What do we know about Warren Buffett? If a person knows that name he or she will likely also know that it belongs to one of the wealthiest persons on Earth. Most people would also assume that Mr. Buffett leads a lavish lifestyle one can only dream of. Mr. Buffett however pays himself salary comparable to that of a good Silicon valley computer programmer and lives in Omaha in an upper-middle class house he bought in the 1950s. The co-founder of Duty Free Shoppers Chuck Feeney seems to share the same quirky perspective on wealth as Warren Buffett. He is known to fly coach shop at retail stores and “secretly” giving the rest of his wealth away through Atlantic Philanthropies — a foundation he created. Examples of frugal billionaires like these can be dismissed as out of the norm behavior of a handful of people if it wasn’t for the existence of the Giving Pledge — an initiative established by Gill Gates urging the wealthy to give at least half of their wealth to charity. By the end of 2016 139 signatories including five of the top ten richest signed the pledge. At first sight this doesn’t make sense. The same people who feed an army of financial advisors helping them to acquire and retain as much wealth as possible want to (often at the same time) give it away and some of them even ignore the consumption opportunities their fortune provides. Why to chase wealth if not for its purchasing power? To find an answer to this question let’s first take a look at the motives that drive individuals to maximize incomes.