Anyone ever worked for truly rich people

[Inthestillof]

I know they bleed blood but what other things did you notice about them?

I just imagine what I'd be like if someone gave me a 100 million quid. I can't really imagine keeping it all, I assume lots would go to charity. But in general I'd buy a lovely house, I'd choose the best school for my kids (either state based on buying in an expensive postcode or private), I'd pay for them to have any private help or support they might need, I'd probably have a housekeeper and a gardener and a cleaner, maybe even a nanny. I probably wouldn't work, but would get involved in charitable causes that were important to me and spend time on hobbies that I currently don't have time for. In fact, I'd probably have the lifestyle of a modern royal, without the royal duties part. I imagine I'd still feel and think pretty much the same. I'd still worry about the kids. I'd still sometimes find it hard to get out of bed in the morning. People I know would still get awful illnesses. I think life would be easier, but I'm not sure I'd be a different person. And I imagine most people with money are the same.

I've never worked for one, but I do know a couple. Friends of friends, kind of. They are lovely but as others mention, anything that needs doing, they just ask a lackey and it gets done. So I don't think they quite understand what it is like to live in the real world.

I’m curious as to what jobs you folks have had with the wealthy. I’m guessing housekeeper/pa/personal stylist type jobs?

@bloodyplanes was it cb and her pm dh you worked for?!

I work intermittently for a multimillionaire. He can choose to fly private jet as he chooses and I have been lucky enough to be on some of these trips. The flight is fabulous, lovely food and drink and so relaxed. However, he is one of the most discontented people I know. Nothing is ever quite right. He is a classic example of money doesn’t get you happiness.

I have however enjoyed being treated to experiences that would never otherwise happen!

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g yep thats her

@Bladed nope it was HMQ

I work in investment management in a firm where clients tend to need £5-10m in liquid assets to be taken on, so no, not a PA or similar.

My husband and I would be eligible to be clients of my firm should we want to be.

DH works in finance too, and most of our work friends do similar.

I don’t think that most of the people that we deal with are much different to anyone else.

I have yes.

The main thing I noticed about them is that they truly understand that if you throw money at a problem, it goes away.

The two major differences that I’ve seen is
1/. They have PA (“time managers”) who sort everything. All the mundane shit is sorted - insurance, MOT, utilities, house maintenance stuff, kids school stuff. And they have the diary so they ‘remember’ and schedule everything for you.
2/. As others say money means you can be spontaneous and avoid all the shit bits so latest examples ….. decide on Monday, you want to go on holiday on Wednesday. PA books everything (& reschedules everything you had booked), car collects you and takes you to private airport, security is all done for you while you board. Private jet delivers you to said destination at another private airport where the car is waiting so traveling is easy and takes half the time. Want to see Pet shop boys at Glastonbury. PA get Glasto tickets, car drops you at the gates 30 mins before they are on stage and collects you just after he’s finished. Doesnt matter that the tickets cost ££££, you can afford to ‘throw away’ the rest of the ticket to see or do the thing you want. Nothing is ever sold out and there are very very few waiting lists

Thanks for your reply @StillHappy. Didn’t mean to cause offence, was just thinking of in-house jobs.

It seems unlikely that so many people on this thread would know a billionaire. Very few people are actual billionaires.

My friend works for Richard Branson on Necker Island. Apparently he’s the nicest boss he’s ever had - really down to earth and humble.

Interesting thread.

I would really like to know who CB is...

I don't think people are saying that they know them, more that they've done work for them. Millionaires and Billionaires probably provide a lot of employment.

We didn’t work for very rich people but at our sons private school one of the lad in the teams family owned an Oil company, Sinclair oil. His parents were lovely. They played down money, but at the end of every football match they would get 10 boxes of pizza. At the end of year his football team won the state finals & his parents hosted a team dinner at the local 5 star hotel they owned with an ice sculpture. His Mum drove a battered Audi and had very simple clothing. My sons prom date family owned the Utah Jazz and he was lucky enough one time to go with her court side . Both families were very normal. Both families are billionaires. We lived in Utah for a work relocation & the fees were part of the package.

I sit on a charitable trust with 2 billionaires (it is their charity and they asked me to be a trustee as I am a professional in the field)

Millionaires are friends/ex colleagues. Once you get into your 50s you know a lot more millionaires!

I agree with those who say that very rich people are a mix. I worked for one who was charming and amusing but very much ‘if you’re not totally in agreement with everything I want then you’re the enemy’. A bit of the Godfather.

Another (a friend) is humble and delightful, helps others as much as he can.

Another sponsored a work project of mine and treated me like a hero until I didn’t adopt her position on an issue unrelated to my work that she thought I should get involved in; then I was swiftly out of favour and the sponsorship was abruptly cut off.

I guess the lesson I have drawn from these experiences is ‘be wary, don’t get dependent on one very rich and powerful person, and don’t ever let anyone think they can buy and own you.’

@Mischiefmakerme

"Despite wealth, money doesn’t necessarily buy manners"

++

I think there are ill mannered and rude people without money and ill mannered and rude people with money. The difference is the former is dismissed as oik, knob, etc whereas the latter is labelled as an entitled rich twat that needs taking down a few pegs.

Neither is acceptable.

We have staff like that ourselves, cleaners, gardeners, housekeepers etc.

We’re both from pretty normal backgrounds, so (I think) aren’t much different to most other normal people.

We still take our little children to McDonalds, shop at normal supermarkets and so on, but then our main house is in a private gated street with security, we use an underground car park that means we don’t get in and out on the street and so on.

When not at home though there’s nothing unusual about how we live. The home arrangements are unfortunately just part and parcel of having money in London.

@Leafy3 I assume Cherie Blair.

I have worked with a few.

The chairman of my company is a billionaire and the owner of a household name company.

Whenever he comes around to the office for drinks or we go for a team meeting he brings a case of wine. Each bottle will be worth £700+ (sadly I don’t drink wine).

He owns multiple vineyards around the world and is the largest private landowner of an African country where he has a massive nature reserve.

My former colleague was a member of the landed gentry. I looked his family up on Wikipedia and found out they own about half of an English county.

I deal with a few other billionaires at work, including one who owns an entire skyscraper in the City of London. It has the most amazing view, even in the waiting room. Tbh, whilst impressive I do find the excessive wealth a bit sickening.

Must have been a long time ago
Post 9/11 you can no longer just rock up at an airport.

DH has a very wealthy friend. He takes DH sometimes to his private box at the football and has given us tickets to a very fancy corporate dinner. DH and I have discussed whether they are actual friends or if DH is part of his entourage. Nice and normal seeming guy.

My DH does building work for extremely rich people in London. The richest are royal family from another country, multi-billionnaires. They own a football club, travel by private jet, 200+ (empty) properties in London, only 5 of which are used daily. They’re staffed and cook breakfast in each of them every day as they never know if the family might show up. The staff used to offer the food to my DH and his builders if the family didn’t appear. Such a massive waste. They were very nice according to DH, the dad would dress very casually. The housekeeping and PA staff were rude and a bit bonkers, would phone my dh up in the middle of the night to ask how to work the new washing machines. They had Picasso’s on the wall, DH has been asked to rehang a few (and a few chandeliers) but no way his insurance would cover that!!

Another client were some extremely rich property developers who bought 5 London mews houses next door to each other who were converting them into a single property. Two of the houses were solely going to be used for their dogs!

All the rich people he works for like to change their houses constantly, if they change something and don’t like it they just rip it out and change it again. We’ve had two brand new kitchens for free (and my brother has had a kitchen) as they were going in a skip.

Recently he completely refitted a massive flat in London for a daughter moving there for university, flat renovation cost £3m. Daughter walked in when it was almost finished and didn’t like it, she wanted to live somewhere else. So the parents left that flat and got her somewhere else instead.

Of course you can. Unless you need a visa you can buy tix at the airport and fly off!