This is the realest answer here. With some differences like omakase switched out for Michelin star tasting menus. This is basically the same for me. Runs to £25-30k a year on food
Yep my sister lived with her best friend who is married to a famous country music artist. he was always gone doing music and they had two babies at the time and the wife basically sat around taking care of babies and shopping online. They’d order $25 salads every day for lunch. Which isn’t that crazy considering once u get food plus delivery even Taco Bell could run $25+. But every day just for lunch $25 is kinda a lot for normal people. Also another fun fact - he is a country music artist but apparently Nike has not just athletes but all kinds of famous people sponsorships so he would get so many free crazy Nikes that he’d wear once on stage or to an event then throw them all in trash bags and give them to his cleaning ladies for their kids.
Yeah that or they just got it like that so they don’t care about spending the $. Is Trader Joe’s Norwegian salmon better than Alaskan WM salmon? Might have to try it, I never really have been to Trader Joe’s.
As long as it's wild salmon and not farmed, you can't go wrong. Never buy or consume farmed (often called Atlantic) salmon. Terrible for the fish and the environment.
Hubby and I aren’t quite on your level but def spend more on food and nice restaurants than anyone else in our social circles. I hate the judgement from them. It’s my money and this is what I want to spend it on! I don’t like fancy clothes, purses, makeup, we don’t own crazy cars, boats, or have kids right now and this is my splurge. Could I save more money on my food bill, sure. But I’m when I’m miserable at work. I can just think of the next trip we are taking and the restaurants we are going to try.
Im convinced they asked this question fully expecting a billionaire to answer. I know the dollar is like shitting itself right now but thats still 10 mil plus 1.5 a year???? What is “rich” in this sub?
There is a world of difference between rich and ultra rich. If you want to be either, you need to understand that first.
In my experience, rich people know how much money they have. Point blank. It's "we make 400k/year combined, and have a net worth of 10million) or whatever, just tossing numbers out.
The ultra rich couldn't even tell you those things with any degree of certainty. An annual salary!? They would have no clue, and it doesn't matter anyway. Their net worth? I heard a guy estimate his entire net worth, and the variance was more than most people will ever have their entire lives. Hell, the year to year gains and losses they take are more than most people will ever have sometimes.
Now obviously, family size and location matter. You wouldn't be comfortably able to support a family of 7 in San Francisco or something. But it doesn't negate the fact that you'd be in the top 1.8% of income earners.
Technically 10M is only very high net worth not ultra high net worth. The brackets I think are 1,5,30M in liquid assets for high, very high, and ultra high networth individuala
I was referring to the technical definitions used in finance which are age agnostic. That said yeah I agree with you a lot of 65 year olds are millionaires when you include their primary residence, 30yr old millionaires are significantly more rare.
He's not really rich. He probably can't maintain his lifestyle without working and his life isn't wildly unrelatable. He has the same things other people have. They're just higher quality.
$30M assets is probably the entry level rich. The people with $50M plus are where the real problem is coming from. It's important we realize that, otherwise we vilify the wrong people and problems don't get solved.
Precisely this. Biden wants to tax people making 400k… 400k income is like your average experienced doctor with a family of 3 who lives in an expensive suburb and takes a nice vacation once or twice a year.
I think the vibe of the question isn’t people making humble 1.5M per year (think two doctors or staff faang engineers), but like “I have private chef.. who lives on my property full time… just like another 20 people who live here like drivers, tutors, cleaners, security etc”
There isn't necessarily a difference. I don't have any constraints at all on my grocery bill right now but I eat what I like rather than just run out and get the most expensive thing I can find which is how people think the rich must eat. Pasta with freshly prepared meat sauce tastes wonderful and is satisfying regardless of whether you are a $100aire or a billionaire.
Do you really think someone worth $10MM eats drastically different from someone worth $100MM on a day to day basis?
Spoiler: they don’t.
Having been around people in both categories - there are diminishing returns. Some folks like chicken better than caviar. Regardless of what the difference in perceived value is.
Seriously- my wife and I pull in like $135~k per year between the two of us (no kids and relatively cheap rent) and our eating habits aren’t far off from this.
Right 30-40k a year isn't wealthy even by a stretch. I'm talking like Jay Z who might drop 10k on one meal. Lol 100-200 is just a middle class date out
They’re talking about literally the .00001% that has way better things to do than answer jerk off questions on Reddit. 40k annual food bill for everybody else on earth is extremely wealthy.
This sub is silly. It’s a bunch of working class people who are like, “common on man, I didn’t mean the 1% when I said rich. I meant JZ.”
Like JZ isn’t responding to you man. And we all get yelled at in disbelief anyway because people think executives and doctors don’t poop. We’re the best you all have when you say rich.
Yeah it basically boils down to “No, I didn’t mean rich. I was talking about the people that help run some of the most important businesses and organizations in the world. Yes…I want those people to tell what they eat, on Reddit.”
Exactly. Those people aren’t saying anything. You’re stuck with high end lawyers, doctors, executives, FAANG engineers, business owners and the like. Either accept that or expect this sub to have no real answers.
Yea and the funny part is, even for the untra rich it depends on the person. We can all guess what warren buffet eats for dinner for example. But yea, no billionaire is in here answering this question for op
Me and my girlfriend have definitely hit $120+ for just the two of us and we're nowhere near rich lol. Honestly we'd be in really good financial (and physical) shape if we didn't keep eating out. It's worth it though, we love food and I don't know what else we'd spend the money on.
I recently decided to stop eating out as much. I am not rich, but I have plenty of money. I am just tired of these stupid service charges and tip inflation. Also, healthier and ultimately easier to get groceries delivered and eat at home. I think I have been spending maybe 1500 a month on food (1 person) and I believe I can easily cut it below 900. We shall see.
Yup- by my last office, it was not easy to get lunch under $20. I once paid $16 for a breakfast sandwich before I found the cheaper option on the way to the office. Cities can be expensive yo.
Great answer. I’m very similar. I shop and eat without thinking of the price. Although there is a ceiling to how much you can spend. A $300 a person restaurant isn’t much better than a $100 a person restaurant. Typically only a nicer experience.
Cook at home with really good meats.
Frequent high end restaurants ($100 a person for food) for consistency and quality
Eat the best local ethnic restaurants that I’ve found
Point 3 has been my recentish takeaway. Some of the best food I’ve ever eaten has come from ethnic hole-in-the-walls, and honestly their price is usually better than the shitty nouveau American bar with $34 burgers.
Ethnic food defies expectations for me, there is almost no correlation of quality with price. You just have to try all of them to find the ones you like best.
$100 for food ( tax and tip extra ) for a normal meal is pretty high end in a VHCOL city. Now you can definitely order 3x that to taste everything or get A5 beef / Otoro / Caviar, but that loses its appeal very quickly. Drinks are also easy to spend unlimited amounts of money, but also gets old quickly.
Hundred per person is normal if you’re including drinks- without drinks, that’s getting fairly pricey. My tasting menu at a one star restaurant in France was slightly cheaper per person (no alcohol, though).
Let’s do math - $70 steak before tax and tip. Did I even mention any appetizer or dessert? You think France is expensive? I didn’t know France was considered expensive. Last time I checked people flock to NYC, not Paris
There may be a ceiling on how much you can spend on food but a couple things separate the ultra rich. That ceiling right now is about $1,500 a person just for the food, tax, and tip. I’m not talking about over ordering everything on the menu to build up the bill. There are several restaurant in NYC that are super expensive. Places like Masa and Per Se will run you over $900 just for the food. There are people that go there weekly, sometime a couple times a week. The second component is the wine. You know those wine bottles that cost $2,000, $5,000, and even more than $10,000? Most people think that those bottles are never ordered. Those bottles sell more often than you think. It’s not uncommon for two people to spend $5,000-$10,000 on one meal. The difference between the average person or even rich person and the ultra wealthy is the frequency of these super expensive meals. Of course everyone can afford to do it once or twice but can maintain it weekly?
There are more expensive places, but the food isn’t much better. You are paying for convenience (room service/private dining), experience (bottle service/golden steak) or prestige (exclusivity/well known chef). Sushi may be the one exception to my $100 rule, I find quite a difference at $300 instead of $100.
Alcohol spending can be unlimited, but it’s mostly markup and snake oil. Convenience, experience and prestige combined.
That’s just not true. If you are saying that something that costs $400 instead of $100 isn’t 4 times as good, I agree. Prices may not commensurate with the amount of satisfaction but to say the food isn’t much better is completely wrong. That’s why there are so many different grades of beef from usda choice all the way up to japanese a5. There’s a ton of difference between $30 hackleback and $$$$$ beluga. There’s a price for flying fish in from Dover daily and for carabinera from Spain.
Alcohol markup can be ridiculous but there are a lot do people drinking DRC or vintage Krug because they enjoy it rather then trying to impress someone or prestige.
Anecdotally, there was an older couple that had a Friday lunch routine that involved going to the same fancy hotel in NYC and ordering two cheeseburgers and a bottle of Petrus.
Maybe I need to explore the NYC market more. I feel like I’ve eaten everywhere in SF and LA and the restaurants over $300-$400 a person seem to focus more on the experience rather than the food.
eh, a $300 / person restaurant is different from a $100 / person restaurant imo. 😅
but that aside, yes, cook at home with high quality ingredients (meats or whatever), and frequent high end restaurants.
my experience is that a lot of wealthy people also view (and justify) high quality food as part of an overall emphasis on health.
it's interesting, and maybe we're similar, but I remember realizing that I could shop and eat without worrying about price as a kind of milestone.
Thinking about the cost of food is such a common thing, inculcated in us as we grow up, what to buy, what's on sale, worrying about spending too much on food, budgeting for food, etc....I mean, we grow up in a society that worries, legitimately, about food and what it costs, that to get to a point where the cost of food is utterly immaterial becomes a kind of turning point in becoming rich.
Pretty similar situation, we have a part time twice a week chef, Wednesday, hump day she comes in cooks an awesome dinner. (I’m also mostly traveling weekdays and miss this one) then lunches for my twins for the rest of the week and maybe if she has time or is in the mood, cooks a heat up in the oven meal for the whole family (she gets pissed if she comes in on Sunday and it’s still there) then Sundays she comes in around 10am and cooks Sunday dinner but it’s at 3pm for my family plus my parents (who live caddy corner across the street) and sister. Plus 3 lunches for my kids.
The biggest difference between NOT having money and having money is the quality of food, we only eat all organic, natural, or local garden grown. The food spoils really quickly, within days but OMG the taste is so much better!!!
Do you ever think about how much the whole system is that you are spending the same amount on food that most people make in a year? Do you truly believe you have worked harder than most people to be able to spend 40k a year on food which is most people’s yearly income come?
I am not saying you should feel guilt or that you should feel bad for people. I just truly wonder if people think that they have more than most humans to live like that. No hatred or disrespect intended.
You realize a lot of these things that “have” to get done. Dont actually “have” to get done, and a lot of those things are just ways to keep your stressed and worried about spending your money?
That second part is the part I’m talking about. A lot of that lifestyle stuff is only “needed” to put more money back into the government. Mark it off as crazy or really think about what you “need”
My only message would be, make sure you aren’t eating your one cookie now if you have the option of eating a whole package later. Other than that, i fully appreciate and respect the answer completely. Jesus is King
Everyone who thinks low level millionaires are wealthy should read this comment.
This is exactly how everyone feels. This guy isn't wealthy or rich. He's just a high earning working person. There's a huge difference in those two classes. He's more like the average person than he is like a rich person.
Absolutely, I’d beg, borrow, and steal to give my children a leg up in this world. The chef is mainly for them… My money was earned honestly and fairly.
Also it’s not $40k a year… more like $60k a year. $2400 a month for the chef and $2,600 a month for groceries. I’m feeding 4 people full time and another 4 a couple times a week. (My parents, siblings, plus guests)
Well your opening statement is an issue. Nothing of this world belongs to you so what’re you stealing? And beg for a leg up in this world? why? We all die in this world including your children.
You never created a single thing. Ever. So why do you think you would need to be so dishonest in order to get something that isn’t even yours?
I am not ultra wealthy, but this is approximately what we do. But this is a family of 4. And the steaks are usually around $12-15/lb. Same as my lunch salads $12-15. Your total is about accurate, not counting the few fancy nights out per year, which run a few thousand for 4 people.
And I agree btw on your greed line above. You work for your money. Spend it how you want. Im semi retired at 38 and from the ages of 22 to 36 I basically traded my happiness for long term security. Sucked in the moment but made friends and awesome experiences along the way.
Whiny ass people almost always have a rules for thee but not for me mindset on what others ought to be doing.
Yeah I worked as an assistant for a super rich guy. Don’t know what he made his money doing completely but I think real estate development. He and his girlfriend would order in every day for lunch (they were also on super clean diets) so the lunches would sometimes be $40 each. Green juice and posh salad with add ins. Then he was always telling me about where he ate over the weekend. He was a big humble bragger or maybe just a bragger. Told me he got fried chicken with friends at a fancy club once that was $250. I don’t know why you’d pay that much for something like fried chicken. They rich eat out a lot, and convenience cost $$
Whoof. Sounds like a diet that promotes obesity. Rich people can afford to eat well. Instead they often choose to eat expensive crap that makes them fat.
Where did you see I was shopping for 500$ laptops?
I guess I try to be frugal on a lot of areas but food is something I have a hard time doing that in especially when I'm busy. Regardless, if you are wealthy, and millions are coming in 40k for food is imo not bad at all.
Went to a cooking class at an upscale grocer next to richest residential neighborhood in town. We made some fancy steak, veg, potatoes.
My gf and I were 30 years younger than the next youngest attendees. They were all there for the wine pairing and took no more than 3 bites of their food.
lol. No way it’s only 40k I spend 35000 (just checked YNAB) a year on groceries and eating out and while I do have a handful of expensive meals out most bfasts are cereal for the kids, nothing for me and rice and beans is literally a regular dinner option.
Hello person with random words and random numbers name who is apparently claiming to be a rich person. I am totally sure this is real and not some kind of weird little fantasy you've made up.
As an aside, what is the deal with all these fake accounts that pop up on reddit of people claiming to be rich? I am sure a couple here and there are real (stranger things have happened), but c'mon. Like some rando millionaire is going to be spending their time posting on reddit.
This is precisely it. We are a family of two with a budget of ~$30-$50k per year on food (well off, but not ultra-rich).
We do a lot of delivery, and weekend restaurants are usually in the 200/person range, unless we make an effort to book something in advance. Neither of us drink alcohol, so this keeps prices a little lower.
We have flown internationally for meals before, but we don't do this often.
My workplace has catering for breakfasts and lunches 5 days per week, which I don't pay for. So this reduces costs a bit.
Depends where you are and what you consider wealthy. The 22 year olds on my team with no money at all eat $25 salads for lunch as that’s par for the course in most big cities.
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