One example is people who actually own mansions generally live in a relatively small space inside. You can only really use one room at a time and walking around takes time.
[0]. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/2s9u0s/what_do_i...
Shows how easy it is to underestimate how different lives we all live, depending on our experiences and outlook - even in the same country. Money is probably just one big parameter, but there are surely many others.
FWIW, I kno(e)w four billionaires through my work (one deceased, one I lost contact with), and their life is not at all like described here, though they could afford that and more they keep a pretty low profile and you likely have never heard of them, and likely never will. But the 'controlling interest in a company you've likely heard about' is a common factor for three of those four.
The people that throw money around as if there is no tomorrow are typically the ones that have an unhealthy urge to be recognized as wealthy, the really wealthy people are relatively quiet about it in comparison.
That may of course be a reflection of the group of people that person connected to, I can see how there are very different circles of wealthy people just as there are different circles of people that are not wealthy.
But, if you’re living off of say 5m/year from your assets a 1m/year splurge is a huge chunk of your income. At that level renting one would be far more appealing to most people. Though sure if owning a jet was a major hobby vs a means of transportation it’s easily possibly, just as I said a major expense.
Put another way, someone making 100k/year could send their kid to prove school for 20k/year, but it’s a major expense that would impact their lifestyle or savings significantly. It’s possible, but not affordable.
Pilots and maintenance will cost you $1M+ per year. Depending on how much you use it, that could be significantly more. Spending 10-20% of your net worth on a vehicle up front + 1% pa going forward is not "comfortably afford".
If my net worth was $2M, I would not say that I could comfortably afford a lambo.
Or, fly anywhere in one swoop with a less than 10 year old Citation CJ4 or similar that will run you less than $6m and seat 10 passengers. And the annual operating costs will not get you anywhere close to $1m. Even a G650 isn't going to run you much more than $1.5m annually unless you are putting a ton of hours on it.
But I will also say that 10-20% of your net worth (wouldn't be up-front, it would be financed.) is not that big of a deal when you have a huge net worth. It's a lot when you make just enough to survive. It's not a problem when you still have enough left over for several lifetimes of comfortable living. Just depends on your priorities.
I agree that chartering is usually a better way to go. But private jet life is comfortably affordable at a $100m net worth. Maybe not private-jet-life, and mega-yacht-life, and rare-original-art life all at the same time. But you could definitely choose one or the other.
If there is anything that really is limited to billionaires, it seems to me logically it's going to be status, proximity, location, attention that are in limited supply. Not material things.