You Can Usually Tell Someone’s Rich By 7 Behaviors The Everyday Person Barely Has The Luxury Of Doing Anymore
Roman Samborskyi | Shutterstock Being rich was once defined by physical status symbols that signaled someone was wealthy and important. This concept has shifted in recent years as many of those symbols have become more ubiquitous. That doesn’t mean everyone carries designer bags and drives sports cars now, but everyone is pretty used to seeing those things on a regular basis thanks to social media.
Brand strategist Eugene Healey explained, “Status is derived from things that are inaccessible to the majority of the population.” Because of this, he doesn’t believe status symbols are still physical, tangible things you can see all the time, but rather ideas and experiences that rich people have access to while average people don’t. He described these new forms of luxury on TikTok.
You can usually tell someone’s rich by 7 behaviors the everyday person doesn’t have the luxury of doing anymore:
1. Maintaining privacy
Ron Lach | Pexels
According to Healey, the internet has morphed from humanity’s hope for the future into nothing more than something we think “we have to be on.” This “overexposure” has not only taken away the novelty of being online, but also turned people into products themselves.
That’s why privacy has become such a luxury, but maybe not in the way you would expect. Healey believes that people who are truly seen as high-status are the ones who don’t spend all of their time on social media, or even have a presence there at all, but can still prove they have a “genuine proximity to influence” because they’re aware of everything that’s on trend without it.
Most people are used to sharing pretty much every detail of their lives online now, but this can be dangerous as personal information can be accessed and stolen. The everyday person really has no choice because that’s how they do everything from looking for a new job to connecting with loved ones, so it’s not something everyone can afford.
2. Wasting time
We’ve all heard the phrase “time is money,” so it makes sense that wealthier people seem to have more of it. Healey pointed out that people have been forced into a box of productivity for years, filling every minute of their day with something that seems valuable, but times are changing.
“What I’m seeing emerge now is a new aspirational leisure class,” he said. “People whose value isn’t tied to what they do but how effortlessly they exist. This stems from cost of living pressures, because in a culture where people are having to optimize to the extreme just to keep up, what is a real luxury is to be able to go post-optimization and say, ‘Hey, I’m enough as I am.’”
Feeling like you just don’t have enough time is incredibly common. This can be exacerbated by working a full-time job, which limits the extra time you have for other things you want and need to accomplish. Rich people might not be as familiar with this problem if they don’t have to work full-time or work in a non-traditional role that offers more flexibility.
3. Having children
Pavel Danilyuk | Pexels
Healey called the ability to have a big family “the ultimate status symbol.” This used to be something that was associated with the lower class, but the cost-of-living crisis has grown so severe that people can’t have kids without extra funds.
Lending Tree estimated that raising a child for 18 years costs a total of $303,418, or $16,857 each year. That’s disposable income that most people just don’t have these days. It’s sad to live in a world where some people who really want to start a family can’t do so because of financial barriers.
4. Pursuing specific hobbies
“The coolest people in our society right now are the ones who are the most deeply obsessed with their hobbies and passions,” Healey argued. In the age of AI that we’re living in, he feels like having a lot of general knowledge will become almost universal because everyone can access information so easily. He sees luxury in “niche expertise” instead.
Hobbies are known for improving people’s health and cognition, but a lot of people don’t really get super specific. It’s something you do for fun in your free time, but a lot of us try to link those interests to our work as well.
From that perspective, learning everything there is to know about wolf’s bane might not seem like the wisest option to most people. It’s just a part of life for the rich, though.
5. Creating community
Alena Darmel | Pexels
In this case, community isn’t limited to just your circle of closest friends. Chefs and DJs are both good examples of this concept, according to Healey, because they bring people together in curated environments.
“The coolest people are the best hosts,” he added. “They know how to select the right mix of people and personalities for a certain event; what kind of activities, games, conversations are right for that event; and how to build an atmosphere that allows people to just walk in, drop their guard, and just authentically connect.”
Being a host is more about creating a welcoming space than it is about holding a 1920s-style dinner party. 69% of Americans said they didn’t feel like they received enough emotional support in the last year, which is what community is all about. Unfortunately, this remains an unattainable luxury for a lot of people.
6. Sleeping well
Many people would probably argue that they simply have no time for sleep, which Healey thinks is very telling. “In a culture where sleep is treated as something to be sacrificed in pursuit of your goals … or a world where technology invades every aspect of our lives, chipping away at our sleep as we doomscroll into the night, it becomes a status symbol to push back against those pressures,” he argued.
Getting good quality sleep affects virtually every part of your health and determines how you actually feel during the day, which sounds priceless. But because time is such a limited resource, a good night’s rest has become a luxury that only the rich are able to prioritize.
7. Living healthy
Gustavo Fring | Pexels
Rach Denton, another content creator, was inspired by Healey’s videos and shared her own thoughts on the subject. She felt like there was one thing missing from his list. “I would also argue that movement and nutritious food have become status symbols as well,” she said in her own video.
The ability to be active and eat well is challenging for the average person because of both time and money. Working out, whether you do it at home or at the gym, and cooking a healthy meal take time that many people just don’t have in their busy lives. Additionally, whole foods are known for being more expensive than junk food, and sometimes even harder to find. The price of any membership or equipment you need to work out must be factored in as well.
Everyone knows that making healthy choices is the best thing they can do for themselves, but it’s a luxury that only some feel they can actually afford.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
