These ‘cheap’ millionaires drive secondhand cars, live in rented homes and never buy new clothes. Here’s why | Trending

You might associate high-earning individuals or millionaires with extravagant lifestyles filled with luxury cars, designer clothing, and opulent homes. But some of them are now choosing to live a life of “under-consumption” and learning the value of “cheap or frugal” living. Entrepreneurs Shang Saavedra and Annie Cole have embraced the under-consumption lifestyle despite being millionaires.(LinkedIn/AnnieCole, Shang Saavedra) Under-consumption became a viral phrase after social media infuencers started sharing infinite shopping hauls and excessive skincare routines. The under-consumption community has hit out at the promotion of such activities and shared advice on decluttering spaces and setting no-buy challenges. Rented home, secondhand carEntrepreneur Shang Saavedra, a Harvard graduate who runs a personal-finance website, has built a multi-million dollar net worth with her husband but looking at the couple’s lifestyle, you can never know their financial status. According to a report Fortune, The couple rent a four-bed home in Los Angeles and share a 16-year-old secondhand car and buy frozen food on their grocery shopping trips. Her children wear hand-me-down clothes and play with toys found on Facebook marketplace. The only things they do splurge on are their children’s education, property investments and philanthropy. Her children attend private school, she owns property in New York and supports philanthropic endeavors. “Of course I still am tempted to go for luxury items and experiences, and every now and then we have a nice date night at a very nice restaurant—but understanding the reason why you want something … comes from a pain for an unfulfilled part of your life and oftentimes is a psychological need,” she told Fortune. Only wearing used clothesAnnie Cole, who works as a contracted researcher and personal finance expert coaching women how to handle money, owns assets totalling over a million dollars but all she spends in a month is just $4,000. She said she sold her car a couple of years ago, cooks meals for a week to save money and cuts her own hair. She only shops for clothes thrice a year and she prefers to buy used clothes. Cole and her husband spend their vacations enjoying free activities like hiking and swimming. When they travel, they use free air miles for flights. (Also read: Meet 75-year-old millionaire who lives off coupons and rides bicycle) Shopping at wholesale marketsSimilarly, dent Robert Chin and his partner Jessica Pharar own a practice in Las Vegas and earn six-figure salaries each. The couple, however, prefers to share one car to cut down on fuel costs, pack lunches to take with them and shop at wholesale stores to lower grocery costs. Chin told Fortune that they only eat out one or two times a month and live in a rented property to have the flexibility to purchase a better home when they want. The couple now aim to take early retirement and live off their investment assets and savings.