Luxury Pastimes: The Outrageously Expensive Hobbies of the Ultra-Rich
While regular folks slum it playing pickleball or kayaking as a hobby, the ultra-rich are able to indulge in some more expensive, elite pastimes. From sailboat racing to collecting designer bags and watches, we perused Reddit to find some of the most ridiculously pricey hobbies the rich spend their time and money on.
1. Owning Helicopters or Airplanes
“Owning helicopters/planes for a hobby. Definitely only wealthy folks are doing such.
I know quite a few people who own planes/jets, but I only know one that owns a helicopter. It’s making me wonder how wealthy he really is. Ha!” –u/brooksram
2. Sailboat Racing
“Racing sailboats, at least where I live, is incredibly expensive. Carbon fiber hulls and masts, sails, Navionics, storage, and maintenance, the costs are mind numbing.” –now deleted user
3. Collecting Luxury Apparel Items
“Collecting luxury apparel or accessories like the people who buy multiple Rolex watches or Chanel handbags. Also, people who trade these types of items as a hobby in addition to or instead of collecting them.” –u/Sage_Planter
4. Anything To Do With Horses
“My dad is a retired horse vet and his favorite joke is, ‘How do you get a million dollars while owning horses?’ ‘Start with two million.'” –u/TelmisartanGo0d
5. Indulging in Fancy Snacks
“Caviar with the pinky extension. No better way to spot a wealthy person than the pinky.” –u/Reno_Mike
6. Fishkeeping
“Fishkeeping. The fish are by far the cheapest part.” –u/kdhickma
7. Cheesemaking
“Cheesemaking. Why buy a reasonably-sized hunk of fancy cheese at the store when you can spend $100s on milk, a couple grand on supplies and equipment, and months of your time on a slightly larger, but not as good tiny wheel of your own?” –u/thegreatfartrocket
8. Luxury Travel
“Not just going on 1-3 overseas vacations for a week in a year, but luxury custom travel itineraries — traveling to 3 or more countries/ locations over weeks, often with friends/extended family, with transport/events/experiences planned out and a guide or guides during the trip. The accommodations also tend to be world-class in terms of history and/or architecture. Think Eastern & Oriental cross-country train rides, Abercrombie & Kent safaris, $50,000 or more wellness retreats in Maui or Switzerland.” –u/instabored2210
9. Collecting Wine
“Collecting wine, traveling all over the world, sometimes booking the travel a year or more in advance, attending lectures/wine tastings religiously all over, and following the ratings/value tracking their wines more intensely than they do the stock market. They often host wine-appreciation parties at home with some star sommelier etc, and a lot of them store them in specialized cellars at home and/or rent space at specialized high-security cooled storage (plenty of these in LA/NYC).” –u/instabored2210
10. Yachting
“Yachting (requiring a crew, complete with captain).” –u/HotStraightnNormal
11. Building Models
“Model trains, rocketry, or battlefields. Really any model building.” –u/piratecheese13
12. Collecting Fountain Pens
“Fountain pens became my COVID thing. Then it went to rollerballs. Then to pencils. Now I have an Office Depot worth of writing instruments (and just got three more pens because I won a gift card to a pen shop).” –u/Dynamite_McGhee
13. Mountain Biking
“Mountain Biking. Owning a $5k bike is absurd, sure is fun though.” –u/importantuser19352
14. Coin Collecting
“Collecting U.S. Coins. Spent way too much in the past year.” –u/ipg9
15. LEGOs … If You Know, You Know
“Legos. There is no hobby more expensive than a Legos enthusiast.” –u/Weary_Ad2590