There are plenty of stories about the lavish spending of the rich and famous. Athletes, movie stars, and business moguls love to flash their designer clothes, sports cars, and yachts. But some of them, often the most successful, live incredibly basic lives, just like the rest of us do. Just not out of necessity. They have the cash to bathe in splendor and excess; they just choose not to.

There’s a recent discussion on Reddit, that started with a question from a now-deleted user that asked: “They say ‘Money talks but wealth whispers,’ what are the subtle signs of wealth?” and people who have identified them in real life are illustrating the differences between those who desperately want others to know they have money and those who are content with how well off they truly are.

#1

They spend money if it saves them time. Time is more valuable than money

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#2

My former boss used to say “either you have money, or you talk about it”

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#3

In a church setting, the person will use an envelope and discreetly place it in the dish. Other people will make a show of openly their wallets

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#4

I’ve heard it said, a wealthy person doesn’t need everyone in the room to know he is wealthy.

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#5

When you ask them if they’re wealthy or not they always just say “I’m comfortable”

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#6

Not hoarding or keeping things. Once you know you have money to replace things, it’s much easier to let go of them. Minimalist decor aesthetics are very rooted in this idea.

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#7

Never buying furniture. You either inherit old and expensive pieces, or you hire a decorator to do it all for you.

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#8

I’m on the Bogleheads forum, which is the best place anyone trying to find investing success should be on. Almost everyone over there is worth $5 mil or more yet drives a 12 year old used car because they know that frugality and avoiding debt and living beneath one’s means while always investing in index funds is the way to wealth.

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#9

Their skin. If you see someone with amazing skin and teeth chances are they can afford to take care of it. Atleast thats one subtle sign in the Philippines

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#10

If you find yourself constantly asking “where’s <insert name of friend or family member>”, and the answer is always something like:

In Barbados

They went to Key West for the weekend

I think they went to see the grand canyon

Probably skiing in Colorado again

Yeah…they didnt say a word but you know they got money.

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#11

They will never complain about the cost of something, but will nitpick the quality of work to death

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#12

They have good, healthy food — always. Healthy, quality food costs a LOT of money

#13

I live in an area in the U.K. where everyone is wealthy. Landowners, financiers etc. Let me tell you, the richer they are the more busted their car is, they get it fixed but won’t buy a new one. Usually hoarders of some capacity, clothes are just kinda shabby and they have all the time in the world to pursue what actually interests them and that’s normally something niche that costs a bit to maintain the hobby. The more busted they look the richer they are usually.

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#14

Their shoes. Rich people may have designer shoes, but true wealthy people have shined, clean shoes.

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#15

I semi-regularly get taken to fancy restaurants as a perk of my job. Just from my observations:

Wearing fancy clothes, getting ‘dressed up’ = not rich, has been taken somewhere expensive for work and/or can afford to be there for a special occasion (i.e. Me).

Wearing understated but very well-cut clothes, groomed hair and makeup = Rich. Nothing to prove, this is their everyday lifestyle.

Wearing shorts and flip flops, a t shirt and a bucket hat = Truely wealthy. They can wear whatever the the fuck they want, money talks!

I was in a London high end hotel restaurant a few weeks ago and several customers seemed to fit these patterns.

#16

Quality of the food they eat or rather the amount of different types of food they have tried without seeing like a foodie

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#17

Casually saying stuff like it’s not the amount you earn, it’s how minimise the amount you spend. Whilst spending above 500 quid (GBP) on drinks for everyone on a night out from work.

#18

I live in a city full of wealthy landowners, and let me tell, you, you’ll never see the rich folks flaunt their wealth, they always wear the simplest clothes, and wear only a watch ( a simple necklace if they’re women), but the moment you meet them, you know they’re rich without them having to show it to you.

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#19

They wear simple clothes but it looks so good on them.

#20

Not even asking to look at luxury items or asking the price, just wanting to buy.

My God Sister was friends with a princess, one day they went shopping while the princess was on the downlow and she had to buy presents for her friends. They went to a luxury store where she just pointed out the stuff she wanted and the staff looked at her and laughed, she tried to buy again and they told her she “may want to look in her price range” as soon as they found out who she was they basically all shat themselves

(no idk who she is, I remember I was told the name but I can’t remember her for the life of me and this was years ago)

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#21

They don’t brag about their money. Mostly because there are loads of people who are gold diggers and will expect them to pay for their stuff. Knew a millionaire who was sick and tired of being invited out to lunch but he was expected to pay the bill, long story short he lost a lot of friends when he refused.

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#22

The clothes they wear, doesn’t matter if it’s designer or thrift shop, everything fits them well and is clean. They can afford tailors, dry-cleaners, and stylists, and always look put-together.

#23

Ohh I can definitely answer this one! I used to do remodeling/carpentry in very wealthy town here in New Jersey. Depending on the job/task at hand I’d spend anywhere from 6 months to a year inside multimillion dollar homes, 8am-6pm, I’d pretty much be a witness to a lot of rich folks entire days. Not to mention I also was able to interact with these folks.

Here are things I noticed beside their beautiful homes & cars that hinted to me they are very well off:

Extremely intellectual conversations.

During my lunch breaks I’d always chat with clients & man when I tell you these people could dive DEEP into almost ANY subject. Especially the more finance/money/economic related topics. These people were all well versed and decently knowledgeable in many areas.

They never raise an eyebrow to any price.

I had one client be quoted $16,000 USD for an exquisite living room rug (including its installation), & with no hesitation he had the check written out within minutes. To this day that experience still numbs my mind.

They dressed like normal people.

I never caught any of these people wearing clothes covered in LV logos, or Gucci signs. If they werent dressed down in a suit for work, they wore solid color t shirts w/ khakis or jeans and running shoes. Though I did have one client who would often wear blazers over his t-shirts.

They traveled… A LOT.

Had one job where the client was traveling the world. Literally. His maid would allow me and the crew access to the home during the day and we would lock up on our way out. We kept contact and communicated job updates through facetime & pictures. Had another client where him and his wife literally would leave the country every week to give me and the guys “space to work”. Talk about F-U money.

Their kids, if they had any, were very well mannered and well spoken.

I’m talking as young as 6 years old. These kids would consistently greet me and the crew properly & be able to hold good conversations. And express no shyness or timid behavior, very well spoken kids. Sometimes it would be so odd to me that an 8 year old would be able to talk to us like a 30 year old.

They have a lot of books.

Every home I worked in there was a library somewhere within it.

I could list so many more but these are just some! If you made it this far thanks for reading!

#24

My ex in laws have a very nice condo but not extravagant. After a few visits, I noticed a door that seemed out of place. Given the rooms around it, it was much larger than a typical closet. I finally asked.

It was a climate and humidity controlled wine cellar. Easily 200 bottles that cost at least $40 minimum each. There was also a small humidor for their Cuban cigars under a poster for Scarface. It was awesome.

#25

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

#26

I live in a neighborhood where you can play “millionaire or homeless.” If you see someone on the streets that looks slovenly, even if they are stinky-drunk and on a bender, it’s a coin toss if they are a millionaire or homeless.

The tell-tale sign is the teeth. Always the teeth.

I played this game the other day at the park with my wife. I guessed that the haggard old lady was a millionaire based on the teeth. I almost had doubt here. She had sun damaged skin, stained and worn joggers and dirty distressed sneakers. My wife pointed out that the shoes are some fashionable brand I’ve never heard of and sell for over $1,000. They come distressed and dirty.

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#27

I have an acquaintancy who is really wealthy (which I personally define as beyond rich).
We share a hobby. We met by coincidence, being stuck in a place with nowhere to go for hours (think about an out-of-place airport with a broken down plane) and spent hours talking about this hobby (don’t want to go in details here).

During our disussions. I found that he uses some very expensive technology for this hobby. Talking about it, I found that he uses top end professional grade stuff, priced above the usual amateur stuff by factors between 20 and 50.
I was wondering how someone can afford this 5 digit-stuff and googled his name.
Found his profile on LinkedIn plus some news reports which showed that he is owner and Chairman of the Board for two businesses founded by his family over 100 years ago with meanwhile > 40,000 associates combined.
From the outside, you couldn’t tell.
Nothing flashy, but always high quality stuff.

We’re still in contact, he doesn’t live far away and we actually have a drink and a chat every now and then when we follow our common hobby.
My car is actually more expensive than his. Plus more flashy. But I’m not wealthy, that’s the difference. 😉

Over time, I met some of his friends who are equally wealthy.

From that experience, I can tell that really wealthy people with “old money” won’t flash their money around, are very friendly, nice to service-staff and don’t show out of the crowd.
You can just tell by the quality of their shoes (always a giveaway), their clothes and their household-appliances that they are wealthy.

#28

The subtlety is in realizing this fact… Not all who “have everything” are rich. Many just have a huge income and huge debt to buy the nice houses and cars they have but not really a lot of money in savings, investments or liquid assets. So if you see it as I do, that the TRULY rich DO have large savings, investments and liquid assets, then here’s your clue. They live where they want to, as any rich person would, and yet they don’t drive all the same cars as the wannabe rich people do. Perhaps they do have a lot of nice expensive cars in the garage, but most of the time they put around town in a common car with little value because they like it and don’t really care what other people think. A further sign of being rich in the same scenario is if you see their garage and find out they actually have TWO or more of that “common car” so that they will continue to have one if the other breaks down or gets wrecked. Plus they can drive them both and they last roughly twice as long. This may not stand at all for a rich “car guy”, but for a regular old rich guy who doesn’t care at all about riding in luxury, he won’t. He’s too mature to be keeping up with the Joneses and will gladly just drive something safe and reliable that blends in with the rest.

Here’s a bonus for you… Want a subtle sign that a person is fake rich? Massive income, massive debt, but no savings, investments, or assets… They likely live in the most expensive neighborhood, but not necessarily in the best house in the neighborhood. But they do drive some of the most expensive cars in the neighborhood, always wear designer clothes and are never home. Because if they quit working they lose it all.

#29

They have a Steinway concert grand piano in their spacious living room that is perfectly maintained and tuned, even though no one in the house plays it. It sits discreetly and subtly in a corner of the room, like just another piece of furniture to fill the vast space

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#30

Not talking about it.

#31

Shoes. Really good shoes.

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#32

Rich people (and wannabe rich) buy T Shirts with big bold letters of designer brands to broadcast they spent $500 for their shirt.

Wealthy people might buy the same brand shirt as the rich guy but it has no logos.

Image credits: kukukele

#33

One thing I have noticed that separates the ten cent millionaires from billionaires is their kitchen. When I was staying at a certain private home, the time change made me wake early, so I went to the kitchen for some coffee. When I walked in, three of the staff stood up and said “can we help you?” Then led me to the room where coffee was set up. They exchanged looks.

Really rich people have people who cook for them and the kitchen is more like a restaurant kitchen, not a place where you hang out but a place for the staff to hang out. Or at least very caterer-friendly.

#34

Travel I think. Rich people often drive normal cars and wear normal clothes, but tend to be well travelled.

#35

It can often be the least obvious person in the room. Years ago I was in a small town near a larger agricultural city. The whole area is either wheat or wine grapes. I was in a tiny little brewery having a beer and there was 6 customers in the room including myself.

I was wearing a suit and tie, 2 young men about thirty are wearing what I’d call very nice business casual, a mid aged couple who drove up in a new Lexus and a older guy wearing muddy rubber boots, Carhart jacket and looked like any other of hundreds of farm hands one would see in the area taverns.

The man who owned the brewery was a client of mine came by, nodded at the old guy in the Carharts and said he was one of the richest men in the area but still worked along side his guys when was around. He left in a mid 90’s Ford pickup that didn’t have a straight panel on it, his usual daily driver.

In the area I’m from, that is a common story.

#36

Selling expensive items to close friends & family for well under market value.

e.g. houses, trucks, motorcycles…

#37

I used to drive Uber in Reno. A lot of wealthy people fly in there to go to Tahoe. Rich people all had a general sense of well-being I think. Whether it manifested as arrogance varied widely from person to person but they were never angry. There’s a lot of crossover between the kindest people I had in my car and the wealthiest. Some guy who owned a factory that made skiis asked me to visit sometime and gave me his card lol I was too intimidated to follow through though. Another guy with some bicyclist apparel company had a pretty long conversation with me about biking. He was in town for a convention. I asked him how I could impress my girlfriend’s bike obsessed father. He gave me his card and said “show him this.” He was the fucking president or CEO or something. I talked shit about Californians (lightheartedly) with a rich guy from California and he laughed along and added more. Every single one of them tipped.

If someone was just trying to seem wealthy they usually act standoffish like I shouldn’t dare speak in their presence.

Edit: Another guy with a power washing business actually told me to buy one and start one myself and walked me through how he did it lmao. He also laughed at me for hitting the brakes when bunnies crossed the road. He and his wife were both fun to just listen to. One of my favorites was a pair of fellas I was PISSED at the whole ride because halfway to the destination I got a call from the guy who I was actually supposed to pick up. I had to cancel and I drove them home but I was very openly not happy about it and felt like a doormat for driving them anyway. They were laughing and raucous and I was like fuck these guys played me and are laughing at me for it. Nah. I got almost $150 cash for a 20-30 minute ride.

#38

“Rich” people are loud and obnoxious af. Wealthy people just live like if having so much money is normal. They basically don’t care bout other people.

#39

Not trying to impress others. When you’ve built your own financial success, you don’t feel the need to impress others.

It’s always obvious who comes into new wealth because they spend frivolously and carelessly. People who have true wealth know that money doesn’t grow on trees. They didn’t attain their wealth by frivolously spending and showing off.

It’s people who are chillin, low key, that are truly wealthy. They know people try to take advantage so they don’t advertise their wealth. They know better. People who come into new wealth have no idea how shitty people can be when they know you have a lot of money and think it’s fair game to try and claim part of it

#40

Wealth is the money you haven’t spent. When you spend money, the only thing it actually tells anyone is that you’re that much less wealthy. An outside observer doesn’t know if you spent that money on credit or with cash, just that you have that much less wealth.

Real wealth is having the freedom and ability to take the time to find what brings you joy. The number that provides that freedom is going to be different for everyone. The mindset of those who have made it to that point is unmistakable.

#41

They’re amicable

or

Weirdly unapproachable even if they feel easy to talk to

#42

Not all super rich people buy fancy clothes, some just like to be comfortable. I once heard a saying that if you see a man in a Hawaiian shirt then odds are he is either the richest man in the room or the poorest.

#43

Not being prosecuted for crimes.

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