Wealth and income are commonly misunderstood to have same meaning. Wealth is not the same as income. If you make a good income each year and spend it all, you are not getting wealthier. You are just living an expensive life style. Wealth is what you accumulate, not what you spend.
Wealth allows you to live with current lifestyle without earning one rupee. If two persons had same bank balance and one is a lower spender then he is wealthier than other person.
There is a common misbelief that wealthy people live in expensive neighborhoods. However, if people are living in neighborhoods like Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills, they have expensive lifestyle.
In a research sponsored by the luxury brand Rolex in 1960’s, it was discovered that most millionaires back then were living next door in regular neighborhoods rather than in the expensive neighborhoods. In 1990′s, in Thomas. J. Stanley survey it was discovered that most people who live in expensive homes and drive luxury cards don’t actually have much wealth. You would be surprised to know how many people who your think are ‘rich’ are only “acting rich”.
Many middle class Americans have comfortable life in regular job without worrying about retirement, medical bills etc because of their lifestyle choices of saving aggressively and avoiding ostentation (that is avoiding to live life king size).
Many people think that to be wealthy, you need to have a life style of a king. One thing is for sure, a person needs to have a lot of wealth to maintain the lifestyle of a king. However, lot of wealthy people have become beggars / bankrupt by living life king size. Mike Tyson lived life king size and as a result he went bankrupt in 2003. He declared bankruptcy in 2003 despite receiving over US$30 million for several of his fights and $300 million during his career. He spent $4.5 million dollars on cars, $2 million dollar on bathtub, $100,000 approximately for two Bengal tigers, and spent money wastefully on other things. Above example explains what happens when you live life king size. It is said even Micheal Jackson was bankrupt at the time of his death.
