Have seen a lot of influencers who rent a friend's PJ in Miami (it doesn't even have to leave the hanger) to pretend they're successful. It's so sad it's almost funny and proof positive that 99% of the "success" influencers across social media are utter frauds. 

"The obedient always think of themselves as virtuous rather than cowardly" - Robert A. Wilson | "If you don't have any enemies in life you have never stood up for anything" - Winston Churchill | "It's a testament to the sheer belligerence of the profession that people would rather argue about the 'risk-adjusted returns' of using inferior tooth cleaning methods." - kellycriterion
 

To be fair, in the 100s of millions and billionaire lifestyle are not that different at all. You can pretty much do all of the safe shit. 

 

Dan Bilzerian

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

Just my 0.02.  Millionaires who act like billionaires become thousandaires in a short period of time.

I know nearly 10 legit millionaires who dabble in the 7-8 figure range in net worth.  I have never been to their homes so I can't comment on their standard of living in that sense.  A few comments about a few of them are below.

1 drives a Toyota SUV and has a 15 year old 911 that he drives in the summer.  He even bought the 911 used from a different one of the 10 aforementioned millionaires.  His kid got a speeding ticket in said Porsche where he claimed it tripled their insurance!  He's a penny pincher so he was furious about the jump in premiums. 

1 drives a GMC SUV and also has a Porsche that he rarely drives.  His SUV has carseats and kid dings all over it.  He's a spendthrift and shops for deals like I do (I'm talking 2 for $4 specials at BK at that too!).

1 is an oddball who could be related to Rodney Dangerfield.  He drives a very fancy fast car, but drives it by the book and the RPM needle will never see the ketchup.  I joke with him, "Still breaking her in gently, huh."  

The last one lives like a billionaire spending all his money plus some on houses, cars, rental properties, boats, and lucrative PE deals.  He lives a binary life of things either going great based on market conditions, or things being horrible.  He has an ex wife and a few kids he rarely sees.  I kinda wonder why he's working so hard to fund a multimillion dollar funeral...

In conclusion, folks who make it to the single digit millionaire status seem to have gotten there frugally in many cases and cherish the wealth they have created.  One of the folks mentioned above came from nothing and shined shoes as a 11 year old to earn money in order to pay for boy scout adventures.  He's working hard to instill the solid work ethics in his kids despite his kids knowing they come from a privileged upbringing. 

I'm sure someone else could comment on legit billionaires financing helicopters to land on their private yacht. 

 
Most Helpful

Agree w/ the consensus above demonstrated by WolfofWSO, spot-on. Know plenty of folks as well who fall into these categories - anything from economy seats on the plane to bringing hand-printed coupons to the grocery store. These people could pay out my yearly salary on one Amex swipe, but choose to live frugally and below their means, ensuring their safety nets are primed and future kids are well taken care of. It may seem counterintuitive to some, but I believe it also speaks volumes as to how these people got to their net worths - by saving whenever able. 

While your question was about millionaires acting like billionaires, I can also attest that I know a couple of the opposite - met plenty of institutional investors over the years who have a big ole 'B' attached to their name, finding their headshot on the Forbes website at any given time. While you get plenty of oddballs (honestly, you kind of have to be in order to obtain this kind of money), a lot of those people are just normal folks who blend in with the world around them.

To recap a personal experience, I can vividly remember a client we had... what a guy. Don't remember the year, I wanna say 2018 or so, but can recall when we were headed back from a conference in Los Angeles, headed to Van Nuys where his plane was getting prepped for our return trip. We're probably halfway through our trip from downtown in the car, when this man suddenly has a ridiculous appetite for some fried chicken, and directs the driver to find the nearest joint to satisfy it. Lo and behold, we pull over to some hole-in-the-wall Burbank spot, and he tells his security detail to let him go inside himself. There's probably 5-10 people in line, and he's blending right in - wearing some combination of sweatpants, rattered t-shirt, and the unkempt hair and goatee. As I sat in the car and watched him thru the window, I just took note of the line. The folks on either side of him just simply had zero idea that the man next to 'em was worth upwards of eight billion dollars, with a three-car convoy and a pissed-off security detail right outside, grabbing some chicken bucket before hopping into his fueled Gulfstream to head to his second house in New York. He's never been one to stand out, and that moment has always just stuck in my head. Plenty of folks who live their life that way - guarentee every one of you reading this has walked past a billionaire on the street before and never taken notice. 

Just a funny story I had. True proof that money affects people in every kind of way, however it may be.

 

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