravagant purchases.
But, as you’re watching, you’ll realise that one of the biggest changes that happens
at each wealth level, is perspective. Because prices feel relative to how much you earn.
So if you compare someone whose earning $40,000 a year with someone earning 400 million a
year, it’s 10,000 times more. Which means:
A lambo that costs $300,000, to them is the equivalent of spending $30.
A $10 million piece of art? Feels like $1,000. A $50 million home in the Hamptons? Feels
like $5,000.
So whilst to us those purchases would feel so major, to a billionaire, it’s not even
something they need to think about.
And of course, when you’re that wealthy, it’s not just items and experiences you
can buy. But we’ll get to that.
Let’s instead start off, with the first level of rich:
The Top 1% Even though this phrase is synonymous with
being extremely rich, if your income is over about $200,000 a year, you would technically
be part of the top 1% of worldwide earners.
And so being in the top 1% may not make you feel quite as rich as you think. Because sure,
you can typically afford a nice house and car, but with those things comes higher costs,
and so you probably don’t feel very financially secure, and you’re likely still working
a full time job.
Which is why beyond this level, wealth starts being measured in net worth rather than income,
as the more wealth you have, the more assets you have, and you’re probably not making
your money from a salary.
So the next level of rich is a Net Worth of $10 Million - $30 Million
At this level, your needs are met. You can live very comfortably. You have a really nice
house. You often fly first class internationally. If it’s a special occasion, you might book
a $2,000 suite. You can afford any healthcare you need, and in fact no emergency financial
situation can destroy your life.
But you are still not "rich" in the way that money doesn't matter. You still have to be
sensible and careful with big decisions. And in the banking world, you’re still not classified
as ultra high net worth'. Which brings us to out next level:
Net Worth of $30 Million - $100 Million At this point, you start playing in the big
leagues. And most likely you run or have a controlling interest in a very large company.
You always stay at 5 star hotels, and you have multiple residences all around the world
you can stay at as well.
You take holidays during prime time, for example going to Monaco for the Grand Prix, or Cannes
for the film festival. And you won’t bat an eyelid when the place you’re staying
at costs $10-$20,000 per NIGHT.
You have personal assistants, and are starting to have ‘people’ that others have to talk
to to get to you.
You can buy pretty much anything that normal people think of as ‘stuff rich people buy.
Like you can get any cars you want, the fanciest jewellery, and so on.
Instead of flying first class, you fly private. Although you’d typically charter a flight
or own a private jet fractionally through a service like Net Jets, instead of buying
it outright and having to maintain it.
But at this level, your social circle changes dramatically too. You probably socialize with
Congressmen, Senators and community leaders. You are likely very well respected within
some very high class circles.
Interestingly though, since you’re likely surrounded by other ultra wealthy people,
you may still feel you don’t have enough. Sure, you may have just bought a new Ferrari,
but your friend has a limited edition version where only five of them were ever made. Sure,
you just had dinner with a local governor, but your billionaire friend just had dinner
with the President. Which brings us to our next level of wealth:
Net Worth of $100 Million - $1 Billion
To be at this level, you likely have ownership or control of a business that most of the
public have heard of, even if they haven’t heard of you directly.
At this point, you can likely socialize with movie stars, rock stars, and the corporate
elite.
You can go pretty much anywhere you want, and always in style. You have multiple residences
with staff, all over the world, with elite cars at every residence.
If it’s your thing, you might have a private island. And of course a private yacht to get
you there.
Almost any experience you can dream up, you can have. Want to play tennis with your favourite
tennis star? Call his people. For a donation of 100k+ to his charity, you can probably
play a match with him. Want your favourite band to come and play
at your private party? For the right price, they will.
Love art? Your people could arrange for the curator of the Louvre to show you around and
show you some masterpieces they haven’t exhibited in years.
If you can dream an experience up, you can likely have it - donations and fees can get
you to anyone.
Once you have many hundreds of millions of dollars, it’s the same when buying things
- you may hire people to find you the most extravagant versions of items possible. For
example, the Australian company Toilet Paper Man produces 22-carat gold toilet paper, for
a cost of over 1.3 million. And if you are going to quite literally flush money down
the toilet, why not get a gold toilet or entire gold bathroom to go with it?
In fact, if you’re ultra-wealthy, you can literally have gold everything. How about
a 24 karat gold water bottle, which in itself is a piece of designer art, and comes with
spring water from France and Fiji, combined with glacier water from iceland.
Or alternatively, how about the world’s most expensive iPhone has 24 carat gold casing,
and more than 600 white and black diamonds, and sapphire glass for the screen. This certainly
isn’t available to the public, and to buy one you’d need over 15 million dollars.
At this level, it’s not just about buying the fanciest most luxurious items, it’s
about getting the rarest and most exclusive things you possibly can.
You could get a limited edition pen, that costs $160,000, has 4,810 diamonds inside,
and only 8 are made each year.
Or if you want to go a lot bigger than that, many billionaires turn to art. Not just rare
paintings, but things like this dead shark art piece created by Damien Hurst that sold
for $12 million dollars. Or let’s say you like piano? Well, here’s
the same crystal piano that was used for the Beijing Olympic Games. It was purchased at
auction by a private bidder for a record $3.22 million U.S. dollars!
Your mind is the only real limit to what is available. But
Our final level, $1 Billion Net Worth and Above.
Before we get into what you can do as a billionaire - which is pretty insane - it’s worth noting
that the number of billionaires on Forbes' annual rich list has significantly increased
in recent years, and there’s now around 2,755 known billionaires. Of course, it’s
possible there are more who have generational wealth that simply do a good job of staying
very very private. Either way, Forbes estimated these 2,755 billionaires are worth a combined
$13.1 trillion, and therefore have more wealth between them than the poorest 5 billion people
on earth combined. In fact, Oxfam have argued that the very richest 26 billionaires have
more wealth between them than the poorest 50% of the entire world.
These statistics are overwhelming, but let’s actually visualise it to put things in perspective.
This rice example really highlights that even within this billionaire category, the difference
between 1 billion and the kind of wealth Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk has, is insanely vast.
I’m a big fan of James Jani’s YouTube channel, and he also did a great job of visualising
the difference between these large sums of money in a different way:
So, now that we’ve got a better idea of the scale of a billion dollars, let’s look
at what you can do with it. Because essentially, you can buy anything. And I do mean, anything.
We’re no longer just talking about luxurious items and experiences.
Firstly, you can buy access. You can ask your staff to contact almost anyone on the planet
and get a call back. It’s amazing the level of access and respect a billion can get you,
where within an hour you could ask your people to get in touch with someone, and they’d
be able to do it. It’s not just celebrities either, it works the same with powerful people
within politics too - especially because the billionaire may well be a donor to their political
party. And so, if you’re a billionaire you may occasionally meet with heads-of-states
and have conversations with them. Which brings us to the second thing a billion dollars can
buy:
Influence. As a billionaire, you have many ways to shape public policy and the public
debate. This isn’t always done in some kind of evil way, like lobbying for lower taxes
for rich people (although that obviously does happen). But because of your wealth and connections,
you can absolutely influence big changes in the world, and not just on a political level.
Because
Another thing you can buy is IMPACT, through philanthropy and charity. Your money can literally
change countless lives. The question is, how do you distribute it? Clean water for villages?
Fund new hospitals? Try to save a dying species of animal? With money, you can impact almost
anything of your choice.
But one of the biggest differences with billionaires that is often overlooked, is the ability to
essentially buy time. You quite literally don’t have wait for anything. No lines.
No sitting around. Just think about it:
You’ve got your own private jet, so you just show up at the airport whenever you want,
sit down in the plane and 2 minutes later you’re in the sky and can go where you wish.
When you arrive, a driver will have been arranged to pick you up and take you wherever you want
to go. Your assistant will have already got you the best table at the restaurant you mentioned
wanting to eat at. Or maybe your assistant arranged for a celebrity chef to come to one
of your vacation homes instead, at whatever time you choose.
However… believe it or not, there are some downsides to being this ultra wealthy.
Firstly, it’s nearly impossible to have normal emotional relationships at this level.
It can become increasingly difficult to have friends and family that love you for who you
are. They exist, but it is pretty hard to know which ones they are. Because, your world
is likely filled with yes men, and people looking to take advantage at every opportunity.
Your trust and connections with people are undoubtedly considerably weakened.
Dating also becomes an odd experience. On the one hand, some of the world’s most beautiful
and intelligent women are all around you at parties and events, but again, finding someone
you have a genuine emotional connection with is a different story… especially because
you’re time is so valuable that you’re always busy and unable to invest in making
deep connections with new people. And even if you do find someone, the relationship balanced
is skewed in a strange way when you have essentially unlimited money - no matter whether you pay
for everything or whether your partner makes their own money, either way something feels
off.
And finally, and most crucially, no level of money can give you everything. Death is
the great equalizer, and losing loved ones, and losing your own health and facing your
own mortality, are problems that no amount of money can solve.
The reddit poster who inspired this video and deserves full credit, talks about how
he met Sylvester Stallone at a party, who has obviously had a very successful career.
He said he was such a great guy, had huge levels of wealth and luxury, a smart and beautiful
wife. And yet, he also had a special needs son who died young. In his words, Nobody has
it all. Nobody.
In fact, if you were watching this video and feeling poor, I think it’s worth re-thinking.
Because in this video we’ve looked at several levels of wealth, but the fact you are watching
this means you are nowhere close to bottom of the total wealth pyramid. It’s easy to
look up and feel frustrated that some people have so much more than us, but just look down
the wealth pyramid for a moment.
If you have internet access to watch this, plus some food in the fridge, clothes on your
back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep… … then you are richer than 75 per
cent of this world.
In fact, even if you have $1 to your name right now, you are still richer than the majority
of the world who are either in debt, or have absolutely nothing.
What this video really highlights is that rich vs poor is so arbitrary. It’s not two
groups, there are many many levels. And compared to most of the world, you might well be a
lot richer than you think…
If you enjoyed this video, please make sure you subscribe and turn on notifications for
some future mini-documentaries that are on the way. Thank you for watching to the end,
you are a legend, and I’ll see you next time. Cheers!