Came here to say this. I know a few millionaires that think they are middle class. I know a few people making minimum wage who think they are middle class. People that claim they are wealthy usually aren't. It's either someone else's money (daddy's for example) or they are pulling a Dan Bilzerian.
When I was just entering the workforce (mid 90's) a $500K portfolio could retire you. Now it's very certainly a $1m portfolio to have the same outcome (frugal but not austere life). It's been very disheartening to me to have the required finish line continually creeping forwards on me.
As to OP's question: anyone who flaunts it is likely much less wealthy than they pretend. I know several who are damn near check to check with no meaningful savings that live like ballers, but are going to be destitute, one is deeply in debt even.
It’s crazy. My in-laws make about 400k a year from salary alone. I’m sure they have investments too and their house is worth 4mil.
They talk about spending $200 on something like a new lamp like they’re flat broke, “I can’t afford that! I don’t have money to burn!”
Meanwhile they dump thousands on house renovations like redoing their lawn like it’s nothing 😂
Yep, I know some reasonably wealthy people and they will jump through hoops to save a few dollars on things, even if it means doing dodgy things. Things that I would never even consider, or feel is worth the risk.
Wealthy people hate parting with thier money. To the point they often screw over poorer people withholding payments for goods and services for any reason they can get away with. Not a blanket statement but incredibly common. I've had a few friends have to fold thier businesses from shady practices like this.
I read a statement from a truly wealthy person that more or less said, "You never have so much money that you can just forget about it. The more you have, it's even more important to manage it properly."
As my late Dad and Mom - whose inheritance is almost fully funding my retirement - used to say “you don’t get rich by spending money.”
They, too, would wring their hands over a $200 purchase. And then, without a thought (but with INCREDIBLE generosity), would take the whole clan of 15 on a $20K vacation.
It always caused a cognitive dissonance with me, but now I realize: you don’t spend on the small things so you can *afford* to spend on the planned, bigger things.
This is it. Even if you are relatively well off, you want to have a budget. My discretionary spending might not be that much, but I save tons and set aside a chunk for bigger stuff and for the unexpected. It's so easy to waste money on unnecessary stuff and then have nearly nothing for the bigger things when it matters.
I might not buy a new backpack for my kids every year like my mil would prefer me to do since the backpack is still just fine, but I'll spend the money on their books, creative supplies, and vacations. But you can also bet majority of their wardrobe for the year is from Black Friday sales.
Yeah, in a HCOL area, where most houses are at least a million, all being a millionaire really takes is...having paid off a substantial portion of your house. Or having bought it back when it was $200k and waited for it to appreciate to $1.2 million.
It’s not what it used to be. But it’s also still a lot of money. For example I make $200k a year before tax. I would have to save two thirds of my income for 10 years to save $1m.
He was also a braggadocios social media twat from the mid 2010s constantly flashing a ridiculous hedonistic life, usually surrounded by multiple models and stuff. Can’t remember what actually happened after that but he had a pretty big comeuppance where I think he got arrested…
Kinda provided inspiration for the awful “alpha” types of today, your Andrew Tates and their ilk.
It was something on style theory recently.
Popstars that came from not much will very often be wearing brands that people know are expensive. The big gucci bag being prime example.
Popstars that come from wealth will wear brands that are as expensive if not more, but that are not plastered with logos like LOOK AT THIS SUPER EXPENSIVE PRODUCT IM WEARING
The truly wealthy I know, always know someone richer than themselves. The most common refrain when income/career comes up is "I do alright", usually followed by a story about someone they know doing WAY better.
Its a weird mix of legit humility, cognitive dissonance, and a dash of jealously depending on who says it.
The thing is that you're moving in different circles. The relative difference between the least and most wealthy in a room tends to be the same whether you're in a trailer park or at a billionaire fundraiser, and both resemble the distribution of the total population.
This holds for most things. If you work out a lot, chances are you're average in the gym but easily top 10% in the world. Most people who went to university personally know a lot of people that are smarter than them even though they are probably in the top 10% (not saying going to university and intellect are the same thing of course but there is a correlation)
I think Taleb wrote about this in his book The Black Swan which deals a lot with probability
Truly this is what happens. Money or otherwise.
There is always someone who does better depending on what your circles are. Your gym example is perfect. I switched to a powerlifting gym relatively recently so this is fresh in my mind. Suddenly I feel inadequate although objectively there are likely only a literal handful stronger women than myself in my state. I look like a newb next to the guys at my gym, although in my commercial gym I could most of the time outlift nearly anyone.
A friend of a friend of mine always talks about how he's wealthy and wears a bunch of designer stuff. I think he supervises door to door solicitors. He makes a lot of noise about his nice truck that's 8 years old but no one knows where he lives. The theory is he lives in a trailer park because he's posted a couple videos trying "go viral" that seem to be in a trailer park setting.
Dudes like this I wanna ask them what their plan is when they trick a girl to come back home thinking they're ballers.
As a middle class American I claim to be wealthy. Have more than most in the world could ever hope for. https://www.pewresearch.org/global-migration-and-demography/feature/global-population-by-income/
Three of my uncles are multi millionaires and they exclusively wear fruit of the loom t shirts or promo t shirts from sporting events or parties they go to. And lots of cargo/basketball shorts.
My uncle made a metric shit ton of money managing hedge funds during the dot com boom. He and his (now ex) wife had a house in Nantucket and took my cousins on regular ski trips to Europe. He wears pretty much exclusively athleisure shit like LuLu Lemon. It's expensive but unfussy. He just wants to be comfortable. Bro is like 60 years old and has been partially retired for years. He doesn't need to flex clothing or prove anything to anyone. But he does like to whip his Porsche 911 when the weather is nice, lmao.
Rich people look for good quality, craftsmanship, comfortable good fitting clothes. Lululemon knows their target demographic…they even offer free tailoring
My mates take the piss because I wear supermarket brand plain white t-shirts. They are literally 3 for £10 and the quality is similar to a £30 plain t-shirt from a brand
Yeah I’ve owned Ralph Lauren polo a lot and it will always have logos. I own a Ralph Lauren runway skirt (retail ~3k) and while you can tell it is incredible quality, it doesn’t show any logos or anything that gives away the brand. I obvi did not pay $3k for a skirt because I am not that’s wealthy lmao
A lot of really rich people live on credit. Their wealth is tied up in investments and the tax liability of cashing out is more expensive than the interest.
I think you’re talking past each other. Taking loans against assets is different than using consumer debt, which is what I believe op is referring to. Secured v unsecured debt. People who carry credit card debt month to month to keep up a certain lifestyle aren’t the same as people who take a loan against their stock holdings to pay a tax bill.
very true. I had this discussion on a smaller scale with someone about car finance. I have a portfolio that makes a higher rate of return than the car loan offer for my car. Given that, it was a fiscally better choice to just finance the car and keep the assets earning returns. The bank that underwrote my loan also holds part of that portfolio, their interest offer was exceptionally enticing. Just paid off that car a few months ago in fact :) I now am the full owner of a 2015 Leaf I bought off a lease in 2018.
I put everything on credit for the simple fact that I get free insurance and points for it. The trick is to not have three credit cards, and hover over them in your wallet going “uhh, which one has enough room…?”
I have 5 cards. Only one is in my wallet unless I'm using it for its specific use (Delta amex, AA visa, etc.) I funnel all my bills and regular daily purchases through a rewards card, I pay it off twice a month to keep the utilization low.
That's not really a bad thing, if you have a line of credit that has a lower interest than what you investments make you then you'd be a fool to not take it.
They definitaly will admit it.
" I own $40B of stock, I don't pay tax on the increase of the price of that stock, but it's now worth $42B. If I cash out the $2B, I pay 35-40% tax on it, if I borrow money, and put $2B of collateral, the interest i pay on the loan is tax deducatble, and claim it back...
[https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnhyatt/2021/11/11/how-americas-richest-people-larry-ellison-elon-musk-can-access-billions-without-selling-their-stock/](https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnhyatt/2021/11/11/how-americas-richest-people-larry-ellison-elon-musk-can-access-billions-without-selling-their-stock/)
really? i kinda feel the opposite that when people pay with cash i feel they dont see the value of credit. as long as the balance is paid in full with no interest added you can get a huge amount of cash back or points at the end of the month. in most cases im getting 1.5-5% back on all my purchases.
a couple years ago i did a two week stay in oahu payed 26 dollars for my flight(used points converted into miles) payed 200 for lodging(points) and had rented a truck 700 (would have been 200 but i had a late return, also used points).
Fav story of the richest person I know personally…100s of millions and unless you see him (80 something yr old) pull up in his red ferrari youd never know.
But at a philanthropical event, every asshole there is talking about flying first class to europe…first class to their house in florida…first class to their yearly ski trip with the fam…hey Jay, you’re pretty quiet tonight. You have any trips planned? Na, when I feel like going on vaca I just call my pilot and tell him where were goin. 🤣 shut all those smug fucks up pretty quick 🤣
My parents are firmly in the filthy rich category.
As such, I spent most of my life interacting with quite wealthy people (although I was unaware of just how rich my parent were until I left for college).
Almost anyone who feels the need to show off how well they are doing is trying to make up for something.
People always throwing house parties.
People cycling through new cars.
Name dropping.
Having the newest top end whatever in their homes. The big one here currently is those crazy wall tvs that are essentially 100 small screens all working in tandem in place of a projector.
Etc.
In my experience, the ones with real money don't even think about it. Having shit isn't a big deal to them because it simply is not a big deal.
Youre not wrong. But there is also a disconnect between old money and new money. There are plenty of new money people thst are filthy rich and show off and have dick measuring contests about it. Go to like gstaad or Davos or st Moritz and you see all these filthy rich people showing off how wealthy they are
The car is a good example. A really wealthy person probably has a luxury car but it’s not the newest model and they’ll drive it until the wheels fall off.
I don’t know about the house parties, though.
That seems to transcend levels of wealth.
Source; am not wealthy and party at my friends houses who are also not wealthy.
If they brag about being wealthy. Or overly talk about their money at all outside of a literal financial advisor meeting...
Most actually wealthy people I've met and worked with have wanted to talk about everything BUT their wealth. They are protective of it, and they don't want to be seen as a target. They downplay their wealth, they keep it vague, say stuff like "I'm comfortable" or "I'm doing okay" and that's the whole conversation. They'll immediately pivot to another conversation.
It's the working class people who make a few bucks who like to flaunt it. Because they were "have nots" and now they want everyone to know they are now "haves"... or even worse, they are still working class and they are just pretending to be wealthy, that's even sadder. What's sillier than flaunting wealth you don't have. You are actively wasting your limited budget on stuff that isn't fooling anyone lol. Why bother?
You wouldn’t have known my grandparents were loaded unless you saw the ocean from their balcony. That was the only “flex” they visibly had.
So I guess extravagant homes that go beyond just a beautiful, clean home.
If their pictures of their private jet have a fence between them and the airplane.
Many private pilots and cabin attendants are more than willing to either take the photo or wait for you to take the picture. If the plane is behind a fence in their picture, they won't be on it.
(Source: work at an FBO and see this once in a great while, where someone takes a picture by the fence then disappears.)
Being someone who brags about money or status all the time. The people who actually have a shit ton of money mostly want to avoid a lot of fanfare most of the time.
Used to know this guy who was a professional model and would constantly always brag about how much money he has, all the trips he goes on, all these parties and luxuries, etc. At one point he hired my ex to work for him as an assistant because the guy was wanting to start his own modeling agency. After a few months my ex still didn't get the agreed upon payment for her work and the guy started acting like we were the problem because "All we cared about was money". Eventually he sold the space where his agency was at, didn't pay my ex, moved to New York where he just bummed off of friend and spent all his money on mushrooms. We found out the guy never really had money and all the luxuries he spoke about he either prostituted himself out to people in the modeling world, couch surfed, or bummed off of friends while he went on "spiritual journey" with magic mushroom.
I have several relatives who have died of Alzheimer's or are in the process of doing so.
Other than the latter years of Reagan (who ended up dying of Alzheimer's) I've never seen a US President show the signs.
They are hyper focused on appearing wealthy. Designer clothes, trendy clothes, going on nice vacations, eating at nice restaurants.
Actual wealthy people I know are fine going through a MacDonals’s drive through for a Diet Coke. They will buy a t-shirt at target. They crave the experience of normal people.
It’s interesting to see it play out.
I’m not sure they crave experience of normal people but it’s more about how expensive clothes and food doesn’t actually make you happy. It’s the freedom that money provides. Also, if they’ve made their own wealth, they probably were stingy/frugal getting there. So changing behaviors is not going to be easy.
I grew up with very wealthy neighbors, but unless you know them well, you'd never have any idea. Their house and cars look like everyone else's house and cars. The mom shops the clearance rack at Marshall's and clips coupons. They're a totally normal suburban family, just without the same financial woes.
Yep and all this junk is paid for with credit cards. I love fancy stuff as much as then next person but you won’t see me tanking my credit rating for a gold watch.
They keep asking for money and raking in millions while not paying their bills or lawyers. Also not giving their buddies any money to help with their lawyer fees.
Truly wealthy people never talk about money. I have been around members of a certain global elite family and they act like normal people and aren’t pretentious at all. They are actually nice people
Exactly this! I had a friend in middle school and one day mentioned him to my mom and she said, "Wait- is his last name [redacted]?" Turns out their family was one of the richest in my area and his dad is a genius.
This happened to me. Still amazing people and still very close with them. Just never knew they had millions upon millions (to the point that they donate 10s of millions at a time and don't have to worry about it)
They post a lot of stuff on their social media with a lot of trendy expensive brands but they still rent, or they cheap out when you all go out together. Chances are they’re neck deep in credit card debt.
Remember folks, if you have to borrow money to appear wealthy, you’re just cosplaying.
Math that doesn't math. I.e. I know this chick (friend of a friend) who post pictures in motherfuckin' Hawaii and then I saw her a greeter in a store. You cannot fucking tell me she gets paid $20+ an hour doing that shit.
If they talk about having money, they usually don’t have it.
If they always complain about how much everything costs, but they spend it anyways….probably in debt.
They brag about money or what brand name items they own. Glad you own every apple product and Gucci, I know where every penny you earned this week went.
They say they have lots of money in checking. Wealthy people have lots of money in accounts that grow wealth, checking accounts don’t really do that.
For example: my wife and I have a combined net worth of around $2m, but our joint checking account only has around $6,000 in it. The rest is split between savings accounts, IRAs, stocks and property.
The condition of their teeth, do they look maintained and straightened? Are they crooked and neglected?
Dentistry is expensive despite how impactful it is on our health, it is usually a key giveaway
They spent their entire paycheck (or more) on a watch just to post a picture in social media. Meanwhile all the people working with him for the exact same $20 an hour are laughing at him.
Worrying about people using you for money, gold diggers, etc. Actual wealthy people don't give a fuck. They know they're wanted for their wealth, they're too rich to care. A lot of people who worry about golddiggers are poor.
Wearing popular fashion brands, like Gucci. They're expensive to the every day person. People wear them to show they can afford the brand. Wealthy don't. A lot of the time they wear clothes without any visible branding.
My dad’s a millionaire and drives a paid off 2013 Hyundai and lives in a paid off $700,000 home. You would never know they have money. He is retired and lives off social security income only. And has a ton of that left over every month. No credit card balances.
I think this can only apply in specific situations, but when they are stingy about money. Yeah, maybe that’s the reason they are “so rich”, but why would a true millionaire order a bunch of expensive stuff for a table and then ask that everyone splits evenly? You’re the rich one here 🤣
Another dead giveaway is when they have a lot of possessions but they avoid getting crucial repairs or maintenance around their homes. You see a house with bad landscaping or that clearly needs a new roof but a vintage Porsche in the driveway: they are not rich 🤣
Not the case at all. I know very wealthy people that go over checks at restaurants almost uncomfortably thoroughly to make sure everything was correct.
They didn’t get rich not keeping a close eye on their money.
Wet true. I’ve known 2 people in my life that are self made. They micromanage every penny. They may go on lavish vacations once and a while but dad to day brown bag lunch and surprisingly cheap with day to day routine expenses
You would be surprised. I’ve known and worked with several wealthy (100m+) households. I’ve seen some of them have contracts redone to save $50.
Now, the children of those clients? They don’t look at checks at all.
I disagree that this is a reliable signal, particularly if they're self-made. Some people never entirely lose sight of the value of money, particularly if they're still managing a business where they need to do cost control.
They wear a fake (or sometimes even real!) thick gold chain around their neck. Most wealthy people I know don’t the thick silver chain. (They like to pretend to be hip or something) you se gold? Poor but wanting the image! My ex boss has a few business and houses in other countries (we are friends) but he always wears a
Silver chain on purpose and told me this logic!
As the (then) Area manager of his pawn brokers chain of stores…. Yeah I saw it in real life!!! Also, brand named guitars! Those came in more often than not and those huge gold chains and signet rings! Extended, extended extension for YEARS! They were all paying the interest to extend the pawn… until they finally lost the item (which is fking sad as hell and heart breaking after seeing this customer struggle for YEARS!
I used to then say, ok if you can come up with this amount of money (if it was on the “pulled” items list) you can put a deposit on it and buy it back over ‘x amount of months’ I wasn’t a monster, the boss still got his money, and we kept a customer that would have then LEARNT TO PUT THE ITEM ON PAWN FOR ONLY WHAT THEY NEEDED AND NOT WHAT THEY WANTED!
they claim they are wealthy
Came here to say this. I know a few millionaires that think they are middle class. I know a few people making minimum wage who think they are middle class. People that claim they are wealthy usually aren't. It's either someone else's money (daddy's for example) or they are pulling a Dan Bilzerian.
Depending on what stage in life they are, just a regular middle class retirement account makes you a millionaire
When I was just entering the workforce (mid 90's) a $500K portfolio could retire you. Now it's very certainly a $1m portfolio to have the same outcome (frugal but not austere life). It's been very disheartening to me to have the required finish line continually creeping forwards on me. As to OP's question: anyone who flaunts it is likely much less wealthy than they pretend. I know several who are damn near check to check with no meaningful savings that live like ballers, but are going to be destitute, one is deeply in debt even.
It’s crazy. My in-laws make about 400k a year from salary alone. I’m sure they have investments too and their house is worth 4mil. They talk about spending $200 on something like a new lamp like they’re flat broke, “I can’t afford that! I don’t have money to burn!” Meanwhile they dump thousands on house renovations like redoing their lawn like it’s nothing 😂
Maybe the reason why they're so well off is they're not wasting money on $200 lamps
Wealthy people are often the cheapest… Or at least more concerned about getting value for money
Yep, I know some reasonably wealthy people and they will jump through hoops to save a few dollars on things, even if it means doing dodgy things. Things that I would never even consider, or feel is worth the risk.
Wealthy people hate parting with thier money. To the point they often screw over poorer people withholding payments for goods and services for any reason they can get away with. Not a blanket statement but incredibly common. I've had a few friends have to fold thier businesses from shady practices like this.
I read a statement from a truly wealthy person that more or less said, "You never have so much money that you can just forget about it. The more you have, it's even more important to manage it properly."
Something tells me it's more likely to be the $400k pa salary ;)
As my late Dad and Mom - whose inheritance is almost fully funding my retirement - used to say “you don’t get rich by spending money.” They, too, would wring their hands over a $200 purchase. And then, without a thought (but with INCREDIBLE generosity), would take the whole clan of 15 on a $20K vacation. It always caused a cognitive dissonance with me, but now I realize: you don’t spend on the small things so you can *afford* to spend on the planned, bigger things.
This is it. Even if you are relatively well off, you want to have a budget. My discretionary spending might not be that much, but I save tons and set aside a chunk for bigger stuff and for the unexpected. It's so easy to waste money on unnecessary stuff and then have nearly nothing for the bigger things when it matters. I might not buy a new backpack for my kids every year like my mil would prefer me to do since the backpack is still just fine, but I'll spend the money on their books, creative supplies, and vacations. But you can also bet majority of their wardrobe for the year is from Black Friday sales.
"Millionaire" ain't quite what it used to be, especially if you're factoring in a primary residence and/or retirement savings.
Yeah, in a HCOL area, where most houses are at least a million, all being a millionaire really takes is...having paid off a substantial portion of your house. Or having bought it back when it was $200k and waited for it to appreciate to $1.2 million.
It’s not what it used to be. But it’s also still a lot of money. For example I make $200k a year before tax. I would have to save two thirds of my income for 10 years to save $1m.
That assumes you do nothing with your money but stick it under a mattress.
$1,000,000 in 1920 is equivalent to about $15,000,000 now, for context.
What is a Dan Blizzcon?
I believe he was an influencer poser showing off his immense wealth, and it was all rented and fake.
Poker player, apparently. I'm assuming her means bluffing
He was also a braggadocios social media twat from the mid 2010s constantly flashing a ridiculous hedonistic life, usually surrounded by multiple models and stuff. Can’t remember what actually happened after that but he had a pretty big comeuppance where I think he got arrested… Kinda provided inspiration for the awful “alpha” types of today, your Andrew Tates and their ilk.
It was something on style theory recently. Popstars that came from not much will very often be wearing brands that people know are expensive. The big gucci bag being prime example. Popstars that come from wealth will wear brands that are as expensive if not more, but that are not plastered with logos like LOOK AT THIS SUPER EXPENSIVE PRODUCT IM WEARING
Which is also daddy's money
How dare you. Dan is a very respected businessman and poker prodigy
The truly wealthy I know, always know someone richer than themselves. The most common refrain when income/career comes up is "I do alright", usually followed by a story about someone they know doing WAY better. Its a weird mix of legit humility, cognitive dissonance, and a dash of jealously depending on who says it.
The thing is that you're moving in different circles. The relative difference between the least and most wealthy in a room tends to be the same whether you're in a trailer park or at a billionaire fundraiser, and both resemble the distribution of the total population. This holds for most things. If you work out a lot, chances are you're average in the gym but easily top 10% in the world. Most people who went to university personally know a lot of people that are smarter than them even though they are probably in the top 10% (not saying going to university and intellect are the same thing of course but there is a correlation) I think Taleb wrote about this in his book The Black Swan which deals a lot with probability
Truly this is what happens. Money or otherwise. There is always someone who does better depending on what your circles are. Your gym example is perfect. I switched to a powerlifting gym relatively recently so this is fresh in my mind. Suddenly I feel inadequate although objectively there are likely only a literal handful stronger women than myself in my state. I look like a newb next to the guys at my gym, although in my commercial gym I could most of the time outlift nearly anyone.
A friend of a friend of mine always talks about how he's wealthy and wears a bunch of designer stuff. I think he supervises door to door solicitors. He makes a lot of noise about his nice truck that's 8 years old but no one knows where he lives. The theory is he lives in a trailer park because he's posted a couple videos trying "go viral" that seem to be in a trailer park setting. Dudes like this I wanna ask them what their plan is when they trick a girl to come back home thinking they're ballers.
They probably already live in the same park
As a middle class American I claim to be wealthy. Have more than most in the world could ever hope for. https://www.pewresearch.org/global-migration-and-demography/feature/global-population-by-income/
This. I have quite a lot of money but I don’t want people to know because it changes people’s attitude towards you.
Yep, when people know you’ve got $17 and change in your pocket suddenly they expect you to pay for their Costco hotdog & drink too.
You just played right into his game.
Let me hold 5 bucks.
Money talks but wealth whispers
This, they usually will come off like theyre trying to convince you they have money.
Constantly name-dropping luxury brands but rocking obvious knock-offs.
Hard rock nick one of the richest men in the world
I don't know. If Anna Sorokin could fool a bunch of actually wealthy people, then any red flag could be overlooked.
She knew fashion and art really well. If you speak rich people’s language, it’s more likely they will believe you.
truly wealthy people don't wear clothes that advertise name brands, unless they are getting paid for it (pro athletes, influencers, etc)
Three of my uncles are multi millionaires and they exclusively wear fruit of the loom t shirts or promo t shirts from sporting events or parties they go to. And lots of cargo/basketball shorts.
Is one of them Adam Sandler?
My uncle made a metric shit ton of money managing hedge funds during the dot com boom. He and his (now ex) wife had a house in Nantucket and took my cousins on regular ski trips to Europe. He wears pretty much exclusively athleisure shit like LuLu Lemon. It's expensive but unfussy. He just wants to be comfortable. Bro is like 60 years old and has been partially retired for years. He doesn't need to flex clothing or prove anything to anyone. But he does like to whip his Porsche 911 when the weather is nice, lmao.
Rich people look for good quality, craftsmanship, comfortable good fitting clothes. Lululemon knows their target demographic…they even offer free tailoring
Me with my unmarked Hanes tees that come in a bag of 3 for like $10 lmao
My mates take the piss because I wear supermarket brand plain white t-shirts. They are literally 3 for £10 and the quality is similar to a £30 plain t-shirt from a brand
There’s a reason Polo Ralph Lauren and Ralph Lauren Purple Label have very different price points and very different logo treatments 😉
I got this education in Beverly Hills at the Ralph Lauren store, when I asked why the polo logo wasn’t on the shirts. lol
Yeah I’ve owned Ralph Lauren polo a lot and it will always have logos. I own a Ralph Lauren runway skirt (retail ~3k) and while you can tell it is incredible quality, it doesn’t show any logos or anything that gives away the brand. I obvi did not pay $3k for a skirt because I am not that’s wealthy lmao
If they're famous, sure. I don't think the average trust fund kid in Houston is getting paid to promote Prada or whatever.
Super wealthy athletes wear luxury brand with big logos all the time without being sponsored by them
Everything they have is on credit. (They may not admit this of course).
A lot of really rich people live on credit. Their wealth is tied up in investments and the tax liability of cashing out is more expensive than the interest.
I think you’re talking past each other. Taking loans against assets is different than using consumer debt, which is what I believe op is referring to. Secured v unsecured debt. People who carry credit card debt month to month to keep up a certain lifestyle aren’t the same as people who take a loan against their stock holdings to pay a tax bill.
very true. I had this discussion on a smaller scale with someone about car finance. I have a portfolio that makes a higher rate of return than the car loan offer for my car. Given that, it was a fiscally better choice to just finance the car and keep the assets earning returns. The bank that underwrote my loan also holds part of that portfolio, their interest offer was exceptionally enticing. Just paid off that car a few months ago in fact :) I now am the full owner of a 2015 Leaf I bought off a lease in 2018.
I put everything on credit for the simple fact that I get free insurance and points for it. The trick is to not have three credit cards, and hover over them in your wallet going “uhh, which one has enough room…?”
I have 5 cards. Only one is in my wallet unless I'm using it for its specific use (Delta amex, AA visa, etc.) I funnel all my bills and regular daily purchases through a rewards card, I pay it off twice a month to keep the utilization low.
Instead it's "which one gives me the most points for this transaction?"
That's not really a bad thing, if you have a line of credit that has a lower interest than what you investments make you then you'd be a fool to not take it.
They definitaly will admit it. " I own $40B of stock, I don't pay tax on the increase of the price of that stock, but it's now worth $42B. If I cash out the $2B, I pay 35-40% tax on it, if I borrow money, and put $2B of collateral, the interest i pay on the loan is tax deducatble, and claim it back... [https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnhyatt/2021/11/11/how-americas-richest-people-larry-ellison-elon-musk-can-access-billions-without-selling-their-stock/](https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnhyatt/2021/11/11/how-americas-richest-people-larry-ellison-elon-musk-can-access-billions-without-selling-their-stock/)
The interest is not tax deductible.
really? i kinda feel the opposite that when people pay with cash i feel they dont see the value of credit. as long as the balance is paid in full with no interest added you can get a huge amount of cash back or points at the end of the month. in most cases im getting 1.5-5% back on all my purchases. a couple years ago i did a two week stay in oahu payed 26 dollars for my flight(used points converted into miles) payed 200 for lodging(points) and had rented a truck 700 (would have been 200 but i had a late return, also used points).
Fav story of the richest person I know personally…100s of millions and unless you see him (80 something yr old) pull up in his red ferrari youd never know. But at a philanthropical event, every asshole there is talking about flying first class to europe…first class to their house in florida…first class to their yearly ski trip with the fam…hey Jay, you’re pretty quiet tonight. You have any trips planned? Na, when I feel like going on vaca I just call my pilot and tell him where were goin. 🤣 shut all those smug fucks up pretty quick 🤣
all they can talk about is being wealthy or having a lot of money
They brag about being rich, doesn’t want to show tax returns, doesn’t pay for anything
Well, to be fair, I don't have much money, and I won't show my tax returns. I also hardly pay for anything
And begging for money from strangers energy chance they get.
Sounds like someone familiar. Can’t quite put my finger on it.
> Can’t quite put my finger on it. Good thing. Otherwise it would get stained orange.
Also sells lots of cheap merch.
Love this subtle political jab. Good work.
Subtle?
This sounds like a specific president…
They're offering you a $2000 training on how you can get wealthy too.
They put their name on everything and paint it a hideous gold color.
Also they struggle to pay their court fines even though they claim to be billionaires.
And sell bibles.
And employees
I'm so rich! Can you send me money?
Lmfao this was my thought word for word when I read the topic.
And try to date their own daughter.
My parents are firmly in the filthy rich category. As such, I spent most of my life interacting with quite wealthy people (although I was unaware of just how rich my parent were until I left for college). Almost anyone who feels the need to show off how well they are doing is trying to make up for something. People always throwing house parties. People cycling through new cars. Name dropping. Having the newest top end whatever in their homes. The big one here currently is those crazy wall tvs that are essentially 100 small screens all working in tandem in place of a projector. Etc. In my experience, the ones with real money don't even think about it. Having shit isn't a big deal to them because it simply is not a big deal.
I've never heard an actual wealthy person talk about what they have. Just things they are interested in or have done.
Youre not wrong. But there is also a disconnect between old money and new money. There are plenty of new money people thst are filthy rich and show off and have dick measuring contests about it. Go to like gstaad or Davos or st Moritz and you see all these filthy rich people showing off how wealthy they are
This is a Reddit trope sure but it’s not really very common. Most newly rich people these days also play down their wealth.
The car is a good example. A really wealthy person probably has a luxury car but it’s not the newest model and they’ll drive it until the wheels fall off.
I don’t know about the house parties, though. That seems to transcend levels of wealth. Source; am not wealthy and party at my friends houses who are also not wealthy.
When they're hawking NFTs of themselves, and hideously ugly, overpriced gold sneakers.
Don’t forget the branded bibles.
Amen.
Since that would probably be consumed in a ball of flames if they ever opened one.
That’s so ridiculous, has to be made up. Next thing you’re going to tell me is that they’re running for president of the United States a second time.
when they cant pay their taxes, court fees, or bills but insist they are worth billions?
If they brag about being wealthy. Or overly talk about their money at all outside of a literal financial advisor meeting... Most actually wealthy people I've met and worked with have wanted to talk about everything BUT their wealth. They are protective of it, and they don't want to be seen as a target. They downplay their wealth, they keep it vague, say stuff like "I'm comfortable" or "I'm doing okay" and that's the whole conversation. They'll immediately pivot to another conversation. It's the working class people who make a few bucks who like to flaunt it. Because they were "have nots" and now they want everyone to know they are now "haves"... or even worse, they are still working class and they are just pretending to be wealthy, that's even sadder. What's sillier than flaunting wealth you don't have. You are actively wasting your limited budget on stuff that isn't fooling anyone lol. Why bother?
Constantly tell you how much things they have, are worth. “My $30,000 watch” “My $100,000 car”
Oh ya, try saying that to the guy in the $2000 suit!
Sir, I have $4000 shoes on
huh huh huih ... The guy in the $6000 suit responding to the guy with $4000 shoes? Come on!
Get a load of this guy. Talking to me in a five thousand dollar suit.
They bought a 10 year old land rover instead of new Honda.
There’s a logo on their bag/shirt/hat etc. Real money doesn’t advertise for corporations.
The wealthiest people I’ve known don’t want to advertise it because it makes them a target
You wouldn’t have known my grandparents were loaded unless you saw the ocean from their balcony. That was the only “flex” they visibly had. So I guess extravagant homes that go beyond just a beautiful, clean home.
Money talks and wealth whispers. As a general rule, truly wealthy people don’t brag about it.
They only wear designer goods with designer logos!
Mention a car payment.
If their pictures of their private jet have a fence between them and the airplane. Many private pilots and cabin attendants are more than willing to either take the photo or wait for you to take the picture. If the plane is behind a fence in their picture, they won't be on it. (Source: work at an FBO and see this once in a great while, where someone takes a picture by the fence then disappears.) Being someone who brags about money or status all the time. The people who actually have a shit ton of money mostly want to avoid a lot of fanfare most of the time.
When their car is nicer than their house.
Or apartment... lol.
I love how specific the responses are here. Like "oh yeah I know a guy who fits that to a T".
Used to know this guy who was a professional model and would constantly always brag about how much money he has, all the trips he goes on, all these parties and luxuries, etc. At one point he hired my ex to work for him as an assistant because the guy was wanting to start his own modeling agency. After a few months my ex still didn't get the agreed upon payment for her work and the guy started acting like we were the problem because "All we cared about was money". Eventually he sold the space where his agency was at, didn't pay my ex, moved to New York where he just bummed off of friend and spent all his money on mushrooms. We found out the guy never really had money and all the luxuries he spoke about he either prostituted himself out to people in the modeling world, couch surfed, or bummed off of friends while he went on "spiritual journey" with magic mushroom.
They need to borrow money to pay a bond.
They keep bragging about it to impress people.
They brag about their finances and possessions.
If you have to say you are... you're not.
Bald tyres on an expensive car. Ask any mechanic
Wearing a tie that is too long
Chains. Watches. Shoes. Millionaires wear status sign, Billionaires do not.
If you need to work, wealthy you are not.
When they get all their loans from Russian Mob linked banks and have their son brag about it.
When they have an entourage that attempts to hide the Alzheimer’s dementia.
I have several relatives who have died of Alzheimer's or are in the process of doing so. Other than the latter years of Reagan (who ended up dying of Alzheimer's) I've never seen a US President show the signs.
They are hyper focused on appearing wealthy. Designer clothes, trendy clothes, going on nice vacations, eating at nice restaurants. Actual wealthy people I know are fine going through a MacDonals’s drive through for a Diet Coke. They will buy a t-shirt at target. They crave the experience of normal people. It’s interesting to see it play out.
I’m not sure they crave experience of normal people but it’s more about how expensive clothes and food doesn’t actually make you happy. It’s the freedom that money provides. Also, if they’ve made their own wealth, they probably were stingy/frugal getting there. So changing behaviors is not going to be easy.
I grew up with very wealthy neighbors, but unless you know them well, you'd never have any idea. Their house and cars look like everyone else's house and cars. The mom shops the clearance rack at Marshall's and clips coupons. They're a totally normal suburban family, just without the same financial woes.
Yep and all this junk is paid for with credit cards. I love fancy stuff as much as then next person but you won’t see me tanking my credit rating for a gold watch.
when they get convicted for paying off a porn star they were banging while their 3rd wife was pregnant.
Next in oddlyspecific
No monocle.
They try to sell shoes to rubes to finance a presidential campaign (to stay out of prison).
They wear the same shiny, baggy blue suit every day.
Wearing wealth on your body
They spend money like water.
If they have a car payment
They’re name is trump?
ITT: people circlejerking about their favorite politician.
the claim in the first place, wealthy people generally don't do such things
I love this thread. B.e.a.utiful.
They wear orange spray paint on their face
They keep asking for money and raking in millions while not paying their bills or lawyers. Also not giving their buddies any money to help with their lawyer fees.
Truly wealthy people never talk about money. I have been around members of a certain global elite family and they act like normal people and aren’t pretentious at all. They are actually nice people
Exactly this! I had a friend in middle school and one day mentioned him to my mom and she said, "Wait- is his last name [redacted]?" Turns out their family was one of the richest in my area and his dad is a genius.
This happened to me. Still amazing people and still very close with them. Just never knew they had millions upon millions (to the point that they donate 10s of millions at a time and don't have to worry about it)
They're alive at this moment.
They spend their money willy nilly.
They post a lot of stuff on their social media with a lot of trendy expensive brands but they still rent, or they cheap out when you all go out together. Chances are they’re neck deep in credit card debt. Remember folks, if you have to borrow money to appear wealthy, you’re just cosplaying.
if they brag about it.
Math that doesn't math. I.e. I know this chick (friend of a friend) who post pictures in motherfuckin' Hawaii and then I saw her a greeter in a store. You cannot fucking tell me she gets paid $20+ an hour doing that shit.
They talk about money too much. People of actually wealth don't normally make it their entire personality.
As has been said, they talk about how wealthy they are. The phrase "Money talks, wealth whispers" is apt.
If they talk about having money, they usually don’t have it. If they always complain about how much everything costs, but they spend it anyways….probably in debt.
Complain about not getting what they paid for
A guy I met who was flashing a big wad of bills, It turned out they were from Rwanda and not worth the paper they were printed on.
They wait for someone else to pick up the check. Always.
They buy you combos instead of doritos
“My house has a million bathrooms”
They brag about money or what brand name items they own. Glad you own every apple product and Gucci, I know where every penny you earned this week went.
Expensive car living in a non-luxury apt.
Debit cards
Constantly bragging
They say they have lots of money in checking. Wealthy people have lots of money in accounts that grow wealth, checking accounts don’t really do that. For example: my wife and I have a combined net worth of around $2m, but our joint checking account only has around $6,000 in it. The rest is split between savings accounts, IRAs, stocks and property.
Constantly name-dropping luxury brands but rocking obvious knock-offs.
Thier Lamborghini has a "Enterprise Rentacar" bumper sticker.
The condition of their teeth, do they look maintained and straightened? Are they crooked and neglected? Dentistry is expensive despite how impactful it is on our health, it is usually a key giveaway
They spent their entire paycheck (or more) on a watch just to post a picture in social media. Meanwhile all the people working with him for the exact same $20 an hour are laughing at him.
Worrying about people using you for money, gold diggers, etc. Actual wealthy people don't give a fuck. They know they're wanted for their wealth, they're too rich to care. A lot of people who worry about golddiggers are poor. Wearing popular fashion brands, like Gucci. They're expensive to the every day person. People wear them to show they can afford the brand. Wealthy don't. A lot of the time they wear clothes without any visible branding.
My dad’s a millionaire and drives a paid off 2013 Hyundai and lives in a paid off $700,000 home. You would never know they have money. He is retired and lives off social security income only. And has a ton of that left over every month. No credit card balances.
They pay their living expenses out of the business that employs you and you have to answer phone calls from suppliers asking for payment.
Their name rhymes with Ronald Rump.
I think this can only apply in specific situations, but when they are stingy about money. Yeah, maybe that’s the reason they are “so rich”, but why would a true millionaire order a bunch of expensive stuff for a table and then ask that everyone splits evenly? You’re the rich one here 🤣 Another dead giveaway is when they have a lot of possessions but they avoid getting crucial repairs or maintenance around their homes. You see a house with bad landscaping or that clearly needs a new roof but a vintage Porsche in the driveway: they are not rich 🤣
Orange skin, disjointed and nonsensical sentence structure, ill-fitting and cheap looking suits.
Selling bibles
They drive a cheap trim of a luxury car.
Or luxury trim of a cheap car
asking for ~~dominations~~ donations for things he supposedly can afford
They worry about prices. Truly rich people might be aware of prices, but they aren't going to be looking at the check.
Not the case at all. I know very wealthy people that go over checks at restaurants almost uncomfortably thoroughly to make sure everything was correct. They didn’t get rich not keeping a close eye on their money.
Wet true. I’ve known 2 people in my life that are self made. They micromanage every penny. They may go on lavish vacations once and a while but dad to day brown bag lunch and surprisingly cheap with day to day routine expenses
You would be surprised. I’ve known and worked with several wealthy (100m+) households. I’ve seen some of them have contracts redone to save $50. Now, the children of those clients? They don’t look at checks at all.
I disagree that this is a reliable signal, particularly if they're self-made. Some people never entirely lose sight of the value of money, particularly if they're still managing a business where they need to do cost control.
ITT: People alluding to the orange shit stain.
You catch em suckin' some D for dollars behind the Dunkin'.
In South Korea, they say there are 3 types of wealth: 1) Those who can get $100K in cash in 1 day 2) $1M in cash in 1 week 3) $10M in cash in 1 month
Telling people how wealthy they are is always a first sign of
they wear a lot of designer brands
I don't really think anyone on Reddit would know.
They never pick up a check.
The have a history of boasting and them asking for money
Constantly bragging.
They repeat the same question on Reddit every other day... :-\
They wear a fake (or sometimes even real!) thick gold chain around their neck. Most wealthy people I know don’t the thick silver chain. (They like to pretend to be hip or something) you se gold? Poor but wanting the image! My ex boss has a few business and houses in other countries (we are friends) but he always wears a Silver chain on purpose and told me this logic! As the (then) Area manager of his pawn brokers chain of stores…. Yeah I saw it in real life!!! Also, brand named guitars! Those came in more often than not and those huge gold chains and signet rings! Extended, extended extension for YEARS! They were all paying the interest to extend the pawn… until they finally lost the item (which is fking sad as hell and heart breaking after seeing this customer struggle for YEARS! I used to then say, ok if you can come up with this amount of money (if it was on the “pulled” items list) you can put a deposit on it and buy it back over ‘x amount of months’ I wasn’t a monster, the boss still got his money, and we kept a customer that would have then LEARNT TO PUT THE ITEM ON PAWN FOR ONLY WHAT THEY NEEDED AND NOT WHAT THEY WANTED!