[maerF0x0]

> It's possible to be a billionaire on paper and starve to death.

While "possible", the kinds of scenarios that lead to a starving billionaire are the kinds in which _everyone_ starves (ie widespread famine). If one's paper is actually worth $1B there are some sane people who would pay a large sum to buy it for a discount. Say $500M. I would argue that billionaires are able to live fundamentally easier lives than non-billionaires and most difficulties they face can be solved by 1) paying money or 2) accepting sub optimal outcomes (eg, not working on their business to make it outperform the S&P 500).

I do agree with a good chunk of your sentiment about socialized skills that allow the elite to recognize and interact with each other and the basic idea that managing large amounts of money is not fraught with perils (scammers, sales people, poor advice, open hands wanting "their share"). A simple example of that is lottery winners. They know how to spend millions, but not now how to make it last or make it work.