Can one become rich but not famous?

The vast majority of the wealthy are not “famous”. You would not recognize them walking down the street or eating at a restaurant.

And they could certainly go to McDonalds without being noticed, but most people who have worked hard to become wealthy have enough self esteem to not ingest that junk.

@zenvelo William Shatner came to a restaurant in Jasper National Park and was harassed trying to eat a burger. He said that he would like to go somewhere and not be noticed by his fans. That’s where the question is coming from.

Just wear a fake beard, or fake your death. I had a Big Mac with Elvis just the other day. Shatner could have had Spock beam him up, problem solved. I saw an article on the web about how Dean Martin was always cordial with fans. People would spot him in his senior years walking out of his favorite eatery in LA, and rather than be a horses ass he would clown around, pretend to be drunk, and stumble to his limo and wave, to the delite of onlookers. A young couple approached him once while he was eating and he let them take s selfie with him. No wonder everybody loved Dino. Class act who never took himself seriously. But most celebs aren’t like Dean Martin.

Yes. Keep a low profile, don’t make waves, and keep your mouth shut except when required. If noticed, be cool and respectful of onlookers. That’s class!

Entertainers and sports figures pretty much have to be famous to be wealthy.

But most billionaires would not be recognized on the street.

There are few Albertans on this list. How many would you know?

List of Canadians by Net Worth

Celebrities, that are highly visible in their professions, are obviously more likely to be harassed in public. There are a lot of extraordinarily wealthy people who are not recognizable by most.

Of course many people become rich and not famous. Wealth and fame are different things and only sometimes happen at the same time or even ever for the same person.

Shatner and other prominent actors are doomed to celebrity. There’s just no way around it. But it is quite possible to be wealthy yet discreet. If you’re rolling around town in a Ferrari or a chauffeured Rolls, you have no business complaining about being pestered (or kidnapped).

The U.S. population is over 300 million. The upper 1% is extremely wealthy. That comes to 3 million people. Certainly, no matter how you count it, there are no more than 100,000 famous people, a small portion of which may not even be wealthy. That leaves a lot of wealthy non-famous people.

There probably are such but we don’t know about them.

But again, absence of proof is not proof of absence.

Lots of wealthy people aren’t famous. Lots of famous people aren’t wealthy.

Of course. There are more wealthy people than anyone could possible know. The world is full of wealthy people.