People have been left seriously divided over a candid discussion about wealth between Savannah James and her best friend April McDaniel.
If you’re wondering, Savannah is an entrepreneur who has been married to NBA legend LeBron James since 2013. Notably, in 2022, LeBron became the first active NBA player to become a billionaire, and Forbes currently estimates his net worth at $1.4 billion.
Savannah and April — who is not part of a billionaire household — have been close friends for years after meeting in Las Vegas back in 2009, and they are now business partners and podcast cohosts. During a recent appearance on the Boardroom's Mental Wealth podcast, their incredibly different lifestyles were a fascinating topic of conversation.
The two women joined hosts Rich Kleiman and Jack Howard for the frank discussion, where they were almost immediately asked about how they balance “friendship and money.”
“We talk about this a lot because there’s two different lifestyles that exist. Like, we’re not delusional to that,” April began, going on to explain that she is unable to take spontaneous trips due to having to budget.
“Even if we’re going on the same trip, I don't feel the need to be in first because that's not in my budget,” April went on. “So we always laugh about it; and we actually talked on our pod about it, and people were very critical of her being in first and me being in business, and me going up to first and getting in her bed and watching a movie. They was, like, offended, and I was like: ‘Why? I can't afford first.'”
The hosts then asked Savannah if she’d ever experienced friendships where people expected her to pay for them to be in first with her, and she shared: “My friends are very respectful of my situation. All of them… And I think that they are, you know, if we're going somewhere, they already understand what it is. There's no expectation of, like, taking care of something or, you know, just having me be responsible for them. It has never, ever been that.”
April went on to point out that it’s “ridiculous” to have the assumption that everybody should fly first, and that “life expectations” need to be managed. She went on to recall a recent encounter with somebody who was left shocked that she was flying commercial rather than private.
April joked: “I said: ‘Are you OK?! Are you OK?!’ I was like: ‘Commercial? Yes! I’ve got two kids, I’ve been making them fly coach!’ Like, that’s so not my vibe. I just think there’s so many misconceptions with social media around money and what things cost, and that’s not reality. And I think people have gotten so accustomed to fast money, and when you have to earn it, I feel like you do treat it differently. And I think it's really important for people to realize it's OK to be normal.”
“When it comes to money, it’s so important to worry about yourself,” April concluded. “Like, that’s really the life we live. We are in our own little world, and they’re actually two separate worlds. You know what I mean? And then we come together, and we talk about our world together, but we live in our own world.”
Despite all of the above sounding pretty reasonable, the idea of someone with access to so much wealth flying in a class above their best friend has sparked a seriously fiery debate. One of the top comments on a Reddit forum discussing the podcast clip asks: “What's the point of being a billionare if you wont even be generous with the people closest to you?”
“She has more money than she’ll ever be able to use, but for flights I’m sure the membership and the points mean she wouldn’t even have to spend of penny their growing hoard. This would cost them nothing. This is a power flex and an act of superiority. A ‘kiss the ring and lick my shoes’ exercise more than anything. A quick way to show the world you’re not a good person and you don’t value people. You do value your own status and exalt that above all,” another comment adds — although it is worth noting that even if you upgrade a flight through points or air miles, you always need to pay cash for the taxes and additional fees, which is often in the thousands.
“Also, she's your friend - why wouldn't you want to pay for her to sit next to you? Like, you're going to sit alone on this long-ass flight just to prove some weird point?” another wrote.
But somebody else argued: “this may be a hot take but I wouldn't feel comfortable accepting money from a wealthier friend, or at the very least I won't make a habit out of it especially if I can afford a reasonable alternative myself. It's budget on arguably the safest transport mode in existence, not trailing two months behind on a camel crossing the silk road.”
One more reasoned: “She’s setting boundaries for when they are together. This is a smart thing to do. If you start with paying for her flight, you will be expected to do more. You’re going to the spa? Why not pay for friend? You’re going on a vacation she can’t afford? Pay for her, you’re rich. Why aren’t you getting the check for dinner? When you start paying for things it’s hard to draw the line and it’s hard to not eventually be taken advantage of or having hard feelings because of expectations. It’s much more than just money. She’s preserving the friendship. I’d be willing to [bet] she has done a lot of generous things for her friend. But paying for stuff when you’re together will never end if you let it begin.”
“I don’t understand why this is such an issue. Her friend even said, 'Even if we’re going on the same trip, I don’t feel the need to be in first.' You shouldn’t expect (or even want) your rich friends to pay for you. Would it have been nice if Savannah paid for her to be in first too? Sure. But she’s not obligated to do that and her friend understands that,” another comment adds.
Somebody else wrote: “i dont agree with a lot of the comments. Im not rich but i make more money than anyone else in my family. If i had to splurge to upgrade them every single time we did something together, id stop hanging out with them as regularly. Whats yours is mine can happen real quick when people feel entitled to what you work hard for. Lebron is the rich person, he can do whatever with his money, maintaining his wife’s relationships shouldnt have to be one of the things he’s obligated to. His wife gets to fly first class wherever SHE wants to go, that should be enough. Its important for people to set healthy boundaries between friends and family and this is one of them.”
One more noted: “Your friends owe you friendship, not first class tickets.”
But it's LeBron’s billionaire status that has understandably clouded the situation for many people, with another writing: “I have friends who make quite a bit more money than me, and I wouldn’t expect them to upgrade me with things like this. But if they were a literal billionaire? ”
Somebody else echoed: “I can't imagine being rich and not using some of that money to treat my friends a bit. Its such a privilege to be able to afford to. Plus the plane ride is much more fun next to your friend. Especially in first class!” One more explained: “Like, there's hardly even a working-class comparison for how little that much money would matter to them. $10,000 is ~ .000007 of LeBron's net worth, the equivalent of ~ $3.50 if you are worth $500,000 (meaning you own a nice home and have savings without any debt.) But even then, that $3.50 is worth more because they could lose 99.9% of their money and still be rich.”
And one comment that sums up the conversation pretty perfectly is: “On the one hand, I can't imagine expecting my friend to pay for my flights. On the other hand, I can't imagine having so much money that I could never possibly spend it and not pay for my friend's flight.”
As always, let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
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