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by vorpalhex 2927 days ago
I'm taking your question to mean "how do they deal with the normal non-formal anxieties everyone has". I'm theorizing here, I'm nowhere near a billionaire, but I've known some fairly wealthy people (though wealthy with a M, not a B).

+ Diverse investments

Instead of keeping all their eggs in one basket, they tend to be invested heavily across multiple spectrums. Oil and gas, health insurance marketplaces, real estate, etc. Even if one facet of their portfolio crashed, they wouldn't be screwed.

Many of them will even make well known subpar choices to add some "insurance", like keeping a safe full of metal silver and gold bars, or even investing in a well supplied safe room. It's not that they're expecting to use those things or make a profit from holding rare metals, but to them $20k is nothing to invest in a "just in case" fashion.

+ Multiple experts

You or me might have one doctor, they might have three or four they get opinions from. Likewise for accountants or lawyers. This gives them flexibility, better chances for good outcomes, and less likelihood of a single person being able to screw them over.

+ Outsourcing to experts

Most of us probably only go to a doctor or a lawyer when things get way out of our depth. Likewise for an electrician. Someone who is wealthy can afford to apply experts to every problem they have. Instead of only going to a lawyer when they really think things have gone wrong, every single contract can be reviewed by an expert.

+ Concierge services for when things go wrong

Ever have a flight get massively delayed or end up in the wrong city? For most of us, it sucks and we scramble to deal with it. The wealthy can afford custom concierge and assistants who can fix things in a single call. Flight stopped in the wrong city on your way to your exotic adventure? No problem, one call and you'll have train tickets and a cab booked so you don't miss anything.

This applies beyond travel. Health crises in a foreign country? Call the hotline and have a doctor show up at your hotel instantly. Lost in the mountains while hiking? Pick up the sat phone and have a rescue team scramble to your location.

+ Amazing amounts of connections

When we go to a museum and there's a crazy line, we have the choice of waiting or walking away. Someone who is wealthy and a savvy donor can call and arrange a private tour instead. Likewise for getting into sold out shows, better seats at plays, or even booking tables at restaurants. For someone massively wealthy, donating a few thousand a year to local art institutes not only looks good and has tax benefits, but costs relatively nothing and comes with amazing benefits.

Likewise, they get to mingle with actors, celebrities, important leaders, etc. Suddenly the rolodex goes from a few well known friends to an impressive array of people with amazing amounts of power.

1 comments

So, basically they are playing the game with full cheat codes, nothing is a personal challenge anymore, so it gets boring/tedious quickly?
They have other challenges. A large one is the amount of work that goes into managing that kind of money - usually at any given time there are several real estate transactions going on, stocks moving, social events that are borderline mandatory from a politics side of things, etc.

There's a big concern that your money might be used illicitly or illegally, or even if you try to give it to a good cause, that it may be squandered.

You also have to worry about nutjobs who find out you have money - this leads to security, both guards and changes in how you live your life. If you have kids, their lives are probably very sheltered since kidnapping is a very real and very serious threat. Likewise for close family members.

The value of money is always a diminishing return, and eventually it can become a liability.