What’s the point of being rich if you’re not going to enjoy it, right? Well, it seems the same attitude of purse-string tightening that got some of our most celebrated million- and billionaires where they are today is pretty hard to shake once you make it to the big time.
From Beyoncé to Zuckerberg, frugal living is a matter of habit rather than an economic demand. Despite her £308m fortune, Beyoncé refuses to treat herself, so her jewellery box is kept topped up only by the gifts she receives (often from the jewellers and designers themselves). Facebook founder Zuckerberg still drives a modest £20,000 saloon – a car he could literally buy one million times over.
Oil magnate T. Boone Pickens, despite the kind of name and title that conjures up images of gold bars and Cadillac’s, has a more disciplined weekly ‘big shop’ than most first-year undergraduates. Setting out with a strict grocery list, the billionaire only carries enough cash to cover what he’s planned for – with no temptation to splurge. Michael Bloomberg, with a whopping £28bn to his name, has a similarly old-fashioned approach: he famously wore the same shoes for ten years, preferring to get them professionally mended rather than wastefully disposing of them in favour of a new pair.
If you’ve not quite made it to your first billion yet, you could benefit from aping the mentality of a young Jay Leno or Elon Musk. TV presenter Leno worked two jobs simultaneously before he made it big, at a car dealership and a fast food joint – one income was for spending, the other for saving. And while still considering whether to chase his dream or play it safe, tech billionaire Musk tried living on a dollar a day, to make sure he had the capacity to make the sacrifices he would need to succeed.
You can check out other big names and the absurd (to us) lengths they’ve gone to in the name of wealth preservation on this great new infographic. Bargain! (Source)
