6 Money-Saving Tips From Billionaires

[Barefootsies]

Live like the millionaires of GFY.

Carlos Slim Helú, a telecom tycoon and billionaire with well-known frugal tendencies, has a net worth of $60.6 billion according to Forbes. Assuming no changes in his net worth, he could spend $1,150 a minute for the next 100 years before he ran out of money.

To put this in perspective, he could spend in 13 minutes -- what a minimum-wage earner brings home after an entire year of the daily grind.

Granted, the world's billionaires (all 1,011 of them) are in the position of having, quite literally, more money than they can possibly spend, yet some still live well below their means and save money in surprising places. Even nonbillionaires can partake in these spending tips from frugal billionaires.

1. Keep your home simple. Billionaires can afford to live in the most exclusive mansions imaginable -- such as Bill Gates' sprawling 66,000 square foot, $147.5 million mansion in Medina, Wash. -- yet frugal billionaires like Warren Buffett choose to keep it simple. Buffett lives in the five-bedroom house in Omaha, Neb., that he purchased in 1957 for $31,500.

Likewise, Slim has lived in the same house for more than 40 years.

2. Use self-powered or public transportation. Thrifty billionaires including John Caudwell, David Cheriton and Chuck Feeney prefer to walk, bike or use public transportation when getting around town.

Certainly these wealthy individuals could afford to take a helicopter to their lunch meetings, or ride in chauffeur-driven Bentleys, but they choose to get a little exercise or take advantage of public transportation instead. Good for the bank account and great for the environment.

3. Buy your clothes off the rack. While some people, regardless of their net worth, place a huge emphasis on wearing designer clothes and shoes, some frugal billionaires decide it's simply not worth the effort or expense.

You can find Cheriton, the Stanford professor who matched Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page to the venture capitalists at Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers (resulting in a large reward of Google stock), wearing jeans and a T-shirt.

Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of the furniture company Ikea, avoids wearing suits, and Caudwell, the mobile phone mogul, buys his clothes off the rack instead of spending his wealth on designer clothes.

4. Keep your scissors sharp. The average haircut costs about $45, but people can and do spend up to $800 per cut and style. Multiply that by 8.6 (to account for a cut every six weeks) and it adds up to $7,200 per year, not including tips.

These billionaires can certainly afford the most stylish haircuts, but many cannot be bothered by the time it takes or the high price tag for the posh salons. Billionaires like Caudwell and Cheriton cut their own hair at home.

5. Drive a regular car. While billionaires like Larry Ellison (co-founder and CEO of Oracle) enjoy spending millions on cars, boats and planes, others remain low key with their vehicles of choice. Jim Walton (of the Wal-Mart clan) drives a 15-year-old pickup truck. Azim Premji, an Indian business tycoon, reportedly drives a Toyota Corolla. And Kamprad of Ikea drives a 10-year-old Volvo. The idea is to buy a dependable car and drive it into the ground. No need for a different car each day of the week for these frugal billionaires.

6. Skip luxury items. It may surprise some of us, but the world's wealthiest person, Slim -- the one who could spend more than a thousand dollars a minute and not run out of money for 100 years -- does not own a yacht or a plane.

Many other billionaires have chosen to skip these luxury items. Buffett also avoids these lavish material items, stating "Most toys are just a pain in the neck."

What we can learn
Some of the world's billionaires have frugal tendencies. Perhaps this thrifty nature even helped them keep some of their money.

Regardless, they have chosen to avoid some unnecessary spending (at least on their scale) and the 6.86 billion nonbillionaires out there can follow suit, eliminating excessive, keep-up-with-the-Joneses style spending. No matter what your income bracket is, you can usually find ways to cut back on frivolous spending -- just like a few frugal billionaires do.

Full Story

[redwhiteandblue]

Originally Posted by Barefootsies

6. Skip luxury items. It may surprise some of us, but the world's wealthiest person, Slim -- the one who could spend more than a thousand dollars a minute and not run out of money for 100 years -- does not own a yacht or a plane.

Will try that, cheers

[PR_Glen]

totally the reason why I held off buying that plane

brilliant tips!
i could save a fortune

[bronco67]

So these billionaires practice this stuff because it might break them? If you have billions, having a mansion, and lambo and the finest clothes will not break the bank.

Like the average guy is worried about buying a fucking mansion. If anything, this article show how out of touch with reality these guys are.

[Randy West]

Originally Posted by bronco67

So these billionaires practice this stuff because it might break them? If you have billions, having a mansion, and lambo and the finest clothes will not break the bank.

Like the average guy is worried about buying a fucking mansion. If anything, this article show how out of touch with reality these guys are.

Actually it shows that after a certain number of zeros at the end of your bank balance, money is not longer important and it becomes a game to them. They know they are rich, so why flaunt it?

[bronco67]

Originally Posted by Randy West

Actually it shows that after a certain number of zeros at the end of your bank balance, money is not longer important and it becomes a game to them. They know they are rich, so why flaunt it?

Wassup Randy? Long time fan.

[Trax]

what a bullshit article. most of the shit is pure PR
google guys driving to their office in old toyotas, wearing cheap shirts my ass
this is simply good PR when you are considering their are spending multi-millions on private (as in non-corporate) Boeing 767-200
its an act

[qwe]

i think they're overdoing it with all the money they have, sure when you got no money it's good to save up but once you worth high millions/billions you need to enjoy the money, what's the point of making so much money and then drive a toyota corolla ?

[dicksman42]

Habits are hard to break.I think that for some,the lifestyle that they had to accumulate and build such wealth they can't stop or don't see the need to.

[Barefootsies]

Originally Posted by dicksman42

Habits are hard to break.I think that for some,the lifestyle that they had to accumulate and build such wealth they can't stop or don't see the need to.

Well said fine sire.

[garce]

Originally Posted by Randy West

Actually it shows that after a certain number of zeros at the end of your bank balance, money is not longer important and it becomes a game to them. They know they are rich, so why flaunt it?

Good call.

[Phoenix]

for the average person, these are not practical savings vectors

if you want to save money and see it at the end of each month/year
1...dont buy coffee outside ever...coffee can be anywhere from 1 dollar a day, which isnt much, up to 12-15 a day for some people...thats is roughly 300- 3600 dollars of after tax money given to coffee vendors.

2..dont shop in convenience stores, you pay an extra charge everytime you do. some people spend 3-5 a work day in there, thats 1200-1500 a year
smokers can spend up to 20 per day in a convenience store, as they rarely only buy cigarettes, they will also buy a drink/ candy/ gum...lets put them at 3000-6000 per year

3..buying breakfast and lunch and dinner out, some people do this everyday
breakfast 4-10 sometimes more, is 1000-2500 per year, lunch at 5-15, is 1250-3750 per year

thats just 3 things
but its an easy way to save 5-10k per year, thats enough after 1-2 years for your first down payment on a house.

if you are really frugal you can add on, not buying the most expensive clothes, or the most expensive car you can afford etc etc

[pornguy]

Carlos slim also avoids spending money on upkeep and technology on his phone company as well, while still charging big prices for the crap he delivers.

[tony286]

Thats not the tips that got them rich. Thats just them being cheap lol

[Paul&John]

the average haircut costs about $45

wtf? . . . ..

[ottopottomouse]

Being a billionaire doesn't sound like much fun.

[DWB]

Guess I'll pass on the plane this year. Bummer.

[fatfoo]

Carlos Slim Helú is quite rich. What a successful man he is! Perhaps he can send me a few dollars.

[dyna mo]

Originally Posted by Phoenix

for the average person, these are not practical savings vectors

if you want to save money and see it at the end of each month/year
1...dont buy coffee outside ever...coffee can be anywhere from 1 dollar a day, which isnt much, up to 12-15 a day for some people...thats is roughly 300- 3600 dollars of after tax money given to coffee vendors.

2..dont shop in convenience stores, you pay an extra charge everytime you do. some people spend 3-5 a work day in there, thats 1200-1500 a year
smokers can spend up to 20 per day in a convenience store, as they rarely only buy cigarettes, they will also buy a drink/ candy/ gum...lets put them at 3000-6000 per year

3..buying breakfast and lunch and dinner out, some people do this everyday
breakfast 4-10 sometimes more, is 1000-2500 per year, lunch at 5-15, is 1250-3750 per year

thats just 3 things
but its an easy way to save 5-10k per year, thats enough after 1-2 years for your first down payment on a house.

if you are really frugal you can add on, not buying the most expensive clothes, or the most expensive car you can afford etc etc

these are pretty good but i get my coffee on the outside. for several reasons.
i find if i keep coffee in the house, i drink more, which is doubly bad- same price as 1 cup bought and more caffeine so extra unhealthy. i also do a walk in the park every morning, and i am often times motivated to do so by thinking that i will be stopping at the cafe after and checking in with the other regulars.

but i get what you are saying, just some things might appear to be more expensive but when put in perspective make sense.

[Phoenix]

Originally Posted by dyna mo

these are pretty good but i get my coffee on the outside. for several reasons.
i find if i keep coffee in the house, i drink more, which is doubly bad- same price as 1 cup bought and more caffeine so extra unhealthy. i also do a walk in the park every morning, and i am often times motivated to do so by thinking that i will be stopping at the cafe after and checking in with the other regulars.

but i get what you are saying, just some things might appear to be more expensive but when put in perspective make sense.

totally..i still buy coffee out..lol

but i try not to...i stay away from convenience stores
and we shop smartly
do we have to save the few hundred a month? not overly...but i put all the money into my sons bank account and his school savings....now im addicted to it

[_Richard_]

well i guess i'll be putting off the purchase of my yacht for some time

curses.

[dicksman42]

Originally Posted by dyna mo

these are pretty good but i get my coffee on the outside. for several reasons.
i find if i keep coffee in the house, i drink more, which is doubly bad- same price as 1 cup bought and more caffeine so extra unhealthy. i also do a walk in the park every morning, and i am often times motivated to do so by thinking that i will be stopping at the cafe after and checking in with the other regulars.

but i get what you are saying, just some things might appear to be more expensive but when put in perspective make sense.

That is exactly how I get my morning coffee.I take a really brisk walk every morning,but part of the motivation is to get my Java.It works,a couple of days a week I would just say fuck it and drink coffee at home.This makes me get 30 -45 minutes of something just to get my fix...lol

[VikingMan]

start a business and get just about everything wholesale by networking with other business people Fuck paying retail for ANYTHING

[minicivan]

Call me silly, but when i get to the point that i can spend $1000.00 a minute for the next 100 years, i'm going to be spending me some fucking money!

[DateDoc]

The reason Warren Buffet does not own a private jet is because he owns NetJets!

[woj]

"Use self-powered or public transportation. Thrifty billionaires including John Caudwell, David Cheriton and Chuck Feeney prefer to walk, bike or use public transportation when getting around town."

that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard

[BestXXXPorn]

What we need is millionaires spending LESS, bwhahaahaha.

And on a personal note... I'm driven to make money for the specific purpose of being able to spend it... why would I want to spend less? Spending less and sitting on your capital is what slows the economy...

Think about it, any one of these guys with BILLIONS in holdings could cash out a fraction and just shop, all day, every day in a single city and single handedly increase the amount of jobs as well as the profitability of the entire city!

[sweetcuties]

The article is the biggest load of bullshit there is

[CYF]

damn, better go cancel that private yacht.

[sweetcuties]

I'm gonna save $5 from eating some fast food crap so I can be a billionaire also

[Elli]

Great post!

[TeenSluts]

I'll keep my $800 dollar haircuts thank you very much

[Randy West]

Originally Posted by woj

"Use self-powered or public transportation. Thrifty billionaires including John Caudwell, David Cheriton and Chuck Feeney prefer to walk, bike or use public transportation when getting around town."

that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard

Why is it "dumb"?

[Phoenix]

Originally Posted by sweetcuties

I'm gonna save $5 from eating some fast food crap so I can be a billionaire also

well..its probably not focused on you...you probably make more then the average person out there

so you can afford to spend more of your disposable income how you wish

however, for most people out there
by cutting out bullshit, that can equate to real savings for them

and they wont get rich, but maybe they can go from renting to owning at least

[PornMD]

Originally Posted by Barefootsies

Live like the millionaires of GFY.



Full Story

Summary: Avoid luxury. What a mindblowing money-saving concept!

[Zyber]

Bullshit. That article is just PR stories. Good propaganda.

[rvincent]

I'm doing all of that already! :-/ Will need to find more tips...

[bjlover]

I doubt many people here (me included) need to worry to much about this

[mechanicvirus]

This is the same rehashed article that has been posted for the past 5 years on yahoo news, awesome

[alias]

+1 for cutting my own hair, no more barber belly rubbing on me. Easy with a buzzer anyway and my girl is nice enough to clean the neckline and check it over.

[myneid]

being a billionaire myself i find this article very informative

[stever]

ya ok sure
make billions and take the bus to get around
great tips
what a joke

[Cyandin]

Originally Posted by Elli

Great post!

Elli, your avatar is AMAZINGLY sexy.

[O MARINA]

Originally Posted by BestXXXPorn

I'm driven to make money for the specific purpose of being able to spend it...

[O MARINA]

The best replies in this thread are:

Originally Posted by myneid

being a billionaire myself i find this article very informative

Originally Posted by stever

ya ok sure
make billions and take the bus to get around
great tips

[SexSearchSuzanne]

These billionaires can certainly afford the most stylish haircuts, but many cannot be bothered by the time it takes or the high price tag for the posh salons. Billionaires like Caudwell and Cheriton cut their own hair at home.

Do they use a Flowbee?

[2MuchMark]

I'm changing my ways right now.

[CaptainWolfy]

only one thing, all the money that they save and become more rich, they won't take it to grave! Enjoy it while you have it ..

[webair]

sound advice!