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7 Signs You’re Quietly Getting Rich, According to Frugal Living Expert Austin Williams

Nicole Spector

Wed, Apr 30, 2025, 6:01 AM 6 min read

When dedicated to building wealth, we may be on high alert for the major milestones, like saving enough to put a down payment on your first house, landing a major raise or sending in that last student loan debt repayment. These are all big deals, but what about the “little” deals, if you will? The more subtle indications that you’re building wealth?

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Austin Williams, a personal finance influencer who specializes in frugal living, recently posted a video blog on his YouTube channel, discussing the seven signs that you’re quietly getting rich. Let’s have a look at these indicators you may not know to keep track of.

Williams said that the first sign you’re quietly getting rich can be found in your investment portfolio, when it begins trading by hundreds of dollars, building up from very small amounts in tandem with the market. You should notice this happening after you’ve held growing investments in the stock market for a while.

“As you consistently build your portfolio, month after month, year after year, the returns start to become more significant,” Williams said. “The more you have invested, the larger the moves, for better or for worse. When you’ve built up a portfolio that’s trading by the hundreds, whether it is up or down, it is a sign that your money is starting to work very hard for you.”

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The second quiet sign of wealth accumulation can also be the slowest. It’s when you are no longer measuring your financial foundation by hundreds, but by the thousands. A good example would be taking your emergency fund from $800 to $1,000 and then to $2,000. You may also see this quiet sign in your investment portfolio, too. Rather than seeing it go up by the hundreds (the first sign), you’re now seeing it go up by the thousands.

“This shift in measurement is a big sign in progress because it shows that you’re beyond tracking pennies and dollars, now tracking in much larger increments, which means your wealth is growing at a much quicker pace,” Williams said.

A lot of us who buy fast fashion or low-priced but notoriously unreliable used cars take a lot of heat to buy nicer things that will last us longer. It is, after all, the more economically sound choice. But many of us are living paycheck to paycheck and simply can’t afford to spend more, even when it’s clearly in our best interest. The third sign you’re quietly getting rich, according to Williams, is the ability to be able to invest in quality, long-lasting items that are generally more expensive than cheap alternatives. Interestingly, this isn’t just a sign that your wealth is augmenting, it’s also a sign that your mind is opening.

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