Wealth inequality is a pretty big talking point since, well, there was wealth to begin with. After all, if someone can spend the things you need to not starve on a seventh home, it probably does get some of those mental gears turning. At the same time, folks with money really do like to let the world know that they have it.

We’ve gathered some of the most extreme, obscene, ostentatious and excessive displays of wealth netizens have ever seen. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to share your own thoughts in the comments below.

#1

His personal racetrack was being re-paved, so this guy paid for a helicopter pilot to watch out for cops while he and his buddy raced on side streets in supercars.

Let that sink in.

Image credits: anon

#2

My buddy’s dad:

* After parking his yacht in the slip in Key West, he handed each dockworker a $100 bill and handed the harbormaster $200. He would do this every time he took the boat out.

* In Key Largo, he insisted on taking the same yacht out during low tide, despite several warnings against it. He ran the hull alongside a rock, causing several thousand dollars worth of damage. He insisted he didn’t like the control setup at the helm, sold the yacht at a huge loss, and bought a new, bigger boat the next day.

* He bought a twin prop airplane to fly between his offices, even though it takes an hour longer than driving to prep the plane and hangar it.

* He bought an Audi R8 for winter driving.

He’s also one of the nicest people you’ve ever met.

Image credits: Unzbuzzled

#3

I once had a father personally pay me $1000 (on top of my commission and in addition to the vehicle cost) to find and deliver [same day] a BMW 5 series identical to the one that he bought from me the week before.

His 17 year old daughter totaled it that morning and he didn’t want the neighbors to know.

Image credits: BlakeClass

#4

I used to landscape in a very exorbitantly wealthy area of Toronto’s suburbs. One of the customers was a retired investment banker and for his wife’s birthday he bought her an art gallery in downtown Toronto.

*an art gallery*.

Image credits: IAmWhatTheRockCooked

#5

Clients in the lobby of a place I used to work:

Mom to 16yo daughter: “Do you want to fly to Greece next week, Dad has a business meeting there and I thought we’d rent a villa by the ocean.”

Daughter: “What?! No! Katie and I are going to a concert next week!”

Mom: “Oh….okay well what if we bring Katie and you two can stay in your own villa.”

Daughter: *sigh* “Fine. Whatever. I’ll ask her. But you owe me if I’m missing that show for another trip.”.

Image credits: rooflyss

#6

I went to boarding school with a bunch of ultra rich Russians. A really good friend of mine was one of them. A couple things I remember are :

– Whenever I would go out to the mall etc and I’d always ask him if he wanted anything from town ( it was a pretty secluded school) he would ask for something simple like a pizza and toss me a thousand ringgits or more of ” loose change” so I could get something nice for myself too. I’d always give him his change back.

– on his 18th birthday we walked out of class towards the dorm rooms and a beautiful Laborghini Gallardo was sitting with a big bow in front of the entrance. Everyone was gawking at it but he just looked at, shrugged his shoulder and just said ” that’s not the model I wanted. Got on the phone with his dad and had the right one delivered within the end of the day.

Lots more stories but those are the two that stand out to me atm.

Image credits: anon

#7

At my college music professor’s recommendation, I was invited to play piano for a very upscale cocktail party at a wealthy person’s residence (black tie/tux).

When I arrived, there were 2 Steinway *concert grand* pianos (9 feet long in elegant veneers, and each worth perhaps $140,000) on either end of the room, so that I could entertain guests equally on both sides by moving from instrument to instrument during the course of the evening.

One concert grand by itself is far more than most pianists see in a private residence, let alone two!

Image credits: anon

#8

My buddy came from a low-income family but dated a girl who’s parents were beyond rich. Father was a Dr. who had his own practice, mother was one of the head Nurse Practitioner’s at the hospital she worked at. Every time he would go over their house, her parent’s felt bad and would take him out to a steakhouse. He said the bill was never below $700.

Image credits: anon

#9

One time I had bought tickets to the ballet for my girlfriend and I. When we got there, the theater was closed and the only thing on the door was a newspaper article on the door saying a local billionaire had brought all of them on his yacht for a quiet weekend away. Every single one of those Russians were on that boat. My girlfriend was pissed but I thought it was pretty badass.

Image credits: hwarning10

#10

My friend from college comes from a wealthy family and basically spent his 20s and early 30s partying. One day he went to a club where the bouncer didn’t immediately let him in to VIP so he walked over the competing club next door and blew 10,000 usd on it in a single night, and made it clear that the other club just lost a customer.

Image credits: ell20

#11

Only drinking fiji water. My friends mom. I’ve been friends with him for 12 years and she will literally only drink Fiji water, she even brings a bottle to restaurants so she wont have to drink the free water they give you.

Image credits: A-wild-comment

#12

I dunno if this counts but earlier today in an exam my professor put his gold diamond rolex watch on the scanner thingy up on the projector screen as a timer rather than just looking up a timer on google.

Image credits: Edgar-Allans-Hoe

#13

My dad used to work as a valet for Lawry’s in downtown Chicago and would have a lot of famous and rich people give him their car. However, the craziest show of wealth he told me about was this one football player, I can’t remember which one at the moment, gave my dad $100 just for hailing him a cab. He talked with other people that worked there and apparently this guy was tipping really well to everybody including the coat check lady.

Image credits: -eDgAR-

#14

Computer teacher in high school said he donates his entire paycheck to various charities.

Image credits: Zamochy

#15

I used to be friends with this guy who’s grandfather was worth a few billion and ran a fortune 500 company. I once watched this kid call a cab out to the suburbs to go buy a pack of smokes. His pool house was larger than most average homes. The girls bathroom was always stocked with cover ups, robes and swim suits of all sizes that still had the tags on them. You were welcome to take whatever you needed to enjoy the saltwater pool. They have fourteen guest bedrooms, and each had a bathroom that was fully stocked with new deodorants, toothbrushes, etc. Unfortunately the kid was kind of a pansy and stopped having parties when the maids started to get pissy, because he didn’t want to get in trouble. 2009 was the best summer ever.

Image credits: 4nimal

#16

Guys daughters macbook had some minor issue. He just bought her another one moments later and got rid of the old one.

Image credits: Felicity_Badporn

#17

A climate controlled wine cellar.

Image credits: Outrageous_Shift_713

#18

Imagine having enough space that you could unbox all of your hobbies and possessions and basically have them ready to go / on display all the time. That’s what luxury living is like.

Wine stored in a cabinet? No. Put that s**t on display in its own room. Movie night on your firestick in your living room? No. Go to the theatre room so nobody else has to watch that superhero movie you love on repeat.

Image credits: mcrackin15

#19

Studied in a private school and most, if not all, of us were well off. the one that i remember thinking was a whole different level of rich was this girl in my class during grade 10.

she got dropped off and picked up by practically a different car everyday. there was a driver, a nanny, and two armed bodyguards in the car with her. also, for her birthday, her parents sent the entire class to singapore for three days… all expenses paid. her book bag was a louis vuitton bag that she dragged on concrete because she thought it was heavy.

a whole lot more, tbh, those are just what i remember right now.

eta: i just remembered! we went to their house (more like a manor), which was in one of the most expensive gated communities in the city and they had no garage there so i was like, where the f**k do they park their cars? turns out, the house in the lot next door was the garage + drivers and house helps quarters.

Image credits: kjpksc

#20

I went to a party at a surgeons home. My girlfriend of the time worked for him. His bathroom was the size of my apartment. His shower stall could easily fit ten. The shower did not function as a shower per se, it was literally raining inside this large booth. Water came from hundreds of holes in the ceiling. There was a bench running through the middle of this shower booth. The shower had a door at one end that led you through a hot tub like bath and from this tub you could go into a sauna that easily sat 20 people. What is bizarre about this guy is he is single, childless and has few friends. The rest of his house was ridiculous in its immensity. But that shower stuck out in my mind.

#21

I went to college with and became close friends with a person’s who’s dad is an investment banker. His parents where building a new house in ~2001. He sheepishly told me they had 2 million dollars in just the mile long driveway alone. I kinda called b******t and he was like, “Neh, you dont understand.” I was stunned later that summer when I went up to visit. The driveway was hand layed cobblestone with at least 20 year old hardwood trees every 30ft that they had tree-spaded and shipped from all over the states. Mother-f****r wasn’t lying, if anything I would say he was being a little conservative.

#22

My roommate ripped off 4 sections of paper towels. I guess we’re millionaires.

#23

Back in high school, I sat next to this really, *really* rich kid in one of my classes. He lived with his grandparents who had been pulling in the big bucks for generations.

Now, I’m not the type of person to hate on you if you’re wealthy. In fact, I am highly *proud* of my counterparts in the upper classes. That being said, public displays of wealth that are notably done to show off really annoy me.

Anyway, one day, we’re sitting in class, and this kid accidentally — at least I hope so — drops a $100 bill on the ground. I point to it and go, “Man, you just dropped your money”. I kid you not, this guy looks me square in the eyes and goes, “Thanks, but it’s not like I need it,” and proceeds to stomp on it and squish it with his feet.

He eventually picked up the dishevelled bill, and put it back into his Gucci wallet. Thanks for nothing, I guess.

Image credits: anon

#24

My cousin is pretty loaded. He bought his wife a new BMW SUV about this time last year. One of her tires went flat a couple weeks ago, so he brought it to the BMW dealership to get some new tires from them. The tires would have been pretty expensive (like $2800), so he just sold the SUV to the dealership and bought her the new model.

#25

My mom was a cook for an oil executive in Calgary.

She would cook very large meals everyday, with full courses, enough to feed many people. Usually he would be the only one to eat it, and he would not allow leftovers in his house.

The first day of class, his university daughter was distraught and didn’t go because her new truck was delayed in delivery. She refused to be seen dead in her previous car because it was too old and driving it was embarrassing. It was a fully loaded vehicle from the previous year, she got a new truck each September.

His daughter also needed fresh baked muffins to take to school everyday. So my mom would come in early to bake them. This would end up being about two hours of labor at $30/hour. The daughter would take just one or two muffins to school, and would only eat them 50% of the time.

#26

A girl who lived next door to meat university only drank or washed in water imported from Fiji (UK).

#27

My old band played a show for the owner of chapters (net worth. 600 million, basically the Canadian Barnes and Noble) and her husband (owner of Onyx Equity, 1.2 billion) in nantucket.
They literally had a gift-shop in their basement.

#28

When ‘my father gave me a small loan of $100000’
Edit: $1,000,000.

#29

Spending between 5-7 grand a week on crack, buying it almost daily. He also brought new pipes each time, which I know is cheap but you can reuse the kind he brought. The day old pipes would be all over the floor, by the way. This same guy also flew out his step-son to Amsterdam just for hookers on his 16th birthday. The old f**k is currently owner of two mansions in separate states and has a original Pac Man machine just to have.

Oh! He also spent 4 grand on poodle puppies on an impulse. He got cranky because he had to get a toy and a mini instead of two toys. They were bred for the lulz (one was almost given to the crack dealer but my SO took him instead and he’s happy and normal sized now) and were almost thrown away but his wife stopped that. And they’re not with him since he’s at one of his houses and they’re at the other one.

I grew up lower middle class, so he is the first and only rich person I have ever met. There surely were other displays of wealth but these the ones that stuck with me.

Edit: Imagine Frank Reynolds (with a dash of Dennis’ sexual deviancy and crack a*******n) without the charm and what makes them funny. That’s the best way to describe him. I’m sure he’s even pulled the fake-out.

#30

Rich friend invited me to a half pipe comp held at the private ski club his famity paid $50k a year just to be members of. Watched a 15 year old phenom win 1st place which included a new Burton boarding jacket as a prize. Kid looked at the jacket with disgust and I watched him literally throw it in the garbage. It was the same jacket I got less then a month earlier for christmas. The very same coat I was wearing as i watched him throw his in the trash…… That’s when I realized those people live much different lives then I ever will.

#31

Before I finished my doctorate, I was teaching high school in a ridiculously wealthy area of a major Canadian city. At the time I was driving a pretty basic, 5 or 6 year old Subaru Legacy wagon. The kids all had better cars than I did, and the boys knew I was a car enthusiast, so they all made fun of my sorry vehicle. Not in a cruel way, it was just a running joke, especially when they were rolling new BMW’s, Audis, and even a Lamborghini Gallardo.

One day one of the boys from Hong Kong told me that he was going to give me his car at the end of the school year. Now I knew he had some money, as he was driving a less than a year old BMW Z4, but he wasn’t ostentatious, and in my world nobody just gives anybody a car, especially one with resale value. So I treated it like a joke, “Ha, ha, yes, I’m looking forward to having a convertible this summer, ha, ha.”

Well graduation rolls around, and the kid’s dad shows up in my room, looking exactly like the movie image of a Chinese zillionaire. He thanks me for being so helpful with his son’s education, and then he gives me the title to the car! I fought through my shock, stammered out some thanks, and we shook hands and that was that.

On that day I realised that the type of favour I would do for my friends (“Sure, you can just have my spare bicycle wheels, it’s not worth it for me to try and sell them.”) scales up to the point where you can give away cars. The rich are truly different.

#32

Not really an obscene display but more of just showing what money can do if you have lots of it. The only reason my high school exists is because the guy who founded it wanted to send his grand-daughters to the local all boys high school and make it coed, but they declined and even turned down his $100 million offer so he decided to build a new high school. I dont know exactly how much it costed to build, but I do know the initial fundraiser raided $60 million, the theater building alone was $14 million, and the natatorium was $18.8 million.

#33

Private security for a hotel in Med City. Saudi king is in town for a doctor’s check up. He’s rented top two floors, including all three penthouses. One floor is for his security detail only, two penthouses for his wives and kids. Three suburbans pull up full of merchandise from the mall. Literally, full. Group that shopped that trip arrive in fourth suburban. Was told he spends between 4-14 million each trip to med city.

#34

A youth soccer game was canceled because the owner of my favorite hockey team used the field as a personal helipad so he could go watch the game. Turned out to be a miscommunication as he had authorization to use the field for this, but the helicopter company hadn’t made the proper arrangements with the school.

#35

Mansion surrounded by nothing but poor people’s houses also known as “favelas”.

#36

A front door that doesn’t open up into the living room.

#37

Naw buddies parents new house has an elevator.

Their new house was built brand new to look like a 100 year old house that’s been remodeled over the decades. it’s wild because it works.

#38

Every bedroom has an ensuite. A Butler’s pantry. Higher than average ceilings. Specific rooms like library, office, media (with a proper projection screen), gym. Exceptionally well maintained garden with water features. Pool with pool house. Stables if in the country. Helicopter pad.

#39

When I was younger…. anyone that had more than one bathroom and had a kitchen island 😂.

#40

Private library or study.

#41

To this DAY! Doors with water and ice. I always think… “crushed ice! Fancy! Also score!” Both are simultaneously said in my head.

#42

Where I live if you have a single story home you are rich. It means you can afford a large lot and put a big single story house on it. The multi-story houses go on small lots.

If I see hardwood floors I assume they have some $$.

#43

A home theater room with built in projection system and stadium seats.

OR

A two car garage filled with power tools and hardware (neatly organized and labeled) with an expensive antique vehicle of sorts that is in the process of restoration.

#44

Pictures of all their other houses.

#45

I worked for an obscenely rich man who lived in a massive house by himself. He couldn’t lay flat so he spent all his time in his living room with 3 TVs and a projector that would come down if he wanted it. He slept in a recliner and would keep the AC as cold as it would go. The power bill was $3,500+ in the summer.

All he did was watch Fox News and random TV shows and occasionally go on 5-7 week crack binges.

#46

Ex girlfriend was rich. Like holiday abroad to their own holiday home rich. On multiple continents.

My b****y comment about what they do in their 18 bedroom house? Complain. A lot.

In reality they just pretty much have a lot of utilities (wine cellar, gym, pool, cinema, pool room, bar, dining areas etc) but tend to use a few of the spaces day to day and the rest are for occasions. It was a very nice house and when I stayed over you could be in the house all day with someone and not see them.

#47

You have many bedrooms to be able to invite guests. It doesn’t really matter how much they get used. It is just nice to never have to worry about having room for people or not. Like you can host parties and invite people from the whole world without having to bother with hotels. If you want to you could have people staying over for longer periods.

I don’t know about these days, but in the olden days rich people often had friends that came to visit for months or years at a time.

> but when you are home with your wife and two kids in a freaking big house like that – what do you do with all that space?

> Am I being small-minded here?

Well yes. If you are rich you don’t have to get maximum utilization from all your rooms all the time. It is like many people have a nice set of china with plates for 16 people. They don’t worry about how to use it when they don’t have guests. It is just there for when/if they have a lot of guests over. For really rich people it can be the same with housing.

#48

My best friend lived in a huge mansion, at least 15 bedrooms. An upstairs kitchen and a downstairs kitchen that was always stocked. They had an infinity pool overlooking a lake. She went days without interacting with her family. She siad the house always felt cold and lonely on reflection.

Her mom died when she was 10. Her dad remarried a few years later and stepmom moved them out of the mansion to a 5 bedroom house. It was still a really nice house, but smaller. It was a hard adjustment on her and her siblings, but she also thinks it saved her relationship with her family. Step mom was best thing that happened to them.

#49

People would go to Jamba Juice and order two small sizes of the same drink, even though a large Jamba Juice contains as much as two smalls for much less. And Jamba Juice will give you a free cup so you can split it.

F*****g Rothschild’s over there.

#50

I worked in a p***o shop and a guy would come in and buy all the new gay titles. He was a student whos parents were rich Malaysians and he was studying in Australia. He used to tell us how much money he spent at the local casino and once told us his parents came over with some friends and spent $13million over 4 days, the casino gave them free hotel rooms and flights over so I imagine they mustve lost a s**t load of money gambling.

But me and the guy working at the shop had a good laugh when he came into the shop and asked if we could look after his p**n collection while his parents and friends visited. He mustve had to un-gay his whole apartment.

#51

Just take a walk down a street in Dubai.

#52

Buying an election.

#53

My parents. Sent three kids to college with no debt.

#54

A separate entrance for the hired help. Caterers, housekeepers, Nannie’s etc.

#55

Peacocks.

#56

Grand Piano.

#57

Live in house keepers.

#58

How long it takes from the gate to the door.

#59

Art. And a sauna.

#60

Horses!

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