We all dream about living the lifestyles of the rich and famous, but I wondered what the rich and famous dream about. Here is a list of a some extravagant collections and purchases that even most millionaires could only dream of.
Jay Leno’s Car Collection
Late night host Jay Leno own about 100 cars and 90 motorcycles. His website, Jay Leno’s Garage, documents the collection.
Leno’s collection pale in comparison to the Sultan of Brunei’s collection, estimated to be valued at $300 million, but Leno is probably the best known collector around.
His collection contains steam cars, a roadster previously owned by eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes, retired police cars, a solar-powered hybrid, and a jet powered motorcycle.
He has several cards worth over $10 million apiece in a 17,000 square foot garage.
Barenaked Ladies- 2 Kraft Dinners
If they had a million dollars, the Barenaked Ladies gave us an impressive to do list.
Well, the band has had songs reach #1 on Billboard, won 11 major music awards (out of 15 nominations), and international success. We all know what they did with that.
Roman Abramovich’s $785 Million Yacht
Russian business tycoon Roman Abramovich owns an investment company, British football teams, and about $13 billion other reasons to be jealous.
The Eclipse is a custom luxury yacht built in Germany just for Abramovich. The yatch is rumored to have cost upwards of $1 billion, but the most reasonable reports peg the value between $500 million and $1 billion.
The second longest private yacht in existence with a length of 536 ft. It weighs 13,000 tons and requires a crew of 70 full time. He owns four other yachts, but this one is the flagship of the fleet. Here’s what it includes:
- 1 submarine bay, fitted with a private mini-sub
- 3 landing boats
- 2 helicopter pads
- 24 guest cabins
- 2 swimming pools
- Several hot tubs
- Disco hall
- Missile defense system
- Armor plating and bulletproof windows
- Anti-paparazzi laser system designed to blind cameras
India’s Richest Man Built a $1 Billion Home
Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries, is worth $29 billion. He spent about $1 billion of that on a 400,000 square foot, 27 story residence. The home took three years to build.
The house is inhabited by Ambani, his wife, their three children, and his mother. That is almost 70,000 square feet per person! Here’s a list of just a few features:
- 9 elevators
- Hotel sized ballroom
- Many lounges
- 50 seat theater
- 2 story rec center
- Rooftop entertainment deck
- 3 helipads
See photos of the gigantic home here.
Saudi Prince’s $500 Million Custom A380 Jet
Saudi Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal, worth nearly $20 billion from family income and investment gains, ordered a custom Airbus A380 wide body jumbo jet. The custom A380 costs $300 million out of the box, but the Prince asked for upgrades costing $200 million.
What’s does $500 million get you?
- Ramp and parking space for his Rollys Royce
- Concert hall with a grand piano, a marble tiled steam room
- Relaxation room with TVs and a special floor that allows you to look straight down to the ground
- Five master bedrooms with king beds, private bathrooms, and showers
- 20 smaller private bedrooms
- Custom elevator that can be taken from the master bedroom straight to the tarmac below
- Boardroom with holographic monitors
- Prayer room with prayer mats that automatically turn to face Mecca
The plane was reportedly sold by Al Waleed to another billionaire before he ever took a ride. Here’s a rendering of a video walk through so you can get an idea for yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MhYkc1EuR4
Your Billionaire Dreams
If you had a million dollars, or a billion, what would you do with it? What would you buy if you had unlimited funds? Please share in the comments.
Image by by Plano Light / flickr
If I had a billion dollars, I don’t know what I’d even do. I would definitely want to donate a lot of that, which I know for sure.
I would give a lot to some of the great organization that have given so much to me, namely the Boy Scouts and some Jewish groups.
If I had a billion dollars I sure wouldn’t build a 400,000 square foot home.
My girlfriend says she wouldn’t ever want a giant mansion because it is too hard to keep clean. I told her that if we could afford the mansion, we could afford a maid. But I still think 400,000 square feet is a bit much for what I need.
It is all relative! For them, they look at it as an investment or an indulgence that they know has value. Either way , most of their money is earning more money.
I wish I had $1 billion to invest. At 5%, that is a cool $50 million per year in interest.
I would need a few million (like at least $20 million) in order to have a car collection.
My favorite car is the MacLaren F1. That one runs you a cool million.
Better question: If you had a billion dollars that you had to donate, what would you change with that money? I’m not talking about giving some money to this or that organization. I’m talking about creating something new (like creating Birthright Israel from scratch.) A billion dollars aught to be enough to do some pretty amazing things.
I would use a large portion to give Africa clean water and another large portion to create a Birthright like experience for adults. I would also put a small portion to creating a national network websites like Gesher City Denver to give young pros a single portal to Jewish life in their city anywhere in the world.
2 Kraft Dinners? Such opulence… I just can’t wrap my head around that much money.
I know, right!
It tickles me that you included the list in “If I Had a Million Dollars” in this. BNL was my favorite band growing up and my husband played on guitar/sang this song to me during his marriage proposal.
Ha ha, glad you liked that one 🙂
I don’t like waste, so I can understand the car collection because those are valuable items, but the house with 3 helipads, really?
With unlimited funds, I’d probably buy my own little island, or so much land you have to drive one hour to find my house. A discreet staff to run errands and all the luxury would be the comfort you usually don’t get in the middle of nowhere, like high speed internet or a state of the art kitchen.
And a loft in Paris, for when I miss the city life.
I might put my flat in London, but I like the idea of a retreat away from the worries of the city. I’m a city guy at heart, so I might need one helipad to get me back and forth.
Billion dollars 10% to church invest most of it and buy a house and stay under the radar. I wouldn’t want everyone to know how wealthy I was. To them though those things are like a 10K car for someone who is making 100k per year. 1 billion dollars just thing if you were getting 2-5% return. Thats crazy money.
I would worry that donations would be squandered if they were that big. I think if I had the money I would endow an organization so they could keep pulling on the money indefinitely.
That much money would most likely ruin my life! I’m not used to it, wouldn’t know what to do with it, would hate the publicity that usually goes with it and would feel obligated to spend valuable time tracking it. Just like stuff, there is such a thing as too much money.
I don’t think I could ever have too much money! But then again, I even enjoy rolling around in piles of cash (I got to do that once!) and my background is in finance and financial management.