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Being worth 50 million puts you in the ultra high net worth category (>30M$) and you live an incredible lifestyle obviously. But your entire net worth is 5% ye

Being worth 50 million puts you in the ultra high net worth category (>30M$) and you live an incredible lifestyle obviously. But your entire net worth is 5% yearly interest on a billion dollars. It's hard to imagine for regular people just how far a billion dollars is, you're essentially royalty at that point as far access to anything in life is concerned.

SketchySeaBeast 3y ago
Yes, by the numbers million vs billion is massive, yes, but for quality of life and for worrying about monetary things? You no longer need to be concerned about food or any type of shelter. It's a matter of the size of yacht you can buy.
- Zambyte 3y ago
  As someone in my 20s, I couldn't even retire with $1m. On the other hand, I could live off the interest alone in a savings account with $1b. (Obviously putting $1b entirely into a savings account is a terrible idea, just making a point)
  - SketchySeaBeast 3y ago
    And that's why I drew a distinction between the "owning a home and having a retirement plan" millionaire and the truly wealthy multimillionaire sort.
  - smallerfish 3y ago
    > I could live off the interest alone in a savings account with $1b. I mean, you could live off the interest alone in a savings account with $5m (you can easily get 2.5% at the moment.)
- TheOtherHobbes 3y ago
  Or more realistically, the matter of the politicians and media narratives you can buy. For $50 million a year you can run a good few think tanks and make a good few campaign donations.
  - SketchySeaBeast 3y ago
    But that won't be apparent in how you pass yourself off.
- hibikir 3y ago
  50 million is still not an 'I have staff and a house in every major city' kind of thing. But once you get to the billions you have an 'I can make significant changes to the world' button. Want to redevelop North St Louis? Get 1:1 time with any politician I want to influence them about any hobby project? Make a university build a dorm without windows, because I pay them? It's very different than just caring for food and shelter, but at those levels, personal luxury isn't really the most important thing. And really, for many things, even a billion isn't enough. Imagine you wanted to personally make high speed train happen between two US cities. A billion doesn't even begin to fund your real life Sim City project.
Zambyte 3y ago
> It's hard to imagine for regular people just how far a billion dollars is I heard it put this way once before and it really stuck with me: the difference between a million dollars and a billion dollars is a billion dollars. If that doesn't make sense, consider how that is proportionally the same as saying: the difference between one dollar and a thousand dollars is a thousand dollars. One dollar is literally nothing next to a thousand dollars. If you bought something for $1k and you were overcharged $1, lots of people wouldn't even notice. Of course, someone greedy enough to be a billionaire would probably notice though :P

SketchySeaBeast 3y ago

Yes, by the numbers million vs billion is massive, yes, but for quality of life and for worrying about monetary things? You no longer need to be concerned about food or any type of shelter. It's a matter of the size of yacht you can buy.

Zambyte 3y ago
As someone in my 20s, I couldn't even retire with $1m. On the other hand, I could live off the interest alone in a savings account with $1b. (Obviously putting $1b entirely into a savings account is a terrible idea, just making a point)
- SketchySeaBeast 3y ago
  And that's why I drew a distinction between the "owning a home and having a retirement plan" millionaire and the truly wealthy multimillionaire sort.
- smallerfish 3y ago
  > I could live off the interest alone in a savings account with $1b. I mean, you could live off the interest alone in a savings account with $5m (you can easily get 2.5% at the moment.)
TheOtherHobbes 3y ago
Or more realistically, the matter of the politicians and media narratives you can buy. For $50 million a year you can run a good few think tanks and make a good few campaign donations.
- SketchySeaBeast 3y ago
  But that won't be apparent in how you pass yourself off.
hibikir 3y ago
50 million is still not an 'I have staff and a house in every major city' kind of thing. But once you get to the billions you have an 'I can make significant changes to the world' button. Want to redevelop North St Louis? Get 1:1 time with any politician I want to influence them about any hobby project? Make a university build a dorm without windows, because I pay them? It's very different than just caring for food and shelter, but at those levels, personal luxury isn't really the most important thing. And really, for many things, even a billion isn't enough. Imagine you wanted to personally make high speed train happen between two US cities. A billion doesn't even begin to fund your real life Sim City project.

Zambyte 3y ago

> It's hard to imagine for regular people just how far a billion dollars is I heard it put this way once before and it really stuck with me: the difference between a million dollars and a billion dollars is a billion dollars. If that doesn't make sense, consider how that is proportionally the same as saying: the difference between one dollar and a thousand dollars is a thousand dollars. One dollar is literally nothing next to a thousand dollars. If you bought something for $1k and you were overcharged $1, lots of people wouldn't even notice. Of course, someone greedy enough to be a billionaire would probably notice though :P