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28 ‘For Rich Guys Only’ Fads That Other People Find Nothing But Weird And Stupid
Whenever we read another wild or completely bizarre news about some insanely rich guy doing something that we mere mortals wouldn’t only lack the money for, but also the imagination for, we ask ourselves - what the hell is going on?
Why have some incredibly expensive and, from our point of view, meaningless hobbies become firmly associated in the public consciousness with the most moneyed folk? And where is that fine line between reckless spending and just 'can afford' hobbies? Well, this viral thread on the AskReddit community is dedicated to such hobbies, and Bored Panda has made a selection of the best opinions from this thread for you.
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#1
Hunt endangered animals.
Tabitha 2 months ago (edited)
This one doesn’t make me roll my eyes. It makes my blood boil and want revenge. Like setting up something similar to what the antagonist has in the movie “The Most Dangerous Game” (look it up and watch it if you can, it’s pre-code 1930s Hollywood, meaning pre-censorship), but in this case only using nice healthy rich game hunters instead of shipwreck survivors. Maybe even feed them to the animals they hunt when they’re on their last legs. Yeah. (I’m not violent, but cruelty makes me see red and want revenge.)
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Well, since ancient times there have been incredibly rich people, and they also had hobbies that were inaccessible to 99% of those around them. For example, chariot racing in the ancient world. By the way, did you know that the ancient Olympic champion in chariot racing was not the rider, but the owner of the chariot and horses? If this seems weird to you, remember that the Oscar for the best film goes to the producer, not the director or starring actors...
#4
Buying an expensive car and then keeping it in your garage without ever actually driving it.
Nimitz 2 months ago
Worked for a computer refurbishment place. We fixed oil field computers. They'd come back covered in dirt/mud, we'd clean them up, test them, and send them out. The flat rate was $140 each + parts and labor, averaging about $300/unit, so about $200 profit per unit. My quota was 26 units a day for me and 20 units a day for my assistants. We were heavily audited by QA. A misplaced label or a loose screw on the case (there were 36 screws) meant a fail and all the units needed to be redone. We went 18 months without failing a single audit, not even a yellow flag. When Christmas bonus time came around.... Sorry, no money for bonuses. Then in January the two owners took us outside to show us the Audi Spyders they had just bought themselves. They made 4-5 million a year in profit each. We made $30k/year in 2010
#5
Collecting all the resources and money so they own millions of times more than their fair share?
#6
Climb everest.
Tim Fawcett 2 months ago
Favourite demotivational poster: "Every corpse on Everest was once a highly motivated person"
And also, insanely rich people at all times have loved hobbies steadily associated with risk to life. For example, knightly tournaments in the Middle Ages - a good war horse, armor and weapons were quite comparable in cost to a brand new racing car today. In addition, it was necessary to pay for fencing teachers - after all, you are risking your life and health in any case.
#7
Buying $500 vintage jeans.
Janelle Collard 2 months ago
"More money than brains." Too bad there are no charities that could use that $$$./s
#8
Fund raisers for yacht clubs.
Janelle Collard 2 months ago
Oh right, cuz they don't charge millions to even BE in the club. smh
#9
Some rich people get super into collecting exotic pets. Like, yeah man, I’m sure your pet tiger is real fun until it starts thinking you look like a snack. Imagine trying to explain to your insurance company that your cheetah ate your couch… and your neighbor.
So why do people who can afford if not everything, then a hell of a lot in this life, risk their lives and health in search of a new hobby? It's all about adrenaline and dopamine - the very hormones on which our enjoyment of life depends so much.
That is, if for me or for you, purchasing a new smartphone gives us enough dopamine, then a dude who earns the equivalent of a new iPhone every minute of his life simply won’t feel any pleasure from such a ‘trifle.’ The more financial opportunities you have, the more difficult it will be for you to enjoy life in the usual ways.
#10
Marlin fishing
buy a multi million dollar sports fishing boat. have a full time captain to maintain it. compete in marlin tournaments during season where there is big money pay outs for winning and the owners also do side bets w each other.
then spend 12 hours mindlessly trolling around and prob not catch anything other than sun burn and bordom.
#11
Rich Arabs cloning camels by the dozen because that first camel was really pretty. Cute.
#12
Buying modern 'art'.
Tabitha 2 months ago (edited)
Not because they like it or it “speaks” to them. They don’t even understand art. They buy it as an “investment”, thereby artificially driving up the value of it—-not because it’s good art, per se, frankly, a lot of it looks like it was done by a toddler, but because rich people used up the money their accountants said they have to spend before the end of the quarter.
How does this all work? Just look at the example of Bruce Almighty, the movie with Jim Carrey and Morgan Freeman. Yes, this is a fictional comedy, but it shows quite well how an ordinary person, receiving unlimited opportunities, gradually loses the very ability to enjoy simple everyday trifles. Want to check it out for yourself? Well, it is actually possible, but first you need to get rich as hell...
#13
Consume food or drink with gold on or in it. Basically, eat gold.
#14
Collecting felony convictions.
Tabitha 2 months ago
Paying the token fines after cashing in a favor with their a*****e buddy the judge. To the wealthy, legal fees and fines and tickets are just the cost of doing whatever the f**k they want and getting away with it. Who cares if they have a rap sheet a mile long, because they can just retreat back into their wealth and live their lives any way they want—-while the rest of us would be rotting in jail if we did a fraction of the s**t way too many rich kids do and never pay the consequences for.
#15
Starting and hiding the existence of a second family as a result of cheating on their partner.
Panda McPandaface 2 months ago
That's really not exclusive to rich people - in fact the two that I know personally are just average earners.
Be that as it may, life is such that it’s unlikely that you and I will become insanely rich by the wave of someone's magic wand (the last of such wands was called ‘Bitcoin’ and was widely available over ten years ago...). So for now, let's just scroll this list to the very end, and maybe add your own ideas of the weird hobbies that rich people do. After all, if discussing rich people brings us our portion of dopamine, then why not?
#16
Firework shows. And we are talking multi-million dollar contracts in some cases. Literally throwing money into the sky to burn.
Another Panda 2 months ago
I love fireworks, glitter, etc, but sadly they are horrible for the environment (and us as part of the enevironment, and fireworks kill wildlife and even cause pet deaths when they get frighted out of their minds. One local dog chewed its way through the laundry room door, tried to jump the fence to escape the sound fireworks being shot off illegally in the park, and impaled itself on the fence. Sadly, this sort of thing is not uncommon.
#17
Collecting expensive handbags.
#18
Run around the city dressed like a bat.
#19
Polo.
kitten levels tokyo 2 months ago
Polo rule #12: If you whack a horse with your mallet, he gets to bite you.
#21
Activities that cost a lot of money but come with a higher risk of death.
Examples include space tourism, gliding sailing/yachts etc.
Tabitha 2 months ago (edited)
You mean being enough of a d**k you’d shaft your own employees out of decent pay and treat them like slaves in your warehouses, just so you can have the billions it takes to build and launch your own personal d**k rocket, the tip of which looks like the top of your bald peckerhead?
#22
Fly 150 of us out to an island and only the sole survivor makes it home.
#25
Extreme Bathing like having a luxurious bath rituals, including using rare ingredients or soaking in extravagant locations, can come off as over the top.
kitten levels tokyo 2 months ago
Extreme Bathing would make an exciting extreme sport. Like showering with a lion or something.
#26
Yacht Racing.
Christopher Creighton 2 months ago
Most sailboats are bought used and aren't that expensive. They are fun and difficult to race because you have to interact with nature and be very aware of your surroundings. It isn't as expensive as you think.
#27
Golf.
David 2 months ago
Golf isnt a rich people hobby, many middle class do it to. In NYC they have public golf courses with low cost club rentals. For as low as $25 on a weekday and $27 on a weekend you can do a 9 hole half course (at early morning hours, prime hours are more). And full 18 as low as $35 on weekdays (36 weekend) at select hours. $35 for club rentals and $20 for a golf cart rental. So you can do 18 holes for as low as $90, making it affordable for the middle class
What do you think ?
Evagating Beewolf (she/they) 2 months ago
honestly if I had billions I'd just give most of it away. Why the hell would I want to race yachts or whatever? Just let me buy up the Amazon and do precisely nothing with it, give ridiculous tips to local restaurants, lobby for reasonable things, try to influence politics to get it deinfluenced, send the lovely people at the Internet Archive lots of money, et cetera. Just try to make a decent world, and otherwise live a pretty normal life. Oh, and have a space laser. Space laser would be cool too. (There's probably a reason I'm not rich.)
ENSJ 2 months ago
Yeah if I had billions I would buy myself a little house to live in, but with lots of land to create a sustainable farm and with room for people to live on, as well as a non profit that wants to empower people and bring communities together. Any money left over (and there'd be quite a lot left over) I'd set up in a trust fund to give out to charity.
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Bec 2 months ago
The Space Rockets really irked me. It's great that SpaceX is innovating, but if we had taxed and regulated some of these billionaires, NASA would have had the $ to continue innovating. Gates and Buffett's foundations do good things, but if they'd paid more taxes (and U.S. had campaign finance laws), voters could decide what we wanted to spend that $ on.
John Harrison 2 months ago
If only NASA had MORE money to throw away on their over-budget, behind-schedule programs, THEN they would innovate.
Load More Replies... Evagating Beewolf (she/they) 2 months ago
honestly if I had billions I'd just give most of it away. Why the hell would I want to race yachts or whatever? Just let me buy up the Amazon and do precisely nothing with it, give ridiculous tips to local restaurants, lobby for reasonable things, try to influence politics to get it deinfluenced, send the lovely people at the Internet Archive lots of money, et cetera. Just try to make a decent world, and otherwise live a pretty normal life. Oh, and have a space laser. Space laser would be cool too. (There's probably a reason I'm not rich.)
ENSJ 2 months ago
Yeah if I had billions I would buy myself a little house to live in, but with lots of land to create a sustainable farm and with room for people to live on, as well as a non profit that wants to empower people and bring communities together. Any money left over (and there'd be quite a lot left over) I'd set up in a trust fund to give out to charity.
Load More Replies... Bec 2 months ago
The Space Rockets really irked me. It's great that SpaceX is innovating, but if we had taxed and regulated some of these billionaires, NASA would have had the $ to continue innovating. Gates and Buffett's foundations do good things, but if they'd paid more taxes (and U.S. had campaign finance laws), voters could decide what we wanted to spend that $ on.
John Harrison 2 months ago
If only NASA had MORE money to throw away on their over-budget, behind-schedule programs, THEN they would innovate.
Load More Replies...
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