Are you doing online marketing in the hopes of becoming rich?

That’s terrific, but… did you ever stop to ponder what it really means to BE rich?

They say that if you want something, you have to imagine that you already have it.

But how do you imagine being filthy stinking rich when you’re currently stressed about making the rent or mortgage payment?

That’s why I thought it might be enjoyable and educational to see how the rich truly live.

Who knows… if you can see yourself in the shoes of the kinds of people we’re about to cover, then it might be you, one day, who is influencing heads of state and buying Lamborghinis for a relative $23.50 (more on this later.)

The first thing to know is that there are different levels of rich.

For example, the person who makes a million dollars a year is NOT in the same league as the person who makes that much money in a week.

I saw a post on Reddit that explained what it means to be rich like nothing else I’ve ever seen.

Here’s a breakdown of what Reddit member “a1988eli” shared that garnered nearly 3,000 comments.

 

The 4 Major Groups of “Being Rich”

 

Let’s say you’re worth $10-30 million.

At this level, your needs are met.

You can live very comfortably at a 4-star/5-star level. You can book a $2000 suite for special occasions. You can sometimes fly first class internationally.

You have a very nice house, you can afford any healthcare you need and no emergency financial situation can destroy your life.

 

But guess what? You’re still not “rich” in the way that money doesn’t matter.

Unless you’re on the upper end of this scale, you’ve got to be prudent and careful with most personal financial decisions.

Mind you, business stress exists at ALL 4 levels.

And believe it or not, the banking world doesn’t classify you as ‘ultra high net worth.’ You may think you’ve “arrived,” but according to the next three classes of ‘rich,’ you’re still not in their league.

 

Let’s say you’re worth of $30-100 million.

Now you can start playing with the ‘big boys.’ While you don’t own your own jet, you can charter a flight or own a share of a jet through a company like Net Jets.

You stay at 5 star hotels and you have multiple residences.

You vacation in prime time, meaning you do things like rent a ski-in, ski-out villa in Aspen for Christmas week or go to Monaco for the grand Prix, or Canne for the Film Festival. Just so you know, rent on these places can run $5k-20k+ per NIGHT.)

You run or have a controlling interest in a big company. Maybe it’s the internet company you’re starting right now, or the next one you start after you gain experience in your present business.

You socialize with upper level politicians. In the U.S., that means Congressmen, Senators, governors and community leaders.

You are likely an extremely well-respected member in any community, but more so if you’re outside of the world’s greatest cities. For example, in Beverly Hills, you are a minor player at $80 million – good luck getting a table at the hottest restaurant on short notice.

You can buy any car you want. You have personal assistants and gatekeepers that others have to get through to get to you.

You can travel ANYWHERE in any style. You can buy pretty much anything that normal people think of as ‘rich people stuff.’

 

Now let’s say you’re worth $100 million to nearly $1 billion

It’s a wide range, but the odd thing is that life doesn’t change much when you go from being worth $200 million to $900 million.

At this point, you have your own private jet, multiple residences with staff, and elite cars at each residence. You likely have ownership or significant control over a business or entity that most of the public has heard of.

If it’s your thing, you can socialize with movie stars, politicians, rock stars, corporate elite and aristocracy. You might not get invited to every party, but you can go pretty much everywhere you want.

You definitely have ‘people’ and staff.

You think you’ve ‘arrived’ as far as buying things, but there’s still someone who will one-up you. For example, one of your vacation homes is a 5-bedroom villa on acreage in Cabo, but to your financial peers that’s not the least bit impressive.

You own a private island? That’s starting to be cool, but it depends on the island.

You just had dinner with Senator X and Governor Y at your home? That’s great, but

your billionaire friend just had dinner with the President.

You have a new Ferrari? Your friend thinks their handling sucks and has a classic, only-five-exist-in-the-world-type of car.

Yes, no matter how much money you have, there is always a “keeping up with the Jones” aspect. Best advice? No matter how much money you have, don’t worry about what the Jones are doing.

Guys only – if you’re looking for women at this level, you won’t have to look hard because they are everywhere.

At every event, most parties, the club and so forth, you’ll find ultra-hot, world class, smart women. Power and money are an aphrodisiac and you have it in spades.

Ladies – be smart. While the rich men might be using beautiful women, as a rich woman, men will be trying to use you. Have fun, enjoy yourself, but do not hand over the checkbook and do not get married unless you are 100% certain you know this person. Best advice: Never marry without an ironclad prenuptial.

One thing that gets rare at this level? Friends and family that love you for who you are. They exist, but it is pretty damn hard to know which ones they are.

 

You made the grade – You’re Worth $1 Billion or More

I am going to exclude the $10b+ crowd, because they live a head-of-state life. But at $1 billion, life changes. You can buy anything. ANYTHING. In broad terms, this is what you can buy:

Access. You can now ask your staff to contact anyone and you will get a call back.

Our Reddit poster saw this first hand and says, “It’s mind-blowing, the level of access and respect $1 billion+ gets you. In this case, I wanted to speak with a very well-known billionaire businessman – call him billionaire #1 for a project that interested my friend, billionaire #2.”

“I mentioned that it would be good to talk to Billionaire #1, and Billionaire #2 told me that he didn’t know him.

“But he called his assistant into the room. ‘Get me the (Name Redacted) Golf Club directory. Call Billionaire #1 at home and tell him I want to talk to him.’”

“Within 60 minutes, we had a call back. I was in Billionaire #1’s home talking to him the next day. Billionaire #2’s opinion commanded that kind of respect from a peer. Mind blowing.”

The same is true with access to almost any Senator/Governor of your own party, since in most cases you are either a significant donor or offering to become a donor. You meet on an occasional basis with heads-of-state and have real conversations with them, which leads to influence.

Yes, you can buy influence.

As a billionaire, you have many ways to shape public policy and the public debate, and you use them. This is (hopefully) not in any evil way.

Most billionaires are passionate about ideas and are trying to do what they feel is best (just like you would). You can have an hour with the Governor privately, or with the Secretary of Health, or you can buy ads or purchase lobbyists.

The amount of influence you have as a billionaire can be heady.

And you can also buy time. You literally never wait for anything.

Travel? You fly private. You show up at the airport, get in the plane and the door closes. 2 minutes later you’re taking off, flying directly to where you are going. The plane waits for you.

If you decide you want to leave at any time, you drive (or take a helicopter) to the airport and you leave. The pilots and stewardess are your employees. They do what you tell them to do.

Dinner? Your driver drops you off at the front door and waits a few blocks away for however long you need. The best table is waiting for you. The celebrity chef has prepared a meal for you (because you give him so much catering business he wants you to be VERY happy) and he ensures service is impeccable.

Golf? Your club is so exclusive there is always a tee time and no wait.

Going to the Superbowl or Grammy’s? You are whisked behind velvet ropes and escorted past any/all lines to the best seats in the house.

Experiences: If you can dream of it, then you can have it.

Want to play tennis with the winner at Wimbledon? Call his people. For a donation of $100k+ to his charity, you can likely play a match with him.

Do you like a particular band, no matter how famous? There is a price where they would simply come play at your private party.

Love art? Your people could arrange for the curator of the Louvre to show you around and even show you masterpieces that have not been exhibited in years.

Love Nascar? How about racing the top driver on a closed track?

Love science? Have a dinner with Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Love politics? Have a former US president come speak at a dinner for you and your friends, just by paying his speaking fee.

Your mind is the only limit to what is available, because donations and fees will get you anyone.

The same is true with stuff. Do you like pianos? How about owning one Mozart used to compose music on? This is the type of stuff you can get.

IMPACT. Your money can literally change the world and change lives. It is almost too much of a burden to think about. Clean water for a whole village forever? That’s chump change. A dying child needs a transplant? Hell…you could build and fund an entire hospital.

RESPECT. The respect you get at this level is just over-the-top. You are THE MAN in almost every circle. Governors look up to you. Fortune 500 CEOs look up to you. Presidents and Kings look at you as a peer.

PERSPECTIVE. As an example, there are people who make $400 million a year. There are people who make more, of course, but we’ll use this as our example.

Let’s compare a $400 million a year income with someone who makes $40,000/year and look at prices the way he might. Remember, he makes 10,000 times more than the $40,000 a year person.

A new Lamborghini — $235,000 seems to the billionaire like $23.50.

First class ticket internationally? $10,000 becomes $1.

A full time executive level helper? $8,000/month becomes $0.80/month.

A $10 million piece of art you love? $1,000. Expensive, so you have to plan a bit.

A suite at the best hotel in NYC at $10,000/night is $1/night.

A $50 million home in the Hamptons? $5,000.

There is literally nothing you can’t buy except…

Love.

It is nearly impossible to have a normal emotional relationship at this level.

It is hard to sacrifice for another person when you are never asked to sacrifice ANYTHING.

Money can solve all problems for someone, so you offer it, because there is so much else to do.

Your time is SOOOO valuable that you ration it.

And that makes you lose connections with people.

Now that you’ve had a peak at what it’s really like to be filthy stinking rich, do you still crave it?

Personally, I’d love to be that rich for one reason: All the good I could do in the world. That alone would be a full time business, employing dozens of people to help me make it happen.

Decide how rich you want to be. And then decide what you are willing to give up to be that rich.

Everything has a price. To go from being a $40,000 a year person to even just a $400,000 a year person is going to take some major changes in how you think and what you do.

Without a plan, it will never happen.

But with a plan and plenty of good habits to make it happen, it’s entirely possible you’ll reach your financial goal, whatever it may be.

 

Have you any comments on what you have just read, let me know in the comments box, thanks for visiting my blog. Robert