Frugality Hall Of Fame

The 14 Most Interesting Frugal People

Posted on February 13, 2015 by Thijs
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Most of us middle-classers have daydreamed at least once about striking it rich,
either with a lottery ticket, a lucky break in our careers, or a large inherita
nce from a mysterious distant uncle. We imagine the sensational things we would
do and the thrilling and exotic places we d go if money were no object.
We flip through magazine pages filled with affluent celebrities dripping in diam
onds, clad in high fashion clothes, clutching the keys to a new Lamborghini Vene
no Roadster (named the Most Expensive Car of 2014).
We yearn for that lavish lifestyle while, quite conversely, some of the world s ri
chest people have gone to great (and often strange) lengths to save a dollar her
e and there, even though they have millions, even billions in the bank.
One of the most well-known examples of billionaires living below their means is
Apple founder Steve Jobs, who famously refused to buy a coat while visiting Manh
attan during a cold spell, while stepping outside in the cold again declaring to
his friend Ben Rosen, that much for an overcoat? Too much. Besides, I ll never use
it in California.
Below are fourteen more examples of the world s wealthiest and most frugal. Person
s known for their extreme, catching or intriguing austerity, from yesterday and
today. Some of these people, celebrities engaging in miserly behavior that would
embarrass Ebenezer Scrooge.

The Frugality Hall of Fame, Top 5 Most Interesting Frugal People

Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin-Franklin-frugality-hall-of-fame
Founding Father, inventor, and entrepreneur, Ben Franklin is heralded in the U.S
. as the Father of Frugality . The youngest of fifteen children, Franklin grew up k
nowing the value of a dollar and wrote entire books on the subject of saving and
spending money wisely, which are still considered relevant even in today s econom
ic society.
Franklin coined such phrases as a penny saved is a penny earned and early to bed, e
arly to rise, makes a mean healthy, wealthy, and wise . He and his wife, Deborah R
ead, took these idioms to heart by eating small, simple meals every day and dres
sing in plain fashions, while other aristocrats of the Colonies were spending th
eir newly-acquired wealth on great feasts and trendy, luxurious clothing.
Franklin also made sure to surround himself with co-workers, partners, and frien
ds who all shared in his enthusiasm for living below their means, so as not to s
uccumb to spendthrift behavior. These methods led Franklin to become a self-made
millionaire by the time he was 42, and earned him a place of esteem in American
history (not to mention a portrait on the $100 bill!)
John D. MacArthur
Joh-D-MacArthur-hall-of-frugality-CriticalCactus

MacArthur was an American businessman who built an insurance empire and amassed
a fortune of over $1 billion by the time of his death in 1978. (That s almost $4 b
illion in today s money.) He grew up in a poor Pennsylvania mining town along with

his six siblings, so one can imagine the money saving tips and tricks he grew u
p learning from his resourceful parents.
One such method was combining his home and workspace throughout the beginning of
his career. MacArthur managed his insurance business out of the Colonnades Beac
h, a hotel he owned, taking meetings with clients and investors in the hotel s cof
fee shop. He and his family also lived in a modest apartment above the bar of th
e hotel, saving money on both his home and his office spaces by eliminating the
need for a home mortgage or office lease.
And while he could certainly have afforded luxury accommodations and high-end it
ems, he shunned designer brands in favor for inexpensive substitutes, In an inte
rview in 1976, MacArthur proudly declared, fancy labels don t mean a damn to me. If
I can get better value on a diamond at a pawnshop, I d sooner get it there than a
t Tiffany s. Thus MacArthur never owned a yacht or luxury car, and allowed himself
a sum of $25,000 a year to live on, while the rest went to charity and savings.

Hetty Green
Hetty Green one of the most frugal persons ever

Henrietta Hetty Green was businesswoman and the wealthiest woman in America in the
1870s. Born to a family of rich Quakers, Hetty adopted much of her frugal lifes
tyle from her faith and upbringing.
Although she was born wealthy, she was such a conservative spender that the Guin
ness Book of World Records gave her the title of World s Greatest Miser, an honor
e held for much of her life.This led also to nicknames as The Queen of Wall Stre
et, The Human Cash Register, and The Pride and Pain of Bellows Falls.
Hetty used a variety of methods to save money, some of which were so extreme tha
t her contemporaries referred to her as The Witch of Wall Street. She never used h
eated water for her baths or used a heating system in her home, even in the dead
of a New York winter. She had only one plain black dress that she would wear ev
ery day until the fabric wore out, and only had it washed in small, specific are
as to save on soap.
Her meals mostly consisted of hand pies that cost 15 cents each. In one particul
arly gruesome instance, when Hetty s young son Ned broke his leg, she initially to
ok him to a free clinic reserved for the poor, to avoid costly doctor s fees. This
miserly misstep caused poor Ned to eventually have his leg amputated. Even Hett
y refused a surgical procedure for her own health before she died in 1916, becau
se of the $150 price tag that came with it.

Rose F. Kennedy
Rose-Kennedy-Frugality-Hall-of-Fame-CriticalCactus

Rose Kennedy raised nine children to be US Senators, ambassadors, and even a pre
sident, so it s no surprise that her acts of frugality during her long life usuall
y go unnoticed. When Barbara Gibson, Kennedy s secretary from 1974 to 1977, publis
hed a tell-all book about life with America s most famous political family, she in

sh

cluded many details of Rose s excessive penny-pinching.

When Gibson ordered a business lunch which included a 59 cent bag of potato chip
s, Kennedy forced her to remove the item, complaining about its outrageous price
. Before she married Joe Kennedy in 1914, she often swapped her old clothes with
a friend who was the same dress size, so that they both could have brand new wa
rdrobes without paying a dime.
This kind of smart saving and small spending allowed Rose to save the Kennedy co
mpound from financial ruin several times over the course of her life, and is the
reason for her accomplishments in motherhood and in her many charitable endeavo
rs.

Ronald Read
Ronald-Read-frugality-hall-of-fame
Ronald Read is more of a local legend, especially to the town of Battleboro, Ver
mont. An unassuming man, Read was the first in his family to finish high school,
and worked as a gas station attendant and a janitor until his retirement at age
75. He was so frugal, he drove a second-hand car, gathered his own firewood, an
d used safety pins to keep his coat closed when the buttons fell off.
His appearance and demeanor was so shabby that one time, while having lunch at a
local coffee shop, a stranger anonymously paid for his meal, assuming Read was
down on his luck and couldn t afford it. Even his attorney, Laurie Rowell, admitte
d to the press that the last time she had a meeting with Read, he parked far away
in a spot where there were no meters so he could save the coins.
However, when he died at 92 in June of 2014, he posthumously revealed himself to
be a multimillionaire, having amassed more than $8 million by successfully play
ing the stock market and investing wisely. His own family was unaware of his wea
lth, stating that their only clue that he was accumulating vast riches was the f
act that he read the Wall Street Journal religiously. His stock market savvy and
simple spending habits paid off, and upon his death he was generous enough to d
onate approximately $6 million to his local hospital and library.

Honorable Mentions, 9 Intriguing Frugal and Famous People

Carlos Slim Helu

This Mexican mogul surpassed Bill Gates as the World s Richest Man in 2010, with a
net worth of over $69 billion in tow. Helu is the owner of over 200 companies i
n Mexico, including the country s largest telephone operating company Telmex. Yet,
much like Gates, Carlos prefers a simple life, free of extravagance.
He still resides in a modest home where he and his family have lived for over th
ree decades and drives himself to work every day, rather than use a chauffeur, a
nd does not employ a security staff, even though the rate of kidnappings in Mexi
co is the highest on record. He refuses to buy computers and other technology be
cause of the price and the distraction.
And even though he owns many retail franchises and can easily request that they
send him top-quality fashions, he prefers to buy them off the discount rack hims
elf. In his free time, Helu enjoys staying at home with his children and grandch

ildren, making memories rather than spending money.

Mark Zuckerberg
You would think that a 27-year-old man with an estimated worth of $6.9 billion (
yes, BILLION) would be spending his time and money jetsetting around the world,
buying huge, lavish mansions, and being photographed by paparazzi on remote isla
nds with Victoria s Secret models. Well, for Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, his
life couldn t be more opposite.
While Zuckerberg does live in a 5,600-square-foot home in Paolo Alto, CA. worth
$7 million, it s clearly a drop in the bucket, and a modest abode compared to othe
rs in the area. Zuckerberg preaches the virtues of minimalism and eliminating desir
e on his own Facebook page, and has lived by those virtues even while he was atte
nding college and creating the internet s most influential social media platform.
Zuckerberg resided in dorms while attending Harvard University, and lived off ch
eap meals like ramen and macaroni. He rented small, one-bedroom apartments after
he dropped out of school to launch Facebook, and to this day he drives a modest
Acura (because of its reputation for safety, he claims) and dresses in a simple
, yet now iconic gray hooded sweatshirt. These conservative habits will ensure t
hat Zuckerberg is prepared to leave a rich, positive legacy for himself and his
family.
David Cheriton
Canadian-born David Cheriton is a technology investor and a professor at Stanfor
d University. He was one of the first people to put up investment capital for La
rry Page and Sergey Brin in order for them to launch Google. Cheriton s initial in
vestment of $100 thousand yielded him a return of over $1.1 billion, and today h
e is estimated to have a net worth of over $3.3 billion.
But although he is ranked as the 13th richest Canadian, he insists on living a f
rugal lifestyle and despises spending his money needlessly like many other billi
onaires do. During an interview, he admitted I m actually quite offended by that so
rt of thing these people who build houses with 13 bathrooms and so on, there s somet
hing wrong with them.
Instead, Cheriton drives a 1896 Volkswagen, resides in the same home he has owne
d for over thirty years, and even cuts his own hair. In 2010, Business Insider n
amed Cheriton among the top ten Cheapskate Billionaires . While Cheriton may be a c
heapskate when it comes to homes and cars, he has given large sums of money as c
haritable donations to Canadian colleges such as the University of Waterloo and
the University of British Columbia, who used the money to fund graduate studies
and research in the field of computer science.
Michael Bloomberg
Communications mogul and former Mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg has ha
d to reveal some shocking acts of tightwad-ness in the past. After announcing hi
s candidacy in 2001, released his financial records as required by law. These do
cuments showed that while his company, Bloomberg L.P., was worth over $22 billio
n dollars, Bloomberg only gave himself an annual salary that was equal to the lo
west-paid worker at his company.
That salary ranged anywhere from $5,000 to less than $20,000 per year from 1997
to 2000. But how did the mayoral candidate survive on such a paltry sum? For sta
rters, Bloomberg only owned two pairs of dress shoes in a span of ten years, whi
ch he alternated in order to extend their mileage. These two pairs of shoes, one
a penny loafer and the other a loafer with a tassel, predated his term as mayor

, and his spokesman is quoted as saying

g gone.

both are so well worn, with labels so lon

Not only was he was frugal with footwear, he was also cautious about shelling ou
t money for fancy, hard-to-pronounce coffee. Members of his staff claim that Blo
omberg purposefully selected the smallest size of regular coffee available, so t
hat he wouldn t spend a lot and also so it wouldn t go to waste.
Zong Qinghou
Qinghou is hailed as the richest man in China, and ranked #13 richest man in the
world. Although he s resting on a cool $21.6 billion, he earns the distinction of
being China s most frugal citizen as well. Sources say that the 66-year-old found
er of the Wahaha soft drink company, who once scraped by as a shopkeep before la
unching his business, lives on only $20 dollars a day, and doesn t spend more than
$2 on his clothes and shoes.
When asked in an interview why he invests so little into his wardrobe, Qinghou r
eplied People cannot tell if I were wearing clothes worth [$160] or [$16], so why
would I want to spend money on them? His workers have also commented on his eati
ng habits, shunning fine dining in favor of pickled vegetables and tofu, and pre
ferring to eat in his company s cafeteria with the people who work for him. He has
credited the success of his international beverage business to these simplified
spending habits, saying focusing on doing one thing and doing it properly is the
simplest but also the most difficult thing.

Ingvar Kamprad
It s actually not surprising to learn that the man who invented the simple, unador
ned designs of the famous IKEA furniture brand dedicates his life to simplicity
and cost-cutting, even with a fortune of over $4 billion. Ingvar Kamprad lives i
n a small bungalow in Sweden, shops at local grocery stores around closing time
to take advantage of end-of-day sales, and flies economy class even though he s we
althy enough to afford his own private plane.
Kamprad is notorious for his spending habits, going so far as to eat his own com
pany s famous Swedish meatballs for lunch. People close to him have reported that
he frequently swipes salt and pepper packets from restaurants, recycles his tea
bags, and buys wrapping paper and other Christmas trappings during after-holiday
sales.
On one occasion, Kamprad was denied entry into a business awards ceremony becaus
e he had just gotten off a bus in front of the venue. His thriftiness works for
his life and his business model, and in his manifesto A Testament of a Furniture
Dealer, he claims [w]e don t need flashy cars, impressive titles, uniforms or othe
r status symbols. We rely on our strength and our will!
Warren Buffett
Despite being the CEO of the multinational conglomerate holding company Berkshir
e Hathaway, and a man whose name appears on countless lists documenting the worl
d s richest businessmen, Warren Buffett and his legendary frugality is not only a
hot topic in trade gossip, it s a standard of living that he has used as a teachin
g tool to a wide audience, from fellow top businessmen, to young children. As of
Janurary 2015 Buffett s net worth was estimated at over $73 billion, and yet he l
ives off a salary of $100,000, an amount which he has not changed in the last 25
years despite inflation.

Being a man of simple tastes, his salary is more than enough to support his thri
fty lifestyle. Not only does he eschew the idea of dropping large sums of money
on cars, houses, and other rich-man status symbols, saying that [m]ost toys are j
ust a pain in the neck. He refuses to upgrade his cell phone and computer as well
, claiming that as long as they work fine, there s no need to replace them.
When he married his second wife Astrid Menks, rather than splurge on inviting a
mile-long list of celebrities to an excessively grand event at a trendy and expe
nsive venue like the Four Seasons, Buffett chose instead to tie the knot at a pr
ivate ceremony at his daughter Susan s house, which lasted all of 15 minutes. It s t
his mindfulness of money that will help keep Warren Buffett s name on the higher e
nd of all those Richest People Alive lists.
Kiera Knightley
Pop culture media outlets are constantly publishing stories of young celebrities
and their outrageous spending habits. Shows like MTV Cribs and the very popular
Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, along with celebrity gossip magazines like P
eople and OK! give normal viewers a glimpse into the champagne wishes and caviar
dreams of Hollywood s elite.
Excess is expected among young actors and actresses, so it s almost a shock to fin
d out that a handful of celebrities are clipping coupons and growing their savin
gs accounts just like the rest of the 99%. One of the best examples is Kiera Kni
ghtley, who, despite a net worth of about $50 million, limits her day-to-day spe
nding to $50,000 a year.
The actress, best known as the leading lady in the Pirates of the Caribbean movi
e franchise, applied her frugal ways to her 2013 wedding to musician James Right
on. The pair had a courthouse wedding in the South of France, with only 50 guest
s at the reception. For a wedding dress, Knightley declined to spend a fortune o
n a gown from famous fashion houses like Vera Wang or Carolina Herrera, and inst
ead wore a dress that she had owned for years.

Vincent Karthesier
When the AMC drama Mad Men became an overnight smash, Vincent Karthesier, who pl
ays Pete Campbell, soon realized that he craved minimalism in his life after box
es upon boxes of free gifts and swag started showing up at his door. One day, I l
ooked around and thought I don t want this stuff, I didn t ask for it , he once told The
Guardian. So I started giving it to friends or charity stores, or if it is still
in its box I might sell it for a hundred bucks.
But he didn t stop there. He also gave up a car in favor of public transportation
to get around Los Angeles, and until a few years ago, he lived in a 603-square-f
oot home with no television, no mirrors, and no working bathroom. (Okay, that wa
s just temporary while he was renovating the home, but still.)
While other actors his age are spending money like it s going out of style, Karthe
sier, who s estimated to be worth $1.1 and growing, knows the fleeting nature of s
how business, and thinks about the future in all of his purchases. Mad Men is goi
ng to be over at some point and my career will slow down, and I have to be prepa
red, he said, So I have to be a little bit financially conservative when it comes
to certain things.
Although frugality may not be a very high priority for most of the world s rich, i
t s nice to know that fame and fortune doesn t always affect people negatively. Even
with billions of dollars at their disposal, some of the wealthiest people in th

e world choose to downgrade their possessions and minimize their personal spendi
ng in order to provide their families with a bright future, help those less fort
unate, and donate to worthy causes. As the old saying goes, you can t take it with
you.