I know we hear the term 1% all of the time, but what that actually means is that there are millions of us who have no idea what it’s really like to be stupid, filthy rich – and we never will.
Which is why people are curious about what it’s like, I think – and why you’re going to love these 16 tidbits from people who, while not rich, have found themselves rich-adjacent here and there.
16. Luck does play a role.
The few real folks among them will tell you how lucky / fortunate they are to be wealthy.
They realize that many folks have brilliant ideas, many folks work hard … and aren’t.
Survivorship bias, “I worked real hard, and now I’m wealthy. You must be lazy.” Hard work + opportunity + luck is what makes most people successful. Most people only have one of those three things.
15. Money makes you more.
I’ve worked with the very wealthy and the very poor. I have learned that money makes you MORE of whatever you are.
People who are kind and generous are kind and generous on a larger scale. People who are jerks become jerks on a bigger scale.
14. They run the gamut.
I’ve met all sorts of rich dudes from chill to narcissistic as f**k. The two biggest standouts were: Mr B who was by far the richest I’ve personally known (over $250M). He lived in a home you’d expect a a doctor to own, he drove a Lexus car that was 8 years old, he spent most of his time with his family. Mr B was very kind and very humble about how he made his fortune.
Mr K. Worked at McDonalds, but he also owned a lot of them. Mr K worked 5 days a week rotating through his McDonalds, and I mean worked, toilets, trash, register, drive thru, everything. He loved people and wanted everyone to have a good experience at his stores. He was a master at communicating. If you met him you’d have no idea he was incredibly wealthy. He was great at making his entire focus you when he was interacting with you. Very kind hearted man.
Both Mr B and Mr K have passed away. Neither left massive fortunes for their kids. Both left trusts that paid for education but that’s it. The rest they donated to charities.
13. A different take.
Spend money to save time versus spending time to save money.
I’ve met people before that consider parking tickets not to be a penalty, but to just mean “It costs $50 to park there.”
So if you make $200 per hour doing whatever it is you do, it makes no sense to clean your house and mow your lawn (unless you enjoy mowing) when you can pay someone else to do it and go make $200 for the same time spent.
12. They have money because they save money.
Old book but read “The Millionaire Next Door”. People think they can spot the rich guy based on stereotypes.
I know very rich people who drive old cars, shop at thrift shops, donate regularly ( anonymously). They don’t flaunt their wealth. They run in different circles—business people and high finance plus those much further down the financial ladder.
The best lesson I’ve learned (from those I respect) is to treat everyone with respect no matter their background.
11. That part is true.
I went to a private school with the offspring of millionaires and billionaires.
The ‘rich people’ demographic is just as varied as any demographic (I spent most of my time growing up in working class/middle class areas). And there are plenty of great kids in those schools.
I always find it weird how people act like they know everything about ‘rich people’.
The most accurate sweeping statement I’ve ever seen on reddit about ‘rich people do/don’t do this…’ is the people who have said that rich people don’t have a drawer in their kitchen full of all of the leftover sauce sachets from fast food.
Ok, that is true.
10. We all have problems.
Everybody has their own set of problems. In my experience when money isnt a problem some other typically foolish thing fills its place.
9. Definitely do it.
If you can afford 20 grand for a shower/sauna combo with like 4 different types of shower heads lights amd a radio in it, buy it. Best shower of my life.
Spent like an hour in that thing.
And the person’s who shower I was in was my boss at the time from the place I worked at who’s kid I babysat. The shower was just the tip of the amazing things rich people have iceberg that I got to use regularly. She also had a bed in the same bedroom the shower was in that was fucking made of like down goose feathers that was the comfest bed I’ve ever slept in.
A coffee/espresso maker built into her kitchen wall that could make lates/coffee/espresso drinks at the push of a button, a couple of different porsches I got to drive, and her whole house had a stero/radio sytem thing going on to play music throughout the whole house. Like her whole house was amazing and full of shit I wish I had.
Knowing wealthy people has only made me realize want to be wealthy amd I understand why the wealthy buy all sorts of unnecessary stuff. It’s so worth it and fun amd makes life fun. I wish I was wealthy
8. It’s comfortable.
Just how comfortable an existence life with financial security is. While many poor people are grinding every day knowing any little mistake or piece of dumb luck can completely ruin their finances, rich people go to bed easy every night knowing how secure they are.
That’s why I want to get wealthy in my lifetime. Not to have an extravagant lifestyle or run with the high rollers, but to just go to bed every night not worrying about losing any one source of my income.
7. No time or interest in enjoying it.
I’m working with a guy that owns an extraordinary number of houses/land and a coupla mansions. I soon realised he has everything, and no time to enjoy it.
I’ve worked for a few insanely rich people and they aren’t just pursuing a lifestyle, more than anything they enjoy making money and would literally die of boredom if they stopped.
6. And they give to them, too.
Some of them really love the arts and humanities on a levels that is on equal footing with the artists and the humans themselves.
5. They’re all different.
Some can be down to earth, but I’ve seen more that are out of touch with reality or straight up rude. There’s a guy that owns half the town where I live, super down to earth and funds and sponsors a lot of stuff for the local school district. He is cheap at times when it comes to the bowling alley he owns, but he’s a decent person.
Former family friend who is a realtor (mutli-millionaire) completely ghosted my family when he learned we weren’t as rich as he thought we were. When my parents revealed that the house we had was being foreclosed on, due to some shitty life stuff, he basically disappeared. Came by twice when we were selling what we could and wanted to buy the air hockey table we had.
$5, that’s all it was being sold for since we couldn’t take it with us with where we were moving to. He told us that was too much money to spend on it and left. Came back the next day with his daughter and grandson and saw we marked it free and took it whole acting like he was doing us a favor.
4. Just like people.
Some of them are the chillest, nicest people you will ever meet.
And some are the meanest, cruelest a$$holes you will ever meet.
3. It’s worth it.
That spending $15,000 on a first-class ticket to Europe so your legs don’t get sore exists.
I’ve been in first class once. It was an upgrade after the airline messed up a previous flight for us. It was pretty damn awesome. Just the leg room alone was great and I’m not a particularly tall guy. I couldn’t imagine sitting in economy if I were tall.
2. They’re all individuals.
Grew up in a working class neighborhood, section 8 housing, none of my friends parents had college degrees, including my own. Never really exposed to even upper middle class people growing up
Went to college, Married someone several rings up the latter from me, most of her family are millionaires. Now live in a neighborhood with a lot of rich people.
My conclusion: you should really judge the individual and not lump large groups of people together with some sweeping broad characterization of an entire class
Some rich people are assholes, some are really cool. Some are generous, some are not. Some have crazy political views, while other don’t. Some worked really hard while others haven’t worked a day in their life. Some are super entitled and others realize how super fortunate they are
And you know what, you could apply all that to poor people
1. Just on paper.
That you can be cashflow rich and balance sheet poor. That becoming wealthy isn’t as much about massive income as it is about consistent saving and investing over time.
That acting rich generally means you’re poor or soon to be.
I know I should be shocked and surprised, y’all, but I’m really not.
If you have something to add to this list, we’re all ears in the comments!
