However, the reality is that many of the wealthiest individuals actually lead remarkably frugal lives; some might even be deemed downright cheapskates.
Here's a rundown of the top ten most frugal billionaires of all time, featuring names ranging from presidents, actors and barons to even dukes.
From Money:
Read the full list at Money.com.
Leona Helmsley
The New York hotel baroness popularly known as the Queen of Mean might just as well have been called the Princess of Penuriousness. Once quoted as saying, “We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes,” she seems to have applied that philosophy to bills in general. At one time she was being sued by eight separate contractors she’d stiffed on work at her Greenwich, Conn., mansion.
Helmsley reportedly demanded kickbacks from suppliers, cheated on her sales and income taxes, and billed any personal expenses she could think of to her hotels. She eventually crossed so many lines and antagonized so many people that she found herself on trial for tax evasion and spent 18 months in the slammer.
The developer Donald Trump, who’d had ample experience dealing with Helmsley, was among those who found little cause for sympathy. “I can feel sorry for my worst enemy, but I can’t feel sorry for Leona Helmsley,” he was quoted as saying. “She deserves whatever she gets.”
Helmsley died in 2007 and, in a rare act of generosity, left $12 million to her dog.
John F. Kennedy
Despite his image as a rich, carefree playboy, our 35th president was also a serious tightwad. Kennedy had no shortage of cash—his father had given him a trust fund worth $170 million in today’s dollars—but he rarely, if ever, carried any. Instead he allowed his friends, flunkies, Secret Service agents, and even dates to pick up the tab wherever he went. His frugality continued into the presidency, where he and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy reportedly clashed over her spending on clothes and even the White House grocery bill.
Barely two months after his assassination, the government rushed out a half-dollar coin bearing his likeness, an unusual honor for someone to whom cash meant so little.
A man of many contradictions, Kennedy may also have been among the most generous of presidents in at least one respect: He reportedly donated his entire salary to charity.
