20 Shocking Realizations About The 1%, According To Formerly Poor People Who Became Mega-Rich

Going from rags to riches and climbing the socioeconomic ladder may be considered the "American Dream" — but for those who actually started off poor and became rich, there are some real surprises and culture shocks that come with wealth. So, Redditor u/madeat1am asked, "Redditors who grew up in poverty and are now rich, what's the biggest shock about rich people you learned?" Here's what people said.

1. "Rich people can afford to do things that save them money: better health insurance and car insurance with a lower deductible, high-quality food that keeps their health, gym memberships that prevent future health incidents, prompt car maintenance to avoid significant repair costs down the line, higher education for better-paying jobs…the list goes on and on."

2. "I didn't realize the social safety net rich people have. Growing up poor, we lived absolutely paycheck to paycheck (more accurately, we lived borrowing against future paychecks), and it felt like we were never far from homelessness. One job loss and one prolonged serious illness, and we would not have been able to pay the rent and would have been evicted. All of my parents' family and friends were similarly struggling, so if we needed help, they would not have had much to give. Now, as adults with more money than my parents could have imagined, we not only have substantial personal savings, but we also know so many people who could help us if things got bad. If worst came to worst, we have multiple friends with vacation properties that they barely use that we could move into. Not that I think it will ever come to that, but life is dramatically different, and I never have to worry financially about a job loss, illness, unexpected car expense, etc."

— u/ColdFIREBaker

3. "More like the lower-middle class to upper-middle class, but it blew my mind when I realized many people I know now frequently pay to have their house cleaned and grew up thinking that the cleaners being over was just a routine part of life. I was probably in my late 20s, and this was the first time I ever paid someone to clean. It is the same with things like moving, painting, house maintenance, and stuff like that. I'm at a place where it makes more sense to save my time and pay for many of those things, but anytime I talk to my mom and mention it, she assumes it's something I'm doing myself because it would never have occurred to her to spend money on that and for most of her life she couldn't afford it. It's a pretty interesting divide just between the strata within the middle class."

4. "Money makes money. We're buying some land that has a waterfall. We could build our dream house and rent it out on Airbnb, and it could potentially pay for the house within 10 years. The money to buy the land came from 'diversifying' our assets and our financial portfolio. We would take on some risk to build this house, getting another mortgage. But theoretically, if everything works, we wouldn't have spent anything but would get a free dream house and more. For what? For almost nothing. If we fucked up and lost our investment, burned the entire property down, or whatnot, it'd still be fine. It wouldn't be life-ending. It'd be unfortunate but survivable..."

"When I was growing up, my mom would make ramen for a special family meal. She would use three ramen packets for our family of four. She would add rice to the ramen broth when we were still hungry. Once we used something, it would disappear. So we were frugal. A financial disaster meant starving, losing your home, etc. Did I spend my $10 for the week the wrong way? I couldn't afford lunch anymore and gotta starve for a week. I never could have imagined that once you get enough money, it just makes more money."

— u/RlOTGRRRL

5. "That it's just easier to keep your home nice and clean when you have more money. When your house is made of nicer fixtures, it cleans and stays clean easier. You can’t clean something enough if the material is just old and so low quality it has worn out."

6. "The freedom that wealth provides: Freedom to not spend hours mowing their lawn, laundry, cleaning their own car, grocery shopping...freedom to eat healthy, freedom to prioritize exercise, etc. The list is endless. Those who don't enjoy this freedom sacrifice our few hours on earth performing these mundane tasks."

— u/ndnman

7. "Rich people eat a different meal for every meal and just like, throw out leftovers. Growing up, my mom would make a giant pot of tomato sauce, and we ate it until it was gone. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner."

8. "While not rich rich, I still see everything as minimum wage value. A can of Coke? That's like 1/5th of an hour's pay; there's no way I'm buying that. Eating out? No way I'm paying four hours of my wage to eat. Ignoring the fact I earn way more than a few times over minimum wage, I still can't get myself to spend like that. But the funny thing is that people who never came from poverty don't seem to value money as much. I was out to lunch with a guy who had grown up in a home with a private swimming pool. He ordered a meal at lunch in a restaurant, took one bite, and said, nah, I'm not hungry... so he just paid the bill, and we left. It blew my mind."

— u/EmeterPSN

9. "I'm not rich by any stretch of the imagination, and it might not shock others, but going on vacation. When I was a kid, we just stayed home every summer. We never went anywhere and generally stayed within the same 200km radius of where we lived. We didn't have a lot of money. Now I go on vacation twice a year and I've been all over the world. The 17-year-old version of myself would be in awe."

10. "It took me quite a while to adjust to the fact that paying for something like a house cleaning was not irresponsible but, in fact, a logical tradeoff given that I have a decent amount of money and very little free time. That kind of tradeoff doesn't even occur to you when you're fighting for every dollar."

— u/Orange_Kid

11. "'Afford' is such a weird term when you make more than your parents did. You could literally spend the money and not starve, but it takes a while for your mindset to open to things that seemed frivolous/extravagant back home."

12. "Being able to afford a moving company when moving homes...it's a game changer."

— u/roastedoolong

13. "There is absolutely no limit to being rich. There is rich, and then there is wealthy. Flying private on your own plane is rich. Flying private on your own plane from one hemisphere to another because the winter is getting you down is wealthy. Rich people still work out of a perceived or real need, especially because they see other richer people and they think they don't have enough. Meanwhile, wealthy people don't work unless they truly want to."

14. "I would not say I am rich, but I am comfortably middle class. Not worrying about bills like my parents always did, and not worrying about where food comes from is really wild. My parents were stressed all the time, and I had no idea how freeing it feels to not worry. I can actually plan for the future, too."

— u/kinare

15. "When we had our first children (twins) we were poor. We went through the process and had two healthy boys. A few years later, I had a stable job with medical insurance when we had our third child. Everything was nicer. They didn't push us out of the hospital so fast. All the basic care was the same, but I was shocked at how much better we were treated with insurance."

16. "They almost have a very different understanding of how the world works than non-rich people do. It's like the world is a game. And they simply have a far better understanding of the rules and hacks."

— u/dingdongninja

17. "As a result of growing up in poverty, the desire to become rich can be a kind of mental illness. I am not super-rich. My net worth puts me in the top 10%. I have enough to retire and live the rest of my life in comfort if I choose to stop working. But I still feel this constant anxiety that I don't have enough or something is going to happen, and I will lose it all and be homeless."

18. "How casually they talk about money. It's like they're discussing the weather."

— u/CoffeeUpstairs4384

19. "The more money you make, the more freedom you have at work. You can roll in whenever you want, take off early, and enjoy extra-long lunches. As long as your work is getting done, you won’t have any consequences. Even if your work stops getting done, you’ll have weeks before anyone cares. Meanwhile, there are more consequences for the employees making $18 an hour."

20. "I grew up pretty poor, and my wife grew up insanely rich. In my house, when your car broke down, you fixed it or took it to a mechanic to fix it. In her house, they would buy a new car. This dawned on me when our washing machine broke, and I ordered the part on Amazon. An hour later I saw she had ordered a new washer from Lowe’s. She’s gotten better, but her first impulse is just to buy a new one of whatever is broken."

Did you grow up poor but become wealthy later in life? What is a culture shock you experienced or what is something that surprised you about having money? Tell us in the comments or add it to this anonymous form.