• 5 things that reveal how cheap rich people are

    From a425couple@21:1/5 to All on Wed Sep 18 06:44:12 2019
    XPost: or.politics, alt.economics, alt.politics.economics

    from https://www.marketwatch.com/story/5-things-that-reveal-how-cheap-rich-people-are-2019-04-22

    5 things that reveal how cheap rich people are

    Published: Apr 22, 2019 12:03 p.m. ET

    From what they drive to where they shop, the affluent act a lot more
    like the rest of us than you might think.

    By CATEY HILL
    EDITOR

    There are millions of reasons to be frugal.

    “Ocean’s 8” and “Crazy Rich Asians” star Nora Lum — you may know the
    rapper and actress by her stage name, Awkwafina — seems to know this
    well. Though she’s worth millions, she recently admitted to many frugal habits. Earlier this month on the “Death, Sex & Money” podcast, she
    noted that she didn’t splurge on “literally anything” and that she was wearing pants from Target.

    “Rich people don’t get rich by spending it all.”
    Pam Danziger, founder of Unity Marketing

    Plenty of other uber-rich people also pinch pennies. Probably the most
    famous among them is investor Warren Buffett, who eats breakfast at McDonald’s MCD, +0.34%. Each morning, he asks his wife to set out $2.61, $2.95 or $3.17, which determines which breakfast he gets. “When I’m not feeling quite so prosperous, I might go with the $2.61, which is two
    sausage patties, and then I put them together and pour myself a Coke,”
    he says in the 2017 documentary “Becoming Warren Buffett.” He also still lives in the five-bedroom home he bought for just over $30,000 in 1958
    in Omaha.

    Lots of rich people are frugal, experts say. “Rich people don’t get rich
    by spending it all,” says Pam Danziger, a researcher focused on the
    affluent market and founder of Unity Marketing, which helps brands
    better connect with affluent consumers. “They know better than anyone
    that by being careful shoppers they can achieve a lifestyle several
    rungs up the income ladder.”

    There are myriad reasons that many affluent people are, well, cheap.
    Some of them are self-made and spent years before they were rich being
    thrifty. “Thriftiness is habit-forming,” says Scott Tucker, the
    president and founder of financial firm Scott Tucker Solutions in Chicago.

    Others fear that their wealth isn’t permanent, so they don’t spend a lot
    of their money. This is particularly true of the top 10% of the income spectrum, according to the 2015 Survey of Affluence and Wealth by
    research and polling firm YouGov. “The resourcefulness, financial independence and spending constraints that arose from the fear of the
    recession are now enduring attitudes of family financial management,”
    the authors wrote.

    During the 2007-2009 recession, fear drove many Americans to “step up
    their savings, cut spending, and retool their household budgets, and to
    become more resourceful and independent when evaluating and making
    significant purchases. Over time, panic has given way to confidently
    applying these practices to their purchasing habits.”

    Of course, rich people spend plenty, dropping $234 billion a year on
    luxury goods and services, Business Insider notes. Still, many of them
    are very thrifty. Here are five things that show that:

    You’ll find them in the aisles of Target and Walmart...

    Beyonce is crazy in love — with Target TGT, -0.20%. Earlier this year,
    the star was reportedly spotted at a Target in Los Angeles. And seeing
    as how the singer is worth an estimated $355 million, according to
    Forbes, the internet responded with shock. Model Chrissy Teigen, for
    example, joked that the music star need not go to the big-box store, as
    she could send Beyonce her line of Cravings cookware for free.

    But she’s far from the only wealthy person who shops at big box stores
    like this: One in three people with a net worth of more than $5 million
    says they shop at Walmart WMT, +0.22% , according to a survey of 1,200 ultra-high-net-worth investors released by financial information site Millionaire Corner. What’s more, nearly half say they shop at Costco
    COST, -0.03% and more than four in 10 at Target.

    Indeed, when actress Busy Phillips saw that Beyonce had reportedly
    shopped at Target, she said she couldn’t believe it was on a day she
    wasn’t there.

    …and dropping coin at the dollar store

    Many dollar store shoppers make $100,000 a year or more, data released
    by research firm NPD Group found. “Considering that nearly one in five dollars spent there is contributed by the affluent, dollar stores’ value proposition clearly resonates across economic segments,” says Andy
    Mantis, executive vice president of Checkout Tracking, a division of
    NPD. The average wealthy dollar store shopper makes about one trip a
    month to those stores, the data showed (though, to be fair, lower income
    people do make more frequent trips).

    They tool around town in a Ford

    Just because you’re a football star, doesn’t mean you spend like one: Indeed, as The Wall Street Journal reported, a number of pro athletes
    scrimp on their wheels; — the story mentions that quarterback Kirk
    Cousins drives a GMC Savanna passenger van.

    And data released in August 2016 by car site Edmunds.com found that the
    most popular car among people with incomes above $250,000 a year was the
    Ford F-Series F, -0.08% , followed by the Jeep Grand Cherokee and the
    Jeep Wranger; the Lexus RX and BMW X5 were only the No. 4 and No. 5 on
    the list.

    “There will always be an interest in and market for high-end exotic vehicles,” says Edmunds.com executive director of industry analysis
    Jessica Caldwell. “But, overall, most of the wealthiest Americans look
    for their vehicles to perform the same kind of functional tasks that
    everyone else does.”

    Other studies show a similar penchant for modest cars among the wealthy:
    Among the top 10 most popular vehicles in America’s wealthiest
    neighborhoods, half are non-luxury vehicles, an analysis of car-buying
    habits of residents of the 10 wealthiest zip codes in America by
    TrueCar.com found. These include the Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, Honda
    CR-V, Volkswagen Jetta and Toyota Prius

    They clip a lot of coupons

    Millionaire actress Kristen Bell says she’s an avid couponer. Her
    favorite: the Bed Bath and Beyond Coupon. And she’s not the only rich
    person to do so. People making over $100,000 were actually more likely
    than those making less to use coupons, a survey of more than 8,000
    shoppers by deal site Deals.com found.

    What’s more, one in four people who often use six or more coupons during
    each shopping trip reported incomes of $75,000 or more, according to
    research by the University of Arizona’s John Davis Norton School of
    Family and Consumer Sciences. They’re known as “coupon divas” by the researchers. “They don’t use coupons because of financial constraints
    but because they perceive coupons as saving them money,” said Anita
    Bhappu, an associate professor at the University of Arizona.

    They give a lower percentage of their income to charity

    “The rich aren’t the most generous,” concludes a 2012 study published in the Chronicle of Philanthropy. “Middle-class Amer­i­cans give a far
    bigger share of their discretionary income to charities than the rich.”
    The data, which looked at IRS records, found that while households
    earning $50,000 to $75,000 give an average of 7.6% of their
    discretionary income to charity, households making $100,000 or more give
    an average of 4.2%.

    This story was originally published in 2017 and has been updated.

    comments include

    5 thing's people with no money always do in every generation
    Spend the rent money
    Eat out every day
    max out their credit cards
    borrow money from friends and never pay it back
    Steal Money.

    These are generalization just like this article.
    6 Likes

    They do not waste countless hours posting comments on blogs, and that is
    time they will never get back, that is for the very dim.

    Tesla's are the rage too, and no tin box chevies either.

    Our biz only works for the wealthy. Sorry everyone else.
    Having never met anyone we could work for that is newly wealthy...the
    younger ones are a pain, looking at the world as it should be. The older
    ones mostly look at the world as it is.
    Of course there are exceptions on both sides but that is how I approach customers at first meet.

    I think there’s an important distinction between stinginess and
    frugality ! People who’ve worked hard all their lives are used to
    spending money carefully and looking for value. One of my favorite
    customers once told me, "I’m to poor to buy cheap"!

    For example, I like to drive a good quality, nicely styled luxury car so
    I drive a BMW X5 and my wife an X3....both of which I bought used! Only
    once in my life did I buy a new Audi, and regretted the huge bath I took
    on the depreciation!

    My best car deal ever was my father in law's 4 year old Lincoln with
    less than 30,000 mi for $6,000, which cost him $40,000 new! We are
    careful investing and spending, and never lived beyond our means,
    shopping at Costco.
    Want to call that cheap? Go ahead, on the other hand, I leave the waiter
    25%, and donate my old cars.
    13 Likes

    Most well off people I know started out without much and have the two
    habits: get to know successful people, and do not waste money. I washed
    dishes and waited tables at UC. I took the opportunity seriously. It
    is the second and third generation that waste it - economic recycling.
    3 Likes

    All the successful people I've met have come from stable upper middle
    class backgrounds; generally 3rd/4th generation wealth perhaps.
    .
    There are those that come from absolute nothing, few and far between in
    modern times, but it doesn't detract that for 90% of the population
    inherited wealth and stability is the greatest foundation for success.
    .
    People overestimate how lucky they are just to have a stable family or
    the typical suburban household in a mid-tier school district.
    3 Likes

    Interesting...The wealthy should consider that life is finite and that
    they can't take their money with them when the croak!
    2 Likes

    ....but now they get to pass it off tax free to their spoiled kids
    2 Likes

    I have solved that problem. Cryogenics, yep I am going to be frozen and revived in the distant future, and I will need my money upon my wake.
    So, the kids need to find their own funds.

    I don't have a problem if wealthy people choose to eat at McDonalds or
    shop at Walmart. My problem comes when I know illegal immigrants are landscaping their houses. Painting them. Maintaining them. When your
    wealthy you Should pay people what their worth. I live in a pretty
    affluent area. I'm just a average Joe that bought before the super
    wealthy moved in. Unfortunately, I see too many illegals working on
    their yards. Hb2 workers are know everywhere, living like cattle. Most
    of my friends businesses have folded because they payed a decent wage
    and couldn't compete. My business is on its last legs as illegals are
    in my field. I'm actually making a decision if I Should sell my house as
    I can't compete. All my contracts are gone. I've had clients tell me to
    hire illegals so I can " compete" . It started about 10 years ago and
    has finally caught up to me. That trickle down effect is running right
    down my leg. Not saying it's all the wealthy, but, its prevalent where I
    live.
    6 Likes

    I'm guessing you are in a nicer California zip code! I had my folks
    house in one of those zip codes for a while. People who don't live in a
    nice zip code in California don't understand the exodus of people from
    the barrios each day to clean those homes, wash the dirty clothes,
    manicure the gardens and keep those swimming pools crystal clear ...
    nice slave labor. I sold the house partly because of the 'snobbery', but
    mostly because I wasn't going to let that house drain my retirement, The
    house was 60 years old and I was 62. I knew the clock was ticking on
    an outdated electrical system, crumbling sewer pipes under the
    foundation, and an outdated interior ... sold 'as is' and still got a ridiculous price ...

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