[HN Gopher] Ultra-wealthy people are working remotely from their...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Ultra-wealthy people are working remotely from their superyachts
        
       Author : harambae
       Score  : 47 points
       Date   : 2023-09-18 15:33 UTC (7 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.insider.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.insider.com)
        
       | sharadov wrote:
       | Wonder what they are paying for their internet?
        
         | rawgabbit wrote:
         | Starlink mobile priority for 5TB is $5000 per month not
         | including equipment. https://starlink-enterprise-
         | guide.readme.io/docs/compare-ser...
        
         | inemesitaffia wrote:
         | Starlink and directional 4/5G can make it cheap.
         | 
         | Article is a submarine
        
       | 6510 wrote:
       | Imagine how productive they would be if they came to the office.
        
       | znpy wrote:
       | <<Ultra-wealthy people are working remotely from their
       | superyachts and running their businesses from the high seas>>
       | 
       | I mean... Wouldn't you do the same? I would.
        
       | nerdo wrote:
       | They should remake Waterworld, set 100 years into the future.
       | Central banks have printed enough money to buy up all the houses
       | and leave them empty and decrepit. Civilization is reduced to
       | living in Walmart parking lots while the rich have settled on
       | floating ultrayachts in the middle of the ocean. A man develops
       | gills and can swim between the yachts, which he plunders designer
       | products from to deck out his swagboat. He discovers a mysterious
       | key in an LV bag which can unlock the county assessor's office
       | and return everyone to dry land, and everyone is after it.
        
         | mixmastamyk wrote:
         | Let's call it, "Walley World."
        
       | SnooSux wrote:
       | I heard from a friend that executives in the Auto Industry were
       | taking Zoom meetings from their boats early on in the pandemic.
       | The bad PR from this pushed people back to the office.
        
         | smileysteve wrote:
         | In February and March in the SouthEast, I'll occasionally tune
         | into listen only all calls, on the dock or the pontoon boat
         | (this seat and table works well as a short term desk for some
         | fresh air)
        
       | MaintenanceMode wrote:
       | Neither boat pictured in the article is a superyacht.
        
         | m463 wrote:
         | > _" Our expenses are roughly $3,500/month, including our
         | $1,350 boat payment," the couple told Here. "We took out a
         | loan, similar to a mini-mortgage, to buy our sailboat. It's the
         | first piece of 'property' like this we've ever owned."_
         | 
         | Seems more like alternative living and could just as easily
         | apply to an apartment-sized RV (think diesel pusher) or a
         | lake/ski/mountain cabin.
        
       | mertd wrote:
       | I never had the impression that people with eight or nine figure
       | paychecks shlepped to the office regularly even before the
       | pandemic.
        
         | falcor84 wrote:
         | I think some of these superyacht owners might actually be in
         | the $1 paycheck club.
        
       | hindsightbias wrote:
       | I wonder if warehouse workers would really distinguish much
       | between a yacht deck, a $200K tech sprinter in a forest or even
       | 345 Spear St. Must be nice to see all those pretty shades of
       | gray.
        
         | moate wrote:
         | So is the implication that the poor (in wealth) souls should do
         | better to educate themselves on the types of aquatic luxuries,
         | or that it's better to be so poor you don't have to worry about
         | the different types of aquatic luxuries?
         | 
         | Rephrase: What are you on about man?
        
           | hindsightbias wrote:
           | It's curious to me why such articles about the 1% of the US
           | are standard fare on a website blessed with the top 1-2% of
           | the World.
           | 
           | I guess it's just different and warehouse folks should
           | appreciate that.
        
             | Spivak wrote:
             | Because your average low six figure software dev has more
             | in common with the warehouse workers then the actually
             | rich. Accounting for inflation all these "rich" tech bros
             | have made it to what would be called "middle class" in the
             | 80s and 90s. And unless you're DINKing around at $250k base
             | salary in a low CoL area you haven't even made it to uppper
             | middle class of that era.
             | 
             | High inflation and the disproportionate increases in
             | housing costs even relative to the high inflation have made
             | people so much poorer but it happened so fast the number
             | adjustment hasn't caught up to where people don't realize
             | that $80k which was a modest salary in 1990 you need $180k
             | today to get that purchasing power.
             | 
             | The sentiment "woah, you make six figures!" was affected by
             | inflation too and you need a quarter million to have that
             | today.
        
               | aidenn0 wrote:
               | $80k was _not_ a modest salary in 1990; that was 2.7x the
               | median household income. My dad made less than that in
               | 1990 we lived comfortably in a 4BR house in the suburbs
               | of DC.
               | 
               | [edit]
               | 
               | I should point out that my parents purchased a house for
               | $100k in 1985 that, by inflation, should be worth $285k
               | today. Instead, my friend's house (same neighborhood,
               | 4BR, within 30 square-feet of the size of my house) just
               | sold for over $800k. Ignoring affordability of the
               | mortgage (which is complicated due to interest rate
               | changes), my parents could not have swung the down
               | payment a house that cost similar after inflation ($160k
               | in 2023 dollars, ~$55k in 1985 dollars).
        
               | hindsightbias wrote:
               | That would be interesting if these types postings only
               | started appearing during the inflation era. But this has
               | been front page fare for much longer.
               | 
               | I walked by three stealth sprinters today getting coffee.
               | Would people here get angry if I started calling them
               | Land Yachts? I'd knock and ask for their YT channel, but
               | they probably only do tiktok.
        
               | tstrimple wrote:
               | > Would people here get angry if I started calling them
               | Land Yachts?
               | 
               | Probably. Because it's absurd to compare a multi-million
               | dollar yacht with helicopter landing pads (yes plural), a
               | 40' swimming pool and 10k sq ft of living space with
               | someone who crams themselves into a tiny uncomfortable
               | box trying to get some semblance of freedom. One of these
               | things is attainable by most folks with a steady income
               | and one of these isn't even attainable by the poor single
               | digit millionaires.
        
               | Spivak wrote:
               | I love that living in a van down by the river is
               | apparently considered wealthy now. I never realized that
               | Cousin Eddie was such a high roller.
        
               | tstrimple wrote:
               | It's certainly an activity you can dump tons of money
               | into. Just not yacht or super yacht levels of money. Van
               | living ranges from this (https://cdn-
               | fastly.thetruthaboutcars.com/media/2022/06/29/84...) to
               | this (https://cdn-
               | bnfef.nitrocdn.com/eWjkeuhuSZgzzpVvWRuUwjfEcKLuv...) and
               | everything in between.
        
             | natechols wrote:
             | Because raging against the spending habits of billionaires
             | is always easier than self-examination and consideration of
             | one's own wealth and privilege.
        
       | MrGuts wrote:
       | Are you talking about working aboard superyachts, or working
       | about the backup "emotional support yachts" needed to carry extra
       | jet skis, clothing, staff, and personal hospitals?
        
       | boeingUH60 wrote:
       | What rubbish clickbait. Anyone who can afford a super yacht was
       | never constrained by return-to-office mandates. They are the boss
       | dictating their own fates.
        
       | mixmastamyk wrote:
       | Looks cool, for shorter stints. Also heard of "poorer" folks
       | using a cruise to help focus on a hard project.
       | 
       | However I always wondered what these ships do when a big storm
       | blows thru? Or is possible to (almost) always avoid them?
        
       | croes wrote:
       | So they are all lazy and don't really work?
       | 
       | Because that's what's being said about the not super rich in home
       | office
        
       | tromp wrote:
       | The picture shows just about the most unproductive working
       | position imaginable, raising the neck to stare at a laptop washed
       | out in the bright sun while having to type with arms that also
       | need to support the body.
        
         | benterix wrote:
         | Also lying on a net, I wonder what this person's elbows look
         | like after a few minutes.
        
       | TurkishPoptart wrote:
       | I'd like to know the food logistics for sailing around the world.
       | Would they have a crew that procures bulk ingredients like fruit,
       | rice, and such and make them meals 3x a day?
        
         | cardiffspaceman wrote:
         | There's a "crew chef" channel on YouTube.
        
         | bjornasm wrote:
         | Yes. Then you re-stock when you go to harbour.
        
         | rwmj wrote:
         | Superyachts have a crew far outnumbering the passengers, and
         | they will stop at ports and send people out to buy ingredients
         | regularly. Not that different from running a large country
         | house in the gilded age.
        
         | pdpi wrote:
         | That's the reality even with smaller yachts. Some family
         | friends have a 70' yacht and even at that size they have two
         | full-time crew members.
        
       | otabdeveloper4 wrote:
       | > Ultra-wealthy people are working
       | 
       | Oh come on now!
        
       | cvccvroomvroom wrote:
       | I don't see this freedom as a problem.
       | 
       | The greater problem is the accelerating CEO pay compared to
       | worker pay. Auto workers were recently offered 21% while CEOs saw
       | gains of 40%. Widening inequality and lack of integrated delivery
       | social programs creates a myriad of socioeconomic problems
       | including the homelessness crisis, latchkey kids with absent dual
       | income parents, and reduced purchasing power.
        
       | theodric wrote:
       | Sending "we're better together" RTO mails from their yachts, too,
       | I'm sure.
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2023-09-18 23:02 UTC)