I enjoy finding deals. There could be worse hobbies…
I don’t get the title of the thread. One someone has accumulated a million dollars, they should just be wasteful in their spending?
I know someone who has more money than he can ever use (well over a million, and he’s close to 70) drives a low end Hyundai, has lived in the same third story walk up apartment (he doesn’t own any real estate) for thirty years, and his other vehicle, which he uses for extensive travel, is something like 40 years old, really. He used to say that he and his brother were going to “cheap themselves to death.” He does buy good food and lots of high end wine though.
I am like some others here, trying to find balance. We have saved a good amount for retirement, and continue to save, have enough for our kids to get through at least undergrad with no debt (other than what we decided was appropriate because of laziness/bad grades) and have no debt except our mortgage. At this point we are taking nice vacations, including our adult kids on many of them, and enjoying the time we can before we start having too many aches and pains to find long hiking trips, biking trips, kayaking, and other high energy activities fun. I like to shop sales, and am always looking for good deals. I have enabled our family of five to fly to Hawaii twice, and to the Caribbean at least once, basically for free.
It was the headline of the article on nytimes.com.
We are not millionaires, but my BIL is. I’ve always found it fascinating to see how they spend their money. In some ways, they are very cheap, such as shopping at the Dollar Store for gift bags. In some ways, they waste a lot. Dh and I hate how much food they throw away … Eating out all the time, getting doggie bags, but never intending to eat those leftovers. I’ve seen them throw away boxes of fried chicken, etc. I think that has more to do with their relationship to food than their relationship to money. 
Most of the folks I know who have assets considerably over $1mm are happy to get good value and are happy with older items that function well. Many keep their cars for varying lengths of time up to 5-10 years and linger.
Many of those I know in HI are willing to spend on travel, experiences and family.
It’s a lifestyle choice. When many employers don’t offer pensions, there’s not much choice but to save aggressively. We use coupons, drive cars til they die, camp, and don’t spend tons of $$ on clothes/shoes, etc. Our luxury is travel, but even then, we are not doing the high-end hotels, etc. We both came from families that had little, if anything, in the bank beyond that month’s paycheck (or now, Social Security/pension). We were determined to do better. While DH has turned down much more lucrative positions and I am home FT thanks to medical issues, we have still been able to store nuts for the winter. OTOH, I am very aware that the actuarials are not in my favor and we are choosing to do more travel now rather than waiting til DH retires. Neither set of parents could do that due to health problems.
As I related earlier with the girls and the thrift store clothing, it’s not an uncommon attitude.
Well, I’m a 1%-er and I buy some clothes full price at nice stores and other clothing at designer resale shops. I use coupons. For my D’s recent graduation, I flew in early and stayed at a Best Western til the rest of our family arrived and then we went to the Westin. We use frequent flyer miles wisely and will be flying business class for a personal European vacation next year. Part of how we are able to do the nice things is precisely from scrimping on other things.
The reporter seemed to have the naive expectation that once you become a millionaire you can buy whatever you want, and seemed surprised to discover that those with over $1M in assets still feel the need to watch their spending. Live and learn, I guess, but I would have hoped that the NYT would have reporters that were not born yesterday.
A million is not what it used to be, same with 6-figure income but people keep refer to these numbers for some reasons. I guess they are simpler in speaking terms.
My original understanding of the term “millionaire” was a person who made $1,000,000 per year. Now, it’s often used to refer to a person who has total net assets worth $1mm, which of course is a LOT less, and with inflation and no pension even less, especially if the individual expects little or no social security!
As was posted above, in HCOL areas, many have homes that are worth 7 figures, tho their income may be fairly modest, especially after mortgage payments. This may require multiple generations to lot be together due to high housing costs. In such circumstances, the family indeed often does not have much disposible income.
If you retire at 65 with 1M in assets, you can only draw down about 3-4% per year if you want your money to last until you’re 90. So figure about 30-40k income from each million saved. You really should be living somewhat frugally if you retire with 1M. Retiring with 3-4M certainly gives you a comfortable retirement, but you’d still thinking cautiously about your spending.
Once you start getting SS, you’d get a nice SS raise. =D>
Many single-digit millionaires understand compounding, and while bank interest isn’t what it used to be, reinvested stock dividends can be quite good still, especially in a market downturn. They also make an effort to understand taxation, and take full advantage of opportunities to reduce taxes paid, wherever possible.
They also delay gratification, often by saving for an item before purchasing it.
Most of my friends are first-generation immigrants, and today virtually all of them are “millionaires next door”. When one comes to this country barely with a shirt on one’s back, no language, no connections, only a partial education at best, and a family (often including both parents and kids) to support, it’s pretty easy to be frugal. I felt like a millionaire after earning the first $1,000, and I never ever felt wealthier in my entire life.
This is not frugality - IMO, it is just plain common sense (and I completely agree with Mrs. Marchi that darning holey socks is not). As far as the TB shirt, hasn’t she heard of 6pm? That’s the way to get them unworn for half price or less! Mr. B wears his RL and Burberry shirts until they get holes in them, and then I place them into the “yard clothes” bin. 
I think it makes sense to spend wisely at any income level. We don’t have a million $$ cash in the bank, but we own our house and can allow ourselves a few luxuries. I just ordered a pair of Trubutes - holy cow, pricy, but they were so comfortable and on sale. Mr. B splurged on a new tool. We both plan on using our new purchases for a while (when the manufacturer is reluctant to give a 60% discount on a pair of shoes, it means the style will last for a while!). I typed most of this as Mr. B was driving me and a load of fence wood from HD in our 15 yr old truck. We spent the evening building the gate and pulling the overgrown ivy instead of hiring some dude who would send an illegal to do the job.
"This is not frugality - IMO, it is just plain common sense (and I completely agree with Mrs. Marchi that darning holey socks is not). "
I don’t darn holey socks but I get good shoes resoled.
What ever happened to repairing old mechanical stuff tv’s, vacuum cleaners, toasters). Now its cheaper to toss and replace.
Don’t know for sure but my parents may fit this profile. I am frugal myself, as I learned from them, but my Dad now takes this to extremes. He will not spend money on much of anything except clothes. He sold the business he had built, still rents the building to the new owner, and then entered a field that requires a very different wardrobe from his original career so he sees that as “necessary”. I have tried to arrange some extended family trips since my family is spread out geographically. I want my kids to have that family time. Nothing over the top: house to share, meals mainly eaten in, locations to drive to, etc. but he always balks at even contributing $50-100 per day for a long weekend. After the last 3 trips where I finally said “forget about the money, just come”, I have given up. I certainly cannot afford to take everyone on vacation each year and it is too awkward to have some folks contributing and others not. Last trip my family stayed in the basement of the house we rented, giving all the upstairs bedrooms to the 5 other family members on the trip, so that we could stay within our budget and still go. My DH did not complain, but why is he sleeping in the basement and paying the bills?