29 Rich People Share What Things Were Normal To Them Until They Realized They Were So Privileged
Kids from well-off families have a huge head start against their peers. As serial entrepreneur, investor, and consultant Bernie Klinder put it, they are born on 3rd base, and making a home run is fairly easy.
Brand new BMWs for their sweet 16, fully-paid college degrees, and houses for wedding presents. Even if they fail at life, the bank of dad can bail them out, providing enough to get by.
On Friday, Reddit user u/TacticalTuna2 decided to find out more about the way wealthy parents raise their boys and girls, so they asked: "People who grew up rich, what's something you thought was normal?" And their call was answered.
This post may include affiliate links.
If I broke something, it was just a funny joke about how clumsy I am, and it got replaced immediately. I've had so many phones, computers, and cameras that I can't even count, so I only realized as an adult that people don't just throw away their broken or used stuff, but actually fix it.
Eating out every single day. My parents are super well off, but work a ton, and neither had time to cook. So at least one, if not both meals were delivered to the house every day, sometimes from really fancy restaurants. I always thought that home-cooked food and family dinners on TV were fake. I only realized it was abnormal when my friend came over. She said she liked the pasta at this local Italian restaurant, so I went on my phone and ordered her some on DoorDash (we were about 15 at the time), and she was in complete shock that I was allowed to do that.
My whole family was always working super hard but we almost never went out to a restaurant. They'd always find time to cook at home. I think it's because they don't trust the food outside of home 😅
By the time I was 23 I’d had 5 cars. When I got my second brand new car in about 18 months I learned that some people can never afford a brand new car in their life. I honestly had no idea. When a friend was saying she needed to get a credit card so she could buy a car I genuinely didn’t understand why. Credit scores weren’t a thing I was aware of. I’d been on my parents AmEx account since I was about 12 which gave me perfect credit right out of the gate. I realize that now, but even then I don’t think I really knew what a credit score was until I was in my 30’s.
When I was a teenager in the 90’s my mom would hand me $50’s & $100’s because I asked for money.
Having a passport & going to countries other than Canada or Mexico.
Having a Nordstrom card with my name on it when I was 11 because my mom hated school clothes shopping.
Nearly 40 and had never paid my own rent. Never bought my own car. Never paid my own insurance. Never even paid for my own gas.
I worked. Hard. Made good money. My parents paid for everything. I racked up tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt and my parents had to bail me out. Multiple times.
This is embarrassing…I have way to many of these. Even with all of that they did instill a good work ethic in me. So there’s that.
I thought participating in multiple extracurricular activities was a normal thing. Now when I think about how much my parents spent on my swimming, piano, skating, ballet, soccer...wow
My parents were not wealthy but I was in at least two activities at any given time
Having a pool. Everyone always wanted to come over to use it. Doesn't everyone else have a pool? Oh...
We had an above ground pool and we were very FAR from being well off.
I always thought my family wasn't very well off because it seemed everyone else at my school had two houses (their primary residence plus a beach house or ski house) and we only had one.
We had a maid. I didn't realize everyone else didn't.
Well someone has to be that maid, and maids don't have maids as they would spend more time working to pay them than doing the cleaning work in their own homes themself. A bit of logic could quickly disprove that.
1. Being able to go to college/school without thinking about cost.
2. Being able to choose " Whatever " major I wanted, without thinking about if that major would lead to a paying career that would help support my parents and myself after I graduated.
Vacations, big time. Getting a new car every three to six years. Being unable to understand why people wanted to raise taxes. Country clubs and $50,000-plus weddings. Being able to afford maids, accountants, and being in contact with a lawyer constantly. Blindly accepting capitalism with fervent spirit
I had a friend growing up that if there was something he wanted or felt that he needed to have he would call the store place the purchase and bill it to the family account or go online and buy it using his parents credit card he had and didn't need to ask permission or even tell them he did it and hey were okay with it. I thought he was kidding when he told me this or was lying until he proved it by buying us new $1500 matching dirt bikes.
Clothes, never wore them more than twice. Gave them to charity and just bought more. Shoes too, I had more shoes than I could ever need.
having multiple types of cheese in the fridge at all times.
I was shocked at how expensive cheese was when I moved out lol.
I think this is cultural. Where I am at, people regularly eat various cheeses that are considered a luxury and are quite expensive in some other parts of the world. It is the same all around. Some foods that are extravagant to us are part of a common diet in those 'far away' places they originate from.
We had steak for dinner four or five days a week — so much that my brother and I got so sick of it. I didn’t understand the draw of steakhouses and only having steak on a special occasion.
I was so sick of beef and moose when i was a kid. We were lots of kids, and my parents could not afford to buy expensive food. They had lots of cows, and there were plentifull of game out in the woods. And there was allways super nice potatoes and other root veggies. Never understood that I was basically raised on pure luxury food out of lack of money. To this day I take extreme care when buying meat. Because I know what I am looking on, and I know the best animals on a farm ends up on the farmers table. And no. The best cut may not be the same as you think of. It's not even a given that the youngest animal is what you want. It depends hugley on what you are planning to cook.
Hope they have a TV in their bathroom because with that diet you won't be leaving in a hurry.
I know lots of families like that but its because people hunt and have several deer in the freezer or they had their own market steers they butchered. One of my highschool friend's family used to do a big hog kill in the fall on their front lawn, butcher them and make scrapple and other stuff for the whole year.
Yep. We had a deep chest freezer of venison from the deer my dad hunted and butchered. Pull some out and into the home freezer, there's the meat for the month.
Load More Replies...
I still don't get the appeal of hamburger restaurants (other than fast food, which is just convenient and cheap). Practically the only restaurants around here that don't serve the ethnic food of some relatively new immigrant community are hamburger restaurants. (Yes, I LIKE all the "ethnic" food.) But a hamburger is so fast and easy to make; I don't need to pay $12 for someone to make it for me. Where's the meat loaf, the london broil, the pork chops, the lamb skewers, the rotisserie chicken, the wiener schnitzel, the stuffed dinners, the chicken-fried dinners, the BBQ ribs, the pot pies, the roasted turkey or chicken... you know, stuff that takes planning or more than 10 minutes to make?
That's exactly the point. If you can have everything and everything you want, nothing is ever really special or enough.
I thought everyone owned a washing machine and was able to vacation every year.
I guess I'm living in a rich country, cuz basically everyone here owns a washing machine. But yeah, norway is rich so.
Vacations every year. Having more than one house. Buying whatever.
I didn't know that it wasn't normal to always take a stretch limo to the airport like my family did.
Fully expecting a car for 16th birthday (and getting one).
I didn’t know there was anything smaller than those “big chairs” in a plane
I assumed that it was a middle-class thing to have multiple summer homes on different islands and huge homes in NYC, fancy vacations, and private schools, and and and. Us kids were alwayse reminded that having so many homes was very hard work, which I guess it was, and 'rich' people didn't have to work hard and therefore we looked down on 'rich' people for being kinda lazy and of questionable character.
You don't have to pay your own student loan.
I've never known anyone with money who had a student loan. You paid for school outright or got a scholarship.
I thought a weekly allowance was something everyone got growing up. We were given $20 a week.
I thought all houses cost at least a million dollars. Where I come from, that's not a mansion — it's just the cost of a regular house. Or it was when I was a kid in the '90s; now everything's at least two million.
Or you're just from Australia. Good luck finding a box on the street below a million dollars here.
I thought almost all adults had graduate degrees
Yupp me too but then I got educated at school and found out it wasn't so...😅
Ski Trips.
In Norway, ski trips are not only for rich people (except if you go abroad to ski).
Often having additions put on the house. My dad's ideology was that if he was going to stay in the house for the rest of his life, might as well make it bigger
An actual rich person would just have bought a bigger home rather than suffer the works in progess in this franken-house.
Having 2 fridges! I thought that was a thing everyone had
And people are opposed to taxing the rich?! No-one needs That much disposable income or to be just handed money like it comes by the barrelful.
But if they decide to tax the rich then they'll have to pay high taxes when they finally get rich one day.....is the logic a lot of them seem to work under.
Load More Replies...
some of these aren’t just “rich parents”, they’re bad parenting and spoiled kids.
That's a very broad brush to call them all bad parents. Are all lower-middle class kids in developed countries raised fully aware that they are lucky to have clean clothes, medical care, air conditioning, TV, video games and a car, while many people in the world don't? Privilege is relative, and the discussion is still relatively new as we are becoming more connected.
Load More Replies...
Although a lot of this shocks me, some of it still gives me a reality check. I had my own room. I had food, medical, and a roof. And I don't have to worry about looking after my parents financially (they aren't well off per se, but part of that vanishing middle class I guess. They certainly couldn't afford to support me as an adult). In fact they are way better off than i am but i prefer knowing i provide everything for me and mine, even tho i can't buy a house and rent instead etc. (House prices have gone crazy and the standard 'measure of success' used to be home ownership which is near impossible even for dual income no kid professionals) I feel like I squandered a lot of the privileges I have been given in life though. My sister had those same privileges but used them and has done incredible things
We have a TV show that makes a rich and a poor family swap lives for a week. It does show that being rich or poor is such a mindset that even when when you are on the other side you still continue to think like the rich or poor person you are. The rich people in the show really have no idea what poor life is like even though they live in the same town.
My favourite moment in that show is the lightbulb that goes on when the rich family realises reality for others isn't as pleasant as it is for them. Especially those who were never on the other side - those that started poor(er), got a lucky break and moved up tend to still be grounded and just a bit forgetful of what it was like. Those who never experienced it look like they're going through First Contact with aliens.
Load More Replies...
I don't consider my family rich, but we had a lot of these growing up.
I thought I had it bad dodging gangs growing up, working for what seem like chump change to the rich kids. Then I grew up and traveled for work. I see families living under bridges, box huts in alleys and kids scavenging dumpsites for food. Be grateful for what you have is what I live by these days.
I can't wait for the day everyone realizes that this world is ours and what we do with it and in it is entirely up to us. Things don't have to be the way that they are. We have literally made things up as we go and every single one of us can be enjoying this world and all it has to provide for us. Money having no bearing on any of it. We just made it up and created a way to do things. But like I said it doesn't have to be the way it is. People make choices for it to be the way it is. But please believe me when I say that we can all enjoy all of it if it wasn't for certain people controlling things and doing horrible things to stop it from happening. Just think about it, we already had everything we need on Earth the day we're born. Every natural resource to sustain us all into just live and enjoy this world and what's in it. But people have been made to believe that it has to be the way it is and people have to be divided and money has to be an issue. When it truly doesn't. We make or made it the way it is for humanity. We can do anything and everyone enjoying their existence. But it boils down to people putting a stop to us all thriving and enjoying it. It's possible and doable yet we are so ate up with it and blind. That we make our own existence the way it is totally horrible.
I am not a snob and you just stated everything I just said. I haven't made a mistake. We are on this planet and given or have everything we already need to live and thrive as humans. There is no reason for anything to be divided or for people not to be able to enjoy everything this world has to offer. You're agreeing with me but your arrogance of wanting to speak and judge instead of just listen and take it in, took over. What I'm saying is possible and every single one of us can't live in this world and everybody just be okay and enjoy it.
Load More Replies...
I can't imagine what it would be like to be rich. I am morally opposed to excessive wealth. Wealth is gained by exploitation of others.
Sometimes not all wealth is gained like that... Some people can be really successful or have a high paying job. I'm not saying that all wealth is gained that way, but it's wrong to just look a somebody who has excess money and say, "Oh, they must be a bad person because they have extra money lying around."
Load More Replies... Some of these seem basic to me, and most of them seemed like they only paid attention to themselves and didn't look up and observe anything, ever.
Do these pricks go around with blinkers on? They seem to be completely oblivious to anything else in the world. It's an utterly shameful attitude.
This post was just plain annoying and frustrating to read... people who aren't rich certainly don't need yet ANOTHER reminder of how great it is to be a rich person. All we have to do is watch a movie or TV show with a supposedly typical family, living in a supposedly typical home, doing supposedly typical things... because it's not like they go around making shows about lives like mine... with my small one level, two bedroom home, slightly pre-owned car, massive student debt, and having to actually "save" for things like vacation or new windows or central air (which, is actually more of a newer feeling, as I couldn't save s**t before I graduated with my BSN). And even my meagar circumstances are better than many others have it. Thanks, but we don't need yet another rude reminder.
yikes, it's pretty much a whole different world. It be cool if their elders made an attempt to make their kids aware of the other worlds and how peeps who aren't as rich do what they do. Being aware is a good step in the right direction and give the right respect of those who aren't' so fortunate.
When you are a child, whatever you grow up with is what you assume is the universal norm. I think the real problem here is that parents don't teach their children about their own privilege, and about the differences in how people live. . . . And what those differences mean. Personally, I don't think rich people deserve to be punished for being rich. I am not jealous of them or angry at them. Many people gain their wealth through their own hard work. And that work is assigned high value by society. If someone is lucky enough to be born really smart, or with a talent that I don't have, then there is nothing wrong with using their gifts to earn a comfortable living. When they buy all that stuff, they are helping a lot of people have jobs, too. When you over tax rich people, you remove incentives from the economy for people who function in certain roles. Like being doctors, lawyers, inventors, entrepreneurs, etc.
Every time I read these kinds of posts, I'm reminded of the story of The Sword of Damocles. Regardless if you are rich, poor, in the middle...everyone faces their own challenges and hurdles. I think perspective comes from walking in someone else's shoes for a day. That's why I think every person that has aspirations of being a politician, no matter their background, needs to spend a year living in poverty to know the struggles that the people at the bottom face. Poor people aren't whining because they are lazy and want something for nothing. They are whining because they are tired of the people around them dying for simple BS like not enough food to eat, not enough money to go to the doctor or pay for prescriptions, wondering if next week you're going to be out on the street because rent and utilities have gone up but your paycheck hasn't and praying that you don't get sick or injured because you have no savings to fall back on and everyone else you know is as poor as you are.
Why not? Confessions like these help us know each other better. And the more we know, the less we hate. Hate alone won't solve the disparity problems.
Load More Replies...
My kids went to a private school for elementary. We got in for cheap because my husband is alumni and was in the first class to graduate. but onething I noticed that made it clear we were by far the poorest family there; Everyone had a summer home and several owned homes in Europe. My daughter was invited to a birthday party featuring private cooking lessons at the local four star Michelin rated restaurant. I looked it up, a cooking lesson from this chef for an adult is $500. There were 15 kids at the party. Everyone got to take home a small bound cookbook , an apron and custom chef's hat. Oh! and there was brunch and mimosas for the adults. (at around $60 a plate).
I car pooled with a young man many years ago. He was talking about speaking to the family jeweler regarding his girlfriend's engagement ring. That was first time I found out people didn't just go to Argos.
Funny how so many of these statements include the words “never thought”. When you are poor white (or any other color) trash, you have to consider EVERYTHING, absolutely. EVERYTHING
And people are opposed to taxing the rich?! No-one needs That much disposable income or to be just handed money like it comes by the barrelful.
But if they decide to tax the rich then they'll have to pay high taxes when they finally get rich one day.....is the logic a lot of them seem to work under.
Load More Replies... some of these aren’t just “rich parents”, they’re bad parenting and spoiled kids.
That's a very broad brush to call them all bad parents. Are all lower-middle class kids in developed countries raised fully aware that they are lucky to have clean clothes, medical care, air conditioning, TV, video games and a car, while many people in the world don't? Privilege is relative, and the discussion is still relatively new as we are becoming more connected.
Load More Replies... Although a lot of this shocks me, some of it still gives me a reality check. I had my own room. I had food, medical, and a roof. And I don't have to worry about looking after my parents financially (they aren't well off per se, but part of that vanishing middle class I guess. They certainly couldn't afford to support me as an adult). In fact they are way better off than i am but i prefer knowing i provide everything for me and mine, even tho i can't buy a house and rent instead etc. (House prices have gone crazy and the standard 'measure of success' used to be home ownership which is near impossible even for dual income no kid professionals) I feel like I squandered a lot of the privileges I have been given in life though. My sister had those same privileges but used them and has done incredible things
We have a TV show that makes a rich and a poor family swap lives for a week. It does show that being rich or poor is such a mindset that even when when you are on the other side you still continue to think like the rich or poor person you are. The rich people in the show really have no idea what poor life is like even though they live in the same town.
My favourite moment in that show is the lightbulb that goes on when the rich family realises reality for others isn't as pleasant as it is for them. Especially those who were never on the other side - those that started poor(er), got a lucky break and moved up tend to still be grounded and just a bit forgetful of what it was like. Those who never experienced it look like they're going through First Contact with aliens.
Load More Replies... I don't consider my family rich, but we had a lot of these growing up.
I thought I had it bad dodging gangs growing up, working for what seem like chump change to the rich kids. Then I grew up and traveled for work. I see families living under bridges, box huts in alleys and kids scavenging dumpsites for food. Be grateful for what you have is what I live by these days.
I can't wait for the day everyone realizes that this world is ours and what we do with it and in it is entirely up to us. Things don't have to be the way that they are. We have literally made things up as we go and every single one of us can be enjoying this world and all it has to provide for us. Money having no bearing on any of it. We just made it up and created a way to do things. But like I said it doesn't have to be the way it is. People make choices for it to be the way it is. But please believe me when I say that we can all enjoy all of it if it wasn't for certain people controlling things and doing horrible things to stop it from happening. Just think about it, we already had everything we need on Earth the day we're born. Every natural resource to sustain us all into just live and enjoy this world and what's in it. But people have been made to believe that it has to be the way it is and people have to be divided and money has to be an issue. When it truly doesn't. We make or made it the way it is for humanity. We can do anything and everyone enjoying their existence. But it boils down to people putting a stop to us all thriving and enjoying it. It's possible and doable yet we are so ate up with it and blind. That we make our own existence the way it is totally horrible.
I am not a snob and you just stated everything I just said. I haven't made a mistake. We are on this planet and given or have everything we already need to live and thrive as humans. There is no reason for anything to be divided or for people not to be able to enjoy everything this world has to offer. You're agreeing with me but your arrogance of wanting to speak and judge instead of just listen and take it in, took over. What I'm saying is possible and every single one of us can't live in this world and everybody just be okay and enjoy it.
Load More Replies... I can't imagine what it would be like to be rich. I am morally opposed to excessive wealth. Wealth is gained by exploitation of others.
Sometimes not all wealth is gained like that... Some people can be really successful or have a high paying job. I'm not saying that all wealth is gained that way, but it's wrong to just look a somebody who has excess money and say, "Oh, they must be a bad person because they have extra money lying around."
Load More Replies... Some of these seem basic to me, and most of them seemed like they only paid attention to themselves and didn't look up and observe anything, ever.
Do these pricks go around with blinkers on? They seem to be completely oblivious to anything else in the world. It's an utterly shameful attitude.
This post was just plain annoying and frustrating to read... people who aren't rich certainly don't need yet ANOTHER reminder of how great it is to be a rich person. All we have to do is watch a movie or TV show with a supposedly typical family, living in a supposedly typical home, doing supposedly typical things... because it's not like they go around making shows about lives like mine... with my small one level, two bedroom home, slightly pre-owned car, massive student debt, and having to actually "save" for things like vacation or new windows or central air (which, is actually more of a newer feeling, as I couldn't save s**t before I graduated with my BSN). And even my meagar circumstances are better than many others have it. Thanks, but we don't need yet another rude reminder.
yikes, it's pretty much a whole different world. It be cool if their elders made an attempt to make their kids aware of the other worlds and how peeps who aren't as rich do what they do. Being aware is a good step in the right direction and give the right respect of those who aren't' so fortunate.
When you are a child, whatever you grow up with is what you assume is the universal norm. I think the real problem here is that parents don't teach their children about their own privilege, and about the differences in how people live. . . . And what those differences mean. Personally, I don't think rich people deserve to be punished for being rich. I am not jealous of them or angry at them. Many people gain their wealth through their own hard work. And that work is assigned high value by society. If someone is lucky enough to be born really smart, or with a talent that I don't have, then there is nothing wrong with using their gifts to earn a comfortable living. When they buy all that stuff, they are helping a lot of people have jobs, too. When you over tax rich people, you remove incentives from the economy for people who function in certain roles. Like being doctors, lawyers, inventors, entrepreneurs, etc.
Every time I read these kinds of posts, I'm reminded of the story of The Sword of Damocles. Regardless if you are rich, poor, in the middle...everyone faces their own challenges and hurdles. I think perspective comes from walking in someone else's shoes for a day. That's why I think every person that has aspirations of being a politician, no matter their background, needs to spend a year living in poverty to know the struggles that the people at the bottom face. Poor people aren't whining because they are lazy and want something for nothing. They are whining because they are tired of the people around them dying for simple BS like not enough food to eat, not enough money to go to the doctor or pay for prescriptions, wondering if next week you're going to be out on the street because rent and utilities have gone up but your paycheck hasn't and praying that you don't get sick or injured because you have no savings to fall back on and everyone else you know is as poor as you are.
Why not? Confessions like these help us know each other better. And the more we know, the less we hate. Hate alone won't solve the disparity problems.
Load More Replies... My kids went to a private school for elementary. We got in for cheap because my husband is alumni and was in the first class to graduate. but onething I noticed that made it clear we were by far the poorest family there; Everyone had a summer home and several owned homes in Europe. My daughter was invited to a birthday party featuring private cooking lessons at the local four star Michelin rated restaurant. I looked it up, a cooking lesson from this chef for an adult is $500. There were 15 kids at the party. Everyone got to take home a small bound cookbook , an apron and custom chef's hat. Oh! and there was brunch and mimosas for the adults. (at around $60 a plate).
I car pooled with a young man many years ago. He was talking about speaking to the family jeweler regarding his girlfriend's engagement ring. That was first time I found out people didn't just go to Argos.
Funny how so many of these statements include the words “never thought”. When you are poor white (or any other color) trash, you have to consider EVERYTHING, absolutely. EVERYTHING
