10+ Stories of People Who Wanted to Conceal Their Wealth but They Weren’t Too Successful

We often picture the rich as people who wear designer clothes, expensive watches and jewelry. They switch cars like gloves and fly to Paris for a weekend stroll. But not all millionaires live up to their financial status. Sometimes their friends and even relatives don’t know how wealthy they are until they reveal it in some way.

• I have a good friend who used to drive a very, very old second-hand car. He also never tipped waiters and always looked for cheaper options for everything. Once I started a business and needed some investment money. I had already received help from 5 of my friends, which seemed to be enough to start the business, along with my own money. When my cheapskate friend found out about my idea (I never told him myself), he came to me and said he wanted to invest in my business because he loved the idea. His offer was almost double the amount of money the other 5 investors had put together.
• My colleague asked for help moving her stuff, so I borrowed my friend’s truck to help move furniture. I got there and she was just moving the clothes and some personal items. I asked about the furniture and she said her parents always buy her all new furniture when they move. They just donate the “old” stuff to a women’s shelter.

• I was at university and I had a friend who was really nice and down to earth. He never talked about his family or what they did. One day I was with him in his car and he told me he had to go to his flat to pick something up. We drove into an 8-storey building, took a lift to the fifth floor, where I said hello to some of his family. Later that week, my friends and I were bored, and somehow our pointless conversations turned to assessing how poor or rich each of us was. We started counting all the people we knew, and when we got to my friend above, one guy just gasped.
  Dude: “Oh, we can’t even come close to how loaded this guy is...”
  Me: “Whaaaa? I was in his flat a couple of days ago... it was nice, but hardly a rich man’s flat!”
  Guy: “You went to the 5th floor of the 8-storey building, didn’t you?”
  Me: “Yeah...”
  Dude: “Man... you were in their family’s living room. The whole fifth floor is their living room. The whole 8-storey building is their house.”
• I once logically deduced that a guy was rich because he didn’t have a job and didn’t care about it. I thought maybe he wanted to be a detective, you know, just for fun. He also owned a house and was renovating it. I thought, ok, there is no way this guy can be so cool without being loaded. I pushed him to admit it. He didn’t want to admit it because then people would just want his money.
• I worked at a grocery store where everyone was paid minimum wage. One week, I noticed that a lady in the floral department had eight checks sitting in the box where we picked up our pay. I brought them over to her and said, ’Hey, I think they broke up your check a bit.’ She replied, ’Oh yeah, I’ve been meaning to pick those up for months now.’ I stared at her in disbelief for a few seconds. She explained that she only uses the money she makes here for trips with her husband and spending money. She loves working with flowers and this was the closest place she could do it.

• I know someone who is incredibly humble. When I first met him, he didn’t show any signs of wealth. He dressed like a regular high school student and played the piano (which, in hindsight, could have been an indicator since he mentioned having a piano at home). We didn’t know anything about his finances, but that was fine. On his birthday, his mother threw a party and invited all of us. I was late for a debate tournament, but I had the address on Google Maps. Upon arriving at a pleasant neighborhood, I carefully examined the map. It directed me to a large two-story house with a spacious garden, resembling a mansion. Despite my initial disbelief, I noticed my friend’s family name on the doorbell and was surprised. I rang the bell. A maid opened the garden door for me and led me inside, where I saw displays of old items. My friend appeared humble, which increased my respect for him, despite his wealth.
• I visited a friend in Silicon Valley. Although I knew he owned companies, I was unaware of his exact location. He provided me with an address and specific instructions on how to get there. I confidently assured him that I had my GPS. As I approached his mountain neighborhood, I began to understand what he meant. His neighborhood is not on Google Maps and is inaccessible. This is when I realized that my friend is wealthy but lives modestly.
• During a party, my date didn’t work out, so an acquaintance offered me a ride to the train station. During the ride, I asked him what made him so happy that day. He explained that he had made $28 million before turning 28 years old.

• My wife and I met while she was in grad school and working a part-time job. We dated for two years. Then, I met her parents, who had both recently retired in their mid-60s. They wore t-shirts, jeans/khakis, and old sneakers when they flew coach. During dinner, I paid for the Thai food take-out. Four months after my wife and I got married, I inherited $60,000. I suggested to my wife that we could use the extra money to make a down payment on a condo in the city or a house in the suburbs. However, my wife told me that her dad had offered to give us up to a million dollars to help with that.
• One day, I realized that my friend had never talked about work in the 5 years we had been friends. He never mentioned anything about going to a job, working, bosses, co-workers, or anything work-related. I asked him how he paid his bills, and he explained that his family had money, and he only checked his account a few times a year when he needed cash. My friend, who drove a 10-year-old Ford Ranger pickup truck with dents and scratches all over and wore discounted clothing until it fell completely apart, said all of this.
• I attended a private school in a developing country where a friend of mine would always say that swimming is more enjoyable with waves or a current. At the time, I didn’t understand what he meant and thought he was just being imaginative. One day, he invited me to his house to go swimming, and I was surprised to find that he had a 50-foot indoor pool that generated currents and waves.

Truly wealthy individuals live by different principles, and they are unconcerned about the opinions of others. Check out our next article about the 9 rules that all rich people follow while the poor miss-out on their chance.