Woman Shares The 4 Things Rich People Talk About At Dinner Vs. The 4 Topics Her Broke Friends Discuss
The differences in focus and hobbies are very revealing.
Josep Suria | Shutterstock We all know that the rich and the broke tend to live in two different worlds. But what might they be able to learn from one another if they could eavesdrop on each other's conversations?
A career coach on TikTok who has friends in both camps recently shared the trends she's noticed among both groups and it gives a revealing and potentially useful glimpse into how different their lives are.
She identified 4 differences between what rich people and broke people talk about at dinner.
"I have a lot of wealthy friends, and I also have a lot of broke friends," career coach Courtney Johnson said in a recent video.
"The biggest noticeable social difference between them is the topics that they talk about at dinner," explained, adding that she's found it fascinating how "consistent" these patterns have been among her friends.
Her broke friends tend to talk about things like pop culture and politics — and they tend to get angry about the latter.
Courtney said when she goes out with broke friends, they tend to focus on four key things.
1. What they're watching on streaming apps and TV
"Broke friends always talk about Netflix, they always talk about Hulu, like "The Bachelor," she said. "They talk about whatever pop culture thing is going on right now."
2. Sports
Sports is another hot topic for broke folks, according to Courtney, and it's a topic she doesn't hear much about from her rich friends.
"Broke people just tend to talk about sports a lot," she said, adding that she doesn't think wealthy people necessarily avoid sports. But when it's time to chat at dinner, it's not a pressing topic.
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3. Celebrity drama
Courtney herself loves a good Hollywood goss session. But she's noticed her rich friends aren't usually quite so invested, or if they are, it's in a very different way.
"Celebrity drama is a topic I find very fun," she said, "but I never see wealthy people talk about celebrity drama unless they're involved somehow or if they know the person personally.
4. News and politics
This seems like it would be top of mind for everyone nowadays, given all that's going on in our country, but in Courtney's experience, not so much — or at least, not in the same way
"My broke friends always talk about the news and politics," she said, but almost exclusively in the sense of "getting really upset about it, getting really triggered, getting really angry."
Whereas "in wealthier circles," she's noticed that the topic is more about "solutions" rather than outrage. This makes sense — rich people are for the most part insulated from the impacts of politics by their wealth. It's easy to be more solution-minded when you don't have to worry about the effects.
Her wealthy friends, by contrast, tend to talk about things like goals and self-improvement.
When it comes to the fatter wallets in her social circle, the four things they tend to focus on are more proactive and philosophical.
1. Business and career goals
"Everybody's asking each other their goal, asking each other what they're working on, how their business is going," Courtney said.
Which really highlights the difference a job can make. It makes sense that those who are in regular jobs that aren't really paying enough and might not be particularly fulfilling are spending their free time on distractions like Netflix and sports versus those who are in high-level jobs or own their own businesses.
2. Self-development and self-improvement
"My wealthy friends are always sharing their latest coach or their latest self-development modality or a book that they've read or course that they've just taken," Courtney said.
Here again, it seems like the same trends would apply — when your life is more at ease because of wealth, you have more mental bandwidth for positive pursuits rather than feeling like you need to veg out in front of a reality show each day.
3. Spirituality
The same trend applies once again. "I find when I'm around wealthier people, especially self-made wealthier people," Courtney said, "everyone's talking about spirituality, everyone's asking big questions of the universe and going a lot deeper a lot faster."
4. Personal education
Courtney said this relates to self-development, but that wealthy people tend to talk about the people they're working with either in business or in personal growth fields who are helping them grow, and then refer them to their other wealthy friends so they can benefit too.
Many found Courtney's analysis inherently classist. Still, both the rich and the broke can learn from these differences.
Courtney's video didn't exactly go over well. She stressed that there are obviously exceptions to these rules, and she was sharing what she'd observed simply because she found it interesting.
But many felt her analysis was inherently classist and couldn't help but point out the obvious — it's a lot easier to be focused on progress and personal growth when you don't have to worry about paying the bills.
They bristled at what many saw as the unspoken subtext of her video — be more like rich people, and you'll become rich yourself, a popular (and extremely reductive) refrain among many financial gurus and influencers.
The different approach to things like politics seemed to particularly stick in people's craws. As one commenter put it: "My rich friends talk about making themselves better, my broke friends talk about making the world better."
In the end, her observations are indeed pretty inherently classist, but that doesn't mean people in both camps can't learn valuable lessons: The rich could certainly stand to be a bit more focused on helping those who don't have their resources, while the rest of us could probably benefit from swapping some of our Netflix time out for some spirituality and personal development practices.
As many financial gurus have said, one of the key differences in mindset between the rich and poor centers on what they view as being worthy of their time. We all could surely benefit from giving that some thought.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice, and human interest topics.