People Are Sharing The Moment They Learned That Their Super Rich Friends Were WAY Wealthier Than They Originally Realized
Some people embody quiet luxury so well that it can take a minute to realize just how wealthy they actually are.
This has happened to me: one time, a friend and I were talking about taking a trip, and she casually mentioned we could potentially use her dad’s private plane service. I was like, “We can use his what now?”
Here they are:
1. “While growing up in Mexico, I had a friend in high school, a regular guy who was a little bit nerdy. Once, we were talking about the upcoming Super Bowl, and he asked a group of us if we wanted to go. We said ‘yes,’ thinking we were getting together to watch it at his house. No, he actually invited us to go to the stadium.”
“Long story short, he was the son of the Mexican president, and we even flew in an official aircraft. Since then, everyone has wanted to be his friend and get free stuff.
We are still good pals. He’s a politician now.”
—Anonymous
2. “I had three roommates during my first year of college, and we all got on quite well. One of the girls was clearly wealthy but quietly so. She didn’t have a ton of clothing or spend ostentatiously, though she did have some very high-end pieces and wouldn’t bat an eye at ordering food from a restaurant if she didn’t like what the cafeteria had.”
“Fast forward 6 months, and a group of us are chatting about COVID. At some point, this roommate mentioned how hard it was when her chauffeur got COVID because she didn’t have a driver’s license.
This was the first we had heard about a family chauffeur, but nobody was really surprised. There were some murmurs of ‘oh yeah, that must’ve sucked…’
Then she said it wasn’t a big deal because she had just borrowed her brother’s chauffeur.
That’s when we realized it wasn’t a family driver; each member of her family had their own designated chauffeur.”
—Anonymous
3. “I knew a guy growing up who one time drove into the wrong parking lot, and instead of just going out into the street, making a U-Turn, and going to the correct parking lot, he drove his car (not an SUV or a Jeep…his car) over the median to the correct parking lot.”
“His bumpers were ripped off, and the bottom of his car was completely f***ed up. But he just shrugged and said, ‘Meh, my dad owes me a new one anyway.’
My mind was blown that someone could total a car without any anxiety about how they could afford to fix it and that he was just going to be handed a brand-new one.”
4. “I once met a boy on a cruise. He was on the suite floor, but no one thought anything of it because he said he had a big family. It wasn’t until the last day of the cruise, when we were all talking about going home, that he mentioned his flight from Alaska to Tennessee the next day. One of the other kids on the cruise was talking about how long the layover would be from that part of Alaska to that part of Tennessee. That is when this boy mentioned that he doesn’t have to worry about that because he’s taking a private plane home.”
5. “When I first moved to the US, I enrolled in ESL classes to learn English and made a few friends along the way. One day, this guy from our group invited us over to his place. When we arrived, I was stunned—it was a multimillion-dollar mansion with top-tier décor. I wanted to ask him what he did for a living but couldn’t bring myself to do it.”
“Fast forward 16 years, and I discovered he is now the president of Gabon! It turns out he was part of the presidential family all along.
Sadly, we lost touch when I moved out of Maryland, but I’ll always remember him as such a kind and down-to-earth person.”
—Lamumi, 26, Maryland
6. “When my husband and I were in college, he had a friend we thought was pretty standard middle-class. Then she invited us to her house. They had a frickin wine cellar, multiple living rooms (with a piano in one, a massive TV in the other, and a whole display of expensive crystal/glass art), and an in-ground pool in the backyard. The pool had a diving board and fancy pool furniture, not those plastic chairs at public pools. I also learned that she took DOZENS of overseas vacations throughout her childhood and was shocked to find out that my family considered ourselves incredibly grateful to be able to go to a small beach town for a week as our singular vacation.”
7. “I had a friend who graduated college and was doing okay in his career, but nothing too great. He was on the same pace as everyone else after they graduated. Then, after not getting to where he wanted to be, his parents bought him an entire business for his birthday that he could own and manage.”
“I couldn’t believe that someone in their 30s still got presents from their parents, plus getting an entire business. Must be nice.”
—Anonymous
8. “I’ve been friends with this down-to-earth girl for several years. I thought she was well-off/upper middle class because she was well-traveled (like me). I only realized we were in different leagues when she casually mentioned that her family had a chalet in the Swiss Alps.”
9. “I went to Oxford and had quite a few friends who were richer than they initially came across. One friend was a pretty cool, grungy rocker-type guy with no ‘rich snob’ vibes at all. Because he had quite a posh accent, it wouldn’t have surprised me to find out he came from money – but I didn’t realize just how much until someone mentioned his dad collected helicopters as a freaking hobby.”
“Honestly, the relationship never changed. He remains one of the nicest guys I knew at uni and managed to be generous while never flaunting the family’s wealth.
When I met him, his dad was equally lovely. I guess he must have made a point of raising his kids in a very down-to-earth way. I found out later that the dad was a plastic surgeon to the super-wealthy but also did a lot of pro bono work for FGM sufferers on the side.
Really cool people!”
—Helaena
That’s the list! Have any of you ever had a similar experience with a friend? Let us know in the comments or by filling out this Google Form if you wish to remain anonymous.
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