Name: The Cost Of Living Like A Billionaire Hit A New High In 2025
Uploaded: 2026-01-21T03:07:31.000Z
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Today on Forbes, the cost of living like a billionaire hit a new high in 2025.

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By the time the final gavel fell at last fall's Keeneland yearling September sale, wealthy buyers had smashed through records at the world's largest thoroughbred auction, spending $532 million on racehorses, driving up the average price of a yearling to nearly $650,000, the most ever and 23% more than 2024, a major reason for such largesse.

Among the tax breaks in President Trump's sweeping One Big Beautiful Bill act was a provision cementing the ability to write off 100% of a racehorse purchase in the first year of ownership.

Eric Mitchell, the bloodstock editor at equestrian publication Bloodhorse, says the bill has been a big thing for a lot of people to know that they can turn around and write off a substantial amount of what they're spending, depending upon what the rest of their tax situation looks like over and over again.

We heard that from people who were buying at the auction, mitchell says.

This kind of growth In Kentucky, the country's hub of thoroughbred breeding, is comparable to the mid-1980s, when the federal tax rate was high but tax shelters and write offs for losses were abundant.

Racehorses aren't the only aspect of the billionaire lifestyle that are getting more expensive.

Since 1982, Forbes has been tracking the ultra luxurious goods and high end services frequented by the richest of the rich, ranging from Gucci loafers to sailing yachts, to create our Cost of Living Extremely well Index, or clewi, essentially a consumer price index for billionaires.

This year, cewi increased by 5.5%, up from last year's 4.7% and double that of the CPI, which rose by 2.7% in 2025.

In other words, inflation was roughly twice as steep for billionaires than regular folks in 2025.

The record 3,148 billionaires around the globe are sitting on a record $18.7 trillion in combined wealth.

The average billionaire is now worth $5.9 billion, up 5% from 2024.

Roughly in line with Clewi's uptick, there are now 19 centibillionaires who have amassed fortunes of $100 billion or more, versus just one six years ago.

As the billionaire population has exploded, companies catering to this super rich set have been cashing in.

Luxury spending was nearly $1.7 trillion worldwide in 2025, about the same as in 2024, according to a study by Bain Co.

But the consumer base has shrunk to an estimated 340 million shoppers, down from 400 million in 2022 as the big spending is increasingly coming from the very well heeled.

Experiences such as fine dining and hospitality services were particularly hot with high end consumers in 2025.

Take for example luxury concierge services.

Clients looking for someone to handle tasks like booking private jet flights, secure VIP concert tickets or plan an African safari are driving up the cost of luxury concierge services.

Canada based Pure Entertainment says a one year membership runs $200,000, up from around $180,000 last year.

CEO Steve Eddow says the price bump was carried by an increase in European and Middle Eastern customers who are often more willing and eager to pay premium prices for a travel service, seeing the more expensive options as better indicators of quality.

Yachts, meanwhile, are getting more expensive to build as inflation has hit both the cost of materials and financing costs.

The price of a British made Oyster 595 sailboat, for example, is now nearly $4.2 million, a 7% increase from a year ago.

Oyster Yachts CEO Stefan Zimmerman Schaake says ownership is increasingly experience driven.

Clients are drawn to the opportunity to explore the world.

Other big ticket items included in our Clewi basket that have gotten much pricier over the past year include private jets up 3%, Olympic sized swimming pools up 6% and sporting shotguns up 26%.

Dinner at three star French restaurant Le Bernardin now costs 5% more while auxetra caviar is up 9%.

But billionaires wallets aren't being hit from all directions.

A dozen bespoke dress shirts from London's Turnbull and Asser still run just shy of $12,000 flat from last year.

A set of cotton sateen sheets from Italy's Frite remains $3,700 and a Rolls Royce Phantom with the extended wheelbase still costs about $600,000, roughly the same as a year ago.

For full coverage and to see the whole list of items, check out Andrea Murphy and Simone Melvin's piece on Forbes.com this is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.

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The Cost Of Living Like A Billionaire Hit A New High In 2025

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