It is one of the ironies of life, but the rich really have much lower expenses relative to their income when compared to the Average Joe! Having practiced law and having served billionaire clients, I've had the opportunity to observe this first hand.
I remember often taking these clients out for lunch.
Often in the fine dining establishments you see stockbrokers and other professionals entertaining rich clients for lunch too.
When the lunch was over and the check was due for settlement, I have always observed that the billionaires were never allowed to pick up the tab! Come to think of it, it was something I had never countenanced myself! I remember thinking to myself: "What an irony.
This guy is so rich and yet nobody will ever allow him to pay the bill!" "It must be really economical to be rich!" Needless to say, the rich with their tax planning and financial and tax consultants actually pay lower taxes that the Average Joe! One day, long after I retired from legal practice (which I did at the age of 28) one billionaire ex-client of mine who was a high roller in Las Vegas and Macau invited me and my family to accompany him and his dear wife for one of his junkets.
Now when I say he is a high roller, I mean high roller! An average flutter for him is one million dollars a day, win or lose.
It's all relative for the million dollars to him is probably equivalent to say a thousand dollars for the Average Joe.
So we eagerly packed up our bags and our entire family (wife plus 3 kids) flew to Vegas just before Christmas 2007.
When we landed at LAX the Casino's limo and chauffeur were waiting for us.
Some hours later, we were deposited in the VIP reception at the Wynn.
We were told that 3 suites costing $2,000 each per night had been reserved for us for 10 nights.
We were given access cards that gave us access to the private lifts to the VIP suites.
Best of all, to our kids, we were told that we only had to show the cards at any establishment at the Wynn and we will be ushered to the front of any queue! We could order any food or any drinks, alcoholic or otherwise and everything would be on the house.
We were also told that if we wanted to see any of the shows, we only have to ask and show tickets would be delivered to our suites, again on the house.
We could scarcely believe our ears! The only thing that was excluded was the tips, ranging from 18-20%, which our host insisted he'll pick up.
As it was early evening, we got the concierge to book us into their fine dining restaurant and a Le Reve, Cirque du Soleil late show that our kids wanted to catch.
We asked for Barry Manilow show tickets.
Needless to say, we enjoyed the gourmet food and fine wines on offer.
After dinner, we signed the check and entered the obligatory 18% into the check as tips.
The kids were off for their show and we to ours.
When we arrived for the show, we were ushered to front row seats.
We ordered champagne and signed for them.
To cut a long story short, my kids who were widely traveled having gone with us to 300 cities worldwide told me "Dad, this is a vacation of a lifetime!" "This is what the stars enjoy...
comps and front row seats!" Our every wish was like a command it seems.
We were given premium dinner show tickets to Celine Dion's Christmas Eve show and Lionel Ritchie's New Year's Eve Dinner Countdown show! We spent a week sampling all the fine cuisine and wines that the resort had to offer, often hopping from one restaurant to the next on a whim, just to enjoy the best that each establishment had to offer such as sinful deserts, fine cheese boards and Kobe Steak.
And no...
I didn't let my host pick up the tab for the tips.
We settled them before checking out.
A couple of months later, we were invited by our host for another trip, this time to Macau.
To our surprise, the casino sent a private jet to pick us up.
It was a 747 jumbo jet converted into an executive jet with the seats stripped out and replaced by plush first class seats.
We were checked into the 6 star Four Seasons in Macau and the whole whirlwind of comps and shows and wining and dining with gay abandon repeated itself! Over the years, we had accompanied our host on many trips such as these and there was always one common thread to it all.
It cost my ex-client next to nothing! You might say that he probably lost it all on the gambling tables, but my observation is that he "wins some and loses some".
Of course, unlike some chronic gamblers who lose it all, my ex-client "knew when to walk away and knew when to run," and he treated it as purely entertainment.