Stealth wealth signs are everywhere. It’s how the super wealthy stay under the radar and make sure they blend in with the crowd. The average joe you see walking down the grocery store just may be a multi millionaire. There are signs that you can look for to see if these are the wealthy who hides their money.
When I was starting my personal finance journey and was poor, I didn’t show it. I wore jeans and a t-shirt when I was going outside because that’s all I could afford. I didn’t want to spend $1,000 on clothing only for me to throw it away years later down the road.
Now that I’ve gotten wealthier since then, I still wear the same t-shirt and jeans to go to the grocery store. There is no desire for me to flaunt any of the money that I have. In fact, I know that’s a surefire way for me to get robbed. When people see you are wealthy, they have less sympathy for you.
They don’t want to help you out even if you’re going through the same issues they are. People are more likely to sue you for damages and you are less likely to win lawsuits. That’s why it’s better to practice stealth wealth instead of trying to flaunt your wealth. Less headaches.
So then what are the stealth wealth signs that you can practice onto your own life? The less attention you draw to yourself, the less complicated your life is. As the years go by, you’ll have a desire to simplify your life more than complicate it. So it’s not a bad idea to practice stealth wealth!
How do You Determine Stealth Wealth?
Before we go into the stealth wealth signs, we have to define what stealth wealth even means. In simple terms, stealth wealth is the way to stay invisible with how much money you actually have and project yourself as the average person just like the rest of society.
Stealth wealth is a new breed of people who wish to ignore the noise of society and wants to stay under the radar. The benefits of stealth wealth is that it simplifies your life. You are seen as the “Average Joe” and less people are going to give you attention. You never know what kind of person out there will be interested in you.
While having more people in your network is useful and helpful to your life and overall sense of being, sometimes it can get too hectic. Remembering what’s going on in their lives, anticipating how they are feeling, what amends you may need to make, and the like.
These days, more and more rich people have a desire to practice stealth wealth because they know how better their life is than others and have no need to show it off. It’s much more simpler to exhibit stealth wealth signs and live a less stressful life. People figure out that they don’t want to flaunt their wealth.
They realize that the goal is to be rich not to look rich. There’s no reason to care about people staring at your shirt with holes in them. It’s not for them you’re living your life anyway. It’s for you. That is what the stealth wealth movement is all about. It’s becoming much more common.
9 Stealth Wealth Signs: How You Can Tell if Someone is Secretly Rich
Below are the 9 concrete signs that someone is secretly rich. Modesty is very deceitful.
1) They Say They are “Comfortable”
In alternative terms, they say they do “OK for themselves”. When you ask them how they are living, they become very modest. The poor love to be someone they’re not so they need to prove that they’re doing better than they actually are. They try to show off their latest iPhone they bought and the latest car they bought.
Whatever it is, they have a need to prove themselves to the world. The rich doesn’t care about proving themselves to the world. They don’t care whether someone likes them or not because they come as they are. Whether the world accepts or rejects them, they are OK with either outcome.
This is one of the biggest stealth wealth signs. They downplay their wealth and talk in modest terms. Because they know just how much little other people’s opinions of them matter to them. Be aware of people who talk in these terms. They may just be the richest person you know.
2) They Live With their Parents Even While Having a Good Job
People think millennials living with their parents do it because they have to. Most of my millennial friends do it because they want to. One of my friend easily clears $300k/year in income. And yet, he lives with his parents. In a 2,500 sq. ft. house. I can’t imagine the amount of money he saves.
That’s one of the killer stealth wealth signs. The ones who live with their parents are the ones who are saving the money. For some reason, we think that the person who has their own place means that they can afford it. Quite the opposite. They HAVE to spend money on rent.
However, the ones who live with their parents are just saving all of that money on their own. The one who doesn’t spend money are the real wealth builders. Don’t let spending be an indicator of stealth wealth. The stealth wealth signs are the ones who diligently save their money to no end.
3) They Work for a Good Brand Company
One of my friends’ dad retired. He was working for Bank of America, one of the top banks in the nation for over 20+ years. Working for a company with a good brand power like Bank of America for over decades at a time means that they were paid well. My guess is they were getting paid at least $200k+ per year.
At a minimum. That’s one of the stealth wealth signs. Some employees at name brand companies do get paid very low, sure. However, they are in the minority. Even if the company isn’t a name brand, there are smaller companies who pay their employees very well. One company I was interviewing with was a 16 person startup.
The company was going to offer me $300k all in compensation until they decided not to hire me. When someone works for a name brand company for years and years at a time, it means they are well off financially. The big name brand companies do give good bonuses to their employees and take care of their people.
4) They are College Educated
While I don’t believe college is the most optimal way to spend one’s time, I believe that college opens doors for a lot of people. A piece of paper goes a long way these days than anything else, for some reason. College education is a good sign that they are at least on their way to making a good living for themselves.
There are college graduates who don’t do well financially. However, if they majored in something like finance, business, engineering, computer science, and the like, they shouldn’t be too bad off. One of the big stealth wealth signs is when they are college educated.
Don’t discount the power of education. We are living in some serious logical fallacy times where a college degree paper means a lot to the world. For some odd reason. There are people without a college degree who can run circles around me.
However, they don’t, just because of that one piece of paper.
5) They Save a Lot of Money
Stealth wealth signs is when you see someone practice frugality. There are many times that people give me flack for saving a lot of money. However, I know that I’m way richer than them. I know that the ones who give me flack for saving money are the ones who don’t save money themselves.
The amount of wealth that I have compared to the ones who make fun of me for saving so much money is incomparable. Saving and investing does more wonders for your life than any amount of 2% inflationary raises from companies do. Stealth wealth signs is when they save a lot of money.
They don’t care about buying designer clothes or getting the latest iPhone or buying a new car. All they care about is protecting their wealth by living frugally and modestly so that they can make their way out into the world. Wealth is built on saving money, not on spending it.
6) They Don’t Go Out Much
The ones who go out every day are the ones who are spending money. Many of my college friends who got good jobs after graduation went out every weekend. Went to the bars, bought shots for their friends, and the like. While they had a great time doing it, they didn’t have a lot to show for it at the end of it all.
The ones who don’t go out much don’t do so because they can’t afford it. They don’t go out much because they want to save their money. Stealth wealth signs are when they are a homebody or they are more willing to do free stuff like play a board game or read a good book.
Going outside to spend money is easy. However, they may be savvy enough to know which events are free to enjoy with their friends. There’s no need to have to spend money in order to enjoy life. There’s a lot of alternative options out there that many people are overlooking.
7) They Pay the Least Money for Rent in the Neighborhood
I live in one of the most expensive zip codes in my city. However, for some reason, I pay the lowest rent. I’m confident I pay the lowest rent in the entire zip code. I pay $1,125 per month with ALL utilities paid for. INCLUDING cable. I can’t believe I found this deal of a lifetime.
I know I’m not going to find another deal like this again. My neighbors actually pay more than me, about $300/month more. Which is a good chunk of change when looking at it over a year. The ones who pay the least rent in the neighborhood are the ones who are secretly rich.
Stealth wealth signs are showing when there are people who try to figure out how to pay the least amount of money for expenses. Rent is something that is a fixed cost. You have to pay it no matter what. When they control that expense, that’s a surefire sign they know how to build wealth.
8) They Drive a “Drivable” Car
The millionaires don’t drive the Lambos and the Ferraris. They drive the Nissan’s, Honda’s, and the like. They’re too busy spending the rest of their money on investments that they don’t have time to mess around with buying and selling a lot of cars. They drive a “drivable” car that takes them from Point A to Point B.
That’s it. No more and no less. That’s one of the well known stealth wealth signs. A $30,000 car purchase is a significant chunk of change when you look at it. I drive a car that I bought for $10.5k, all in. Although I recently bought a car for $13.5k, all in, because of this crazy used car market, I fully expect to drive my car another 100k miles.
The ones who drive a beater car are quite well off financially. They are secretly wealthy while looking poor to the outside world. These days, with good maintenance, cars run for a good 200k miles. Some cars much less and some cars much more. The engineering on the cars is much better.
9) Their Social Media is Quiet
People with real money don’t want to flaunt it. Look at Mark Cuban. The biggest thing I remember from Mark Cuban was that he went up to speak publicly to a group of people wearing only a cat t-shirt. He’s literally a billionaire. The ones with real wealth have no need to show off their money.
They have no need to get on social media often either. They’re too busy trying to create and do things that they don’t have time to post status updates or tweet about it. They actually put their head down and get to work. They know what needs to be done and what their goals are.
And then they go ahead and execute on those goals. Their social media profiles are almost non-existent. It’s one of the stealth wealth signs. I haven’t used FaceBook in the past 4 years because I deactivated my Facebook. I have too much other things that I need to do with my time than to update my life on there.
Stealth Wealth Signs are Everywhere
Now, you must have a better appreciation for the stealth wealth signs. The person wearing a t-shirt and jeans in the grocery store just might be a multimillionaire. The stealth wealth signs are everywhere and when you least expect it. The ones who have no need to show everyone how much they have are the real wealthy people.
Stealth wealth is a much simpler way to live as well. You don’t want to live with all of this attention. There are people with less than ideal motives out there. The robbers don’t rob the poor. They rob the rich. They know they’re the real ones to target. Stealth wealth simplifies your life.
You don’t want family members suddenly wanting to call you for a $1,000 problem. When Barbara Corcoran sold her company for millions of dollars, all her family members called her. Everyone seemed to have a $1,000 problem. It’s too much work to manage their expectations that you’re not just a meal ticket.
You might have to negotiate that you’re not just a meal ticket and a person to take advantage of when they need something from you. When you exhibit these stealth wealth signs then it just simplifies your life. There’s no need to negotiate because everyone thinks you don’t have money, anyway.
I employ these tactics so much into my life. It’s wonderful to go through with life with everyone thinking I’m an underdog. They give me more sympathy when I don’t deserve any and it’s been a smooth sailing way to live. The older I get, the more desire I have to simplify my life and attract less attention.
9 Stealth Wealth Signs Shortlist:
- They say they are “comfortable”
- They live with their parents even while having a good job
- They work for a good brand company
- They are college educated
- They save a lot of money
- They don’t go out much
- They pay the least money for rent in the neighborhood
- They drive a “drivable” car
- Their social media is quiet
You can be anonymous in a big city but in my small town it’s impossible. Everyone knows who I am and that I made a ton of money running a billion dollar company. Sure I went grocery shopping in shorts and a ten year old tee shirt today in my 5 year old car I bought used. I also mostly bought the cheaper store brands and will do all the cooking myself this week instead of eating out. But I’m not fooling anyone, they know I have money.
I used the job title Finance Administrator. It’s a dull title but it’s true. I do administer finances, mine. Having Manager as a job title implies decision making abilities and everyone wants to talk to that guy. An Administrator, well, he’s a dull guy. That’s me.
That’s a telltale sign of stealth wealth!