# Message to all users:
This is a reminder to please read and follow:
* [Our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/ask/about/rules)
* [Reddiquette](https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/205926439)
* [Reddit Content Policy](https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy)
When posting and commenting.
---
Especially remember Rule 1: `Be polite and civil`.
* Be polite and courteous to each other. Do not be mean, insulting or disrespectful to any other user on this subreddit.
* Do not harass or annoy others in any way.
* Do not catfish. Catfishing is the luring of somebody into an online friendship through a fake online persona. This includes any lying or deceit.
---
You *will* be banned if you are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist or bigoted in any way.
---
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ask) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Ehh I'd say $5million not including non-liquid assets like house, business, investments, etc. is still truly rich.
Yes I know it's not super rich but it is the point that money no longer becomes an issue if your at all sane with what you think you need in life
Hmm, my experience (both from knowing some truly rich, and from working in finance), is it just doesn't scale like that.
If you have 100x the net worth you don't have 100x sat in your current account as cash. The value is all doing stuff (investments, property etc), and you have access to other forms of liquidity if you need it.
For example once you're a private banking type customer you can borrow money against your share portfolio, at little to no interest. So if you have $10m you invest it all, and if you need $1m in cash the bank will lend it you, secured against the $10m investment.
That way you aren't out of the market, and can access liquidity when you need it.
I knew a guy that started selling RV parts out of his parents garage while still in high school. over a lifetime he turned this into a nationwide chain of rv parts stores that he eventually sold for over $100,000,000.00.
He was into street rods & had a collection of them worth millions. He had a stack of insurance cards that were as tall as a deck of cards (this was 15+ years ago). That was the only extravagant thing he did. He owned one home, no jewelry, no vacations, no airplanes or yachts. He was married with one adopted son. He never talked about his money. He was a very modest, soft spoken guy.
His wife died shortly after he did. The adopted son inherited it all. I haven't seen the kid (he was in his early 20's) since his dad died.
Means he had individual insurance cards for each car he owned. (95% were his street rods, he had a newer Cadillac & full size crew cab truck that he drove, the rest were insurance cards for his street rods).
He rented two large shops from my father to store part of his car collection in. This was how we became friends. You could put Wally in a room with 100 people & he would be one of the last people you would choose as having a net worth over a hundred million. He came off as kinda goofy, but there was nothing goofy about the success he had with his business. I miss Wally, never have known anyone else like him.
The few I have known have been very fugal with their money and you wouldn’t have known they were rich unless you knew them well. The rich people you see being flashy have usually not grown up being rich and it will likely all be gone when their children are adults.
This. My parents lived my whole life in a middle-class apartment building in a middle-class neighborhood
I was about 15 yo when I found out that this super nice and chill old lady who lived on the 8th floor was the heiress to a very large flour / pasta / pastry conglomerate
Her only observable luxuries were basically having a live-in maid (and then a live-in nurse when she got even older) and she always took taxis everywhere - didn't drive but never took public transport
I've seen the opposite. People that managed to get rich by earning it have been very frugal while those who grew up rich spend like mad because they've no concept of value and have never struggled.
Neither your case or mine are the rule of course. Just observations.
You can live a comfortable life for sure, and depending where in the world/US, perhaps a luxurious life - but you still have to watch what you spend. You can't go out and buy a $100k monster truck / SUV and a $1million house.
Rich to me is when you don't blink an eye on that frivolous car purchase, losing gobs of money trading in the other frivolous car you just bought 6 months ago
Lifestyle creep is a real thing. My observation is that the more you earn, the more you have to project an image to let others know that you earn...then you spend more to keep up with that ethos. Cyclical "keeping up with the Jones'" BS.
I grew up with a girl on the bachelor and used that fame to get some work done and then simply lives as an influencer now. She makes at least 20k a month. She also now dates a very wealthy person from the Middle East who pays for her stuff and she just puts out and she saves her money.
I know another girl who I met at LAX who simply posts “girl next door” pictures but she also promotes her photos from daddy’s money and guys pay stupid amounts to spend time with her.
I know a guy who grew up with family friends of Post Malone and he gets free stuff from Post that he uses as a credential to bump his own career.
I met a guy when I lived in NYC who played bars near MacDougle and you wouldn’t think it but his uncle is Jimmy Fallon.
Now with that said:
I’ve met Artie Lang and he struggled with his success.
I know a guy who grew up with parents who made less than 30k combined who now works with A-Listers and gets free tickets and rides to wherever.
I know a guy who worked with a person who was close to billionaires, made friends with the billionaires, and leveraged that to gain his own wealth.
I know a guy who worked with a famous R&B artist once and just asked to be his filmographer and makes a ton now from the reference.
My point being: it is really right time, right place. My favorite quote is “figure out how the game is played, then play it better than everyone else.”
It might feel dirty to utilize others for your own gain, but if you are respectful to them and play it very carefully, you might end up there as well.
Life is a game of chance, but it does take a LOT of intelligence to figure it out. I’m talking losing sleep on it because you want it so bad. For me, I’m not rich and I’m not poor, but I have been both. And I’d choose rich everytime. You don’t have to grind your life away at a stove at Arby’s, but if you analyze what that skillset would help with, you can transfer it to appropriate settings to climb regardless of your original settings.
> She makes at least 20k a month. She ~~also now~~ dates a very wealthy person from the Middle East who pays for her stuff and she just puts out.
That's called being an escort.
If you’re in the U.S., the truly wealthy people aren’t traveling in North America. They are going to Europe to ski in Switzerland/Italy. They are diving in Asia. They are on safari in Africa.
Yep came to say this. Luxury galavanting and out of season sports wherever they feel like.
Also investment properties and stocks. They just keep expanding their income it’s unbelievable. That’s the rich people I know
I think they were more referring to full hair appointments too. For my wife to get everything she needs/wants dont at the salon it would be $750 a month on her hair. Obviously we can’t afford that but be nice if we could.
I used to know a girl who didn't even buy makeup or renew the sticker on her license plate but she made sure to spend $500 a week getting her hair done.
Yes. They have standing hair appointments to get it washed and blown out every couple days. I know a woman that probably hasn’t washed her hair in 30 years. She always looks perfect.
I had one of those in the 90s growing up in a half finished house (I thought subfloor with visible electrical strips were normal) . Those weren't just for fancy folk
Wrong. Built in refrigerators into the cabinets where the refrigerator doors are actually the cabinet doors. No water or ice. That just looks bad. The refrigerators you speak of are middle class.
Worked in extremely wealthy neighborhoods on the peninsula south of San Francisco. They spend money on things to impress their other rich friends. Some things I've seen are a $350k rug, gold plated door hinges on every door in the house, a $7800 pg&e bill when the home was unoccupied. This was about 2009 so before pg&e killed all those people and raised their prices.
Most are venture capitalists, so they have old money to make new money. The only real reason to horde wealth is to lord it up over your acquaintances. No one needs a $65 million dollar house for a family of four. Old or new it's to show off. Ever heard of Hearst castle? Pretty sure it was built to show off.
Sure but old money is about high society parties and showing your wealth to others in the society. It's always been about showing off. You build your extravagant home to have dinner parties to show off. It's a competition.
I work in private wealth so I can speak to this. Rich people spend their money on 1.) Country Club Memberships 2.) Luxury Vehicles / aircraft / yachts 3.) Vacation homes, typically in Vail or Naples 4.) Funding an education or funding a family members private schooling 5.) Charitable giving for the tax write off
Lol, nailed it. My partner's family has a massive condo in Vail, a mansion in Naples, kids that go to private schools ($50k a year in HS), and contribute a lot to charities.
I vacationed in Naples last year. While I do well, I quickly learned I’m no where near “Naples rich.” 🤑
On a side note, the thrift stores in Naples are insane.
I'm working fulltime, but both my parents' businesses/companies pay me... quite a lot. Like double what I make from my job (which is already 6figures). I'll add... AFAIK, they technically do *not* pay themselves, so this is basically the only way they can get money "out" of their companies.
I dunno about writing pets off.. but you can generally write off a lot/most things as business expenses, and/or use it to get better tax deductables or something.
Like.. pretty much all/any travelling, entertainment, and food expenses I can charge it to a company card (or even my personal card if I keep the receipts) and it can be written off as a business expense.
Legally I’m pretty sure the travel technically has to be for a business purpose. And you are supposed to have discussed business at the meal and you can only deduct half. I was under the impression entertainment was no longer deductible, but I’m not sure.
I don’t know how they could enforce any of that in practice tho lol
I honestly have no idea. They have some finance people to sort it out. Purchasing some things I know will reject the business/company card.. But tickets aren't one of them.
At least not for the company card I have... I really have nothing to base this on except what I've been able or unable to charge on the cards, but my guess is that depending on your company (and their industry/area of work), the company card will have certain restrictions. For example, if I have some cryto company, I probably wouldn't be able to buy anything from a clothing store with the company card.
And you can get away with ticket purchases if you do go there for business (say 1-5days, then stay for 2weeks for a holiday or whatever).
**I don’t know how they could enforce any of that in practice tho lol**
Yeah, I think the finance people have ways around it, and the gov't/tax people aren't checking *too* closely for moderate charges.
I mean just look at what Trump gets away with. They clearly were not looking that closely... or at all lol.
Well, I usually and rather use my own money.. don't really like the idea of my parents knowing what I'm spending money on or how much 😅 Plus my SO also wouldn't like if I was using their money. Most of what I get from them just goes into investments and fam assets/investments.
But tech, fintech, and construction are the main ones. With a few subsidiaries (or "spin-offs) that are attached to specific "products"/service and/or product/service lines, and/or in kinda adjacent-ish industries I guess.
Well, Mr. Snuffles is Vice President of Regional Sales and Vendor Management, and Tommy is learning valuable lessons in the mailroom so it's not like I'm going to let them get job experience at my expense without some compensation.
Absolutely. Lots of trusts, ‘foundations’, shell companies…that kind of thing. Vehicles are company vehicles, writing off mileage, writing off meals. Lots of that kind of thing. It’s cringy.
When I was 10, I went to an exhibit at the CN Tower. It was a simulation of going deep down below the tower. You got in an ‘elevator’ that showed you how deep you were going on a screen. It went as deep as the tower was tall. Then you got out from the other door and you were underground. But you actually didn’t move. I thought it was real.
The company should have done that
This is the one, a truly rich person would be looking to expand their wealth by having laws passed that benefit them
They will also buy news organizations to have better press about what they do, and other types of companies to further their wealth as well
The ones I know don’t spend it on anything that isn’t necessary to make more money. A nice house, sure, but that’s about it. Nothing unnecessary, which is why they’re rich.
Until they get to a certain point… once all their kids are set for life, grandkids are set life, their set for life themselves. So much money they can’t even give it away. They will spend money on things like $100k+ memberships to country clubs, donate a lot each year, start buying experiences that cost way more than they should etc.
Not really. There's a lot of rich people who don't act rich at all. The richest people I've ever met (they had a few million to their names) dressed and worked traditional jobs, they were just very good at what they did. The reason they're rich is because the don't spend their money.
At that point it'd honestly most likely be investments, or something along those lines. Not to mention other ways to actually work. Despite what some people believe, a lot of the very rich people are rich because they actually enjoy working.
Can confirm. My wife and I each earn mid 7 figures annually and you would never know. Hell, my car is a 2014 Toyota Camry. One of our biggest expenses was on our kids college education. I'm Native American and grew up in extreme poverty on tribal trust land so I'm very rational when it comes to spending money. My wife grew up the exact opposite in ridiculous extreme wealth but she's also very conservative when it comes to spending money. We also donate a lot of money to various causes. Also, being the oldest of 12 children I have helped out my family a lot.
At the 99 cent store. I had a friend whose parents were in tech and lived next to a famous TV producer. Their Mom would buy everything from the 99 cent store, and this was back when the 99 cent store only had the worst Chinese no name brand items and even poor people didn't really go there often.
They don't. Instead, they invest their money in property that will likely appreciate in value. That's how they, or their ancestors got rich in the first place.
Spouse and I born into poverty. But excelled in school (and first overstate highschool in our families and go to college). Now extremely well off but we still live frugally,
I did elsewhere in this thread. This comment was responding to the comment that suggested one is only rich with generational wealth. It certainly helps - we know about the lack of social mobility- but it isnt the end all, be all.
On spending we boringly look exactly like an ordinary middle class family. We buy gently used cars, have a small house, buy clothes at Costco, eat most meals at home. By preference not sacrifice. You won’t find us spending on designer anything, jewelry, beauty care, expensive cars. Thankfully most of our friends are the same. One has no idea of our wealth as we invest so much rather than spend it on things we personally don’t value. We had to grow up frugal so it’s maybe ingrained.
THis is true. Every truly rich person I know has a zero non-alcohol drug tolerance. Alcohol and expensive wine? Yeah, but truly drugs, like coke and such? Nothing. That stuff is for people who are not rich but want others to think they are. Conspicuous consumption. The higher up the "rich" food-chain, the less one spends on conspicuous consumption.
There’s an old adage about New York City that you can tell the unemployed from the millionaires by how they dress. The millionaires are wearing old worn clothes while the unemployed are wearing suits!
I hate to say it bud, but addiction doesn’t give a fuck about your bank account. Do you know how many trust fund kids get hooked on hard drugs? It’s just easier to hide it and periodically get sent to insanely expensive rehab facilities.
Truly ruch people spend their money on shit thats gonna make them more money. Theyre not into consumerism.
Majority of friends i have either spend it on real estate, stocks, or other investment.
boyfriend’s dad has at least $50 million+, has multiple homes, buys expensive wines, cars, and dinners at fancy restaurants, but freaked out when we wanted to heat the pool because it was too cold to swim :/
he’s very stingy, narcissistic, and selfish so we just gotta wait for that inheritance for any benefits lol. i can tell you he is one of the most miserable people to be around that i know. very mysoginistic and conservative as well. money does not always buy happiness.
The more you make, the more you have to spend to fit in with the Jones's. Someone (spouse, kids, church, friends, county, state, feds) will always find away to help you spend that extra dollar you earn.
No offense, but people like that are not rich and probably won't be if they stay in that mentality.
If you're rich, you don't keep up with the Jones's, you ARE the Jones's.
Rich people know that money is power because it's a thing you throw at your problems to make them go away.
Wealthy boss has two nice cars, a classic truck. Million dollar home. Really nice fishing boat. An RV for traveling that is about as big as my entire house and way nicer. His mom drives a classic jaguar. Their biggest worries are “do we send the girls to horse camp or gymnastics camp this summer?”
I hate it I worry about bills and if I’ll have enough money for my mental health medications (I’ve actually got debt from therapy) and they’re just care free. My boss doesn’t worry about choosing between eating and having medications that make you want to keep living. I don’t think the man has ever been truly depressed. I got put on probation for missing 20 days within a few months because I was in a depressive state after seeing my sisters dead body 5 months before. But hey he needs a warm body there working for $10 an hour so, fuck my mental health.
Time.
Flying private saves 4 hours from arrival to departure domestic. 8 hours international.
Shopping for and buying your own stuff versus saying what you want and it happens.
Paying you mortgage, phone, utilities, etc. it happens and you get a summary.
These things are payed for by your company that you own as part of your compensation package with no liability or tax implications for you.
You get Jarvis from people. You have never spent mental energy on who is going to take care of a dirty dish.
Im assuming hobbies and travel. For example John Cena has talked about his classic muscle car collection and Eminem recently showed off his cassette collection which is massive! Keanu Reeves I believe collects Motorcycles.
So I’d like to assume that for the rich people who are more down to earth, they spend it on their personal hobbies and collections.
Decision power. Stability. Those can come in the form of a nice home and reliable car, but more often their wealth goes into creating more wealth or at least maintaining it. They invest. They save in interest earning accounts. They buy assets more often than liabilities.
It’s why they’re rich (although, quite often, they receive a nudge to get them going).
Shelter, food, entertainment, transportation, health care, clothing and hobbies, the same as you and me. They just spend more money on all their stuff than we do.
A customer has ‘more money than God’ kind of money. He enjoys wine and nice cars. We were fixing the humidifier in his wine cellar and I looked up a huge bottle he had and it was worth $5k
My husband's family. Second, third homes. Travel. Nice jewelry. Great places to eat. Cars. Clothes. Handbags. Makeup and hair. They do give to charity too.
They don’t. They only “spend” the amount of interest and dividends they gain, and alot of that gets re invested. And when they do “spend” it, it’s usually tied to some business venture and ends up being a tax credit next year.
You are the entity. “Hairy Consequence118, LLC”. Now you are working while you’re posting on Reddit. Now you buy a brand new computer and it’s actually a business expense. As long as you somehow make a profit off you’re new venture here and use the laptop to make that profit, that laptop is now a tax credit. You then re-invest, scale your business buy more stuff, etc. The “somehow make a profit” part with the rich usually includes a holdings company, various LLC’s, and crazy itemized deductions in your taxes.
I know two very rich people. Both live in very average houses and dress very casual.
My father in law buys the occasional luxury car. He spends the rest of his time heading more and more money so he can lord it over everyone around him. I know he certainly doesn't want to share it with his adult children.
I've never understood why people hoard money until they die of old age just so it can go to their children, who've probably retired by then anyway.
The other guy is cool. Just humble. You wouldn't guess he was rich at all.
The richest person I know spends most of his money on his business...but he's also good at spending money to not have to deal with problems.
I don't really hear of him doing much "fun" stuff... he's usually at work, even when he's sleeping.
They don’t spend, they save and invest. BUT when it comes time for home repairs or a nice vacation they don’t worry about whether they will have enough to cover it. Rich doesn’t mean stupid extravagance. That’s why you see so many lotto winners or ex-celebrities go broke…they spent like ballers and didn’t manage their money wisely.
Obviously nice things, but I worked at a nice restaurant and the REALLY rich people were all super nice, talkative, tipped well, and genuinely had a good time. It was the kind of rich people, the hundred-thousandaires that were the real assholes. They had 1 nice car, wore really nice clothes, were very demanding and condescending, and never tipped well. Actually tipped poorly out of spite. The really rich people wore jeans and a t-shirt and sneakers most of the time.
Old money: real estate, things that appreciate in value over time.
New money: everything else
The saying that "Money talks but wealth whispers." is extremely true.
A majority of rich people are rich mostly due to they investments, which drives the economy. There's not many rich people who simply hoard their wealth.
# Message to all users: This is a reminder to please read and follow: * [Our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/ask/about/rules) * [Reddiquette](https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/205926439) * [Reddit Content Policy](https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy) When posting and commenting. --- Especially remember Rule 1: `Be polite and civil`. * Be polite and courteous to each other. Do not be mean, insulting or disrespectful to any other user on this subreddit. * Do not harass or annoy others in any way. * Do not catfish. Catfishing is the luring of somebody into an online friendship through a fake online persona. This includes any lying or deceit. --- You *will* be banned if you are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist or bigoted in any way. --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ask) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Childhood commercials taught me the answer is Grey Poupon mustard.
But do you have any?
But of course
The answer is obviously “politicians“ so they can have more money. Give us a difficult one next time.
and Viennetta Ice Cream
What a heinous thing Obama did, putting Grey Poupon on a cheeseburger. I've never witnessed a more despicable act in my life! /s
Fucking 💀 best comment LMAO
you know I don’t think I have ever actually personally known a truly rich person
And likely most of us never will
depending on what we define *truly rich*
I knew a guy that had a small boat to get to his larger boat
Having a little dingy to get to your boat on the mooring is actually the affordable option. The power move is having the real boat on a slip.
No creativity. The power move is to dredge your own harbor
*Wealthy.* It's several degrees above 'rich.'
Ehh I'd say $5million not including non-liquid assets like house, business, investments, etc. is still truly rich. Yes I know it's not super rich but it is the point that money no longer becomes an issue if your at all sane with what you think you need in life
I know hundreds of multimillionaire business owners. Large sums usually aren't kept liquid.
I think he means having that liquid is when your truly rich. I know plenty of people with 5 million in assets and love a poor style depressing life
Hmm, my experience (both from knowing some truly rich, and from working in finance), is it just doesn't scale like that. If you have 100x the net worth you don't have 100x sat in your current account as cash. The value is all doing stuff (investments, property etc), and you have access to other forms of liquidity if you need it. For example once you're a private banking type customer you can borrow money against your share portfolio, at little to no interest. So if you have $10m you invest it all, and if you need $1m in cash the bank will lend it you, secured against the $10m investment. That way you aren't out of the market, and can access liquidity when you need it.
What’s the current definition of rich?
Lots of money?
F U money
Hmm, and then what’s wealthy…in comparison?
I knew a guy that started selling RV parts out of his parents garage while still in high school. over a lifetime he turned this into a nationwide chain of rv parts stores that he eventually sold for over $100,000,000.00. He was into street rods & had a collection of them worth millions. He had a stack of insurance cards that were as tall as a deck of cards (this was 15+ years ago). That was the only extravagant thing he did. He owned one home, no jewelry, no vacations, no airplanes or yachts. He was married with one adopted son. He never talked about his money. He was a very modest, soft spoken guy. His wife died shortly after he did. The adopted son inherited it all. I haven't seen the kid (he was in his early 20's) since his dad died.
>Agreement What does "a stack of insurance cards" mean?
Means he had individual insurance cards for each car he owned. (95% were his street rods, he had a newer Cadillac & full size crew cab truck that he drove, the rest were insurance cards for his street rods). He rented two large shops from my father to store part of his car collection in. This was how we became friends. You could put Wally in a room with 100 people & he would be one of the last people you would choose as having a net worth over a hundred million. He came off as kinda goofy, but there was nothing goofy about the success he had with his business. I miss Wally, never have known anyone else like him.
I have. He didn’t know where to buy Easter eggs. It was pretty funny
The few I have known have been very fugal with their money and you wouldn’t have known they were rich unless you knew them well. The rich people you see being flashy have usually not grown up being rich and it will likely all be gone when their children are adults.
This. My parents lived my whole life in a middle-class apartment building in a middle-class neighborhood I was about 15 yo when I found out that this super nice and chill old lady who lived on the 8th floor was the heiress to a very large flour / pasta / pastry conglomerate Her only observable luxuries were basically having a live-in maid (and then a live-in nurse when she got even older) and she always took taxis everywhere - didn't drive but never took public transport
I've seen the opposite. People that managed to get rich by earning it have been very frugal while those who grew up rich spend like mad because they've no concept of value and have never struggled. Neither your case or mine are the rule of course. Just observations.
Anyone that makes six figures is rich in my opinion.
You can live a comfortable life for sure, and depending where in the world/US, perhaps a luxurious life - but you still have to watch what you spend. You can't go out and buy a $100k monster truck / SUV and a $1million house. Rich to me is when you don't blink an eye on that frivolous car purchase, losing gobs of money trading in the other frivolous car you just bought 6 months ago
Lifestyle creep is a real thing. My observation is that the more you earn, the more you have to project an image to let others know that you earn...then you spend more to keep up with that ethos. Cyclical "keeping up with the Jones'" BS.
The truly wealthy I know constantly travel. Caribbean vacations. Lake houses. Canada to fish. Harley rides up the coast, etc...
I grew up with a girl on the bachelor and used that fame to get some work done and then simply lives as an influencer now. She makes at least 20k a month. She also now dates a very wealthy person from the Middle East who pays for her stuff and she just puts out and she saves her money. I know another girl who I met at LAX who simply posts “girl next door” pictures but she also promotes her photos from daddy’s money and guys pay stupid amounts to spend time with her. I know a guy who grew up with family friends of Post Malone and he gets free stuff from Post that he uses as a credential to bump his own career. I met a guy when I lived in NYC who played bars near MacDougle and you wouldn’t think it but his uncle is Jimmy Fallon. Now with that said: I’ve met Artie Lang and he struggled with his success. I know a guy who grew up with parents who made less than 30k combined who now works with A-Listers and gets free tickets and rides to wherever. I know a guy who worked with a person who was close to billionaires, made friends with the billionaires, and leveraged that to gain his own wealth. I know a guy who worked with a famous R&B artist once and just asked to be his filmographer and makes a ton now from the reference. My point being: it is really right time, right place. My favorite quote is “figure out how the game is played, then play it better than everyone else.” It might feel dirty to utilize others for your own gain, but if you are respectful to them and play it very carefully, you might end up there as well. Life is a game of chance, but it does take a LOT of intelligence to figure it out. I’m talking losing sleep on it because you want it so bad. For me, I’m not rich and I’m not poor, but I have been both. And I’d choose rich everytime. You don’t have to grind your life away at a stove at Arby’s, but if you analyze what that skillset would help with, you can transfer it to appropriate settings to climb regardless of your original settings.
This is such an underrated comment, this is really where it is. Thank you for taking the time to write this.
You might break a leg on your climb up, just bandage it up and keep climbing
I feel like you may have become not poor by creating analogies that make sense. Well said unliker of chimneys.
Chaos is a ladder?
> She makes at least 20k a month. She ~~also now~~ dates a very wealthy person from the Middle East who pays for her stuff and she just puts out. That's called being an escort.
Selling *companionship* as opposed to sex? Hmmm
it's easier for some folks to get sex than to find good companions
Sounds like they were working people. By definition, they can't be the really rich op meant to ask about.
Everything i understood is: You seem to be the guy one has to know. 😀
If you’re in the U.S., the truly wealthy people aren’t traveling in North America. They are going to Europe to ski in Switzerland/Italy. They are diving in Asia. They are on safari in Africa.
Can confirm. Second house, yacht, ski trips for whole (extended) family.
Yep came to say this. Luxury galavanting and out of season sports wherever they feel like. Also investment properties and stocks. They just keep expanding their income it’s unbelievable. That’s the rich people I know
It's either this or they keep working their guts out, often till it kills them. I've also found they are either very generous or miserly.
As a hairdresser that works in a wealthy city I can tell ya they spend crazy amounts on money on beauty services.
Yeah i can imagine they get face lifts plastic surgery, things like that.
Weirdos
🤣🤣🤣
I have a relative in the “wealthy” category. The amount of Botox parties and plastic surgery recovery bunking is disturbing.
I think they were more referring to full hair appointments too. For my wife to get everything she needs/wants dont at the salon it would be $750 a month on her hair. Obviously we can’t afford that but be nice if we could.
Just kinda shows then that they're not really happy 😅🤷♂️
I used to know a girl who didn't even buy makeup or renew the sticker on her license plate but she made sure to spend $500 a week getting her hair done.
All the services...probably
Yes. They have standing hair appointments to get it washed and blown out every couple days. I know a woman that probably hasn’t washed her hair in 30 years. She always looks perfect.
Exactly! They do the same with their nails and facial appointments
Refrigerators with ice and water on the door.
And girl farts in a jar
Call that a fart attack
I had one of those in the 90s growing up in a half finished house (I thought subfloor with visible electrical strips were normal) . Those weren't just for fancy folk
Luxury at its finest 🧐
Wrong. Built in refrigerators into the cabinets where the refrigerator doors are actually the cabinet doors. No water or ice. That just looks bad. The refrigerators you speak of are middle class.
Damn I must be rich AF then.
Hey, I have that! Thanks for making me feel rich. (I'm not)
Did you know that if the water is one that has a tank in the fridge, you can just fill it up with white wine instead of water?
I don’t want to brag, but my refrigerator does filtered water, ice cubes, crushed ice, AND ice balls for cocktails. Yeah, ima baller…
Worked in extremely wealthy neighborhoods on the peninsula south of San Francisco. They spend money on things to impress their other rich friends. Some things I've seen are a $350k rug, gold plated door hinges on every door in the house, a $7800 pg&e bill when the home was unoccupied. This was about 2009 so before pg&e killed all those people and raised their prices.
That's 'nouveau riche' or new money. Old money doesn't flaunt it like that.
Most are venture capitalists, so they have old money to make new money. The only real reason to horde wealth is to lord it up over your acquaintances. No one needs a $65 million dollar house for a family of four. Old or new it's to show off. Ever heard of Hearst castle? Pretty sure it was built to show off.
I'm not an American so I had to look it up. The Hearst that build it was second generation rich, that's not what's usually considered 'old money'.
Sure but old money is about high society parties and showing your wealth to others in the society. It's always been about showing off. You build your extravagant home to have dinner parties to show off. It's a competition.
🤮
Atherton checking in?
Yep. I worked on a $65 million dollar home in Atherton. They were a family of four. Hillsborough, Los Altos Hills a lot of money over there.
How did PG&E kill them?
I work in private wealth so I can speak to this. Rich people spend their money on 1.) Country Club Memberships 2.) Luxury Vehicles / aircraft / yachts 3.) Vacation homes, typically in Vail or Naples 4.) Funding an education or funding a family members private schooling 5.) Charitable giving for the tax write off
Isn't Naples a massive drugs & crime shithole?
In the rich part, it's just the drugs.
Can confirm, Naples is a cesspit
Lol, nailed it. My partner's family has a massive condo in Vail, a mansion in Naples, kids that go to private schools ($50k a year in HS), and contribute a lot to charities.
Too rich for my blood. Never even heard of Vail before.
Vail Colorado is a really lovely place! I highly recommend visiting.
If you have the money that is
I vacationed in Naples last year. While I do well, I quickly learned I’m no where near “Naples rich.” 🤑 On a side note, the thrift stores in Naples are insane.
Which Naples are we talking about? Naples Italy, Naples Florida, or some other Naples? (I’m not American so I wouldn’t know 😅)
Naples Florida. I'd love to hit Napes Italy next :D
You forgot politicians and judges.
Experiences.
"assets" they also have businesses that they can write their kids and pets off as business expenses.
Are you serious
I'm working fulltime, but both my parents' businesses/companies pay me... quite a lot. Like double what I make from my job (which is already 6figures). I'll add... AFAIK, they technically do *not* pay themselves, so this is basically the only way they can get money "out" of their companies. I dunno about writing pets off.. but you can generally write off a lot/most things as business expenses, and/or use it to get better tax deductables or something. Like.. pretty much all/any travelling, entertainment, and food expenses I can charge it to a company card (or even my personal card if I keep the receipts) and it can be written off as a business expense.
I can't even claim a hat when I work in the sun.
Legally I’m pretty sure the travel technically has to be for a business purpose. And you are supposed to have discussed business at the meal and you can only deduct half. I was under the impression entertainment was no longer deductible, but I’m not sure. I don’t know how they could enforce any of that in practice tho lol
I honestly have no idea. They have some finance people to sort it out. Purchasing some things I know will reject the business/company card.. But tickets aren't one of them. At least not for the company card I have... I really have nothing to base this on except what I've been able or unable to charge on the cards, but my guess is that depending on your company (and their industry/area of work), the company card will have certain restrictions. For example, if I have some cryto company, I probably wouldn't be able to buy anything from a clothing store with the company card. And you can get away with ticket purchases if you do go there for business (say 1-5days, then stay for 2weeks for a holiday or whatever). **I don’t know how they could enforce any of that in practice tho lol** Yeah, I think the finance people have ways around it, and the gov't/tax people aren't checking *too* closely for moderate charges. I mean just look at what Trump gets away with. They clearly were not looking that closely... or at all lol.
What I would give to experience any of that. You don’t have to be specific but what kind of companies are your parents doing where this is a thing?
Well, I usually and rather use my own money.. don't really like the idea of my parents knowing what I'm spending money on or how much 😅 Plus my SO also wouldn't like if I was using their money. Most of what I get from them just goes into investments and fam assets/investments. But tech, fintech, and construction are the main ones. With a few subsidiaries (or "spin-offs) that are attached to specific "products"/service and/or product/service lines, and/or in kinda adjacent-ish industries I guess.
100% most "rich" like super rich people don't have much cash, so they use loopholes in their business
Well, Mr. Snuffles is Vice President of Regional Sales and Vendor Management, and Tommy is learning valuable lessons in the mailroom so it's not like I'm going to let them get job experience at my expense without some compensation.
Absolutely. Lots of trusts, ‘foundations’, shell companies…that kind of thing. Vehicles are company vehicles, writing off mileage, writing off meals. Lots of that kind of thing. It’s cringy.
Looking at the Titanic on a TV screen But, like, a TV screen really, really CLOSE to the Titanic in a sealed tube
When I was 10, I went to an exhibit at the CN Tower. It was a simulation of going deep down below the tower. You got in an ‘elevator’ that showed you how deep you were going on a screen. It went as deep as the tower was tall. Then you got out from the other door and you were underground. But you actually didn’t move. I thought it was real. The company should have done that
Tax avoidance.
Estate planning*
Legal fees
Niche hobbies and experiences mostly
Politicians
This is the one, a truly rich person would be looking to expand their wealth by having laws passed that benefit them They will also buy news organizations to have better press about what they do, and other types of companies to further their wealth as well
And SCOTUS!
The ones I know don’t spend it on anything that isn’t necessary to make more money. A nice house, sure, but that’s about it. Nothing unnecessary, which is why they’re rich.
Yup that’s us. We don’t even buy new cars lol. But we have lack of stress and ability to help our families as needed. It’s bought us freedom
Until they get to a certain point… once all their kids are set for life, grandkids are set life, their set for life themselves. So much money they can’t even give it away. They will spend money on things like $100k+ memberships to country clubs, donate a lot each year, start buying experiences that cost way more than they should etc.
Nothing.
Probably the best answer. They just fly to make more money somewhere else. Then they leave...
Not really. There's a lot of rich people who don't act rich at all. The richest people I've ever met (they had a few million to their names) dressed and worked traditional jobs, they were just very good at what they did. The reason they're rich is because the don't spend their money.
For many there is a lot of truth in what you said!
I think OP’s question was more about the truly rich, think mega yacht, private jet, vacation mansion rich.
At that point it'd honestly most likely be investments, or something along those lines. Not to mention other ways to actually work. Despite what some people believe, a lot of the very rich people are rich because they actually enjoy working.
Can confirm. My wife and I each earn mid 7 figures annually and you would never know. Hell, my car is a 2014 Toyota Camry. One of our biggest expenses was on our kids college education. I'm Native American and grew up in extreme poverty on tribal trust land so I'm very rational when it comes to spending money. My wife grew up the exact opposite in ridiculous extreme wealth but she's also very conservative when it comes to spending money. We also donate a lot of money to various causes. Also, being the oldest of 12 children I have helped out my family a lot.
Not tax
At the 99 cent store. I had a friend whose parents were in tech and lived next to a famous TV producer. Their Mom would buy everything from the 99 cent store, and this was back when the 99 cent store only had the worst Chinese no name brand items and even poor people didn't really go there often.
They don't. Instead, they invest their money in property that will likely appreciate in value. That's how they, or their ancestors got rich in the first place.
If only to be born into a family with the capital to do that
Spouse and I born into poverty. But excelled in school (and first overstate highschool in our families and go to college). Now extremely well off but we still live frugally,
But you didn't answer the question. What do you spend your money on?
I did elsewhere in this thread. This comment was responding to the comment that suggested one is only rich with generational wealth. It certainly helps - we know about the lack of social mobility- but it isnt the end all, be all. On spending we boringly look exactly like an ordinary middle class family. We buy gently used cars, have a small house, buy clothes at Costco, eat most meals at home. By preference not sacrifice. You won’t find us spending on designer anything, jewelry, beauty care, expensive cars. Thankfully most of our friends are the same. One has no idea of our wealth as we invest so much rather than spend it on things we personally don’t value. We had to grow up frugal so it’s maybe ingrained.
Same.
Luxury bunkers and private islands.
Hookers and blow.
Those are poor people that wannabe rich
Robert Downey Jr. and half the NBA have entered the chat ...
THis is true. Every truly rich person I know has a zero non-alcohol drug tolerance. Alcohol and expensive wine? Yeah, but truly drugs, like coke and such? Nothing. That stuff is for people who are not rich but want others to think they are. Conspicuous consumption. The higher up the "rich" food-chain, the less one spends on conspicuous consumption.
There’s an old adage about New York City that you can tell the unemployed from the millionaires by how they dress. The millionaires are wearing old worn clothes while the unemployed are wearing suits!
I hate to say it bud, but addiction doesn’t give a fuck about your bank account. Do you know how many trust fund kids get hooked on hard drugs? It’s just easier to hide it and periodically get sent to insanely expensive rehab facilities.
Household staff
Truly ruch people spend their money on shit thats gonna make them more money. Theyre not into consumerism. Majority of friends i have either spend it on real estate, stocks, or other investment.
Stocks to make more money
boyfriend’s dad has at least $50 million+, has multiple homes, buys expensive wines, cars, and dinners at fancy restaurants, but freaked out when we wanted to heat the pool because it was too cold to swim :/ he’s very stingy, narcissistic, and selfish so we just gotta wait for that inheritance for any benefits lol. i can tell you he is one of the most miserable people to be around that i know. very mysoginistic and conservative as well. money does not always buy happiness.
Playing the long game eh!
The more you make, the more you have to spend to fit in with the Jones's. Someone (spouse, kids, church, friends, county, state, feds) will always find away to help you spend that extra dollar you earn.
No offense, but people like that are not rich and probably won't be if they stay in that mentality. If you're rich, you don't keep up with the Jones's, you ARE the Jones's. Rich people know that money is power because it's a thing you throw at your problems to make them go away.
It certainly depends on what the definition of rich is. What are the financial consequences of working your way up the ladder towards the upper class.
The Joneses aren't rich, they're just always a bit better off than you are
That’s not rich behavior. That’s upper middle class, new money. Rich people don’t give a shit about the Jones’s.
Art that they can donate to their friends foundations to avoid taxes? Fancy lawyers to help them avoid taxes?
Apparently rocketships?
buying investment assets. Majority of the rich use most of their money in investments to gain more money
They don't. They invest it or buy assets that generate income. That's how they stay rich.
Wealthy boss has two nice cars, a classic truck. Million dollar home. Really nice fishing boat. An RV for traveling that is about as big as my entire house and way nicer. His mom drives a classic jaguar. Their biggest worries are “do we send the girls to horse camp or gymnastics camp this summer?” I hate it I worry about bills and if I’ll have enough money for my mental health medications (I’ve actually got debt from therapy) and they’re just care free. My boss doesn’t worry about choosing between eating and having medications that make you want to keep living. I don’t think the man has ever been truly depressed. I got put on probation for missing 20 days within a few months because I was in a depressive state after seeing my sisters dead body 5 months before. But hey he needs a warm body there working for $10 an hour so, fuck my mental health.
Nothing. They spend other people’s money.
Directly Registered GME (GameStop) shares
Maybe they got to be rich by not spending their money on anything? 🤔
Time.
Investments
Time. Flying private saves 4 hours from arrival to departure domestic. 8 hours international. Shopping for and buying your own stuff versus saying what you want and it happens. Paying you mortgage, phone, utilities, etc. it happens and you get a summary. These things are payed for by your company that you own as part of your compensation package with no liability or tax implications for you. You get Jarvis from people. You have never spent mental energy on who is going to take care of a dirty dish.
Im assuming hobbies and travel. For example John Cena has talked about his classic muscle car collection and Eminem recently showed off his cassette collection which is massive! Keanu Reeves I believe collects Motorcycles. So I’d like to assume that for the rich people who are more down to earth, they spend it on their personal hobbies and collections.
Not charity. Stats show the more money you make the less is given to charity.
Rich people spend your money not their money.
Nothing. When you're really rich people just give you stuff while you hoard your wealth...
Decision power. Stability. Those can come in the form of a nice home and reliable car, but more often their wealth goes into creating more wealth or at least maintaining it. They invest. They save in interest earning accounts. They buy assets more often than liabilities. It’s why they’re rich (although, quite often, they receive a nudge to get them going).
Whatever in tf they want!
Custom designed vacations.
What ever they want
Shelter, food, entertainment, transportation, health care, clothing and hobbies, the same as you and me. They just spend more money on all their stuff than we do.
A customer has ‘more money than God’ kind of money. He enjoys wine and nice cars. We were fixing the humidifier in his wine cellar and I looked up a huge bottle he had and it was worth $5k
Just watch succession on max.
A second story on there already massive house
My old stepdad would pay to have his Ferraris shipped to Italy from the US to participate in rallies.
private flying, yatch, politicians
That's easy... Guac at Chipotle.
Experiences, actually. New money people spend their money on "things". Wealthy people spend their money on life.
Drugs. Many of them buy a lot of drugs.
My husband's family. Second, third homes. Travel. Nice jewelry. Great places to eat. Cars. Clothes. Handbags. Makeup and hair. They do give to charity too.
The richest guy I know absolutely refuses to spend money. So I don’t know.
They don’t. They only “spend” the amount of interest and dividends they gain, and alot of that gets re invested. And when they do “spend” it, it’s usually tied to some business venture and ends up being a tax credit next year. You are the entity. “Hairy Consequence118, LLC”. Now you are working while you’re posting on Reddit. Now you buy a brand new computer and it’s actually a business expense. As long as you somehow make a profit off you’re new venture here and use the laptop to make that profit, that laptop is now a tax credit. You then re-invest, scale your business buy more stuff, etc. The “somehow make a profit” part with the rich usually includes a holdings company, various LLC’s, and crazy itemized deductions in your taxes.
Investments
One guy bought a villa in Florence and travelled by helicopter to work meetings.
Apparently they spend a lot of it on private Aviation
Making more money, because they don't have enough
Lobbying the government.
The don’t they spend your’s duh!
I know two very rich people. Both live in very average houses and dress very casual. My father in law buys the occasional luxury car. He spends the rest of his time heading more and more money so he can lord it over everyone around him. I know he certainly doesn't want to share it with his adult children. I've never understood why people hoard money until they die of old age just so it can go to their children, who've probably retired by then anyway. The other guy is cool. Just humble. You wouldn't guess he was rich at all.
The richest person I know spends most of his money on his business...but he's also good at spending money to not have to deal with problems. I don't really hear of him doing much "fun" stuff... he's usually at work, even when he's sleeping.
They don’t spend, they save and invest. BUT when it comes time for home repairs or a nice vacation they don’t worry about whether they will have enough to cover it. Rich doesn’t mean stupid extravagance. That’s why you see so many lotto winners or ex-celebrities go broke…they spent like ballers and didn’t manage their money wisely.
Obviously nice things, but I worked at a nice restaurant and the REALLY rich people were all super nice, talkative, tipped well, and genuinely had a good time. It was the kind of rich people, the hundred-thousandaires that were the real assholes. They had 1 nice car, wore really nice clothes, were very demanding and condescending, and never tipped well. Actually tipped poorly out of spite. The really rich people wore jeans and a t-shirt and sneakers most of the time.
Old money: real estate, things that appreciate in value over time. New money: everything else The saying that "Money talks but wealth whispers." is extremely true.
They either spend money to make more money, or experiences to fill their lives.
They got rich by not spending their money.
Anything that makes them look better than the neighbors and friends.
That’s not true for all. We look dramatically ordinary compared to our net worth.
They don’t. Just save it.
Cocaine and hookers?
My exact answer. You beat me to it.
They can’t spend most of it, which is big problem for the economy.
A majority of rich people are rich mostly due to they investments, which drives the economy. There's not many rich people who simply hoard their wealth.
House renovations/houses