Being in the global 0.1% or whatever doesn't necessarily make you feel rich or privileged, if you live in one of the most expensive cities in the world and have similar wealth to most people you know. You still end up competing hard for things that are limited in your locality: desirable housing, prestigious opportunities, a desirable partner, the best schools for your kids.
Traveling can help build perspective. Maybe someday moving somewhere less competitive.
I realise this is an "old thread" now, but I only just got back to it.
FWIW, I've travelled more than most - maybe living in a dozen or so countries in the last 50 years or so.
I started out as a docker's brat in the (at the time) slums of Liverpool, in the north west of England. I was the first kid in our family to ever stay at school past 16 and not just "go and get a job"... Getting to where I am hasn't exactly been a walk in the park, but I've made good choices, and been lucky, in about equal parts.
Regardless of all that, your point is well made - in comparison to others not living in a HCOL area, I'm very well off - I could afford to buy my parents a house for their old age, for example, instead of them renting until they die.
My point, though, was exactly your own. Being (in the words of the article) "a god", is only really the perspective from the outside. From where I sit, I have a middling house in a middling part of the Bay Area. The job is well-paid, but the expenses are still very high - I still budget month-to-month, and I still worry about my kid going to school and all the other concerns that your average family has.
The overall strategy is to build up the financial equity and then leave the area, to retire somewhere cheaper and nicer, of which there are legion. I reckon I've got about 5-8 years left before that's a genuine option, which ties in well with the kid going to college (assuming he does). Then I'm out.
It's hard to keep a realistic perspective from inside that bubble. I often wish for things I don't have, including more money, and I often find myself thinking "it's not fair". However, I have a better life than most people in the world by a large margin. I could be poor, disabled, etc, but I'm not. People are starving, dying, and suffering. If anything is unfair, it is how easy I have it. I really have no right to complain, but I still complain to myself internally.
I remember reading recently that the billionaire head of Goldman Sachs doesn't think he is rich, just well off. It turns out there are ten people living in the same apartment building as him that are wealthier. I suspect it's a fairly easy trap to fall into.
looks around It sure doesn't feel like heaven around here... In fact, it's been a bit hot, recently...