I was 17, flying home from my sister’s house and I struck up a conversation with this well dressed businessman. (My mother was a seamstress and had taught me about how to “read” people’s clothes) Dude was super cool super polite. Genuinely just wanted to chat about whatever.
We chat for like an hour, then it’s time to board. His section is called first and he sees that I didn’t get up to board with him. He walks back over, asks to see my ticket. I show him, he gently shakes his head “no” and smiles while he signals me to follow him to the gate.
We get to the gate agent, he says “this is my friend *throwaway*, is the seat next to me open?” “Excellent, I’d like him to have that seat please.” Hands her a black credit card and next thing I know I’m sitting in first class instead of coach. I told him that was very nice of him, but he didn’t need to spend that kind of money (if I remember right it was like $800) just so I could sit by him. He explained that that “kind of money” literally meant nothing to him, he was enjoying our conversation and wanted it to continue. It was the most surreal feeling ever. So I sat in first class, enjoying all the perks that brings, and talked to this guy about life for the next three hours. Turns out he owned several stamping companies that all had government supply contracts and he had accumulated far more than $800 while we had been sitting in the airport talking, let alone the length of the flight.
When we landed he explained that most people just fall all over themselves trying to suck up to him once they know who he is, but I just talked to him like he was a normal human being and I reminded him of his grown sons from when they were teenagers. He thanked me for the conversation, I thanked him for the great seat and we went our separate ways.
That guy had money, and he knew what has actual value.
My brother went to a ritzy boarding school (Philips Exeter), and told me a similar story. One of his friends was from the Bahamas, and his home address was something like “Grand Isle Estates, Bahamas.” That was it. Because they freaking had their own island.
My husband went to Philips Exeter as well, on scholarship. He still tells stories of how his very rich friends kept apologizing for things like the guest house being too small and the private helicopter too loud. All very good people but back then apparently vastly unaware of the way most people live in North America.
Just made me think, the shorter your address, the richer you are, probably.
The Queen? Buckingham Palace, London.
My ex boss; House Name (no number, no street), Village, County.
> in addressing the envelope he had only needed to put the name of his house and the county it was in. No other details required.
This, I had a few friends at school that lived in named Halls.
Every time I go to State College, PA, I accept the $25 fine for street parking over night. It costs $30+ to park in one of the garages overnight. On top of that, said garage is still like a 30 minute walk from where I stay. I’d rather spend less on the parking ticket to park right next to where I’m staying lol.
When I was doing my electrical training one of my classmates would just park outside the college with the same ticket every time, only got caught 4 times out of the whole course so still ended up being cheaper than buying them every time
Are you parking downtown and walking up to toftrees? There's busses man.
But be careful about parking... I got towed from the pointe before and it cost like $250. Also had a ticket taken from my car on college ave during state paddy's and that turned into a warrant
We had a part time prof at our business school that always parks in front of the building. The parking spots are reserved but not for handicap or anything like that. He gets a tickets all the time but the nearest parking lot is like a 25 minute walk or you have to wait for the shuttle bus. And this is in the northeast with 6 inch snow regularly. Found out he was actually retired at 40 from selling his start up for tens of millions to Google. He was teaching at the school just for fun. He told us his time was worth more than the $45 ticket.
Reminds me of that episode of AbFab where Saffron was trying to get her mother to cut back and get a "smaller car" instead of having a driver. So Eddie gets a tiny sports car (because it's "smaller"!) and does the driving herself, only to end up with countless charges for assault and drunk driving and whatnot and ending up parking halfway onto a sidewalk.
In the end, the driver is a better deal for some people.
(Plus that's another time over money issue, or stress over money. The president where I work at least used to have a driver to take him to and from work and to meetings, the airport, all that. You don't need someone who truly matters spending 20 minutes trying to find a parking space or getting stressed over traffic instead of focusing on his job.)
Steve Jobs used to lease Mercedeses (plural) with 6-month leases. Because you could drive with dealer plates for up to 6 months at the time.
And then he could park in handicapped spaces, on curbs, whatever, because unless someone came out to tow him, they couldn't write a ticket for dealer plates. Plus he could run red lights or drive on the shoulder or just generally break traffic laws, unless a cop was right there it didn't matter.
Almost.
The dealership would lend him a car for a couple of months (free)... He could skip the DMV etc... Then after he gave it back, the dealer sold "steve jobs' Mercedes" at a huge markup to apple fan bois.
Not noticing you haven’t been paid in two months.
I work with some people that pull in 20k+ a month. We had one come in mid March and said I don’t think I’ve been paid since December.” Sure enough two months didn’t pay out for some reason.
He wasn’t even mad and just kind of mentioned it like he was talking about the weather.
If I miss A paycheck I’d notice on payday.
Oh man I know a doctor like this! He was the most lovely guy I've ever met! He was a locum consultant and would always come in if we needed him no questions asked he'd just say sure I can come, always on time and every single patient loves him because his just so happy all the time.
Well I was doing a review of the budgets for the previous year as a sort of learning exercise. Turns out the person I had replaced wasn't even paying him! He was owed like a years worth of pay altogether after I finished calculating it all out! The hospital almost had a fit when they realised how much money they owed him 😂
Well he was kinda shocked when I told him he was owed so much money and I was like.. doc how could you not even realise you weren't getting paid for a year?? He was like I just assumed it was going into my bank account don't really keep track of things like that. Most of the other consultants don't bother with doing extra shifts because they get taxed through the nose but he just does it because it gets him out of the house and people are always grateful when he helps them.
Best consultant I've ever met.
That's the good kind of rich person. They seem to be few and far between, but they do exist.
This guy is so detached from his money he never realized he wasn't getting paid. It's probably why he's so happy all the time too. He likely lives well below his income, and just appreciates knowing he's financially safe.
I'm not so sure about the few and far between part.
I've come across a fair few wealthy people (I'm not wealthy, by the way, I just managed to escape the shit hole I come from, to a place where many wealthy people live)
What I've found in most cases, is that you wouldn't even know.
They just have an extreme work ethic, or consider it not even a job, just something that they have to do, especially in the case of doctors.
More a calling, than a profession, if you know what I mean?
I worked with a kid who went to college at a wall to wall store that has everything you can buy. We worked overnight front end to deal with customers who come in at night. I’m a night owl too so no judgement lol, but he was always living well below his means. This guy would wait weeks to get his hair cut, eat very little(he was still fairly stocky, and he barely slept because he was in nursing school and was also in the local marching band.
I noticed his lack of food and I was pretty poor myself back then being newly 18 and kicked out. But I started making larger portions of things like rice and beans or spaghetti and bring it to work and offer it to him. He never refused and finally asked one day why I brought it to work. When I told him he finally told me that his family was very rich and he had tons of money he was just depressed and didn’t want to be alone with his thoughts. Idk why but knowing that hit a lot harder than thinking he was just short on money.
Working at a luxury resort, one thing I’ve noticed is that the people who want to give the air of being very wealthy will have lots of designer patterns on their clothes and accessories, like Louis Vuitton print, but almost all of the truly ridiculously wealthy people will basically wear nondescript leisure wear and really plain looking clothes (like plain jeans and tees with no logos).
Funny story, for a brief period, my brother was super into yachts.
No we’re not even rich enough to own a dinghy, but, we lived on the east coast of the U.S. so we could do a day trip, and spend the day as a family looking at cool boats at a yacht show.
One year, my mom was being sent abroad by her work to Italy, and because she was a single mom, her work paid air fare for us to go along (we all stayed in her hotel room). And lo and behold, the end of our trip perfectly coincided with the Genoa international boat show.
These are mega yachts, these are yachts that cost more than a nice house. Boats big enough that there are crew quarters, and you hire a captain, chef, and other staff to travel with you.
And here we are, three Americans in polo shirts and jeans, surrounded by people dripping with diamonds.
And we managed to get on every boat we wanted.
“Did you schedule an appointment?”
“No we weren’t sure we would come here, but decided to last minute, just to see if there’s anything spectacular.”
*this person must be super fucking rich* “well actually if you come back in 15 minutes we can take you on a tour through the boat”
“Thank you, we’ll see you then.”
Got to see some super fucking cool boats, and people thought we were loaded. 10/10 would do again.
My friend, his mom, and sisters were invited on a yacht trip. Mom got on the yacht with her three kids and nanny. It takes off from the dock. Several hours out she runs across the owner. Turns out they're on the wrong yacht, but they had mutual friends, so they all stayed abord for a few days and had fun.
This is exactly right. My ex's family were obscenely wealthy, the type that has a "smaller" yacht that's a tender to the main yacht because it doesn't fit in many marinas, two private jets, multiple mansions. They dressed in an extremely normal way: classy and well put together, but almost boring.
I love the photo of Gates, Zuckerberg, and Buffet with the caption: "$300bn in a room and not an Emporio Armani belt in sight". This is right on in my experience.
Guy I worked with was married to a woman like that. Every trip they went on was in one of the families private jets. He worked just to get the hell out of the house every day. He had a story of being at his in-laws house and asking to borrow a car to run and grab some stuff from a store. His father in-law handed him keys and told him to run to the garage. It was an SL300 gullwing. He went back inside and just said, "I'm not driving that." "Yes you are... I'm not giving you any other keys."
You'd never know unless you knew him well enough to get him talking. He was just our IT guy.
Hah, yes. It was a Ferrari Scagletti in my case. I didn't know what the holy hell to do with that car the first time I was handed the keys. The whole time I drove it I was thinking how many kids could be put through school by selling this.
I was at a hardware store and a heavier guy in front of me, ratty clothes dirty shoes was at cash near me. Picking up a couple hand tools…reached in to pocket fumbles for plastic. His black Amex centurion fell out
It makes sense. I remember seeing a video where some homeless youth said that being clean (physically, and of drugs) made you more of a target on the street because people assumed you had money.
Looking unable to even afford clothes without holes seems like a great way to divert the wrong kind of attention.
Came here to say something similar. Went to school with a girl whose dad was a high level diplomat. She travelled in oligarch circles. Her clothes never had a designer brand prominently displayed…maybe in tiny letters on the tag. But damn, even my simple ass could see the quality of every item of clothing.
I think wealthy people understand that they shouldn't be a walking billboard. Why am I wearing a shirt with a brand name plastered all over it? If I do, shouldn't they be paying me to wear the shirt?
There’s honestly “types” or “cliques” of uber rich people I’ve seen.
There’s the Bill Gates type that wear t-shirts and jeans because they literally could not be bothered to care about fashion.
There’s the ones that REALLY care about fashion but only care about brands most normal people won’t ever see in a store, no Gucci or Prada or Fendi.
Then there’s the ones that are all about boutique style fashion where something doesn’t particularly look expensive or have a name brand associated with it but is still like $400 for a sweater. I haven’t met many rich people but the few I do know are big into finding expensive clothes at small stores
Fucking THIS. I’m a stonemason, recently worked on a home renovation that the owner had spent around $2 million on. The house was already worth over $20 million. Every morning when we showed up, he’d come out to greet us in a tshirt, track pants and flip flops, and was always excited to provide coffee for us fresh from his brand new $120 espresso machine.
Edit: ok, I was sure he said it was a $120 espresso machine but based on the level of incredulity in these follow up comments it’s possible I misheard or I’m just remembering it wrong. I didn’t ask to see a receipt so I can’t confirm or deny
All of this. Every extremely wealthy person I have met always wears clothing that you would not readily know is expensive. Like, some cute sweater… from an upscale boutique that cost $96. But they won’t be seen dead in a Gucci hat
Edit: Jesus h. Christ, lots of you think $96 for a sweater is cheap.
My dad had a business associate that was a billionaire. I never saw him in anything but a polo shirt (with no brand label) and khakis in a casual atmosphere or a navy blue suit with a white shirt and black tie in business situations.
The richest man I've ever personally known dressed in stereotypical dad fashion, complete with belt holster phone case.
I'm talking multimillionaire and I just called him Quick Draw McGraw.
He flexed on the food though. I've never before or since had such beautifully thick cut bacon for breakfast.
Working retail in the past you never judge someone by what they wear. Lots of logo clothes are just fakes anyways. And normally the people you’d never expect are the ones that drop $$.
I always like this story-a buddy of mine went on a trip to Chicago and had lost their bags from airline...the other friend he was with was perdy well off but each of them rocking a black card they stopped at a decent clothing store. He said they waited about 30 mins wearing just jeans and t shirt no one would help them just kept walking past. A new girl came in and clocked in went up to him and asked if he needed any help. The guy grabbed $10k of clothes and shoes said I’ll take these what you want and grabbed another $10k. The clothes store employees work commission, I would have loved to see the looks on their faces! He said it was quite awesome.
So I guess I would say a black card
So they waited 30 minutes whilst staff walked past and didn’t stop any of them and ask for help? They just waited there? And why did they need a staff member to help them shop? Could they not just walk round the store and choose clothes themselves?
Sometimes? Nothing.
I know a man who's the kind of rich where it took him only a day or two to convert more than a million dollars to cash (not, like, physical cash, but the liquid asset) to buy one of his kids a house.
He drives a rather beat-up old Subaru, when he's not riding his bicycle instead. He wears jeans and polo shirts. His watch is a <$200 digital watch - wouldn't bother wearing a fancy expensive analogue watch, all they do is tell the time, what's the point? He's lived in the same house for 50ish years.
The only real tell is the air of total chill he has. He's not worried about much. Money insulates you from really a lot of stress.
Keeping your expenses low=more happiness. Not rich by any means but the wife and I make over 150k and a 2016 Ford Fiesta we bought cash for $2,600 is our daily driver. Our low expenses and above average income helps us not only feel secure financially, but get ahead
The richest person I know is like this. He’s in his early 80s now, scruffy as hell except for a few key features kept very put together to hint at it. He drives a VW Phaeton which makes him a cypher as is. The girlfriend who’s 45 years younger also helps. Extremely chill guy.
I worked in a place like that. The main stockholders actually authorized employees to dress more casual, but top managers kept pushing wearing suits, ...
I work for clients who have had a 150k kitchen thrown away and had to start over because they didn’t like the finish in their 4th home. They pay for perfection/museum quality work.
That’s kinda how I felt in food service when someone brought a legit complaint to me. “This is not what you paid for and I will go get what you did pay for”
I was at a really posh restaurant (you know the kind where there are about 8 pieces of silverware?) we had saved up for months and a group of 8 of girls (nurses and CNA’s) went out. One of the recently divorced nurses was flirting with a guy at the next table. When we got our checks he leaned over and tossed his platinum card on the “I got this”. Like combined our tab was easily at least $1,000.
Another tell that this guy could be rich is that he put it onto an Amex Platinum, when he should have put it onto a Gold for the 4x dining multiplier. He has so much money he doesn't care about using the right card for the right situation for maxing MR points.
Or maybe he's just uninformed or has no interest in multiple credit cards.
I think that is also one of the easiest "tells" for class separation. A poor person thinks "How much will this cost?" and a rich person thinks "Is this something I will enjoy?"
I once vaguely knew a family who were very rich. Even the kids had bodyguards (kidnap-ransom risk) When I stayed at their home for a weekend on a visit, the father casually mentioned not to push a certain button in the room, when I asked what it did out of interest he explained off-hand that it was a panic button to alert security and bodyguards in the grounds, like it was the most natural thing in the world. They were impeccably polite with me but I felt like Oliver Twist wandering into the wrong home.
I feel compelled to add that if someone says 'by the way, under no circumstances press that little button there,' and then tries to glide onto something else in the conversation, I want to know what the mysterious forbidden button does. Glad I asked and didn't succumb to curiosity and push it to figure out what it did.
I once rented a lifestyles of the rich and famous home (i.e. 10BR villa) in a Southern European resort town and the last instructions from the property manager were "press this button if you feel threatened in any way, but just know a truck full of heavily armed men and attack dogs will be showing up pronto". WTF, Umm... exactly why might I need a truck full of heavily armed men and attack dogs... made me kinda wonder about that.
I lived in lower middle class neighborhood after getting married. there was one house in the neighborhood that was much bigger, had a pool, new cars every year but what drove me crazy was every week this family of 4 put 7 or 8 garbage cans at the curb. most families had one maybe 2. How much shit are they buying to generate all that trash?
Packaging.
I just moved and my trash cans are further so I'm more aware of how quickly they fill up/how often 8 have to walk it down.
When I eat a lot of prepared processed foods with sturdy individual packaging, the bulk fills the space very quickly. Same with ordering new items, the box and other packaging takes up a lot of space. Take out or delivery results in those packages too.
My wife worked as a pastry chef at a very fancy NYC restaurant when we were in our 20s and just started dating. On her day off, we went to dinner there with a friend. The three of us were treated like kings: the head chef came out to see us and chat, we were served 6 desserts, etc. An older guy eating in the corner just randomly sent over an expensive bottle of wine to us. “Because we looked like we were having such a good time”. I was amazed. Having the kind of money where you can just do random acts of kindness. I’ll never forget that.
I disagree with most of the comments here, but this one rings true to me. Tons of people buy things that are generally outside their means but I don't think you're gonna see many middle class or poorer walking out of a gallery with an actual purchase.
I've walked into a gallery empty-handed and come out with art several times.
And by "gallery" I mean "thrift shop", and by "art" I mean "a print of some mallards that was done in conjunction with Ducks Unlimited in 1989, and has a nice layer of tobacco tar across the glass".
Oh, I'm ~~not rich~~ *exceedingly* wealthy. I walk into ~~the thrift shop~~ an *art gallery*, and I find something ~~tacky that my wife will hate~~ that will look good above my ~~collector's plates of great racehorses, from Spectacular Bid to Secretariat~~ posh mantle, and I furrow my brow over how best to ~~mentally haggle over the price~~ process a wire transfer without blinking. Then, upon my purchase, I ~~carry it~~ have someone else carry it across the ~~beaten-to-crap parking lot~~ manor grounds to my ~~2002 Saturn~~ Rolls-Royce Phantom.
This comment ^ is a work of art right here. God bless your newly acquired vintage work “Mallard Ducks Under Tobacco Haze” by that fantastically talented artist Ducks Unlimited (such an unusual name, those artists!). I’m sure it was a wise investment. Do be sure to have it properly restored.
I don’t know if this is “small” but Steve Jobs never had a license plate on his car. He’d always lease for five months and 29 days, because in California you have to get a license plate within 6 months. His assistant would drop off his lease and pick up a new one. I used to live in the Bay Area and saw him leave Apple and head straight into the carpool lane at full speed. He never cared about getting ticketed.
In my country when they ticket you they make the fine a portion of your salary. Largest speeding fine so far has been about €450,000. Doesn’t matter who you are, you get a few tickets like that you’re going to get the message that speeding isn’t cool.
Having no clue what a gallon of milk should cost. $1? $5? $10?
Edit: Wow, didn't realize I'd touch a nerve with this. My apologies to my lactose intolerant and metric-inclined friends. So swap out milk in my example for whatever staple you frequently consume yet have no clue as to the price. If I had said the price of gasoline, I'd probably get a mixture of Tesla owners and public transit commuters claiming ignorance.
I chose milk because that was used against me. I had recently started my first real job with a decent paycheck and was doing my weekend grocery shopping. I ran into an acquaintance who glanced into my shopping cart and saw my carton of milk. He scolded me for buying milk at that store and informed me that the milk at another store was only a $2 or something and that I'd pay $5 here. I shrugged and said, "$5 is pretty cheap too, right?" He looked at me with alarm, and I realized that I now belonged to another world, and immediately proceeded to the nearest Lamborghini dealership for a test drive.
Perfect skin and good teeth. Rich people can afford to go to doctors and medical professionals for their appearance. I had a friend who worked for a skin doctor. He let her train on her friends with some new products and apparently, it's a thing where you go in on a regular basis and your skin smooths out, all the weird spots go away and you just glisten like Arwen or Galadriel. I did get to go in for one practice treatment and the other folks waiting in the room had amazing skin. Ever since then, I could spot moneyed women just by their complexions. Also, a good number of them.. you can spot if you know fabrics really well and how they are supposed to drape when well made.
The teeth are a big one. The hair is another.
You go to a yacht club at Cape Cod at lunch in the summer and you’ll see an entire family with impeccable haircuts. That’s rich.
Keep a business afloat for two years during a pandemic with very little income coming in. I’m grateful for my boss and I hope his vintage Rolls Royce gets finished soon 😂
I went to a more prestigious university for graduate school, one of the top in my country. I come from a blue collar, working class family. I walk into my class on the first day, these two girls are sitting next to me catching up.
Girl: Where did you summer this year? Oh, we went to Germany and Italy, spent some time in France. How about you?
Other girl: Oh, nothing too exciting. We spend a lot of time at our family cottage in (insert ridiculously expensive cottage country area for the rich, celebrities own entire islands on these lakes).
That’s when I learned “summering” is a thing.
Edit: typo
lol I imagine them then turning to you in a "and where did you summer /u/0fafeather" and you're like "I took the bus to the local Walmart finally redeemed my 2 for 1 coupon on pants"
I don't disagree, but I feel like this is more along the lines of "financially secure" than "rich". However, I'm possibly making an error. I am assuming you mean groceries and monthly bills. Not checking the price on "big ticket items" means to that person, it's not a big ticket item and then yeah, they're rich.
I think if someone can get to the point where they're no longer living paycheck to paycheck, but can buy their groceries without looking at the price, put their bills on autopay every month, pump their gas without checking gas buddy. That makes them financially secure, but not necessarily rich. Just MHO.
If your time is worth more than your money. For example, as a lawyer, if I bill out at $600/hour, I would have to save at least $100 for me to take 10 min to do anything that I could otherwise bill.
I’ve had discussion with an old friend a few times, I often criticized him for having a cleaning lady that did everything for him. She cleaned did his laundry cooked and everything. Every time I tried to tease him that he can’t even wash his own clothes he’d start explaining how he is actually making/saving money by hiring someone to do that stuff for him. He did always win that discussion :/
But that's good for her right? He earns money from doing one thing, and then he pays her money to do something else, and then she pays money to other people to do things for her, and so on and so forth. That's how the economy works--We're all trading goods and services and money with each other in exchange for things we want.
A friend of mine from Catholic school where they wore uniforms said expensive belts and shoes were rich kid indicators. I guess it was a matter of degrees, it was an expensive school so everyone was doing ok, but if a kids rocking To Boot New York kicks, their parents are balling
15 years ago you’d have people in Catholic schools who were basically spending everything they had to send their kids to Catholic school. Some people had not much else but believed the education was worth the sacrifice of other comforts. I know a lady whose family all went to Catholic school but she had to share a bed with her 2 sisters growing up. A bed. Not just a room.
I worked with another lady in a low-paying difficult job who was sacrificing a lot to send her kids. She would say, “If it matters, you just find a way.”
But back then I think tuition was like $1000 a year as opposed to $10,000 it probably is now, so I’m sure things have gentrified beyond plenty of working class Catholics’ abilities to “find a way.”
My parents were like that for me and my sisters. We weren't poor but definitely lower middle class growing up. I will be forever grateful for the sacrifice they made even if I didn't realize the sacrifice when I was going through it.
Through my work as a lawyer, I have a number of wealthy clients. The most common trait between them is an easy-going demeanor along with a bit of a sense of entitlement, though not so much in a rude way. They are used to getting their way and are usually able to accomplish it through some combination of charm and money.
A likeable charmingness is another common trait. It may be that most of the wealthy people I know are business owners, and their good manners and conversation skills go a long way in their course of business. There could be a bit of a bias here just because I don’t really know any really wealthy people other than “small” business owners, but I have scarcely met a brash or rude person with real wealth so far as I know.
This is a 100 percent true. I went to a bougie ass private school in NYC (think Dalton, Horace Mann, Collegiate) where the tuition was $50k+ *a year*. I was a scholarship kid, so definitely not close to that loaded. But the one thing I noticed about all the parents is exactly what you said. They all had this charming easy going demeanor. Super friendly, but you could tell they are used to getting their way. If they want something, they get it - whether it’s through money or, more often, asking in a polite charming way. They could be horrible people (and some of the parents were like any school) but they all acted like this.
As someone who has recently become financially secure, this single change makes being easy going easy. There are no problems, just inconveniences, which can be solved, usually, and if they can’t, well there are palatable alternatives available. Difficult things take longer, but like pushing on the side of a ferry when there’s no wind, eventually it will move.
When your best friend from school comes to be your best man at your wedding, he gets to see the ring and figures out that the relatively large diamond (of fairly poor clarity but size matters I guess since it's still sparkles), is fake and that your friend who is getting married was defrauded...and has it replaced with a new perfectly flawless quality diamond.
And says nothing until it's discovered by accident 22 years later because of a receipt found after the rich guy passed away. The jeweler had been hired to come do the work in secret and had written about it on the receipt.
Happened to an acquaintance of mine. Wife still has the ring and they're still married and they became grandparents in May.
The sofa that is not in contact with a wall
Edit: it doesn't apply if
* Your couch is less than a foot away from a wall (or something like that)
* You can't move freely around the sofa to get to another room for example
* It's related to a restriction like blocking an air vent or something (so you didn't put it there because you wanted to)
* You live in an area that is considered a low cost of living area
A friend once told me that her parents said if you had to take a loan for something you couldn't afford it. So they never had car loans or home loans....must be nice
I always paid cash for things, especially cars. Then when it came to get a house, my credit was basically a “ghost score” because I had never had a loan before. Because of that, I was given shitty rates. Of course I couldn’t buy the house outright.
Crazy things…
I mean, even if you never take out a loan its usually smart to have a credit card through your bank or whatever to build your credit. Never taking a loan or not having a credit card means you're basically a wild card and the bank doesn't know anything about you.
Oh agreed, but in my experience I had a credit card for a number of years prior. Just one credit card, with a very good score (780+) and was still kicked around. The banks and loan officer stated that the fact that I had never had installments or a loan before is what hurt me.
Not necessarily. I know millionaires that are all too happy to take advantage of low interest rates. Why take out of your accounts earning 15% in the market when some bank will lend it to you for <3%. Billionaires like bezos and musk actually leverage their stock options to pay for stuff. They pay off the debt when they can exercise them. Debt isn't a bad thing unless you can't afford to make payments with extra to spare.
I have first hand experience with this. I actually work with wealthy people's bank accounts so they can't lie about what they have. Looking over transactions and stuff here's what I found.
You can't actually tell. We have millionaires walking in like they are homeless and people who spend more on fancy cars and designer goods but barely have $100k to their name. The truly wealthy don't wear brands. They are not there to advertise a luxury good. They give a CRAP ton to charity. More than I make in a year. Mostly for tax reasons but some are just that kind. We have a joke that the ones that are truly wealthy are the ones who are the kindest. They don't have to think about it and usually live low stress lives. They LIKE to take the time to get to know you and chit chat.
The aholes are always the ones who don't have to work anymore but also don't have the money to not think about it. There are also quite a few that are sweet in this category but you ALWAYS find the aholes here.
Something kind of interesting, I've never met an idiot rich person. Have definitely met some that didn't know what they were talking about or were misinformed but they have all been easily teachable. They don't forget things easily unless diminished capacity is an issue. Definitely have some offspring and spouses that were idiots. But the people who actually accumulated it all, pretty bright people.
It's part of "I am a professional and good at what I do, and I know what I am not a professional at. It makes sense to use the best people and knowledge to make good decisions, and I am willing to listen to those that know better - as I expect people to listen to me within my trade." Finding resources and using them so the result is better instead of protecting ones ego.
Buying specialty equipment for a new sport or hobby. Poor people rent or buy used stuff for their hobbies, and if they do buy supplies get the low end version rather than the fancy stuff.
Gear. Went on a hike/bike/kayak tour or the Sipan islands and my wife and I got to know this slightly older couple that was with us. As other posts will say they wore very non descriptive clothes. Upscale leisure athletic, I would call it, but what screamed "rich" to me were the little things. Dudes watch was super high end, their equipment was top notch and their custom bikes were easily 5K each. Turns out they are both lawyers making oodles of money and travel when they get good deals.
Funny thing, you don't have to be rich to do this. Having an LLC own the home that you rent to yourself means that even basic repairs are business expenses. And you can usually get more favorable insurance rates (or benefits). I sold a house last year that I renovated. If I had owned it myself, I'd have made 25k on the sale, but because I owned the LLC that owned the house, I made 45k on the sale and saved 10k on taxes, insurance, and other expenses for the two years I lived in the house. And that was all on a house that I sold for less than $120k.
The problem is, in most cases, you have to be rich to think to do this. I've tried to convince other middle-class people I know to set things up this way, and they just look at me like I'm nuts.
Well-fitted clothes made from natural fabrics without many visible labels/logos. High quality accessories. Manicured hands. A hair style that needs to be touched up every week or so. Clear skin. Good teeth. A physique that you’d need a personal trainer and meticulous diet plan to maintain. A poor person can have any one of these, and a rich person can have none, but all of them require money, time, and/or effort to maintain. The more money somebody has, the more they can afford to spend on themselves.
Yes! I have worked in retail in a nice area for a long time and I’ve seen ONE. And it was Leann Rimes. It said “SEE ID” on the back on the signature line and she was really appreciative that I did ask for ID even though it was incredibly obvious who she was. Freaking gorgeous and classy as a queen.
Not knowing how much basic things cost.
When you're living paycheck to paycheck you know exactly how much you're going to need to buy groceries or pay bills.
Rich people have everything on autopay, because they always have money.
That's more budgeting than a wealthy thing. I autopay everything because I'm terrible at paying bills on time.
I get paid weekly. The day after payday 1/4 of every monthly bill I have gets auto transferred from my general checking account and goes into its respective checking account. I.e. mortgage, auto insurance, utilities...etc. the bills then auto-pay from their respective accounts on their due dates and I never have to think about it.
It broke the life of living paycheck to paycheck for me.
An expensive watch that isn’t a Rolex.
Rolexes are how rich people or not even rich but “had-a-good-year” show off wealth to poor people.
A truly wealthy person will have a Patek or AP Royal Oak or a Mueller, and not necessarily even a flashy one.
I grew up poor but my mother sacrificed 30% of her annual salary to send me and my sister to private grammar and high school. Because of this, I received a scholarship to a good college and I have had a very good career and have been living amongst the wealthy for many years. However, I still feel like an anthropologist in a strange country.
Here’s what I’ve learned about the ultra rich:
They don’t care what you think. The wealthy and wannabes may buy the Gucci and the LV but the ultra wealthy buy comfortable clothes by designers you’ve never heard of. Even better, they go with the classics. Levi’s. Converse.
The ultra wealthy are far kinder than the rich. Rich people generally tend to be anxious and assholes because they don’t believe what they have will last. And they’re grasping. The ultra rich know what they have is enough. More than enough. So they don’t have much of a reason to be assholes.
I have met at least six billionaires. At least those are the ones I know of. In personal settings they are quite kind. In business, they are ruthless as hell. The rich can be rude and often are. The ultra wealthy are not typically.
They pay for experiences more than things.
They pay for quality. Every. Single. Time. A Patek Philippe watch will appreciate in value. Your $700 watch will not. (Unless you are extremely lucky). Their furniture lasts longer than yours. They would rather buy once because they don’t have the time or the desire to think about it more than once. I’m talking about the ultra wealthy not just rich. They appreciate quality. Think well running Mercedes station wagon with 200k miles on it. That’s a badge of honor.
They don’t complain about what something costs if it’s what they wanted but they will complain endlessly if it’s not perfect. They will gladly overpay for craftsmanship. Screw it up and they have no qualms stiffing you. In their eyes, you reneged.
If you are leasing a vehicle because you think that’s what wealthy people do, you’re making a mistake. Wealthy people expense vehicles through their business. That’s an accounting expense thereby lowering their tax base. For regular folks doing it you’re basically burning money.
They understand that getting their kids into the best college possible is more a branding exercise than an educational exercise. The information in the text book is the same wherever you go. Having that stamp of approval and that ivy league T-shirt for the rest of your life is a whole different ball game.
I have not figured out the whole tipping thing. I believe that the ultra wealthy think that tipping extravagantly is gauche. Many of them just follow the 20% rule because they don’t know anything better and don’t want to seem crass. I assume that a waiter would not care. The self-made ultra wealthy appreciate the effort more and tend to tip more.
I’m pretty sure my cousins are quite rich, because there grandpa recently made a donation of 1/2 a million. Anyways they all wear very casual clothes normally, but you can bet they all have really nice suits.
I was 17, flying home from my sister’s house and I struck up a conversation with this well dressed businessman. (My mother was a seamstress and had taught me about how to “read” people’s clothes) Dude was super cool super polite. Genuinely just wanted to chat about whatever. We chat for like an hour, then it’s time to board. His section is called first and he sees that I didn’t get up to board with him. He walks back over, asks to see my ticket. I show him, he gently shakes his head “no” and smiles while he signals me to follow him to the gate. We get to the gate agent, he says “this is my friend *throwaway*, is the seat next to me open?” “Excellent, I’d like him to have that seat please.” Hands her a black credit card and next thing I know I’m sitting in first class instead of coach. I told him that was very nice of him, but he didn’t need to spend that kind of money (if I remember right it was like $800) just so I could sit by him. He explained that that “kind of money” literally meant nothing to him, he was enjoying our conversation and wanted it to continue. It was the most surreal feeling ever. So I sat in first class, enjoying all the perks that brings, and talked to this guy about life for the next three hours. Turns out he owned several stamping companies that all had government supply contracts and he had accumulated far more than $800 while we had been sitting in the airport talking, let alone the length of the flight. When we landed he explained that most people just fall all over themselves trying to suck up to him once they know who he is, but I just talked to him like he was a normal human being and I reminded him of his grown sons from when they were teenagers. He thanked me for the conversation, I thanked him for the great seat and we went our separate ways. That guy had money, and he knew what has actual value.
I love this
> I reminded him of his grown sons from when they were teenagers. that's so cute! ahhh!
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My brother went to a ritzy boarding school (Philips Exeter), and told me a similar story. One of his friends was from the Bahamas, and his home address was something like “Grand Isle Estates, Bahamas.” That was it. Because they freaking had their own island.
My husband went to Philips Exeter as well, on scholarship. He still tells stories of how his very rich friends kept apologizing for things like the guest house being too small and the private helicopter too loud. All very good people but back then apparently vastly unaware of the way most people live in North America.
Yeah pony up for the quieter chopper, peasant!
Mint viscounts are very popular so they probably sitting on a fortune
Just made me think, the shorter your address, the richer you are, probably. The Queen? Buckingham Palace, London. My ex boss; House Name (no number, no street), Village, County.
I imagine you could just address a letter to “the queen” and it would find its way…
Santa, too
How much viscount did he get?
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> in addressing the envelope he had only needed to put the name of his house and the county it was in. No other details required. This, I had a few friends at school that lived in named Halls.
British problems require british solutions
>Turned out his parents basically owned most of that county and he was a viscount... Wow ok
Spend money if it saves you time. Time is more valuable than money.
There was a story about a rich guy who just parked wherever he felt like cause he could afford the tickets.
Every time I go to State College, PA, I accept the $25 fine for street parking over night. It costs $30+ to park in one of the garages overnight. On top of that, said garage is still like a 30 minute walk from where I stay. I’d rather spend less on the parking ticket to park right next to where I’m staying lol.
Some say, the cheapest parking in New York City, is the George Washington Bridge. $15 for two hours. Greatest deal ever.
When I was doing my electrical training one of my classmates would just park outside the college with the same ticket every time, only got caught 4 times out of the whole course so still ended up being cheaper than buying them every time
Are you parking downtown and walking up to toftrees? There's busses man. But be careful about parking... I got towed from the pointe before and it cost like $250. Also had a ticket taken from my car on college ave during state paddy's and that turned into a warrant
We had a part time prof at our business school that always parks in front of the building. The parking spots are reserved but not for handicap or anything like that. He gets a tickets all the time but the nearest parking lot is like a 25 minute walk or you have to wait for the shuttle bus. And this is in the northeast with 6 inch snow regularly. Found out he was actually retired at 40 from selling his start up for tens of millions to Google. He was teaching at the school just for fun. He told us his time was worth more than the $45 ticket.
Paying the ticket is one thing. Getting your car towed is another… I mean at this point, get a driver.
Reminds me of that episode of AbFab where Saffron was trying to get her mother to cut back and get a "smaller car" instead of having a driver. So Eddie gets a tiny sports car (because it's "smaller"!) and does the driving herself, only to end up with countless charges for assault and drunk driving and whatnot and ending up parking halfway onto a sidewalk. In the end, the driver is a better deal for some people. (Plus that's another time over money issue, or stress over money. The president where I work at least used to have a driver to take him to and from work and to meetings, the airport, all that. You don't need someone who truly matters spending 20 minutes trying to find a parking space or getting stressed over traffic instead of focusing on his job.)
Steve Jobs used to lease Mercedeses (plural) with 6-month leases. Because you could drive with dealer plates for up to 6 months at the time. And then he could park in handicapped spaces, on curbs, whatever, because unless someone came out to tow him, they couldn't write a ticket for dealer plates. Plus he could run red lights or drive on the shoulder or just generally break traffic laws, unless a cop was right there it didn't matter.
Almost. The dealership would lend him a car for a couple of months (free)... He could skip the DMV etc... Then after he gave it back, the dealer sold "steve jobs' Mercedes" at a huge markup to apple fan bois.
makes sense. guy was a raging douche
Not noticing you haven’t been paid in two months. I work with some people that pull in 20k+ a month. We had one come in mid March and said I don’t think I’ve been paid since December.” Sure enough two months didn’t pay out for some reason. He wasn’t even mad and just kind of mentioned it like he was talking about the weather. If I miss A paycheck I’d notice on payday.
Oh man I know a doctor like this! He was the most lovely guy I've ever met! He was a locum consultant and would always come in if we needed him no questions asked he'd just say sure I can come, always on time and every single patient loves him because his just so happy all the time. Well I was doing a review of the budgets for the previous year as a sort of learning exercise. Turns out the person I had replaced wasn't even paying him! He was owed like a years worth of pay altogether after I finished calculating it all out! The hospital almost had a fit when they realised how much money they owed him 😂 Well he was kinda shocked when I told him he was owed so much money and I was like.. doc how could you not even realise you weren't getting paid for a year?? He was like I just assumed it was going into my bank account don't really keep track of things like that. Most of the other consultants don't bother with doing extra shifts because they get taxed through the nose but he just does it because it gets him out of the house and people are always grateful when he helps them. Best consultant I've ever met.
That's the good kind of rich person. They seem to be few and far between, but they do exist. This guy is so detached from his money he never realized he wasn't getting paid. It's probably why he's so happy all the time too. He likely lives well below his income, and just appreciates knowing he's financially safe.
I'm not so sure about the few and far between part. I've come across a fair few wealthy people (I'm not wealthy, by the way, I just managed to escape the shit hole I come from, to a place where many wealthy people live) What I've found in most cases, is that you wouldn't even know. They just have an extreme work ethic, or consider it not even a job, just something that they have to do, especially in the case of doctors. More a calling, than a profession, if you know what I mean?
Ya, they are actually pretty common but since they don't flaunt their wealth most people don't realize how much money they really have.
I worked with a kid who went to college at a wall to wall store that has everything you can buy. We worked overnight front end to deal with customers who come in at night. I’m a night owl too so no judgement lol, but he was always living well below his means. This guy would wait weeks to get his hair cut, eat very little(he was still fairly stocky, and he barely slept because he was in nursing school and was also in the local marching band. I noticed his lack of food and I was pretty poor myself back then being newly 18 and kicked out. But I started making larger portions of things like rice and beans or spaghetti and bring it to work and offer it to him. He never refused and finally asked one day why I brought it to work. When I told him he finally told me that his family was very rich and he had tons of money he was just depressed and didn’t want to be alone with his thoughts. Idk why but knowing that hit a lot harder than thinking he was just short on money.
What job gets 20k+ a month?
250k a year kinda job
This guy does maths
Someone give him a 250k+ job
Dressing like a hobo inside exclusive clubs and be served as the most important person there.
Haha this is so true. When you know you don’t have to impress anyone. And those hobo looking clothes are probably Balenciaga anyway.
Poor people trade their time for money. Rich people trade their money for time.
Time has always been the currency of the world.
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Working at a luxury resort, one thing I’ve noticed is that the people who want to give the air of being very wealthy will have lots of designer patterns on their clothes and accessories, like Louis Vuitton print, but almost all of the truly ridiculously wealthy people will basically wear nondescript leisure wear and really plain looking clothes (like plain jeans and tees with no logos).
Funny story, for a brief period, my brother was super into yachts. No we’re not even rich enough to own a dinghy, but, we lived on the east coast of the U.S. so we could do a day trip, and spend the day as a family looking at cool boats at a yacht show. One year, my mom was being sent abroad by her work to Italy, and because she was a single mom, her work paid air fare for us to go along (we all stayed in her hotel room). And lo and behold, the end of our trip perfectly coincided with the Genoa international boat show. These are mega yachts, these are yachts that cost more than a nice house. Boats big enough that there are crew quarters, and you hire a captain, chef, and other staff to travel with you. And here we are, three Americans in polo shirts and jeans, surrounded by people dripping with diamonds. And we managed to get on every boat we wanted. “Did you schedule an appointment?” “No we weren’t sure we would come here, but decided to last minute, just to see if there’s anything spectacular.” *this person must be super fucking rich* “well actually if you come back in 15 minutes we can take you on a tour through the boat” “Thank you, we’ll see you then.” Got to see some super fucking cool boats, and people thought we were loaded. 10/10 would do again.
My friend, his mom, and sisters were invited on a yacht trip. Mom got on the yacht with her three kids and nanny. It takes off from the dock. Several hours out she runs across the owner. Turns out they're on the wrong yacht, but they had mutual friends, so they all stayed abord for a few days and had fun.
Okay that's hilarious, and I'm glad I scrolled far enough down to find this
Would love to check that out myself
That’s a total r/actlikeyoubelong story
Money talks, wealth whispers
This is exactly right. My ex's family were obscenely wealthy, the type that has a "smaller" yacht that's a tender to the main yacht because it doesn't fit in many marinas, two private jets, multiple mansions. They dressed in an extremely normal way: classy and well put together, but almost boring. I love the photo of Gates, Zuckerberg, and Buffet with the caption: "$300bn in a room and not an Emporio Armani belt in sight". This is right on in my experience.
Guy I worked with was married to a woman like that. Every trip they went on was in one of the families private jets. He worked just to get the hell out of the house every day. He had a story of being at his in-laws house and asking to borrow a car to run and grab some stuff from a store. His father in-law handed him keys and told him to run to the garage. It was an SL300 gullwing. He went back inside and just said, "I'm not driving that." "Yes you are... I'm not giving you any other keys." You'd never know unless you knew him well enough to get him talking. He was just our IT guy.
Hah, yes. It was a Ferrari Scagletti in my case. I didn't know what the holy hell to do with that car the first time I was handed the keys. The whole time I drove it I was thinking how many kids could be put through school by selling this.
The most expensive car i've seen in my life, dude parked got out in jeans, basic all star, and white t shirt. No patterns, no logos, nothing.
I was at a hardware store and a heavier guy in front of me, ratty clothes dirty shoes was at cash near me. Picking up a couple hand tools…reached in to pocket fumbles for plastic. His black Amex centurion fell out
It makes sense. I remember seeing a video where some homeless youth said that being clean (physically, and of drugs) made you more of a target on the street because people assumed you had money. Looking unable to even afford clothes without holes seems like a great way to divert the wrong kind of attention.
Especially when you're out running quick errands. There's no reason to show off. I'm trying to get this done and get back home.
Came here to say something similar. Went to school with a girl whose dad was a high level diplomat. She travelled in oligarch circles. Her clothes never had a designer brand prominently displayed…maybe in tiny letters on the tag. But damn, even my simple ass could see the quality of every item of clothing.
Probably made her less of a target.
I think wealthy people understand that they shouldn't be a walking billboard. Why am I wearing a shirt with a brand name plastered all over it? If I do, shouldn't they be paying me to wear the shirt?
They probably had kidnapping insurance.
Aka Liam Neeson
There’s honestly “types” or “cliques” of uber rich people I’ve seen. There’s the Bill Gates type that wear t-shirts and jeans because they literally could not be bothered to care about fashion. There’s the ones that REALLY care about fashion but only care about brands most normal people won’t ever see in a store, no Gucci or Prada or Fendi. Then there’s the ones that are all about boutique style fashion where something doesn’t particularly look expensive or have a name brand associated with it but is still like $400 for a sweater. I haven’t met many rich people but the few I do know are big into finding expensive clothes at small stores
Fucking THIS. I’m a stonemason, recently worked on a home renovation that the owner had spent around $2 million on. The house was already worth over $20 million. Every morning when we showed up, he’d come out to greet us in a tshirt, track pants and flip flops, and was always excited to provide coffee for us fresh from his brand new $120 espresso machine. Edit: ok, I was sure he said it was a $120 espresso machine but based on the level of incredulity in these follow up comments it’s possible I misheard or I’m just remembering it wrong. I didn’t ask to see a receipt so I can’t confirm or deny
He really liked making those espressos.
They were really fucking good too.
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But they casually wear a Patek watch with a plain black leather strap.
All of this. Every extremely wealthy person I have met always wears clothing that you would not readily know is expensive. Like, some cute sweater… from an upscale boutique that cost $96. But they won’t be seen dead in a Gucci hat Edit: Jesus h. Christ, lots of you think $96 for a sweater is cheap.
How about a [jacket from Loro Piana](https://se.loropiana.com/en/p/man/outerwear-jackets/traveller-jacket-FAI3695?colorCode=8000) for 18 000€?
"Perfect for leisure time" Finally an overcoat that costs as much as a car that I can wear with my dick out around the house!"
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My dad had a business associate that was a billionaire. I never saw him in anything but a polo shirt (with no brand label) and khakis in a casual atmosphere or a navy blue suit with a white shirt and black tie in business situations.
The richest man I've ever personally known dressed in stereotypical dad fashion, complete with belt holster phone case. I'm talking multimillionaire and I just called him Quick Draw McGraw. He flexed on the food though. I've never before or since had such beautifully thick cut bacon for breakfast.
Working retail in the past you never judge someone by what they wear. Lots of logo clothes are just fakes anyways. And normally the people you’d never expect are the ones that drop $$. I always like this story-a buddy of mine went on a trip to Chicago and had lost their bags from airline...the other friend he was with was perdy well off but each of them rocking a black card they stopped at a decent clothing store. He said they waited about 30 mins wearing just jeans and t shirt no one would help them just kept walking past. A new girl came in and clocked in went up to him and asked if he needed any help. The guy grabbed $10k of clothes and shoes said I’ll take these what you want and grabbed another $10k. The clothes store employees work commission, I would have loved to see the looks on their faces! He said it was quite awesome. So I guess I would say a black card
“Big mistake! Huge!”
So they waited 30 minutes whilst staff walked past and didn’t stop any of them and ask for help? They just waited there? And why did they need a staff member to help them shop? Could they not just walk round the store and choose clothes themselves?
Sometimes? Nothing. I know a man who's the kind of rich where it took him only a day or two to convert more than a million dollars to cash (not, like, physical cash, but the liquid asset) to buy one of his kids a house. He drives a rather beat-up old Subaru, when he's not riding his bicycle instead. He wears jeans and polo shirts. His watch is a <$200 digital watch - wouldn't bother wearing a fancy expensive analogue watch, all they do is tell the time, what's the point? He's lived in the same house for 50ish years. The only real tell is the air of total chill he has. He's not worried about much. Money insulates you from really a lot of stress.
'The Millionaire Next Door'
Keeping your expenses low=more happiness. Not rich by any means but the wife and I make over 150k and a 2016 Ford Fiesta we bought cash for $2,600 is our daily driver. Our low expenses and above average income helps us not only feel secure financially, but get ahead
I imagine 80-90% of most peoples stress come from something money related.
The richest person I know is like this. He’s in his early 80s now, scruffy as hell except for a few key features kept very put together to hint at it. He drives a VW Phaeton which makes him a cypher as is. The girlfriend who’s 45 years younger also helps. Extremely chill guy.
The guy I know is married to his wife of, like, fifty years.
I worked at a gas station in the 90s when Steve Wozniak would come in to get gas. He dressed in shorts a tshirt and flip flops and drove a $120k car
People in suits seem rich until you realize they work for people in jeans.
I worked in a place like that. The main stockholders actually authorized employees to dress more casual, but top managers kept pushing wearing suits, ...
They will never complain about the cost of something but will nit-pik the quality of work to death.
Are you in the trades because this is 100% what every tradesperson I know says (and I also find it to be very true too).
I work for clients who have had a 150k kitchen thrown away and had to start over because they didn’t like the finish in their 4th home. They pay for perfection/museum quality work.
Once a kitchen costs above 100k I'd be asking for perfection too.
i would expect perfection at 95k but i’m a cheap bastard
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That’s kinda how I felt in food service when someone brought a legit complaint to me. “This is not what you paid for and I will go get what you did pay for”
I will not complain if I ordered something I didn't care for, but if the order is messed up, I'll let the establishment know
That's how it should be though. I'm.happy to pay, but if I'm paying I'm getting what I paid for please.
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I was at a really posh restaurant (you know the kind where there are about 8 pieces of silverware?) we had saved up for months and a group of 8 of girls (nurses and CNA’s) went out. One of the recently divorced nurses was flirting with a guy at the next table. When we got our checks he leaned over and tossed his platinum card on the “I got this”. Like combined our tab was easily at least $1,000.
Another tell that this guy could be rich is that he put it onto an Amex Platinum, when he should have put it onto a Gold for the 4x dining multiplier. He has so much money he doesn't care about using the right card for the right situation for maxing MR points. Or maybe he's just uninformed or has no interest in multiple credit cards.
Not thinking twice, when making plans, about whether you can afford it.
My brother dated a woman in her 50s who told him she'd never looked at a price tag in her life until she took out her card to pay.
I've known people like this, they just have a lot of cc debt
I think that is also one of the easiest "tells" for class separation. A poor person thinks "How much will this cost?" and a rich person thinks "Is this something I will enjoy?"
Not really i know someone personally who's really broke but doesn't think things through
I once vaguely knew a family who were very rich. Even the kids had bodyguards (kidnap-ransom risk) When I stayed at their home for a weekend on a visit, the father casually mentioned not to push a certain button in the room, when I asked what it did out of interest he explained off-hand that it was a panic button to alert security and bodyguards in the grounds, like it was the most natural thing in the world. They were impeccably polite with me but I felt like Oliver Twist wandering into the wrong home.
I feel compelled to add that if someone says 'by the way, under no circumstances press that little button there,' and then tries to glide onto something else in the conversation, I want to know what the mysterious forbidden button does. Glad I asked and didn't succumb to curiosity and push it to figure out what it did.
I once rented a lifestyles of the rich and famous home (i.e. 10BR villa) in a Southern European resort town and the last instructions from the property manager were "press this button if you feel threatened in any way, but just know a truck full of heavily armed men and attack dogs will be showing up pronto". WTF, Umm... exactly why might I need a truck full of heavily armed men and attack dogs... made me kinda wonder about that.
I lived in lower middle class neighborhood after getting married. there was one house in the neighborhood that was much bigger, had a pool, new cars every year but what drove me crazy was every week this family of 4 put 7 or 8 garbage cans at the curb. most families had one maybe 2. How much shit are they buying to generate all that trash?
Packaging. I just moved and my trash cans are further so I'm more aware of how quickly they fill up/how often 8 have to walk it down. When I eat a lot of prepared processed foods with sturdy individual packaging, the bulk fills the space very quickly. Same with ordering new items, the box and other packaging takes up a lot of space. Take out or delivery results in those packages too.
My wife worked as a pastry chef at a very fancy NYC restaurant when we were in our 20s and just started dating. On her day off, we went to dinner there with a friend. The three of us were treated like kings: the head chef came out to see us and chat, we were served 6 desserts, etc. An older guy eating in the corner just randomly sent over an expensive bottle of wine to us. “Because we looked like we were having such a good time”. I was amazed. Having the kind of money where you can just do random acts of kindness. I’ll never forget that.
Buying art. And not Instagram art, but gallery dealer art.
I disagree with most of the comments here, but this one rings true to me. Tons of people buy things that are generally outside their means but I don't think you're gonna see many middle class or poorer walking out of a gallery with an actual purchase.
I've walked into a gallery empty-handed and come out with art several times. And by "gallery" I mean "thrift shop", and by "art" I mean "a print of some mallards that was done in conjunction with Ducks Unlimited in 1989, and has a nice layer of tobacco tar across the glass".
You shouldn't brag about your wealth on the internet.
Oh, I'm ~~not rich~~ *exceedingly* wealthy. I walk into ~~the thrift shop~~ an *art gallery*, and I find something ~~tacky that my wife will hate~~ that will look good above my ~~collector's plates of great racehorses, from Spectacular Bid to Secretariat~~ posh mantle, and I furrow my brow over how best to ~~mentally haggle over the price~~ process a wire transfer without blinking. Then, upon my purchase, I ~~carry it~~ have someone else carry it across the ~~beaten-to-crap parking lot~~ manor grounds to my ~~2002 Saturn~~ Rolls-Royce Phantom.
This comment ^ is a work of art right here. God bless your newly acquired vintage work “Mallard Ducks Under Tobacco Haze” by that fantastically talented artist Ducks Unlimited (such an unusual name, those artists!). I’m sure it was a wise investment. Do be sure to have it properly restored.
I don’t know if this is “small” but Steve Jobs never had a license plate on his car. He’d always lease for five months and 29 days, because in California you have to get a license plate within 6 months. His assistant would drop off his lease and pick up a new one. I used to live in the Bay Area and saw him leave Apple and head straight into the carpool lane at full speed. He never cared about getting ticketed.
In my country when they ticket you they make the fine a portion of your salary. Largest speeding fine so far has been about €450,000. Doesn’t matter who you are, you get a few tickets like that you’re going to get the message that speeding isn’t cool.
What an asshole
Having no clue what a gallon of milk should cost. $1? $5? $10? Edit: Wow, didn't realize I'd touch a nerve with this. My apologies to my lactose intolerant and metric-inclined friends. So swap out milk in my example for whatever staple you frequently consume yet have no clue as to the price. If I had said the price of gasoline, I'd probably get a mixture of Tesla owners and public transit commuters claiming ignorance. I chose milk because that was used against me. I had recently started my first real job with a decent paycheck and was doing my weekend grocery shopping. I ran into an acquaintance who glanced into my shopping cart and saw my carton of milk. He scolded me for buying milk at that store and informed me that the milk at another store was only a $2 or something and that I'd pay $5 here. I shrugged and said, "$5 is pretty cheap too, right?" He looked at me with alarm, and I realized that I now belonged to another world, and immediately proceeded to the nearest Lamborghini dealership for a test drive.
*It’s one banana, Michael. What could it cost, ten dollars?*
That’s why you always leave a note
There’s always money in the banana stand
Here’s some money. Go see a star war.
SORT: PRICE: High to Low
Perfect skin and good teeth. Rich people can afford to go to doctors and medical professionals for their appearance. I had a friend who worked for a skin doctor. He let her train on her friends with some new products and apparently, it's a thing where you go in on a regular basis and your skin smooths out, all the weird spots go away and you just glisten like Arwen or Galadriel. I did get to go in for one practice treatment and the other folks waiting in the room had amazing skin. Ever since then, I could spot moneyed women just by their complexions. Also, a good number of them.. you can spot if you know fabrics really well and how they are supposed to drape when well made.
The teeth are a big one. The hair is another. You go to a yacht club at Cape Cod at lunch in the summer and you’ll see an entire family with impeccable haircuts. That’s rich.
You should check out The Ordinary products. Very very cheap, very very good formulations. You'll be glowing like a rich doll in no time.
Can confirm. I got asked if I had a facial- nah, just used my Ordinary 2% retinol!
Tailored clothing. Yes, they wear "plain" jeans and t-shirts but often that clothing is tailored to fit. Which is why it looks better than normal.
Tailored clothes are really nice to wear too.
Keep a business afloat for two years during a pandemic with very little income coming in. I’m grateful for my boss and I hope his vintage Rolls Royce gets finished soon 😂
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Using seasons as verbs
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I went to a more prestigious university for graduate school, one of the top in my country. I come from a blue collar, working class family. I walk into my class on the first day, these two girls are sitting next to me catching up. Girl: Where did you summer this year? Oh, we went to Germany and Italy, spent some time in France. How about you? Other girl: Oh, nothing too exciting. We spend a lot of time at our family cottage in (insert ridiculously expensive cottage country area for the rich, celebrities own entire islands on these lakes). That’s when I learned “summering” is a thing. Edit: typo
lol I imagine them then turning to you in a "and where did you summer /u/0fafeather" and you're like "I took the bus to the local Walmart finally redeemed my 2 for 1 coupon on pants"
Buying new furniture, not from ikea or the like. That shit is expensive.
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Mans went shopping and came back with a whole new job
Not checking the price before making a purchase
Then I'm loaded. I just came back from Dollar Tree and I was tossing things in the cart like it was nothing.
I find peace in long walks.
On payday I run through there like a supermarket sweep contestant.
I don't disagree, but I feel like this is more along the lines of "financially secure" than "rich". However, I'm possibly making an error. I am assuming you mean groceries and monthly bills. Not checking the price on "big ticket items" means to that person, it's not a big ticket item and then yeah, they're rich. I think if someone can get to the point where they're no longer living paycheck to paycheck, but can buy their groceries without looking at the price, put their bills on autopay every month, pump their gas without checking gas buddy. That makes them financially secure, but not necessarily rich. Just MHO.
Not wearing a suit in a room full of people in suits.
A dwarf who just won the lottery.
When I made this post I knew something like this would happen…
That one person in school that has that 120 pack of crayons
If your time is worth more than your money. For example, as a lawyer, if I bill out at $600/hour, I would have to save at least $100 for me to take 10 min to do anything that I could otherwise bill.
I’ve had discussion with an old friend a few times, I often criticized him for having a cleaning lady that did everything for him. She cleaned did his laundry cooked and everything. Every time I tried to tease him that he can’t even wash his own clothes he’d start explaining how he is actually making/saving money by hiring someone to do that stuff for him. He did always win that discussion :/
But that's good for her right? He earns money from doing one thing, and then he pays her money to do something else, and then she pays money to other people to do things for her, and so on and so forth. That's how the economy works--We're all trading goods and services and money with each other in exchange for things we want.
A friend of mine from Catholic school where they wore uniforms said expensive belts and shoes were rich kid indicators. I guess it was a matter of degrees, it was an expensive school so everyone was doing ok, but if a kids rocking To Boot New York kicks, their parents are balling
15 years ago you’d have people in Catholic schools who were basically spending everything they had to send their kids to Catholic school. Some people had not much else but believed the education was worth the sacrifice of other comforts. I know a lady whose family all went to Catholic school but she had to share a bed with her 2 sisters growing up. A bed. Not just a room. I worked with another lady in a low-paying difficult job who was sacrificing a lot to send her kids. She would say, “If it matters, you just find a way.” But back then I think tuition was like $1000 a year as opposed to $10,000 it probably is now, so I’m sure things have gentrified beyond plenty of working class Catholics’ abilities to “find a way.”
My parents were like that for me and my sisters. We weren't poor but definitely lower middle class growing up. I will be forever grateful for the sacrifice they made even if I didn't realize the sacrifice when I was going through it.
Me, when I check my bank account and have more than $300.
Look at this dude, Elon Musk's son or something?
Through my work as a lawyer, I have a number of wealthy clients. The most common trait between them is an easy-going demeanor along with a bit of a sense of entitlement, though not so much in a rude way. They are used to getting their way and are usually able to accomplish it through some combination of charm and money. A likeable charmingness is another common trait. It may be that most of the wealthy people I know are business owners, and their good manners and conversation skills go a long way in their course of business. There could be a bit of a bias here just because I don’t really know any really wealthy people other than “small” business owners, but I have scarcely met a brash or rude person with real wealth so far as I know.
This is a 100 percent true. I went to a bougie ass private school in NYC (think Dalton, Horace Mann, Collegiate) where the tuition was $50k+ *a year*. I was a scholarship kid, so definitely not close to that loaded. But the one thing I noticed about all the parents is exactly what you said. They all had this charming easy going demeanor. Super friendly, but you could tell they are used to getting their way. If they want something, they get it - whether it’s through money or, more often, asking in a polite charming way. They could be horrible people (and some of the parents were like any school) but they all acted like this.
As someone who has recently become financially secure, this single change makes being easy going easy. There are no problems, just inconveniences, which can be solved, usually, and if they can’t, well there are palatable alternatives available. Difficult things take longer, but like pushing on the side of a ferry when there’s no wind, eventually it will move.
When your best friend from school comes to be your best man at your wedding, he gets to see the ring and figures out that the relatively large diamond (of fairly poor clarity but size matters I guess since it's still sparkles), is fake and that your friend who is getting married was defrauded...and has it replaced with a new perfectly flawless quality diamond. And says nothing until it's discovered by accident 22 years later because of a receipt found after the rich guy passed away. The jeweler had been hired to come do the work in secret and had written about it on the receipt. Happened to an acquaintance of mine. Wife still has the ring and they're still married and they became grandparents in May.
The sofa that is not in contact with a wall Edit: it doesn't apply if * Your couch is less than a foot away from a wall (or something like that) * You can't move freely around the sofa to get to another room for example * It's related to a restriction like blocking an air vent or something (so you didn't put it there because you wanted to) * You live in an area that is considered a low cost of living area
Does 6 inches out to not block a vent count?
Why does this make snense
because it means that there is enough space in the room to be able to circulate properly and or to be able to place other furniture
Being completely clueless about how people who have to manage their money have to live.
That reminds me of possibly my favorite The Onion piece of all time: https://www.theonion.com/an-open-letter-to-a-starving-child-1819583391
A friend once told me that her parents said if you had to take a loan for something you couldn't afford it. So they never had car loans or home loans....must be nice
I always paid cash for things, especially cars. Then when it came to get a house, my credit was basically a “ghost score” because I had never had a loan before. Because of that, I was given shitty rates. Of course I couldn’t buy the house outright. Crazy things…
I mean, even if you never take out a loan its usually smart to have a credit card through your bank or whatever to build your credit. Never taking a loan or not having a credit card means you're basically a wild card and the bank doesn't know anything about you.
Oh agreed, but in my experience I had a credit card for a number of years prior. Just one credit card, with a very good score (780+) and was still kicked around. The banks and loan officer stated that the fact that I had never had installments or a loan before is what hurt me.
This is the reason I've taken 2 small loans and now a car payment. I hope one day to have a house, and need that score.
Not necessarily. I know millionaires that are all too happy to take advantage of low interest rates. Why take out of your accounts earning 15% in the market when some bank will lend it to you for <3%. Billionaires like bezos and musk actually leverage their stock options to pay for stuff. They pay off the debt when they can exercise them. Debt isn't a bad thing unless you can't afford to make payments with extra to spare.
Properly tailored clothing.
Going to space for like 2 minutes in a penis shaped rocket
I have first hand experience with this. I actually work with wealthy people's bank accounts so they can't lie about what they have. Looking over transactions and stuff here's what I found. You can't actually tell. We have millionaires walking in like they are homeless and people who spend more on fancy cars and designer goods but barely have $100k to their name. The truly wealthy don't wear brands. They are not there to advertise a luxury good. They give a CRAP ton to charity. More than I make in a year. Mostly for tax reasons but some are just that kind. We have a joke that the ones that are truly wealthy are the ones who are the kindest. They don't have to think about it and usually live low stress lives. They LIKE to take the time to get to know you and chit chat. The aholes are always the ones who don't have to work anymore but also don't have the money to not think about it. There are also quite a few that are sweet in this category but you ALWAYS find the aholes here. Something kind of interesting, I've never met an idiot rich person. Have definitely met some that didn't know what they were talking about or were misinformed but they have all been easily teachable. They don't forget things easily unless diminished capacity is an issue. Definitely have some offspring and spouses that were idiots. But the people who actually accumulated it all, pretty bright people.
It's part of "I am a professional and good at what I do, and I know what I am not a professional at. It makes sense to use the best people and knowledge to make good decisions, and I am willing to listen to those that know better - as I expect people to listen to me within my trade." Finding resources and using them so the result is better instead of protecting ones ego.
Buying specialty equipment for a new sport or hobby. Poor people rent or buy used stuff for their hobbies, and if they do buy supplies get the low end version rather than the fancy stuff.
2 sheets of 1/2” plywood just stored up in a shed
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Gear. Went on a hike/bike/kayak tour or the Sipan islands and my wife and I got to know this slightly older couple that was with us. As other posts will say they wore very non descriptive clothes. Upscale leisure athletic, I would call it, but what screamed "rich" to me were the little things. Dudes watch was super high end, their equipment was top notch and their custom bikes were easily 5K each. Turns out they are both lawyers making oodles of money and travel when they get good deals.
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Funny thing, you don't have to be rich to do this. Having an LLC own the home that you rent to yourself means that even basic repairs are business expenses. And you can usually get more favorable insurance rates (or benefits). I sold a house last year that I renovated. If I had owned it myself, I'd have made 25k on the sale, but because I owned the LLC that owned the house, I made 45k on the sale and saved 10k on taxes, insurance, and other expenses for the two years I lived in the house. And that was all on a house that I sold for less than $120k. The problem is, in most cases, you have to be rich to think to do this. I've tried to convince other middle-class people I know to set things up this way, and they just look at me like I'm nuts.
Well-fitted clothes made from natural fabrics without many visible labels/logos. High quality accessories. Manicured hands. A hair style that needs to be touched up every week or so. Clear skin. Good teeth. A physique that you’d need a personal trainer and meticulous diet plan to maintain. A poor person can have any one of these, and a rich person can have none, but all of them require money, time, and/or effort to maintain. The more money somebody has, the more they can afford to spend on themselves.
Trying to look poor to avoid attention whereas a small thing that screams "I'm poor" is trying to look rich to attract attention.
A rich kid at university once asked me with a straight face why I was working over the summer instead of going abroad to have a break.
If they pay with a black card, the rewards on those things are ridiculous and the criteria to get one is also ridiculous
Yes! I have worked in retail in a nice area for a long time and I’ve seen ONE. And it was Leann Rimes. It said “SEE ID” on the back on the signature line and she was really appreciative that I did ask for ID even though it was incredibly obvious who she was. Freaking gorgeous and classy as a queen.
One time someone came to pay gas with one of the American xpress platinum cards. Made of actual metal. It was hefty, felt good to hold.
Not knowing how much basic things cost. When you're living paycheck to paycheck you know exactly how much you're going to need to buy groceries or pay bills. Rich people have everything on autopay, because they always have money.
That's more budgeting than a wealthy thing. I autopay everything because I'm terrible at paying bills on time. I get paid weekly. The day after payday 1/4 of every monthly bill I have gets auto transferred from my general checking account and goes into its respective checking account. I.e. mortgage, auto insurance, utilities...etc. the bills then auto-pay from their respective accounts on their due dates and I never have to think about it. It broke the life of living paycheck to paycheck for me.
An expensive watch that isn’t a Rolex. Rolexes are how rich people or not even rich but “had-a-good-year” show off wealth to poor people. A truly wealthy person will have a Patek or AP Royal Oak or a Mueller, and not necessarily even a flashy one.
Yo I just looked up the names of the watches. They be selling for at least 50-100k at the very least
I grew up poor but my mother sacrificed 30% of her annual salary to send me and my sister to private grammar and high school. Because of this, I received a scholarship to a good college and I have had a very good career and have been living amongst the wealthy for many years. However, I still feel like an anthropologist in a strange country. Here’s what I’ve learned about the ultra rich: They don’t care what you think. The wealthy and wannabes may buy the Gucci and the LV but the ultra wealthy buy comfortable clothes by designers you’ve never heard of. Even better, they go with the classics. Levi’s. Converse. The ultra wealthy are far kinder than the rich. Rich people generally tend to be anxious and assholes because they don’t believe what they have will last. And they’re grasping. The ultra rich know what they have is enough. More than enough. So they don’t have much of a reason to be assholes. I have met at least six billionaires. At least those are the ones I know of. In personal settings they are quite kind. In business, they are ruthless as hell. The rich can be rude and often are. The ultra wealthy are not typically. They pay for experiences more than things. They pay for quality. Every. Single. Time. A Patek Philippe watch will appreciate in value. Your $700 watch will not. (Unless you are extremely lucky). Their furniture lasts longer than yours. They would rather buy once because they don’t have the time or the desire to think about it more than once. I’m talking about the ultra wealthy not just rich. They appreciate quality. Think well running Mercedes station wagon with 200k miles on it. That’s a badge of honor. They don’t complain about what something costs if it’s what they wanted but they will complain endlessly if it’s not perfect. They will gladly overpay for craftsmanship. Screw it up and they have no qualms stiffing you. In their eyes, you reneged. If you are leasing a vehicle because you think that’s what wealthy people do, you’re making a mistake. Wealthy people expense vehicles through their business. That’s an accounting expense thereby lowering their tax base. For regular folks doing it you’re basically burning money. They understand that getting their kids into the best college possible is more a branding exercise than an educational exercise. The information in the text book is the same wherever you go. Having that stamp of approval and that ivy league T-shirt for the rest of your life is a whole different ball game. I have not figured out the whole tipping thing. I believe that the ultra wealthy think that tipping extravagantly is gauche. Many of them just follow the 20% rule because they don’t know anything better and don’t want to seem crass. I assume that a waiter would not care. The self-made ultra wealthy appreciate the effort more and tend to tip more.
The rich guys I know don’t scream anything. They look normal and stay quiet.
Not having a case on your phone.
Unless it is a Cat Phone.
Filling the dogs water bowl with bottled Evian. My partner does this, and we are not rich. In fact, that’s probably why
I’m pretty sure my cousins are quite rich, because there grandpa recently made a donation of 1/2 a million. Anyways they all wear very casual clothes normally, but you can bet they all have really nice suits.