The casual things that wealthy people take for granted

[KaleQueen]

Inspired by a thread that’s gone totally off topic….where someone suggested a £400 watch was cheap.

What’s the most casual (even accidental) brag you’ve ever heard a wealthy person say?

I can start as I know someone who celebrated a big birthday recently and is an absolutely lovely person but during their party (in the wonderful house) they said “oh! Here comes the string quartet. I had completely forgotten about them!”

^www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5174898-to-feel-slightly-suspicious-of-dp?page=35&reply=138771616^

To me a £5 watch is cheap. A £100 watch is a good expensive one.

Is that the place where you have to buy health?

There was a guy with his leg in plaster and they offered to call him a cab... He thought they were paying and you could see the panic about having enough money in his eyes when he realised they didn't

Awful and commmon.

Try cooking for a family 3 times a day everyday.. apart from the once a week take away where you still cook anyway and wash constant dishes.. I'm not talking about rubbish take aways btw I'm talking about getting a proper meal in a restaurant

They are definitely suited

Whilst staying with us one summer my son’s friend casually remarked “I’m so sick of going on safari every year. One lion is just like another!”
OMG! I knew he was an entitled little brat but I was absolutely shocked!
I would love to go on safari!

32 pages in and people are still banging on about watches 🙈. Perhaps the new definition of whether you are rich or not should be whether you think a £400 watch is expensive or not 😂.

I don’t know any truly wealthy people but I have 2 recent stories that made me go 😵.

DH’s uncle’s wife talking about their trip to New Zealand and casually saying, “If you’re going all that way, you have to be able to lie flat.” ie flying first class.

My uncle telling us about his career which was actually very interesting, he has a patent on something important (so important I can’t remember what it was!) until he dropped in, “what do you even do with a six figure bonus?” cue silence from the rest of the table…

I find it depends what you're using them for. back when I had one of the earlier digital cameras, before they started making them rechargeable, that thing ATE batteries. cheap batteries would barely last for a day out.
so I had to buy expensive ones for that. but I find for things like remote controls and so on, the cheapies work just fine.
and it seems like most things that use a lot of power are charged with a cable these days.
which is good, because nobody likes their toys running out at a crucial moment 😈

The world's healthcare is not just the NHS or US! Australia, Europe and developed Asian countries exist as well and have better outcomes than us, Generally they are mix of public and private.

Nurses earn more in Australia than in the UK on average.

I think the watch debate has be been done to death, but I might as well add my opinion.

A £400 watch isn't expensive, but it isn't cheap.

No watch, apart from GPS models, will be as accurate as a cheap smartphone that synchronises with an atomic network clock or GPS satellites.

There is zero time accuracy advantage gained from using a watch vs the smartphone in your pocket.

They're now simply fashion jewellery.

However expensive a watch is, it tells the time [and bells and whistles are added on to the expensive ones]. I do voluntary work, and people give me watches. I take them to the shop - sometimes all they need is a battery, but people would rather get a new watch than buy a battery. So the battery is my donation, and the money the watch sells for is for the charity.

There is wealth, and wealth. Same as there's poverty, and poverty. It's all relative, at both ends.

I feel wealthy because I don't ever have to draw a distinction between what I need and what I want, whenever I buy stuff.

An A-list celeb would not consider me wealthy because I don't have a PA, a London house and an LA house, a Cartier watch and a personal trainer and chef. Nor, even if I wanted those things, could I afford them.

My neighbour considers me wealthy because I have a gardener, a new car, and always have my groceries delivered.

Her neighbour considers her wealthy because she gets deliveroo, has a warm house, and a holiday once a year in Europe.

HER neighbour considers her wealthy because she has carpets on the floor, all the appliances work, both kids have their own room and eat three good meals a day.

Best post.

Your uncle had a point tho. After a certain level, what DO or should you do with "excess"/"excessive" money?
Give it away? Use it to make more excess money? Yes it's a "nice problem to have" but none the less it remains a problem.

A couple I know openly told me when I was pregnant they would never have a baby on the nhs as it is scary and dangerous and that it was selfish to have a child if you still had to work and get childcare. It was very tone deaf.The husband also causally dropped he would not get out of bed for a wage of 50k and I had to politely remind him to most people that’s actually a lot of money.My point is I guess some people take earning well,private health care and being able to stay at home with kids (If they wish to) for granted. I guess when you get used to a certain life style you may take it for granted.

Usually having children and splicing it into a chunk each in your Will gets wealth down to manageable levels.

I know someone that works for an ultra high net worth person, and apparently they have an apartment in central London just to store her handbags.

Jesus. That’s depressing.

I've been aware of things people take for granted when they suggest something is 'cheap' when many people would have to budget/save for it.

My oven broke when I'd just wiped out almost all of my emergency fund on unexpected vet bills that my insurance didn't cover. While I was looking at second hand ovens, arranging someone to collect it and finding an affordable gas fitter to put it in - "why don't you just buy this cheap £650 one to tide you over?"
No idea that some people might not have immediate access to such a 'small' amount of money (or that I would have chosen the ease of having something new with delivery and installation included if I could).

Being invited on a 'cheap' last minute girl's weekend - "it's only £900 then you'll just need a bit of spending money!"
£900 on flights/accommodation just for myself would be my only holiday that year, and I'd have to save for it.

You see where people take things for granted when they assume that what's cheap to them will class as cheap to most people.

The watch discussion is tedious, but demonstrates that blindness. Somebody saying that they're wearing an 'expensive' £400 item is saying that this item classes as expensive TO THEM. It's something they couldn't casually replace if it was lost, it's not an amount they would or could usually spend.
It's not saying this item is top of the range. It's not saying "this would be expensive to everyone".

Having somebody pop up to announce that somebody's expensive (to them) item is cheap ("what's next, a £50 handbag is expensive? 🤣🤣🤣" - to folk whose usual budget would be £15, yes it is!) is patronising, tone deaf, braggy, and a perfect example of people taking their privilege for granted.

People take for granted the amount of problems money can solve for them.

Missed the bus ? Taxi (ok really rich people don’t take the bus but you get my point)
Cold ? Put heating on.
Sick ? Pay for an appointment.
Boiler breaks ? Get a new one.
House is a mess ? Get a cleaner
Car breaks ? Buy a new one.
Hungry ? Pop to shop or order in.
Need new glasses ? No problem buy some.
In pain ? Buy painkillers.
Need help with something ? Pay someone to do it for you.

I have a £30 watch bought off Amazon ... it's brilliant, and I love it. It looks good, and more than once I've been asked where I got it ... I'm far from rich, but I feel enriched by not wanting more than that.

For me I no longer felt “poor” when I realised I could go to the supermarket and buy food based on that I wanted to eat rather than what I could afford to buy.

Buying champagne and expensive wine when it’s not a special occasion.

Eating out at any restaurant without checking the menu to see how much it costs.

Oh and buying whatever you fancy in a good shop with no consideration of budget.

It’s all relative! I have friends who earn minimum wage and up to £4 million a year. We all get on and when we meet we make sure the event/venue whatever suits all budgets. We also take friends on holiday, at our cost - because they are very close and loyal. We don’t compare and contrast - that is vulgar.