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Forbes
Forbes
23 Dec 2023


The cost of living the really good life just keeps going up. For more than 40 years, Forbes has been tracking a basket of ultra luxury goods and services to calculate our annual Cost of Living Extremely Well Index (CLEWI)—a barometer of sorts for the price of a billionaire’s lifestyle. This year, the CLEWI ticked up 4.9%—less than the average annual gain of 5.1% over the past four decades, but more than the 3.2% rise in the U.S. Consumer Price Index in the past year. It’s a significant slowdown from the past two years: CLEWI rose 7% in 2022 and a whopping 10.1% in 2021.

Many luxe life amenities rose much more than the average, of course. A 3-course dinner for 40 people catered by Ridgewells of Maryland is up 9% from a year ago Ridgewells CEO Susan Lacz says rising food prices and increased costs for both labor and transportation contributed to the jump. A dozen bespoke cotton shirts from London’s Turnbull & Asser will set you back $10,020, up 7%. The price of an Olympic-size pool is up for the eleventh consecutive year, to $4.8 million, a 6% increase. Talking about your problems with an Upper East Side psychiatrist now costs $500 per 45-minute session, up 5%.

Some good news: Not everything went up. The hourly rate for a partner at a New York City law firm to discuss estate planning has stayed flat at $1,250.

But there’s no need to worry about America’s wealthiest. They can more than afford their lavish lifestyles. The average net worth of a Forbes 400 list member is up 13% over last year, to $11.3 billion, triple the CLEW percentage increase. Here’s how the index breaks down.

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