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The following post is by MSG staff writer, Shondell of Call Me What You Want, Even Cheap. She blogs about her recent car loan and mortgage pay off of over $95k and a whole bunch more. Check out her blog right here.
I’ll never understand why people are pretending to be rich. It is so much better to be rich than act rich. I know there are people that are not able to handle the fact that they have less money than others but there is nothing wrong with waiting until your rich to do what rich people do.
Here are some things that poor people do to try and pretend they’re part of the upper classes.
Table of Contents
Pretending To Be Rich
Joining a Country Club
The country club is a place filled with people whose pockets are bursting at the seams with wealth, and then there are those who are acting like their pockets are bursting. They cough up extortionate amounts of money to dine with the rich, play golf with them, and generally lead the rich life. The problem is some of them are not rich and are using their credit cards to join these clubs.
Bragging About Vacations
This one makes me laugh. I know people who are rich and poor and it is so funny to hear people who are not rich brag about their next vacation. I had one friend who kept bragging about going to Vegas. When she got back, she started to complain that she didn’t have enough money to pay her credit card bill. Huh!
Going To Charity Events
This is so bad, but there are people out there that attend charity events just to be among the rich. It feels wonderful to give, but it only counts if your heart is in it. If you’re using your credit card to donate to a charity or you’re writing a cheque for a donation with no money in your account, you are just pretending to be rich. I’ve seen people do this just to act rich, it’s really pathetic.
Buying Fancy Clothes
Of course to be able to fit in at the country club and charity events, you need nice clothes. Some people think a couple of nice tuxedos and some nice cocktail dresses and a couple dozen shoes are all mandatory for living the rich lifestyle. But there are many rich folks that don’t go all out to look nice for other people. They wear what they have rather than the latest outfit that’s in style.
Having A Luxury Car
Many people have fantasized about having a Rolls Royce or being chauffeured around in a limo. Few people can actually afford to have either, and yet it’s not just the wealthy who end up buying the newest Rolls Royce or have a chauffeur. I was watching Princess recently and there was a 25 year old girl who had a chauffeur and lived at home with her parents. I busted out laughing when I saw that. It’s almost like having a car payment that’s the same as your rent payment. It just doesn’t make sense.
Do you know anyone who is pretending to be rich, but needs a wake up call?
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Fortunately for me most of my friends don’t act like this. Sure, most of them aren’t great with being frugal or really investing in their futures, but they certainly don’t act rich!
Have not gone as far as some of these, but definitely have tried to give the “impression” I had more money than I had, usually when going out to eat.
I do believe that having nice clothes for business works much better to your advantage as it makes you more confident and more appealing to the other party, but definitely wouldn’t recommend going overboard or taking a mortgage out to get nice clothes.
I am with Jason, most of my friends don’t try to act rich. They’re not always the best at saving for retirement, but they really don’t act rich.
You forgot about the people who join Yacht Clubs and have never even been on a boat. At least if you join a Country Club you can hack it along with the the rest of them.
Reminds of a book titled “Stop acting rich!” Love it!
I tried this for a while when my wife worked in Bellevue, WA (super rich city), but we just tried to play the part without spending the money. We window shopped, ate the cheap (but fancy) happy hour food after work, and were dressed nicely. It was fun, but we were always sobered when arriving at our 1994 Honda Accord with more scratches than a hip-hop DJ and 250k + miles 🙂
Never heard of that book. I’ll have to check it out!
I know a lot of people that fit in this category. ESPECIALLY with the luxury cars…. Pretty sad really
I know people who buy the fancy clothes and drive a really nice car to pick up girls at clubs. Then when the night is through….they take the girl back to their mother’s basement because they can’t afford a place of their own.
They’re not always the best at saving for retirement, but they really don’t act rich. at least if you join a Country Club you can hack it along with the the rest of them.
This basically describes everyone I know. They are mostly all living paycheck to paycheck but spending lavishly on clothes and electronics. It’s crazy.
Where we live now, people are pretty laid back and there isn’t lots of pretension. In the South, where I grew up, there is lots of keeping up with the Joneses. When you see a neighborhood full of beemers and Lexus’, you know that about 2/3 are up to their eyeballs in debt.
I second the suggestion. “Stop Acting Rich” is a good complement to this post.
My grandmother is extremely wealthy, but looks like you would want to give her money for food. She’s extremely frugal and always has been. She drives a beat up car that she’s had since I can remember, wears the same pre-owned clothes.
I admire this about her, especially because the rest of my family is quite pretentious. My uncle squanders his “wealth” by having the best of the best, this does not come humbly, seeing as he just loves to shove it in everyone’s faces how “perfect” his life is.
He sucks up to my grandma more than anyone, he’s even the executer of her will. I truly hope that she sees past the phony attention to the core of this sad reality. I am a lot like my grandmother, I’m extremely stingy and hate spending money on useless crap. I didn’t see the need for going into debt for faux affirmations and acceptances.
I guess I’m quite comfortable living my low maintenance lifestyle. Instead of throwing my money away at the next big thing, or the best of the best, I’m saving every penny for an early retirement.
I would rather live below my means so that I can retire by 40 so then I can enjoy doing the things I want to do. It’s a small sacrifice, but I’m not looking to get tied down to a mortgage or car payment that will keep me chained to the man until I’m 65.