You usually can’t tell if someone is rich just by looking at them, but if you talk to them or spend a little bit of time with them, you can pick up on some subtle clues.
One that I’ve noticed about the couple of rich folks I met: they’re never in much of a hurry. No urgency at all.
Hey, I guess when you have tons of cash you can move at your own pace, right?
What small things scream “I’m rich”?
AskReddit users shared their thoughts.
1. Be on the lookout.
“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.”
2. Perfect fit.
“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.”
3. Lookin’ sharp.
“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.”
4. No sweat.
“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.”
5. Where do you summer?
“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.”
6. Pricey.
“Buying new furniture, not from Ikea or the like.
That s**t is expensive.”
7. Time is money.
“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.”
8. Subtle.
“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.”
9. Charming.
“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.”
10. You have a job?
“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.”
11. All kinds of gear.
“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.
Dude’s 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.”
12. The ultra rich.
“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 a**holes 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 a**holes.
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.”
What small things do you think scream “I’m rich”?
Let us know in the comments.
We’d love to hear from you.
