19 Things Only Rich People Have That People Think Will Be Normal For Everyone In 5 Years
Recently, u/Due_Passage_8420 took to Reddit to ask, "What do rich people have now that everyone will have in 5–10 years?" The results were quiiiite varied. Some people followed the prompt and talked about things that rich people have today — and some people gave examples where this has already happened.
Sooo, starting with things that used to be for rich people, but aren't anymore:
1."Cosmetic surgeries. I see more and more people from the middle/upper-middle class getting botox, injections, and fillers alongside breast augmentations, BBLs, rhinoplasty, and lipo. It seems like the surgeries are becoming more accessible to non-celebrities, or 'regular' people."
NBC / Via media.giphy.com
—u/tommycypriot
2."I drive a 2021 Nissan Sentra. My wife and I were just talking today about how this entry-level car has standard features that were only in high-end and luxury cars just 10 years ago."
"I'd never imagine that hands-free phone, navigation, lane departure, etc. would be found in a cheap car, but here we are. This car has all the features I would ever need."
—u/Kliptik81
3."I think it's funny that in the '90s, there was this big expensive house I would drive by, and it had a sign on it proudly stating it was a smart home. I thought that was really cool and something for only the most wealthy of people. Nearly 30 years later, my home is a smart home with only a few hundred bucks."
—u/spekt50
4."When I was a kid, many years ago, rich people had 'pop up' sprinklers. Now, they are affordable and can be put in fairly easily and cheaply."
Via media.giphy.com
—u/turboyabby
5."Peptides, stem cells, and gene therapies."
—u/corduroy4
"I'm not rich, but just got a stem cell transplant as part of my plasmablastic lymphoma treatment. They took my own stem cells, destroyed my immune system (hopefully destroying all the cancer with it), and rebuilt my immune system with my own stem cells.
It was wild watching my white blood cells go to zero, and then when the new stem cells took hold, watching the counts go back up. It was a very grueling and dangerous experience, and I’m not out of the woods by any means, but it was something that seemed out of science fiction. They can’t grow a new heart or liver yet but can grow a completely new immune system!"
—u/Warthog__
6."There was a time when chocolate and pineapple had this kind of status."
"It's for this reason that there are golden pineapples adorning the top of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. At the time, a pineapple would have set you back the equivalent of around £5,000. People would buy them and simply display them until long after the mold set in. Of course, now you can get one for very little money, they're kind of ridiculous looking, and St. Paul's is stuck with them."
"There's a story of an aristocrat having a pineapple on the dinner table, and a guest cut it open. The hostess was furious because she had RENTED it for the party, and now had to pay for it."
—u/marshdd
7."The satellite emergency phone that first Apple and now Motorola have brought out. It's expensive now, but in 10 years, I think it will be like a cheap add-on accessory for phones."
8."Every 10 years, for the past five decades at least, once-expensive TVs have become the normal TVs, and a new, better type of TV has been invented for the rich. If the pattern holds, in 10 years, everyone will have 70+-inch 4k TVs that cover a whole wall."
"I bought a 75-inch 4k for $250 last Black Friday. The future is here, friend."
—u/THevil30
And then, the things that rich people have now, that people think will become more common as the years go by:
9."3D printers. I know they're not uncommon for people to have now, but I think we will see them become a lot like paper printers and in most households in a few years."
10."Solar panels and batteries that store the energy to power your house. Middle class people are getting them in droves now. It's only a matter of time before it’s cheap enough for most of the developing world to start using them."
—u/STA_Alexfree
11."Maybe virtual headsets for games. They are still a little new and expensive for the average person. I’m middle class and only had one friend own a headset."
"Game consoles have typically started high and then were priced to the average person. Like PlayStations, my grandmother had the only PlayStation on our street, and we had to rent games from blockbusters."
—u/DonutLove47
12."In terms of VR headsets: Right now, it’s pretty much rich guys, their kids, and tech enthusiasts for the most part, but the Apple Vision Pro (or more so the subsequent consumer-grade model) will normalize the use of VR headsets, and then all of the other manufacturers will follow suit and create their own AR/pass through VR headset."
13."Electric vehicles. Teslas have already started to come down in price, and in 5–10 years, with the company coming out with a $25k car, people will finally be able to live out their fantasy of owning a Tesla."
14."Autopilot on cars. I am fairly well-off, and for me, it’s been a game-changer for freeway commuting. No, I can’t read books or watch shows, but I arrive much more refreshed and less drained than otherwise. It’s already trickling down to less expensive vehicles. It’s going to be one of those technologies we take for granted in 10 years."
—u/RawFreakCalm
15."Those KitchenAids that figure out cook times and temperatures for all the ingredients you've thrown in."
16."A lot of rich people have massage guns and massage equipment (e.g. massage chairs or TENS units). It's pretty cool stuff. They don't cost an arm and a leg, but they're not yet at an affordability point to become essential household items. I can see that changing in the near future."
—u/Sabwufa
17."I want to hope it’s access to premium healthcare, better education, excellent nutrition, and unique social experiences. But what the truly wealthy have that is hard to make available for everyone else is freedom. Freedom to spend their time however they see fit without their income or lifestyle being meaningfully impacted. I'm not sure how the world would function if the middle and lower classes ever had that."
—u/ronsta
18."For cars, look at what new features the Mercedes Benz S550 is offering. The new features on the 550 usually end up on less expensive cars 10 to 15 years later. Think adaptive cruise control and the like. For reference, Mercedes had adaptive cruise control in 1999."
"I have a Mercedes S580, and the augmented reality heads-up display is sweet. Like a fighter jet showing you where to turn, etc. The map on it does help, it's not gimmicky at all.
The adaptive cruise tracks cars you’re coming up to. It puts a little halo under them and looks like you’re locked onto another fighter jet. Pretty helpful in low light with small vehicles like motorcycles.
Coincidentally, I got rear-ended, and the car could see it coming and raised itself to keep me safe. Pretty cool feature. I’m sure some other cars do that, too. Safety features are developing so fast. It’s not so much that this or that feature is completely new, it’s how refined they’re getting."
—u/werzberng
And finally...
19."One thing I think the rich will have that won’t trickle down any longer will be owning your own data. Basically, the rich will have people on staff that manage their own self-hosted clouds and AI environments. Everyone who isn't wealthy or an experienced engineer will have to basically give up privacy to use any common needed service. We are already getting to that point, but it will be far worse especially as AI and VR become more mainstream."
—u/xanthonus
If you have any ideas of what most normal people will be able to have in 5 or 10 years that only the rich are able to afford now, please let us know. I'm always curious!
Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
