How To Take Advantage Of Rich People So You Can Get Rich Too

Want to get rich or feel rich? You might as well take advantage of rich people! OK, I'm not trying to be insidious. Hear me out in this post.

I'll never forget what my contractor told me in the midst of my home remodel for maximum returns.

After I'm done building your bathroom, I'm heading over to Pacific Heights and charging 2X more for a similar-sized bathroom,” he said.

How is that possible when sheetrock, pipes, tiles, and fixtures all cost about the same?” I asked.

Easy. Rich people don't care. They have so much money that as long as I provide them good service, I can charge them whatever I want.” he said somewhat smugly.

Good to know! Well, thanks for building my bathroom for the price we agreed upon. It's looking great,” I replied.

I was going to tell him that if he did a good job building my master bathroom that he could then work on remodeling my condo in Pacific Heights. But after his comment, I decided not to!

How To Take Advantage Of Rich People

It's impossible to squeeze water from a stone. Therefore, it's better to take advantage of rich people than poor people if you want to some day have the luxury of getting squeezed yourself.

Stay until the end of the post because there's a revelation for all of you who feel that taking advantage of the rich is poor form. Here are my five keys to making maximum profits from rich people.

1) Build A Brand

When you sell a luxury good, you are selling an emotion. When you can adeptly sell an emotion, your profit margins soar. Therefore, one of the best ways to take advantage of rich people is to build a luxury brand.

Hermes can sell a Grace Kelley handbag for $12,000 to some people because Hermes exudes luxury. Whereas Fossil can only sell a similar handbag made with the same materials for $120 because nobody cares.

Building a luxury brand is important not only for selling goods at premium prices. Having a luxury brand is also vital for selling services for massive profit margins.

When you can put in your selling literature that your house was designed by “XYZ architect” and won “ABC award,” from known people, the value of your house goes up.

Everybody wants to be associated with a winner.

2) Value Your Client's Time And Provide Excellent Service

The one thing rich people can't buy is time. Which is why rich people put a premium on vendors who are responsive, attentive, and forward thinking. The more time you can save a rich person, the more the rich person will pay for your services.

Although my contractor is cheap, in the past he was terribly unresponsive and went missing for months before finishing the job. His lack of service quality was frustrating because at the time we were living in the house while he was doing the remodel.

The main way I alleviated my frustration was reminding myself that he charges 150% more for the same work in more expensive neighborhoods. In other words, his fat profit margins elsewhere helped subsidize my renovation.

Contractor Didn’t Make Money Off Me

He later told me that he lost money on my project. Whether he was saying that to try and butter me up for a new project, I'm not sure. But regardless, based on the absolute dollar value I paid him, he couldn't have made much based on the total amount of time and help he spent to do the job.

Excellent service is a godsend to rich people. All rich people want is to feel secure knowing the job is being handled by the best professional possible. The more you can minimize the rich person's worries and headaches, the more you will get paid.

Just get it done and don't bother me until it's done,” is a common mindset by rich people and top managers. It sounds arrogant. However, when you can afford to pay a premium, you want to be shielded as much as possible from the hassle.

3) Create Relative Value For Rich People

Even if you're rich, however, you don't want to feel like you're getting ripped off. Therefore, it's important to highlight who else you've worked with to make your prospective client feel more at ease.

Even if the rich person knows your price is outrageously high, he or she will feel better knowing that other rich people have paid a similarly outrageously high price as well. There is comfort in numbers.

How To Take Advantage Of Rich People So You Can Get Rich Too

In my contractor's case, he has a lovely portfolio of remodeling work he's done at different price points. No matter how expensive the price you're considering paying, there will always be an even more expensive price someone else has paid. Your strategy is to show the even more expensive job to make your client feel better about his less expensive job.

For example, spending $60,000 will get you a very nice kitchen in San Francisco. But when some clients balks at this price, my contractor shows them the $150,000 kitchen he built. Suddenly, the $60,000 kitchen seems like a bargain!

Always have a menu of higher price point options. This will make your bread and butter price point seem the most attractive.

Related: To Create Real Estate Value, Expand

4) Focus On The Lifestyle

When you are selling a product or a service at a high price point, your end goal is to always sell what the product or service is ultimately buying e.g. sell the image of a better-tasting steak not the steak knives.

In my post, Watch Out For The Illusion Of Value, I used an example of a $5.9 million house in Honolulu to warn readers about how excellent marketing can cause buyers to overpay.

I adamantly thought the house wouldn't sell for more than $4.85 million. The luxury Honolulu real estate market has softened since it last sold for $4.85 million in 2016. Inventory is up double digits and other properties in the neighborhood have been sitting for years. The jobs in Honolulu do not support such housing prices either.

Well, guess what? After 160+ days on the market, the house finally sold for a whopping $5.3 million! Yes, it sold for $600,000 less than asking price. But it still sold for $450,000 more than what it was originally purchased for. Further, it sold for $750,000 more than what it should have sold for.

In Defense Of The Sale

A realtor in the know who vigorously defended the sale wrote in the comments section, “Go back and take a look at this in home in 5 years. They will most likely make money. But that is not their motive. Living in a beautiful home with their family is more important than a financial incentive. Some people actually still believe in that. I have never met the buyers. But apparently, they are very happy people now.

When you are so rich that you have the luxury of not caring about whether you made a good investment or not on a $5.3 million purchase, you know you are really rich!

There is no doubt the home is wonderful. I wouldn't have toured it if it wasn't. If the buyers love the home and don't care whether they overpaid by several hundred thousand dollars, we shouldn't care either.

However, if you are someone who is trying to sell a service or a product for a maximum price to earn the highest profit margin, focusing on how your product or service can create a better lifestyle is KEY!

As of 2023, Honolulu real estate is strong because more people are working remotely. However, luxury property above $3 million still is moving slowly.

5) Give Maximum Respect To Rich People

Whether you're speaking to the janitor or the CEO, you must treat another with maximum respect. Rich people are usually in positions of power or have been in positions of power for a very long time. Therefore, rich people are actually more sensitive when others don't give them respect. They are so used to getting love and attention.

Respect goes beyond being punctual and responsive. Maximum respect involves anticipating what problems or concerns the rich person has and addressing these problems before they even come up.

Maximum respect creates maximum trustworthiness. Once you have a rich person's trust, you are well on your way to becoming a rich person yourself.

You're Not Actually Taking Advantage Of The Rich

The reality is, you're not taking advantage of rich people by charging a premium price if you follow the five things I've mentioned above. If you have demand, you're still providing more value than you're charging since everything is rational. After all, rich people didn't get rich by being stupid with their money.

It is extremely rare to come across someone who is excellent. Many people are disrespectful, lazy, apathetic, chronically late, and have low emotional intelligence. When a rich person finds someone who is excellent, he will hold onto that someone for dear life. He will then refer him to all his friends to build credit.

Don't sell yourself short. I am absolutely certain the vast majority of us are not earning or charging what we are truly worth.

Find the maximum price the market is willing to bear and charge it. Your time is valuable. You will also discover that customers who pay a higher price are often better. Through testing you will eventually discover whether your product is worth its price or not.

Paying More For Great Service Is Worth It

The older I get, the more I'm willing to pay up for great service and products that save me time and stress. Here are some specific examples:

1) Paying $5 – $10 using a food delivery app because I no longer want to spend 20 minutes driving, parking, and waiting to pick up food.

2) Turning my car into the dealer and getting fleeced because I no longer want to spend weeks and risk my life trying to sell my car for the best price possible on Craigslist.

3) Buying a fully remodeled home in Hawaii instead of a fixer because my time is more valuable than working with a contractor to get the best value.

4) Paying a premium for Apple products because I appreciate being able to fix any problems at their stores.

5) Paying 30% more for Economy Plus seats because life feels too short to sit in the middle seat next to the toilet.

I'm sure all of you have something you're willing to pay a premium for as well.

Here's to everyone getting rich!

Related:

Do You Want To Be Rich Or Do You Want To Be Free?

It's Very Hard To Get Rich Working For Someone Else

How To Make Six Figures A Year And Still Not Feel Rich

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The richest people in the world own businesses and own equity in private businesses. Therefore, consider diversifying into private growth companies through an open venture capital fund. Finding the next Google or Apple before going public can be a life-changing investment. 

Check out the Innovation Fund, which invests in the following five sectors:

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Roughly 35% of the Innovation Fund is invested in artificial intelligence, which I'm extremely bullish about. In 20 years, I don't want my kids wondering why I didn't invest in AI or work in AI!

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42 thoughts on “How To Take Advantage Of Rich People So You Can Get Rich Too”

  1. I also want to say that how much money you can charge for a premium greatly depends on whether rich people feel your service is a replaceable commodity or something only a rare few people or company can provide. A high end Apple phone or Hermes Birkin will always sell because you cant get it elsewhere. So you always need to let them know what you sell is NOT a commodity like they might believe, for, example good IT consulting

  2. Sorry I dont agree with this article entirely. I have vast experience working with HNW individuals people who own 50
    To 80 million dollar homes and others who just own 3 to 8 million dollar homes. While I agree with most of this article in my experience I find these wealthy people to be extremely cheap and VERY resistant to paying a premium for providing the best of class services to them. In many cases I feel they are so cheap insofar as to harm their own productivity. They are also always scared that you may be trying to fleece them due to others trying to take advantage of them in the past. However I do agree they will reward you with loyalty and refer you out but as far as charging a premium I have never found that to be the case they will find the best contractor for the best price at the most discount rate like any other frugal person and them tell all their friends about you and look like a hero to their friends for finding someone good who doesnt charge a lot. Then you end up dealing with their high net worth demanding attitude for a price thats not worth it. They are willing to lose you ultimately because they have more frugal friends they can just call to find them a similar “good catch” who is another sucker contractor that thinks they can charge a premium or just expand their customer base with “some great high status individuals”. The only time I have ever seen companies or individuals pay a premium is for someone to protect their ass and not get fired and convince their boss for political reasons, kickbacks, friendships, or sheer competitive threat that if they dont buy premium they will be out of business due to competitive pressure.

  3. It’s good to network with people from all walks of life online so one can gain valuable online people skills and network your way to future passive $ gUaP 4 – “side hustle millionaire” status! :-)

  4. frying pan & a saute pan with sticker price £100 = 60- 80 in profits.
    I have a lot of kitchen stuff with sticker price 100, MSRP 120, purchase price 13-15 +5,3% sales tax. Same mall but different stores.

  5. It is all a matter of perspectives, isn’t it? People buy perceived value, not price. It is also the same reason why I thought Apple was quite brilliant when they launched iPhone 5C with the 5S, with the inferior model just a touch lower in price. Relatively, it makes the expensive iPhone 5S seems like a steal!

  6. I completely agree with converting money into units of time to see the actual worth of it all. Yes we have to life frugal but at the same time we fail to understand a VERY important concept and that is: money is INFINITE and time is FINITE. I completely align with what Sam is saying, time is the most expensive and sought after commodity on this planet and if you can trade something for time and use that difference for something productive then you’re winning at life.

  7. Simple Money Man

    I agree paying for convenience and avoidance of hassle can be sometimes worth it. I could probably do my own oil change, but kids would get in the way and I would have to spend time prepping and cleaning up so that’s why I get it done instead. It happens when we are comfortably able to do such. But if I was strapped, I’d definitely do it myself.

  8. SavingNinja

    Flipping this on it’s head is; “How to Take Advantage of Kindness by Pretending to be Poor” I live in the cheapest area I could find and masquerade as a cheapo student in public.

    Me and my partner were once deciding on whether to get a £100 ‘lifetime-guarantee’ frying pan or a saute pan (who needs both). After spending 20 minutes deciding which one to buy, and proceeding to buy the frying pan, the shop manager decided to give us the saute pan (worth £100) for free. I can only it’s as she felt sorry for us “not being able to buy both.”

    And, like yourself, I once had a plasterer work on my bathroom and say he’d charge much more for people with huge houses, and a painter who did us a very good deal as we seem like we need the money and are young.

    In actual fact, we pull in over 6 figures and save over 80% of our salary. It pays to pretend to be poor :D We are, without a doubt, taking advantage of people who probably earn less than us.

    Does that make us assholes? I’d say no, as we’re providing value to them: Making them feel good for doing a ‘good deed’ and giving to the needy. Each to their own!

    1. That is a scarcity mindset that I think will keep you less wealthy than you could be.

      I also think it is bad for him because there are people out there who are struggling to make ends meet and you might’ve taken that opportunity away from them.

      1. SavingNinja

        I’m thinking purely selfishly. Could you explain your reasoning as to why you think doing this may impact future wealth?

        1. I guess your first sentence explains it all. If you want to live your life exploiting other people goodwill, it is your choice. I am sure you have a good justification for that and if it makes you happy…

          Keep in mind: “What goes around comes around.”

    2. Being or pretending to be poor does get you freebies and discounts. For example, if a client is going through a financial hardship, I feel sympathy and give the client a discount.

      Brian, CPA, CFP

    3. I don’t think it’s a masquerade. It’s just being you and if people assume certain things then so be it.
      I drive a now 13 year old corolla. I wear not expensive clothing. I make what most people would consider a lot. I had a nail in the tire of my car and went in to get it patched. It was like 20 bucks. I told the guy honestly I had to get this done quick because I had to get back to work. He bumped me in front of some other folks and when I went to pay he said “don’t worry about it….when you need new tires come back and i’ll cut you a deal”.
      When I needed new tires I went back and yeah he cut me a good deal. As a behind the scenes “thanks” I sent my wife there when she needed new tires on her luxury SUV….she did not get a good deal.
      I just think it plays out as it should, if you look like you’re flinging money out windows people can’t be blamed for scooping up some extra. If you look like you care where your dollars go people try to help you out.

  9. Lovematters

    I charge the most for couples counseling services in San Francisco. I am the outlier. I never thought of it as taking advantage of the rich. I truly believe I am the best at what I do and my brand/reputation supports that conclusion. I imagine the same is true in other professions- only the very best get to service the very wealthy due to superior service, craft, and reputation.
    Paying me is the very best chance my clients have to turn their relationship around. Why wouldn’t people pay for the best if they can afford it?

  10. Who says money isn’t important. When you’re rich you can pay people to be nice to you.
    Life is more comfortable when you have money. You can use it any way you want.
    Rich people should spend more and spread it around. They don’t spend enough.

  11. Geez, $60,000 to remodel a kitchen!? Are those real numbers!? I’ve harped on this before in an earlier article regarding home prices, but I feel the same way about these remodeling. These prices are nuts! That’s half the price of my apartment!

    I understand wanting to live in a nicer home vs an ugly home. Trust me, I do. But I can’t imagine any aesthetic update to a kitchen being truly, inherently worth $60,000. No granite countertops are worth that amount! Yes, I know that it supposedly increases the home’s value as well, but that just sounds more like the Greater Fool theory at work than a true increase in value. The kitchen still cooks and stores food just as well as it did before, doesn’t it?

    This is why most people–even high earners–need to work for almost half a century before they’ve saved up enough to retire. Because apparently everyone’s just pissing their money instead of saving/investing it or even spending it on something else. Maybe it’s me, but I just think everybody’s nuts.

    The song “Mad World” by Within Temptation just came onto my playlist as I was typing this. I feel like the title is appropriate.

    Sincerely,
    ARB–Angry Retail Banker

    1. You’re missing something here. It’s actually relatively cheaper to remodel a kitchen in a high cost of living area than in a low cost of living area b/c the appliances and materials are mostly fixed.

      Let’s say the $60K kitchen in a $2.5 million home costs only $25K in a $300,000 home due to lower labor costs.

      The kitchen costs 2.4% vs. 8.3% of each respective home value.

      1. Also to add to your comment, if you have a contractor working in a higher cost of living area, that contractor also has higher costs to ‘live’ there as well. So, hence the higher cost you pay in labor.

        I lived in Austin, TX and the mechanics there charged $60-$80 an hour. Moved to the Washington D.C. area and viola!… $110-$130 an hour. Drive to Manassas, VA and it is $90-$100 an hour. The service providers also have to eat and pay their mortgages, so entails the natural order of paying more. This, I believe, would be the baseline of our Financial Samurai’s post.

        Cheers!

    2. fun in the sun

      I agree that these costs seem so high. I would love to see a break down.

      Granite/Quartz counters have not been expensive in years. The material is about $10-$15 per square foot + what you pay the fabricator. I pay about $30 per square foot installed, so a huge kitchen is about $2k.

      Cabinet costs can be anything based on brand name and how customized they are. Perhaps $45k went on the cabinets? You can get very nice cabinets for about $3k-$5k.

      You can get a very nice high end appliance set for $5k. A cheap stainless set is about $1500. Once again you can spend more on the brand name, but its no better than the high end $5k set.

      My contractors on my rental rehabs charge homeowners in nice suburbs about 500% to 1000% of what I pay. They openly discuss it “I can do this job for $5k, but if one of those $50k bids I just made wins, I will need to leave for a month and return”.

      1. Check out how much a 6-burner, 48″ Thermador Professional or Viking Professional range costs. We’re talking $10,000+ alone. Then there’s the hood, fridge, dishwasher, sink, faucet, etc. It’s important to match the appliances and remodel with the cost of your home.

        What is the value of your rental homes you own?

        1. fun in the sun

          My rentals are a lot cheaper (a few hundred thousand per unit) than Bay Area prices.

          How much of the $60k was appliances? I guess that answers where the money went.

          How fancy of a sink and faucet do you buy? $300 faucets are pretty nice, but I guess you can spend far more on obscure high end brands. I really hate the more expensive farmers sink I have in my own place, a simple stainless steel double sink is much more practical for a kitchen that’s used.

      2. Custom wood cabinetry will cost you a fortune – sky’s the limit. Want it inlaid with mother of pearl design? cha-ching – couple that with high, high-end appliances – you are well into 6 figures pretty quickly….. And if you know of people who don’t care about the price tag in order to obtain the best, let me know, lol…. that’s the whole point of the article. Understand a wealthy person’s needs (time, quality, ego) and cater to those needs – it’s a different market requiring a different skill set….

  12. We’ve reached an age (and size!) that we pay the price for premium economy. That 1 inch extra width in the seat sure makes a difference!

    My favorite premium economy is the Air New Zealand “spaceseat”. It reclines into it’s own space, so you don’t have to worry about the person in front of you reclining into your lap.

    My worst premium economy is Lufthansa. Plenty of seat width, plenty of leg room, but seats hard as rocks! So uncomfortable. Like spending 10 hours in a hard plastic patio chair.

    British Airways premium economy has been pretty reliably comfortable overall, other than the hassle of flying through London Heathrow.

    We actually flew business class on Iberia to Madrid once, because (1) it was the only non-stop flight I could find, and (2) we wanted to determine whether we could actually sleep on a plane if we were in 180 degree lay flat seats. While it was great having access to the lounge at the airport, we didn’t get any more sleep than when we flew premium economy. Thus, no more business class flights in the foreseeable future for us.

  13. Fire Year FIRE escape

    Your plenty rich once you have more money than time.
    I’m retired and I still am happy to pay to save some time. I pay for tutors for basically anything I want to learn.
    I love learning. I could use a book but a tutor gets me to my end point twice as fast. Worth it! I’m not rich…but I’m rich enough :P

  14. The problem with you example of luxury brands is that most of their profit comes from the low end – which is marketed to the poor. The rich can only drive so many cars, own so many Hermes trunks, wear so many custom Tiffany rings, and so on. The poor are the ones who buy the hardest into this faux luxury and buy the most of this crap. And the low end stuff is crap.

  15. Oh, and I left out, I have to disagree with Alchemist, I don’t think a lot of people become wealthy by being hard driving obsessives with little concern who they run over. I think that only a tiny fraction of people who act like that are successful. I have worked with a lot of highly successful people including some billionaires and they were almost invariably kind and thoughtful. Sure they were shrewd as well and they expected respect but they also gave respect to the janitors, the waitresses in restaurants and to their lowest level employees. I had a boss once who was on the Forbes richest 200 American’s list. In his seventies he would walk around our 400 acre plant site at 6 AM handing out donuts to all our hourly workers. We’d walk through fire for that man!

      1. Most rich like to cheat I closed a sale worth mega millions and I had to struggle to get my commission how can someone who bought a property of nearly 2million dollars be telling fairytales just to pay a meagre commission that isn’t shrewd that is being wickeddddddd

  16. I own a tax firm with 500 clients and the typical client works at tech company making between $300K to $2M. My prices are slightly above average compared to other small tax firms in San Jose, but I provide the best advice and strategies so it’s been easy to attract clients. With some of these tax strategies, clients have saved over $100K in taxes.

    The benefit of working with high-income clients are:
    1. They can afford to pay me. The only clients that ever stiffed me on a bill were the broke business owners.
    2. They refer me to their friends and co-workers who also have high-incomes.
    3. They have extra money to invest which is another revenue source since I’m a financial advisor.
    4. Generally, a wealthy client is less of a pain in the butt than a poor client. The client that’s invested $50K with me is going to complain more about the stock market’s volatility than the client who gave me $50M.
    5. It takes less time to service 500 clients paying $1,000 for their tax return, compared to having 2,000 clients paying $250.

    Brian, CPA, CFP

  17. I’m pretty sure I pay more for a lot of things than my neighbors do just because electricians, plumbers and tire dealers know who I am and assume that I am rich because I used to run the largest corporation in the area. Ironically it isn’t because I have sought out people who provide extra value for their excellent service, its more that I look like a fat target. Which I suppose is just like the people in the rich neighborhood your contractor plans to soak. Even though I don’t live in a rich neighborhood. I just inherited a reputation because of past notoriety and there really isn’t anywhere else to shop since there is only one town for miles. My wife and I have always joked about the great “deals” we get from our friends.

  18. The funniest line of your post is ‘I was going to tell him that if he did a good job building my master bathroom that he could then work on remodeling my condo in Pacific Heights. But after his comment, I decided not to!”

    I have a friend from Mexico who lived with us for a few years. He married a coworker of mine which is how he got his residency. But, he started a cleaning service for rich people. He cleaned their homes offered them tremendous value. Rich people often get rid of old furniture and appliances which to most people would still be considered new. He ended up furnishing much of his home from the stuff the rich people gave him when they no longer wanted it.

  19. The Alchemist

    I’ve often thought that a great way to make a living would be to provide some service geared specifically toward the wealthy, do a really good job at it, and then benefit from the referrals to all their friends. Of course, the down side of this is the part you mention about the over-the-top “respect” that many wealthy people seem to demand— respect that often verges into the realm of obsequious a$$-ki$$ing. That’s the part I’d hate.

    As you note: “It is extremely rare to come across someone who is excellent. Many people are disrespectful, lazy, apathetic, chronically late, and have low emotional intelligence.” This is 1000% true! But it cuts both ways; it’s true of an awful lot of service people/contractors, but it ALSO applies to many wealthy clients.

    To a large extent, one can understand why the truly wealthy often are a$$holes. Certainly a lot of people BECOME wealthy by being hard-driving obsessives with little concern for who they run over in the rough-and-tumble drive for success. But also, when you’re really well off (and if you’re not practicing stealth wealth), you probably spend an awful lot of time being wary of others, wondering who’s looking to rip you off OR is kissing your tush just to get something out of you. You’re never quite sure whether people are nice to you because they like YOU or they like your $$$.

    It’s an interesting thing to consider! But I definitely agree on the point about true EXCELLENCE being scarce as hen’s teeth and worth its weight in gold. If I were wealthy, I, too, would “hold on” to such people “for dear life”! Also agree about the luxury that the wealthy have of overpaying to make hassles just “go away”. Ah, how lovely that would be!

  20. Unfortunately to avoid takes time. I stand up to BS and call people out – but what it gets is hassle.

    As long as you’re prepared to ruffle feathers and spend time, please continue to call BS on contractors. They deserve it.

  21. I totally believe that many companies charge more for services based on if you live in a rich or well to do neighborhood. I always roll my eyes when I call a company for info on their pricing and they won’t give me any figures without knowing my address and zip code. So I completely believe your contractor is one to charge people more if they live in a fancy area. Nice list in your post! Makes a lot of sense.

  22. Love this post. All of the points are valid but the one on respect is most underappreciated.

    My entire family used to go to a dentist here in Chelsea in London who charged us an arm and a leg but I was comfortable knowing that I pay for a high-quality, premium product – especially when it came to my wife and daughter.

    Then one day, he sold me a tube of toothpaste for £15. I later saw the same toothpaste for £5 at Waitrose. I didn’t mind paying a premium for his service but I was livid at getting ripped off on toothpaste and went to a different dentist. My old one made an extra ten quid that one time but lost thousands in future income as a result.

    1. The more I think about this, the more I have to agree the respect, recognition, and acknowledgement is under-appreciated as well.

      Everybody just wants to be recognized for their achievements. If you want to make friends, the easiest thing to do is to truly recognize how much risk, or guts, or effort it took for that someone to achieve something.

      It’s so simple, yet so few people do it.

  23. It is true that as someone considered wealthy (or perceived wealthy if they know you are a doctor despite a lot of doctors having net worths below zero) there are many times you know that you are paying a premium for a service.

    It is hard to practice stealth wealth for me even though I live in a very rural location because once someone comes out to my house to give an estimate on a project they see the property and know that I must be well off.

    I guarantee you I got fleeced a lot more by my lawyer than the average Joe during my divorce because I guarantee you that every single billable minute was indeed billed out while someone who is not a high income person I am sure got a lot of stuff comped as there is no way they could afford the legal bills I received (granted my divorce was highly contentious but even if it was not I couldn’t see myself getting out like some people do with a low legal bill).

    I too have started paying a premium for convenience knowing that it was a time saving step or led to less hassle. At a certain level of net worth the attitude changes (I find this especially true with passive income because spending that money seems easier as there is no direct tie with work).

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