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Despite having billions to their name, some of the wealthiest people on the planet don\u2019t splurge on the material items that others shoppers might be tempted by. <\/p>\n
Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, for example, is famous for driving a 2014 Cadillac, which is covered in damage from a hail storm. Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates drives an electric Fiat500 gifted to him by Bono, while YouTube star MrBeast sleeps in his office and had to borrow money from his mom to pay for his wedding.<\/p>\n
So how do the rich stay rich? Apparently, by acting like they\u2019re not. High net worth individuals and $100,000+ earners Fortune<\/em> spoke to said they try and keep their discretionary spending as minimal as possible, preferring the impact it has on their finances.<\/p>\n While their friends might enjoy eating out a couple of times a week,\u00a0they\u00a0choose to cook for themselves\u2014in fact, they even buy frozen groceries because they\u2019re cheaper than fresh.<\/p>\n Some choose not to own cars, mend their own \u201ccapsule\u201d wardrobes and find some of their children\u2019s toys on Facebook marketplace.<\/p>\n These individuals\u2014in some cases unconsciously\u2014are living an \u201cunder-consumption\u201d or \u201clow consumption\u201d lifestyle.<\/p>\n The phrase began to spread on social media sites like TikTok after individuals started sharing their weekly grocery shop or make-up cabinet to counter the infinite shopping hauls or wishlists often found on the app.<\/p>\n The advice from the \u201cunderconsumption core\u201d community included setting no-buy challenges or decluttering spaces packed with items you\u2019re not using.<\/p>\n For the individuals Fortune<\/em> spoke to, these habits are already second nature. And having lived the underconsumption life for most of their adult years, their bank balance is reaping the rewards.<\/p>\n Author and entrepreneur Shang Saavedra and her husband didn\u2019t build a multi-million dollar net worth overnight. In fact, it was in their respective childhoods that they learned the value of frugal living.<\/p>\n Renting a four-bed home in the suburbs of Los Angeles, the pair share a 17-year-old secondhand vehicle and do their grocery shop at Aldi\u2014predominantly in the frozen section.<\/p>\n Saavedra\u2019s sons\u2014aged six and three\u2014often wear hand-me-down clothes, play with toys found on Facebook marketplace and enjoy free activities instead of the Disneyland trips their Californian peers often take.<\/p>\n While multi-millionaire Saavedra\u2019s life has some hallmarks of a high-income household\u2014her children attend private school, and she owns property in New York\u2014these expenditures fit with her financial ethos: investing in education and assets that support her philanthropic endeavors.<\/p>\n Contrary to the majority of Americans\u201458% of which told a Harris Poll survey in 2023 they worry about their finances during the festive period\u2014Saavedra says her day-to-day expenses during Thanksgiving and Christmas predominantly increase because of philanthropic gifting.<\/p>\n The 40-year-old\u2019s ability to share her wealth is courtesy of shrewd money decisions in her early career\u2014when she held a director position at CVS, and analyst and consultancy roles at the likes of Victoria\u2019s Secret.<\/p>\n Before marriage, Saavedra lived with roommates and then moved into a rent-controlled apartment with her husband in New York (a building where the plumbing often cut out), often using meal vouchers handed out by working late in their corporate roles.<\/p>\n They aimed to reduce their expenditures to a single income and save the rest, in preparation for having children.<\/p>\n Saavedra, now an entrepreneur helping hundreds of clients achieve their financial goals, told Fortune<\/em> in an interview that the best way for people to try an underconsumption lifestyle is to \u201cstart with why.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is the end goal of underconsumption? If you just do underconsumption for underconsumption\u2019s sake you\u2019ll burn out and get unhappy very quickly,\u201d Saavedra explained. \u201cBecause my husband and I oriented our consumption towards financial freedom and family it\u2019s made it so worth it. <\/p>\n \u201cOf course I still am tempted to go for luxury items and experiences, and every now and then we have a nice date night at a very nice restaurant\u2014but understanding the reason why you want something \u2026 comes from a pain for an unfulfilled part of your life and oftentimes is a psychological need.\u201d<\/p>\n What it takes to run a household is only getting more expensive. According to the\u00a0U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,\u00a0the average monthly household expenditure in 2023 was $6,440.<\/span><\/p>\n This is a steep increase compared to only a year prior\u2014up 8.3%\u2014and up 15.5% from 2021, when monthly expenditures sat at $5,577 a month.<\/p>\n Yet despite the fact Annie Cole owns assets totaling more than a million dollars\u2014and is earning six figures\u2014she has trimmed her spending down to a little under $4,000 a month.<\/p>\n Cole sold her Prius a couple of years ago, batch cooks meals for her and her husband, cuts her own hair and clothes shops three times a year at her local Goodwill\u2014Cole last purchased new clothes a year ago, and with a gift card.<\/p>\n The couple travel using air miles and points accrued when Cole, 36, was traveling for a corporate role, spending their vacations enjoying free activities like hiking and swimming. <\/p>\n The approach has not only changed Cole\u2019s outlook on how long she will work\u2014retirement is pencilled in for her early 40s\u2014but the nature of work itself. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m so curious if I will actually want to retire,\u201d Cole\u2014who works as a contracted researcher and personal finance expert\u2014tells Fortune<\/em>. \u201cNow that I\u2019m working part-time I think about it differently. When I was working full-time I thought \u2018I can\u2019t wait to be work-optional\u2019 but I almost feel like I\u2019m living it now. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m doing all the things I want to do and knowing that I could retire feels like a nice financial cushion of \u2018Hey, you\u2019re taken care of as you get older and in the meantime you have the flexibility to live and work differently.\u2019 That\u2019s a blessing in itself.\u201d <\/p>\n Dentist Robert Chin and his partner Jessica Pharar own a practice in Las Vegas. They commute the short drive from their home together to cut down on fuel, with their packed lunches in tow.<\/p>\n The couple transitioned into a lower-consumption lifestyle courtesy of rising costs and a firmer idea of what they wanted their finances to look like\u2014despite the pair earning comfortable six figures.<\/p>\n Chin tells Fortune<\/em> he now eats out one or two times a month instead of a few times a week, and shops at Costco to avoid inflationary grocery prices as best he can.<\/p>\n Unlike the other sources Fortune<\/em> spoke to, Chin isn\u2019t against buying new clothes but maintains that they must have a lifetime guarantee (from the likes of Patagonia) or that they will last for years.<\/p>\n The pair own a condo which they let out, but rent their current property to have the flexibility to purchase when the market begins to move again. <\/p>\n Their goal is simple: Flexibility\u2014whether that means taking more time off together or potentially retiring earlier. <\/p>\n \u201cIn five years we\u2019d like to have an associate or another practitioner both because the office has grown enough to support that and also because it affords us the flexibility to take time off more readily. It\u2019s proabably the biggest challenge of us being leaders in the business, our ability to take time off is really difficult because if we\u2019re not here the practice doesn\u2019t make money.\u201d<\/p>\n More on personal finance: <\/strong><\/p>\n An initial version of this article was published on December 28, 2024.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n #Meet #millionaires #living #underconsumption #life #Groceries #Aldi #Goodwill #clothes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Despite having billions to the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6780,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[5857,5859,1953,625,5858,3743,2717,743,302,3164,1277,3302,1785,5856],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6779"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Grocery shopping in the frozen section<\/h2>\n
Thrifting clothes<\/h2>\n
Packed lunches and shared commutes<\/h2>\n
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