Why Holding Back Your Wealth Display Might Help You Grow

Shine Star

In a world where showing off wealth is everywhere, we often forget the power of quiet growth. In this video, “Why Holding Back Your Wealth Display Might Help You Grow”, you’ll discover why keeping a low profile about your riches can actually accelerate your financial success.   You’ll learn:  • How flashy spending attracts unhelpful pressures and distractions  • Psychological strategies used by wealthy people who prefer modesty  • How hiding your financial wins can protect relationships, reduce comparison stress, and help you make smarter long‑term money decisions  • Practical tips you can apply now — from mindset shifts to habits for controlled spending and investing wisely   Whether you’re building a startup, climbing the corporate ladder, or growing savings, this video gives you tools to grow wealth without the noise.   Tell us one thing you’ve skipped so far to stay financially strong.

Transcript

00:00The rich have a secret. In my conversations with billionaires, top investors, and some of the best

00:04business owners I know, I've noticed something. You would never be able to tell they were rich

00:09just by looking at them. Do you want to grow your bank account or your ego? Well, here's eight

00:14reasons why looking poor can actually make you more money. Number one, the anti-signal is the

00:20signal. What if in fact looking flashy and rich is actually making you lose money? Like, who do

00:25trust more? This guy, no offense, kind of, or this guy? This is called the anti-signal and

00:30it's backed by data. A survey published in the Journal of Consumer Research showed that

00:35people who conspicuously consumed luxury goods were perceived as less trustworthy compared

00:41to those who kept a low profile. So like, keep your Rolex pictures yourself, boys. Take Warren

00:46Buffett, for example. He still lives in the same modest house he bought in 1958 and drives

00:50a Cadillac, not a Lambo, but he's got way more dollars. His wealth doesn't announce itself.

00:55It just is proven. And that's how you build trust. At Contrarian Thinking, we have a set

01:00of values called the Contrarian Creed that we discuss every meeting. And one of my favorites

01:04is show me your results, not your intentions. No one who deserves your respect cares what

01:10labels you wear. They care about your results. Buffett owns a massive public firm. He has to

01:16show and discuss his results year in and year out, and everybody sees if he makes or loses

01:21money. Real wealth doesn't brag. It just shows results. Actually, I thought of something.

01:26A Casio watch challenge. Here's the idea. I've always wanted an excuse to wear one of those

01:31Casio calculator watches. Have you seen this bad boy?

01:34Introducing the Multicron 20 function calculator watch. I'm going to give away one in the comments

01:40to one of you who either tells me the funniest joke about money, or tells me the coolest way

01:45to save money. I'll pick one of you. And then, to show we are frugal f***ers, I'm going to wear

01:51one with you for the entire month of January. It'll just be you and me and our Casio calculators,

01:56baby. This is not that, by the way. This is not a good purchase. This is an expensive purchase

02:01right now. So we're not talking about that. Number two, act your stage. Some say, act your age.

02:06Dave Ramsey says, act your freaking wage. I say, act your stage. I break earnings into four

02:13categories. First, we've got emerging. Less than $100,000 in income. You're just starting out. You

02:18need to be obsessed or you'll never win. This requires all of you. Two, learning. Less than a

02:23million bucks in income. You are getting your first wins. It will require most of you plus an A plus team.

02:28If you're happy here, stay. If not, next stage requires more. Three, growing. Less than 10 million in

02:34income. You are now 0.4% who had eight figures. It will require a lot from you plus an A plus team

02:41that is also obsessed. Four, empire. Less than $100,000 in income. You are the 0.0001% at nine

02:48figures. It will require much thought and strategy from you plus a top tier team, but maybe not all of

02:55your time because you're going to have a team. So know your stage. Make peace with it. Oprah also has a

03:00great quote. She says, do what you have to do until you can do what you want to do. This is often what

03:04real wealth requires when you're starting from scratch. Do you think you're doing what it takes

03:09or are you doing what you want? Be honest with yourself. Truth plus sacrifices equals progress.

03:14So act your stage. Here's the thing about the rich. They get wealthy quietly. No flashy cars,

03:20no overpriced gadgets, just calculated moves that grow their money over time. You know what's kind of

03:24ironic though? The best opportunities are often the least exciting. Real estate, for instance,

03:29not glamorous. You don't get bragging rights for owning a portfolio of multifamily units or warehouses,

03:34but you can get more stable returns so you can build wealth that lasts generation. That's where

03:40this company called Fundrise and its flagship fund comes in. It's the no fluff way to start building

03:46your real estate portfolio without needing millions. Usually most people don't ever get access to private

03:50market real estate deals. So this is a great way to start with a few thousand and grab a seat at

03:54the table with the wealthy, just without the sky high buy-in. Quiet wealth isn't about hype. It's

04:00about actions that speak louder than hype. That's where the Fundrise flagship fund comes in. Thanks to

04:06Fundrise flagship fund for sponsoring this video. Get off the hedonic hamster wheel. This is like a real

04:11thing. It's also called hedonic adaptation if you want to get fancy with it. But this idea is,

04:16is that no matter how fast you run or what happens to you, eventually you go from wanting something

04:22to trying to get it, to achieving it, to happiness, to adapting to that happiness,

04:26to eventually wanting something else and going back into the hamster wheel again like this.

04:32This vicious cycle is why so many of us continue to shift how much money we have to make until

04:37eventually we're on our deathbed thinking, what am I going to do with all this paper? Mold. Should

04:41have spent it. A lot of people talk about it like a treadmill like this because human emotion, it turns

04:49out, you can't really stay at the peaks or the troughs. Even like people with psychological disorders,

04:56for instance, can't. And so this like extreme high, extreme low balances out over time kind of like a

05:02treadmill. You know, I love Albert Einstein's line on this. He said, a common modest life brings more

05:07happiness than the pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness. So chill and enjoy it.

05:13Data actually backs this up, which is interesting. Research has found that once you have covered the

05:17essentials in life, food, shelter, healthcare, having more money does not do much to change

05:22your happiness, especially after $500,000 a year. You have to realize that money will not solve

05:27everything. It'll solve a ton when you're poor though. Get off the treadmill. Deciding that you don't need

05:31to compete with those around you will bring you far more happiness than a new Lambo to post on your

05:36Instagram ever will. And believe me, I have to say the same thing to myself. Even once you've made

05:40your first million, 10 million, a hundred million bucks, you just keep looking at the guy in front

05:45of you. Protect the house. Whenever I have more money, I try to rewire my mind from asking, how can

05:50I spend this? We do it subconsciously, even if we don't realize it. And instead I say, how can I invest

05:56this? The two almost mean the same thing, but the purpose is different. You spend for a turn,

06:02you invest for a return. Here's one of my definitions of rich, having assets that can help

06:07you actively earn on your behalf. You don't have to work, your money's working for you. See if you

06:13can rewire your psychology. Instead of treating yourself with a purchase, can you treat yourself

06:17to an investment? Not just in finance, but in your education, in your relationships. Think about,

06:23can I put pennies in those bank accounts instead? You should always be asking yourself, if this dollar,

06:28I spend it, will it bring back more friends with it? Both personally and in business, that's a pretty

06:33good question to ask. Sam Walton famously said, every time Walmart spends $1 foolishly, comes right

06:38out of our customers' pockets. Every time we save them $1, that puts us one more step ahead of the

06:43competition, which is where we always plan to be. That's one of the largest corporations on earth

06:48that thinks that way, with a multi, multi, multi-time billionaire. If they can think that granularly

06:53and intentionally about how they're spending $1, so can every one of us. I like to gamify just

06:58about everything I do, so I use the Streaks app to actually follow through on what I'm doing.

07:03Typically, I use it for working out, but I also added here, save $10 and make it at home.

07:10Each day, is there something that I made at home? Each day, is there something that I saved

07:13some cash on? I'm just getting that little baby muscle going. Also, I'm sore, but that's the idea,

07:19so that when it comes to saving money, I get this dopamine reward, too, of pressing that same exact

07:26thing, just like I would. The dopamine reward for on Instagram pulls up the ad, and I want to buy it.

07:31By the way, if you haven't subscribed yet, I think you should. It'll be fun.

07:35Strive for what I call stealth wealth. First, you need to know what you're actually going after.

07:40Let's set something straight. Wealth is about becoming so sovereign, you can say no to anything,

07:46anyone, anytime, anywhere. So, see this chart? Pretty simple stuff. Essentially, there's supply

07:52and demand of telling people to beat it. The more wealth you build, the more F-offs you're basically

07:56allowed. You see, for many, rich has become something dirty, flashy, loud. Most people will

08:03spend 90,000 hours of their life on making money. It may not sound great to say your goal is to get

08:08rich, but hey, you can't deny that you might as well try to build a whole lot of wealth while working

08:13all that time. So, instead of saying, get rich, here's what you want. You want to grow, maintain,

08:19and accumulate real, durable wealth. Not money to gain attention, but money to be sovereign.

08:25I like this quote. The goal isn't more money, the goal is living life on your terms, by a guy by the

08:30name of Chris Brogan. My thought here is an F-you fund is basically enough money where you can say F-you

08:35to anybody at any time. Everybody has a different number. For me personally, I think you probably can

08:41find another job within a three-year window if you are a hard worker no matter what. So, your real F-you

08:46fund is probably what your expenses are over any three-year period of time. If you've gotten that

08:50money saved up, F-you to anybody you don't want to work with. The lie detector test. You don't have to

08:55be Einstein to formulate the best way to keep more money is to save more than you spend. That is the

08:59number one rule, really. The number two rule is put those savings to work. Right now, unless you're in a

09:05tight spot, you're almost definitely spending more than you absolutely need to. In fact, that's what

09:10most Americans do today with their spending limit. So, here's a test to run down. Write down everything

09:15you're spending money on, but don't do anything with it. Yet. Declare out loud, yes, out loud, that

09:21you need every single item on the list. And then actually go through and examine each item. If there's

09:26something you don't really need, you fail the lie detector test and you should ask yourself if you can

09:30cut it. This extra is called bloat. Happens naturally, you know, like your stomach after you eat.

09:36In fact, a bank rate survey found that 84% of Americans underestimate how much they spend on

09:41non-essential items like dining out and streaming services. 84%. So, odds are you're one of them.

09:48Just look at this. As of August in 2024 compared to January 2018, low-income households, real average

09:56spending was up almost 8%. Middle-income households up 13%. High-income households up 16%. It's kind of

10:06like a treatable disease that will weigh you down and wear you down over time unless it's dealt with.

10:12I stop that by trying to go on a diet every year and I do a 20% fat blast. Here's how it works. Come up

10:20with a number. I said 20%, but I ended up actually hitting 16% this year. So, let's say my monthly expenses

10:26were $6,000. So, that's $960 less we spend monthly now if I'm cutting 20%, which equals $11,500 a year

10:34in savings. That adds up. Now, it might sound like a lot to cut that much, but think about it this way.

10:39The average American subscriber pays nearly $1,000, $77 a month, for streaming subscriptions.

10:4531% of Americans use third-party delivery apps, DoorDash, GrubHub, at least once a week. I was doing a lot

10:51more than that. 79% of Americans confess to purchasing items they never end up using and

10:56they don't return them. And 25% report buying unused items at least monthly. The tip? Start

11:02with subscriptions. I call these the silent killers. Set it and forget it is a great business model unless

11:07you're paying for it and doing the setting and forgetting. A great way to stay poor is by being

11:12so afraid of losing money that you always bunt and never take swings. By the way, baseball references.

11:16Here we are. If you want to achieve real wealth and not just savings, you got to create. You'll need

11:22to build or invest, not just save. You got to put money to work. Here's the harsh truth. Saving money

11:28won't make you rich. It keeps you afloat, but wealth grows through compounding and value creation.

11:34Kind of got to have all. The average savings account earns 0.5% interest annually, which is wild.

11:40Compare that to the S&P 500s, about 10% a year. Over time, the difference is staggering,

11:45especially when inflation is like anywhere from three to even 8%. You can spend all the time you

11:50want brewing your own coffee from home and nobody's made millions doing that. Widen your wealth

11:56aperture. The most powerful tool for building wealth is your mindset. Sounds cheesy, except it's

12:00true. Treat it like a camera lens. Widen your aperture to see opportunities and then you focus

12:05down once you understand a little bit more and are ready to execute. Like what's a way to do this

12:09that's not so touchy-feely? Find five people who make more than you and try to meet with them

12:14regularly. I'm not saying billionaires. They don't even have to be millionaires. I'm not saying

12:18these mentors will be with you for the rest of your life, but people who make significantly more

12:22than you, who can help widen your aperture just by you trying to meet with them once a month.

12:27Another way to think about it, how do you cook a brisket? Low and slow. Same thing with wealth.

12:33It's not coupon clipping and savings accounts that will make you a millionaire. It's learning the

12:37language of money from those in the arena. And you're going to get that just by surface area

12:42expansion. And by the way, we have a killer newsletter coming out about a bunch of billionaires

12:46who all started from stealth wealth and my favorite secrets I learned from them. You should

12:50click here. The truth of the matter is most people go broke trying to look wealthy instead of living

12:55cash poor to become wealthy. Most people play status games to get things other people have that you're not

13:01even sure you really want. You're not going to be that because you know that just because you look

13:06poor doesn't mean you don't got a big fat bank account.

Category

Transcript

Comments

Recommended