That’s true for most folks, and is why it’s so hard for people who aren’t ultra wealthy to understand just how different the world is when you have that kind of wealth; a world where the law and the financial system and the basic experience of the economy is completely and utterly different due to the power and influence that wealth brings.

Heck, most people can’t even truly grok the scale of the difference between an average person and a multi-millionaire or billionaire. The human brain just doesn’t process large numbers like that well.

I’m far from rich, but I do have a paid off house in a low CoL area, and a have decent chunk of retirement savings put away, and even then I get different treatment: better credit cards, better loan products, etc. The industry calls it “qualifying” but what it really is is monetary gatekeeping.

It’s particularly weird having grown up relatively poor because I’ve lived the shift and can see how expensive it was to be poor, and how relatively easy it is for the rich to get richer.