Billionaires are not like you or me, but it’s really important for them that you think they are…So important in fact that some of them are now spending millions of dollars every year to PR agencies to spread the message that they are just regular people that drive regular cars, eat at regular restaurants, and live in regular homes. But in the age of flex culture why are these people trying so hard to look normal? The now convicted fraudster Sam Bankman Fried once had billions of dollars of customer funds at his disposal to live a lavish life in the Bahamas. In the early days of FTX Fried and his co-conspirators reportedly drove around in the expensive sports cars typical of crypto bros. According to evidence presented during his trial, SBF would later sell these cars and advise other executives at FTX and Alameda to do the same because it didn’t fit with the image of the company that they were trying to present to customers and investors. SBF’s shitty Toyota Corolla that paid influencers made such a big deal of was about as authentic as the companies internal accounting department. The car, the haircut and the wrinkled haircut were more carefully managed than customer funds. The group did this because they knew that the image of a boy genius that didn’t care about luxuries or power would be appealing to people looking for an honest place to keep their funds. SBF and the rest of the gang were all frauds, but putting a lot of effort into crafting a folksy image is done by most prominent business leaders for three simple reasons that are mostly bullshit. If you know these strategies, you will be able to see through what is little more than personal marketing. The first reason that they do it is because even if they AREN’T running a fraud, acting like an everyman is still gets people to give them what they want.Stealth wealth is when rich people buy products that are of high quality but does not flaunt their wealth.They do this because they don’t want the attention and problems that come along with people knowing they are rich. Billionaires doing a Bloomberg or NAS Daily interviews featuring their basic car and geeky wardrobe in NOT the same thing as stealth wealth! It’s not stealth wealth, so let’s call poverty peacocking and it’s a great move for their personal brand and any companies they represent. Humble CEOs are the new fashion, the worlds biggest companies are run by men who wear hoodies and turtlenecks instead of tailored suits and other business leaders are trying to emulate that trend because investors like it. If business leaders very publicly give up flashy luxuries it also sends the message that they will be frugal running their business and the data actually backs this up.According to a study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research in 2012 CEO’s and CFO’s who were not frugal in their own spending were more likely to have instances of insiders perpetuating fraud and were more likely to push equity-based incentives to increase their own income. The study separated personally frugal and flashy executives by looking for purchases like a personal car that was worth over seventy-five thousand dollars or a boat that was over twenty-five feet. Buffett does own an old beat-up car, but he is usually driven around in a fleet of suburban’s with his security team, Zuckerburg wears the same grey shirt every day, but they are custom made by Brunello Cuccinelli, Musk does rent a tiny home next to the SpaceX factory but the Wall Street Journal pointed out that he spends most of his time in an eight thousand square foot [8,000 Sqft] twelve million dollar [$12,000,000] mansion and all of these men fly private. They are welcome to these luxuries; it is their money, but there are still two more reasons why they try so hard to pretend that they don’t exist. So it’s time to learn How Money Works to find out why billionaires spend millions, to try and convince us that they spend nothing.
