Frugality Lessons from Facebook Founder, Mark Zuckerberg

by Ashley Eneriz · 9 comments

mark zuckerberg frugal life
Whether you love or hate the Facebook founder, everyone can agree that Mark Zuckerberg is one of the top frugal billionaires around. At a $40.7 billion net worth, Zuckerberg is worth over 100 Kardashian families (that’s right, the whole family 100 times over and still have over $1 billion in his pocket). Although Zuckerberg is rolling in the dough, his lifestyle emulates a lifestyle closer to the average Joe. Here are some frugality lessons we can learn from one of the richest man in America.

He Drives Simple

What do most super-wealthy individuals drive around in? Usually the cars we can only dream about. Soccer superstar, David Beckham, has been seen driving his family around in a $407,000 Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead. In fact, most celebrities and multi-millionaires drive around cars worth more than our houses. Zuckerberg drives a modest, black Acura TSX. This car costs a modest $30,000.

He is also paying a lot less money for gas, car maintenance, and insurance too, considering an Acura doesn’t run up the costs quite like a Rolls-Royce or a Maybach does. When buying a car, it is important not to just look at the sticker price, but the yearly price of having the car. Some cars cost nearly double just to insure, which makes them a pointless money-eater.

He Parties Simple

With him and his wife expecting a new little one, you might expect a huge shower to be thrown for them. However, in the picture of the baby shower, it looked pretty simple. Zuckerberg and his wife ate tamales on paper plates, on a paper tablecloth, with paper decorations in the background. This is a nice reminder for all of us who feel like our parties need to be the next big thing on social media. Zuckerberg proves that parties should be more about who you are partying with than how fancy the food and decorations are.

He Dresses Simple

If you notice one thing about this young billionaire it is that he wears the same style of outfit everyday. He wears the same gray t-shirt, jeans, and hoodie. His entire wardrobe probably costs less than $700, and it probably costs less than $200 a year to keep his wardrobe updated. Considering that the average American family spends around $1,700 a year on clothing, Zuckerberg definitely has the right idea on saving money.

Of course, most of us would not wish to wear the same exact outfit day after day. However, we can apply Zuckerberg’s frugality to our own wardrobe by having a set number of quality-made outfits that we can rotate throughout the week. By investing in high quality and classic pieces, we will not need to replace or update our wardrobe often, thus saving us more money in the long run.

You may not agree with Zuckerberg’s business model or fashion sense, but we can all learn important frugality lessons from him. Just because you have a decent paycheck doesn’t mean you should spend it all. Also, before spending money on things that increase our status and outward appearance, we should truly stop and think about our motives behind the spending.

What do you think about Zuckerberg’s frugality?

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{ read the comments below or add one }

  • tinB says:

    I guess they didn’t have enough friends to help celebrate his new baby. Just because he doesn’t throw a cool party doesn’t mean he is teaching us “frugality lessons.” It just means he doesn’t know how to throw a cool party.

  • Oleaginous Outrager says:

    He tries to forcible buy out neighbors to build the sort of wall he claims to despise. Very frugal indeed.

  • Gerda says:

    Don’t be fooled. This guy is one of the chosen – they saw he had a good idea and promoted him, set him up so he could be part of the Zio billionaire class. Facebook is basically an intelligence op run from Tel a Viv.

  • Steve says:

    Zuckerberg is Jewish. Need I say more?

  • Ejiofor Francis says:

    Mark is really a man of substance, though some people might see him has a miser.

    One lesson i ever learnt from him is that he is a disciplinarian when it come to spending.

    His money works for him today because he spends very maturely.

  • Wealthkept.com says:

    Yes, one thing I notice with Mark Zuckerberg is dresses too simple. Just plain tshirt and pants. He doesn’t spend lavishly on things that are not needed.

    • David @ MoneyNing.com says:

      The key for all of us is to only spend money on stuff WE enjoy and not on anything that doesn’t bring us any happiness. We could all be better at this.

  • Laura says:

    I doubt if he thinks he’s being frugal. He probably just does what he wants to do and doesn’t put much thought into it past that.

    • David @ MoneyNing.com says:

      That’s exactly why his lifestyle is so beautiful. He understands that he doesn’t need to buy stuff only other people enjoy just to be happy.

      Obviously he doesn’t need the extra cash, but this attitude helps him be more content and saves money in the process.

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