People Call Out The Industries That Only Exist To Service The Very Rich

The only private jet I've been on was the Lisa Marie, Elvis Presley's plane on display at Graceland. I've never been chauffeured around in a limousine, arrived at a party by helicopter, or had a jeweler bring a case full of diamonds to my home for me to select from.

There's a saying about seeing how the other half lives, but it's much closer to the other 1% than it is 50%.

Reddit user JellyBellyB*tches asked:

"What's an industry that exists only to service the very rich?"

Luxury Villa Rentals

"Luxury villa rentals....think Airbnb for the wealthy. I worked in the space for 5 yrs."

"These mansions are owned by the ultra wealthy and rented to the ultra wealthy. 500k/wk for a Christmas villa rentals. Private islands for 60k a night."

"And, full concierge service for the guests. Want unlimited jet skis, no problem. Stocked fridge with booze and food on arrival, check. Want to butcher a goat on the beach according to your religious practices... no problem."

~ jhachko

Travel Stagers

"Those people who are paid to travel with luggage ahead of a person/family and unpack everything/set up the accommodation before the guests arrive."

~ ClumsyOracle

"My friend was the on-call for a prominent tech company co-founder’s family division for years up until a year after his passing."

"He was sent out to vacation homes before that person traveled to set up iPads and make sure all the remotes in the home had batteries and were operating, and the home's wifi had no dead zones."

"He was a SWE at Microsoft before that role."

~ awkwardnubbings

Family Office

"Family office in banking - an entire department that's catered to handling all finance, logistics, investment management, and many other things for 1 specific family, or to a specific high net-worth individual."

"Especially for Old Money."

~ SeaSeaweed3384

"I work in the Family Office division of an investment bank. I personally don’t deal with anyone’s finances (I’m in IT), but I know our clients aren’t considered important unless they have at least 50M USD in investments."

"The other day, I had to fix an internal form because the client’s assets’ value was more than the form allowed. I feel somewhat insignificant whenever it comes to my attention how rich our clients are."

~ poormidas

Bespoke Tailor

"I've done some catering and personal chef work for some very wealthy people. They had their own personal stylist/tailor who made their clothes."

"They had a tailored chef coat made for me."

"It wasn't just suits and dresses. They made their whole wardrobe."

~ instant_ramen_chef

Specialty Tourism

"Space tourism."

~ Senior-Donkey-2982

"Don't forget deep-sea tourism."

~ victorthevagabond

"I’m crushed I forgot that."

~ demwoodz

"Industry is imploding as we speak."

~ Upper_Proposal6734

Luxury Healthcare

"Healthcare has entire different divisions for different classes. I work for a large Hospital network, and one of the bigger campuses has private offices, waiting areas, bathrooms, and even hotel rooms for certain clientele."

"They're pretty cleverly hidden, too. We've even been told that if we see body guards or Secret Service, that we mind our own business."

~ DerpsAndRags

"A hospital near me has an entire secret floor that was built out and paid for by a Saudi prince who comes in a few times a year for treatment. It is dark and unused outside of those visits."

"I only know because the company I used to work for did all the security device installation for this hospital system."

~ pogulup

Yacht Cleaning & Storage

"When I drove through the south of France near Cannes, there were ads on the radio all in British English that were for Yacht cleaning and storage services."

"Very posh!"

~ briebert

Family Compound Logistics

"There’s a rich guy nearby who has a 'family compound'. This is in a moderate-sized west coast city with a view of the bay."

"Once you get in the gate, there’s a 'family office building' which operates all the groundskeepers, maintenance, dog walkers, pest control, scheduling the private jet and helicopter service to Boeing field, accountants, and all the other 'hired help'."

~ TwinFrogs

Watches

"Luxury watches. And I’m not talking about Rolex, that’s for upper middle class folks who are breaking into the watch game."

"Brands like Patek Philippe, FP Journe, A. Lange & Sohne, Vacheron Constantin, Audemars Piguet, etc..."

"Most people have likely never heard of them, but most of their entry-level watches can cost more than an average person's yearly mortgage."

~ immaSandNi-woops

Tree Relocation

"My dad used to work on cranes, and one time he, his crew, and his crane were shipped out to an island for a couple of days to move an old-growth tree a couple hundred feet to improve the oceanfront view of a private residence."

"Not remove the tree - literally move and replant it."

"So probably that."

~ smokeydevil

Race Car Fantasy Camp

"I met a guy who owns a bunch of F1 race cars. He moves them around the US to different tracks and he runs races for the super rich who jet in, race, have a party, then leave."

"He takes care of everything with the cars. He makes serious dough doing this, but nothing close to what his customers have."

~ dcwhite98

Private Jet Coffeemaker Repair

"I would say that pretty much every single industry branch, you know, has its own 'for rich only' alternate dimension."

"a friend of mine works for a conpany that repairs coffee machines… not any machine. one brand. not a brand you can normally buy: a brand of coffee machines that are made only for certain private airplanes."

"company is like 50 people. the whole company exists to repair and maintain a coffee machine of a single brand in the airplanes of the ultra rich."

"he travels a lot."

~ howardhus

Yacht IT

"I know someone who designs the IT and security systems for mega yachts. Not those piddly 100-foot yachts, the $300 Million+ yachts."

"I found out that one of the contracts he won was like a $10 Million contract. I'm in IT, so I had to ask how that much IT can go into yacht."

"He said it's not the quantity, but the quality. For example, the electronic door strike for card access isn't the off-the-shelf model. It's custom made with 316 stainless steel that gets milled by hand and fitted perfectly to a door that's made out of mahogany."

~ BaconReceptacle

Mattress Fluffer

"I learned recently that there is a mattress that costs $600k and there is a person whose job is to come over and fluff the horse hair filling of the mattress for the lifespan of the mattress."

So, I guess, mattress fluffer."

~ lukethedog

Seat Warmer

"I once catered an event years ago—before smart toilets—where the host had a guy whose ONLY job was to pre-warm the toilet seats before guests arrived."

"That’s… a whole career path, I guess. Or at least it used to be."

~ realmilkscript

Is there anything you'd add to the list?