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Forbes
Forbes
24 Dec 2024


Every year it gets pricier to live rich. This past year is no different. For more than four decades, Forbes has been tracking a basket of ultraluxe items and services–including thoroughbred yearlings, Chanel handbags and custom floral arrangements for your home–to create our Cost of Living Extremely Well Index (CLEWI). This year CLEWI increased by 4.7%, a bit below last year’s 4.9% bump and notably less than the 10.1% jump in 2021. Inflation for the super-rich is easing. Still, CLEWI outpaced the Consumer Price Index, which measures the broader economy and eased to 2.7% this year.

Though CLEWI is a barometer of the top end of the market, prices for luxury goods are affected by similar forces as the rest of the economy, such as higher raw materials and labor costs. A 60-foot Oyster 595 sailing yacht now comes with a price tag of $3.9 million, up 25% from last year. A week at California’s Golden Door spa runs 8.4% more and a pair of Gucci loafers will set you back $1,050, a 14% jump. But not everything is more expensive this year. A kilo of Ossetra caviar from Petrossian and a 45-minute session with an Upper East Side psychiatrist haven’t budged, at $12,980 and $500, respectively.

Of course, while rising prices are a concern for ordinary Americans, members of The Forbes 400 list of richest Americans don’t have such concerns. Their collective net worth hit $5.4 trillion this year—a 20% increase over last year, making CLEWI’s 4.7% increase easily affordable for this lucky bunch.

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Robert Nickelsberg/getty images

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Oyster Yachts

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Keeneland

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Forbes

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Emanuele Cremaschi/getty images

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John Lobb

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Gucci

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Peter Dazeley/getty images

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Gucci

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Chanel

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Floortje/Eplus/Getty Images

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Georg Jensen

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Mission Pools

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Younes Kraske/getty images

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Groton School

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Brooks Kraft/getty images

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Katarzyna Bialasiewicz/getty images

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getty images

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Mandarin Oriental

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Bombardier

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