Dave Ramsey: 4 Under-the-Radar Money Moves Made by ‘Secret Millionaires’
Written by
Gabrielle Olya
Edited by
Gary Dudak
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Money expert Dave Ramsey says he has a knack for spotting “secret millionaires.”
“I can spot them now,” he said on an episode of “The Ramsey Show.” “I can feel the everyday millionaires now. I’ve met so many of them over the decades of doing this.”
And these people are typically not who you think they are, he said.
“The huge, expensive car, the vastly expensive purse, the vastly expensive vacation on Instagram, the vastly expensive fill-in-the-blank, are very seldom actual indicators of wealth,” Ramsey said.
Instead, Ramsey said that most people with a net worth of between $1 and $10 million make more under-the-radar moves … like these.
They Wear Inexpensive Clothes
Secret millionaires don’t shop at Gucci and Prada.
“They buy their clothes at unimpressive places in their unimpressive clothes,” Ramsey said on the show. “The [people with] $1 to $10 million are typically people that, if you walk past them in Walmart, you’d have no idea.”
They Don’t Flaunt Their Vacations on Social Media
A secret millionaire might splurge on a luxury vacation — but you’d never know about it.
“They enjoy nice vacations, but they seldom post them for you to see on Instagram because they did not take you on vacation,” Ramsey said.
They Don’t Spoil Their Friends and Family
Secret millionaires don’t waste their money on lavish gifts.
“The Christmas presents around the tree are very reasonable,” Ramsey said.
They Drive Used Cars
You won’t find flashy luxury cars parked in a secret millionaire’s garage.
“The car that they drive is understated, and the valet is seldom impressed — until he gets the tip,” Ramsey said. “It’s usually a used Camry or a nice used Honda or a nice old pickup truck of some kind.”
Ramsey said that the reason secret millionaires spend and save their money the way that they do is that they are not at all concerned about what other people think.
“They were not living their life to impress others,” he said. “They loved their life, not yours. They were not trying to emulate or be the Joneses. They just didn’t care what you thought. When you quit worrying about what people think and you’re actually living life for you and your family, that causes you to make completely different purchases and live a completely different lifestyle.”
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