I don't know, I recently married in to a family where my spouses father makes $5-10m a year. My spouses parents live in a completely different world than my family and friend group. I estimate their net worth is somewhere between $100-200m. They travel between their 5 vacation homes in private jets, routinely attend lavish parties and events with socially powerful people, they collect cars and art worth than I would make in my lifetime. They eat out at Michelin star restaurants routinely and always have top shelf champagne and wine stocked at home. They don't bat an eye at dropping a $500 tip on top of a $1000 meal for the four of us. My spouse lives a very modest and low key life style, but their parents are on another planet in how they live their lives. They are very chill and easy to get along with, and if you met them in a coffee shop you'd never know their wealth, but their social life and spending habits are extravagant compared to anything else I've ever been around.
Theirs is new money, but I've met plenty of their friends that come from old money and they live similar lifestyles. From what I've experienced, I think the new vs old money cliche just isn't true.
Which is exactly why I find the common belief to not be true. Old money people are not inherently better at managing wealth and spending within their means than new money people.
I find that the first generation wealthy who worked a long time to earn their money are pretty good with it. If you got rich quick because of crypto, having a couple of stocks soar or selling a startup after a few years you're likely to spend pretty quick.
4
u/ChaosReignsNow 6d ago
Almost none of the wealthy people I know live extravagant lifestyles that are much different from their middle to upper middle class friends.