Wealth Levels: Life at $1M, $10M, $100M, and $1B
A working map of the four wealth tiers — $1M, $10M, $100M, $1B. What each one is, what it buys, and what does not change as the number gets larger.
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The Strangest Loopholes: The Oddest Legal Ways Millionaires Pay Less Tax
From a tax-free 14-day home rental to a $2,000 Roth IRA that grew into $5 billion, ten real provisions in the tax code — and the one Congress actually closed.
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One Fortune, Explained: The Waltons
The Walton family’s Walmart stake is about $370 billion, and almost none of it sits in anyone’s name. SEC filings show one LLC, one trust, four management trusts and a transfer of control completed in December 2024.
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Billionaire Places: Teterboro, St. Barths, and Sun Valley
Teterboro, St. Barths, and Sun Valley aren’t where billionaires live — they’re where billionaires pass through. Jeff Bezos’s $500 million yacht explains why that distinction matters.
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The Million Dollar Question: What tax rate did the 25 wealthiest Americans actually pay from 2014 to 2018?
From 2014 to 2018, the 25 richest Americans paid a federal “true tax rate” of just 3.4% — measured against how much their wealth actually grew.
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Private Markets for the Masses: Private Equity Comes for Your 401(k)
Private equity fought for two years to get into 401(k)s. Its own retail funds returned half the S&P 500 in 2025 while charging 100x the fee of an index fund.
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The Class Of: The Google Class of 2004
About 2,292 people worked at Google when it went public in August 2004, holding at least $3.3 billion of paper. The filings show the rank and file were released to sell before the executives were — and that the money was decided by who let go, and when.
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Proximity Wealth: Washington, Delhi, and Fortunes Built Next to Power
DC’s luxury home market is booming not from tax flight but from wealth paying record prices for proximity to power. The same trade freezes Delhi’s Lutyens’ bungalow market.
