The founder of IKEA said he drove 15-year-old Volvo and always flew economy class, according to a 2006 Reuters article.

His frugal ways extend to his home in Switzerland, which is reportedly decorated mostly with inexpensive IKEA furniture, as well as a few family heirlooms.

According to The Daily Mail, Kamprad and his wife are often seen eating in cheap restaurants and haggling over prices at the market.

Note: Some Swedes will tell you that Kamprad is not as frugal as he would have you believe.

Tim Cook’s Net worth: unknown, but he made $378 million in 2011

He may not technically be a billionaire, but Apple CEO Tim Cook is compensated handsomely.

Even so, he chooses to live a modest lifestyle. Cook lives in a modest, 2,400-square-foot condo in Palo Alto, which he bought for $1.9 million in 2010.

He’s quoted as saying in the book Inside Apple: “I like to be reminded of where I came from, and putting myself in modest surroundings helps me do that. Money is not a motivator for me.”

Chuck Feeney’s Net worth: currently $2 million (he’s given away billions)

A Depression-era veteran with a strict personal motto: “I set out to work hard, not get rich.”

The co-founder of Duty Free Shoppers has donated more than $4 billion to disadvantaged children and public health initiatives, all while going to great lengths to remain an anonymous donor.

“He has no ego . . . He always chooses the second-cheapest wine from the wine list,” according to his biographer, former Irish Times journalist Conor O’Clery. “When we traveled together he was always dressed like a down-at-heel American tourist.”

David Cheriton, the Stanford professor who has an estimated net worth of $1.3 billion from Google shares, hates the idea of living like a billionaire.

“I’m actually quite offended by that sort of thing,” he told the Edmonton Journal in a 2006 interview. ”These people who build houses with 13 bathrooms and so on, there’s something wrong with them.”

Cheriton called himself “spoiled” for taking a windsurfing vacation in Hawaii, and in a recent Forbes profile said that his biggest recent splurge was his 2012 Honda Odyssey.

Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos

Karl Albrecht’s Net worth: $25.4 billion

Aldi is to Europe what Walmart is to the US. Albrecht founded the company with his late brother Theo, and together the two made billions building the notoriously no-frills chain.

Raised by a shopkeeper mom and a miner father, they remained true to the vision of frugality that drove both their stores and their lives. When Theo was kidnapped for 17 days in 1971, his brother negotiated a bargain ransom of  $4 million — which he then wrote off as a business expense.

Christy Walton’s Net worth: $27.9 billion

Walton is the widow of John T. Walton, one of the sons of Walmart founder Sam Walton.

Despite their wealth, Walton wanted a normal upbringing for her son, so she raised him in an 1896 Victorian home in National City, Calif., outside of San Diego.

After her husband died in a plane crash, Walton donated the home to the International Community Foundation – Center for Cross-Border Philanthropy.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Net worth: $9.4 billion

As the mastermind behind Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg is a billionaire many times over. But the 28-year-old leads a surprisingly low-key lifestyle.

He recently upgraded to a $7 million house in Palo Alto, but The Los Angeles Times called the home “still well below his means.”

Zuckerberg reportedly drives an Acura “because it’s safe and not ostentatious,” and famously wears the same gray t-shirt and hoodie to work every day.

His wedding to longtime girlfriend Priscilla Chan took place in his backyard, and the pair was seen digging in at a McDonald’s on their Italian honeymoon.

David Green’s Net worth: $4.5 billion

While he could easily afford a Gulfstream of his own, Green, founder of arts and crafts retail chain Hobby Lobby, prefers to fly coach.

Instead of spending his billions on himself and his family, Green has famously become the largest individual donor to evangelical causes in America. He’s given upwards of $500 million in charitable contributions over his lifetime, according to Forbes.

Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway

Alexander Lebedev, Russian businessman

Carlos Slim Helú, chairman and CEO of Telmex

Amancio Ortega, founder of Zara

Worth: €6 billion ($8.2 billion)
How the money’s made: Through the ownership and operation of private water, raw material and waste management company, Remondis.

Worth: €7 billion ($9.5 billion)
How the money’s made: Through ownership of giant food company, Oetker.

Worth: €7 billion ($9.5 billion)
How the money’s made: By the operation of mega-shipping company Germanischer Lloyd.

Worth: €7.2 billion ($9.8 billion)
How the money’s made: Ownership and operation of Würth Elektronik.

Worth: €8 billion ($10.9 billion)
How the money’s made: Through the operation of Reckitt Benckiser, the manufacturer of several popular household cleaning products. Also on the portfolio is perfume and cologne manufacturer Coty.

Worth: €8 billion ($10.9 billion)
How the money’s made: She’s the heiress to the BMW fortune. She inherited an substantial stake in the car manufacturer after her father’s death and also a majority stake in chemicals company Altana.

Worth: €9 billion ($12.2 billion)
How the money’s made: Through the ownership of private mail order company, Otto mail order.

Worth: €11.5 billion ($15.6 billion)
How the money’s made: Through the running of supermarket titan Lidl and hypermarket chain Kaufland.

Worth: €16 billion ($21.8 billion)
How the money’s made: Through ownership and operation of Aldi Nord, the supermarket chain.

Image: Wikipedia

Net worth:$4.8 billionForbes rank: 219

Background: Latsis made his fortune in the shipping industry, but he has taken a real hit as Greece’s economy has collapsed.

Image: Sportsbuisness.com

Net worth:$5 billionForbes rank: 208

Background: Mateschitz is the creator of Red Bull, the energy drink that is popular worldwide.

He also owns stakes in two soccer teams, a Formula One racing team, and a luxury resort in Fiji.

Net worth: $5.1 billionForbes rank: 200

Background: The brothers turned Bridas, their father’s oil services company, into Argentina’s second-largest oil and gas company.

They overtook the former richest person in Argentina, Gregorio Perez Companc, whose net worth fell from $2 billion to $1.4 billion this year.

Image: AP Images

Networth: $5.6 billionForbes rank: 182

Background: Nassef Sawiris’ father, Onsi, founded Orascom conglomerate. Nassef took over the company’s construction and fertilizer division in 1998.

Pictured: Cher Wang

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Net worth: $6.8 billionForbes rank: 143

Background: The husband and wife duo run HTC, one of the biggest tech companies in the world. Wang was also born into wealth.

They replaced Terry Gou, an electronics magnate who was previously the richest person in Taiwan.

Image: Courtesy of Heineken International

Net worth: $7.5 billionForbes rank: 124

Background: Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken took over Heineken when her father, Henry Heineken, passed away leaving her his fortune. Carvalho-Heineken lives her life out of the spotlight. Unlike her father, who was known to show off his wealth, she lives an anonymous life with her husband and five kids.

Image: Ap

Networth: $8.1 billionForbes rank: 113

Background: Son is the founder of the internet and telecom firm SoftBank. He owns stakes in several major internet companies, and beat out Tadashi Yanai to become the richest person in Japan.

Image: AP Images

Net worth: $8.6 billionForbes rank: 105

Background: Lee Kun-Hee is the chairman of Samsung. In 2008, he stepped down as chairman due to charges of tax evasion and breach of trust. But after being pardoned at the end of 2009, he resumed his position in March of 2010.

Image: The Sydney Morning Herald

Net worth:$9 billionForbes rank: 100

Background: Gina Rinehart owns all the shares of her father’s mining company, Hancock Mining. Given the recent boom in the value of her iron mines, she’s on track to become the richest woman in the world.

She overtook the former wealthiest Australian, Andrew Forrest, who also owns an iron ore company.

Image: Courtesy of PPF Group

Net worth: $9.2 billionForbes rank: 97

Background: Petr Kellner is the major shareholder in Dutch holding company PPF Group N.V., which controls the PPF Group, founded by him in 1991. He was born in the Czech Republic and graduated from the University of Economics, Prague in 1986.

Net worth: $9.3 billionForbes rank: 114 (as of March 2011)

Background: Wengen, chairman of machinery manufacturer Sany Group, just overtook Baidu founder Robin Li to become the titleholder of the richest man in China. Forbes puts his fortune at $9.3 billion, while HuRun report says its closer to $11 billion.

Image: AP Images

Net worth: $10 billionForbes rank: 81

Background: Ernesto Bertarelli inherited his father’s company, Serono, SA in 1996 which his family sold in 2007.  Today he is involved with Kedge Capital and Ares Life Sciences. Ernesto also founded a yachting team in 2000 and they won the America’s Cup in 2003. Ernesto serves as navigator of the team.

Net worth: $10.3 billionForbes rank: 73

Background: Sammy Ofer is one of the world’s biggest shipping tycoons. In 2008 he was knighted in London after a $20 million contribution to Britain’s National Maritime Museum.

Net worth: $10.4 billionForbes rank: 77

Background: Nasser Al-Kharafi inherited his fortune from his father’s company, M.A. Kharafi & Sons. Much of the company’s profit comes from construction but they are also involved in investing and manufacturing.

Net worth: $10.5 billionForbes rank: 75

Background: Sarmiento started out in the construction industry and later expanded his empire into financial services.

He just overtook the former wealthiest man in Chile, Julio Mario Santo Domingo.

Net worth: $10.7 billionForbes rank: 72

Background: John Fredriksen is a oil-tanker and shipping Tycoon and owns company Frontline Ltd. He is known as a modern-day Aristotle Onassis.

Net worth: $12.5 billionForbes rank: 61

Background: Kuok made his fortune in the shipping, palm oil and cane sugar fields.

At one point it was rumored that he bought the world’s most expensive yacht–a $4.8 billion, gold-covered monstrosity–but those rumors were quickly debunked.

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Net worth: $13 billionForbes rank: 57

Background: Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor’s fortune comes from his Grosvenor Property Group. His real estate group has holdings on five continents. Cavendish is also sixth Duke of Westminster.

Image: www.pbase.com

Net worth:$13.8 billionForbes rank: 51

Background: The Nigerian’s fortune increased 557% percent in the past year, propelling him up in the rankings.

He started out as a commodities trader and built his Dangote Group into a company with interests in sugar, flour milling, salt processing, cement manufacturing, textiles, real estate, and oil and gas.

Image: Wikipedia

Net worth:$16 billionForbes rank: 39

Background: Akhmetov started in the coal and coke fields and expanded it into the conglomerate System Capital Management.

He bought a $221 million penthouse at One Hyde Park in London last year, and built a $400 million soccer stadium in his hometown of Donetsk.

Networth: $18 billionForbes rank: 32

Background: Michele Ferrero owns European chocolate company Ferrero. Ferrero created Tic-Tacs, Kinder Eggs, Nutella, and of course Ferrero Rocher. Unlike most Italian billionaires, Ferrero prefers to live life out of the spotlight and simply has a passion for creating great chocolate.

Networth: $19.2 billionForbes rank: 27

Background: Iris Fontbona and her family control one of the world’s largest copper mining businesses, Antofagasta. Fontbona was once married to billionaire Andronico Luksic who died in 2005.

Net worth: $19.6 billionForbes rank: 26

Background: This prince started young; he was chairman of his own company by the age of 14.

Net worth: $23 billionForbes rank: 17

Background: David Thomson is the chairman of Thomson Reuters. His grandfather Roy founded the company in 1934.

Image: European Shooting Confederation

Networth: $24 billionForbes rank: 14

Background: Vladimir Lisin went from rags to riches. Lisin began his career as a mechanic, then a steelworker. He later joined Trans-World Group, traders who had control of the steel and aluminum industry in Russia. After Trans-World Group split up, Lisin received a 13% share, and then a controlling share.

Image: Prolineserver2010 via Wikimedia Commons

Net worth: $24.5 billionForbes rank: 13

Background: Persson is the chairman of H&M, the budget retail store that has expanded quickly across Europe and the U.S.

He displaced Ingvar Kamprad, chairman of Ikea, whose wealth dropped from $17 billion to $6 billion this year.

Image: AP Images

Networth: $25.5 billionForbes rank: 12

Background: Karl Albrecht served in WWII for Germany’s army and used lessons from war and postwar Germany to build successful company ALDI with his brother.

Net worth: $26 billionForbes rank: 11

Background: Li Ka-Shing dropped out of high school at age 15 and sold plastic flowers to help support his family.

Image: Wilson Dias/Abr via Wikimedia Commons

Networth: $30 billionForbes rank: 8

Background: Eike Batista built his fortune through the business of mining. Batista is a fashionable billionaire, as he says he prefers dark suits with pink ties.

Net worth: $31 billionForbes rank: 7

Background: Amancio Ortega began his career as a manager at a clothing shop. After noticing only the wealthiest customers could afford the expensive clothing, he decided to make a line of his own. Over time, his business grew and profited and today he owns Zara, a clothing store known for having the trends at low prices.

Networth: $31.1 billionForbes rank: 6

Background: Huge profits at Mittal’s company, ArcelorMittal, helped push Mittal into the number one spot in India ahead of the former placeholder, Mukesh Ambani.

Image: AP Images

Net worth: $41 billionForbes rank: 4

Background: Bernard Arnault’s fashion fortune began in 1984 when he bought bankrupt company, Boussac Saint-Frères, which owned luxury brand House of Dior. He soon bought LVMH, which owns Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Tag Heuer, Donna Karan, Fendi, and Moët & Chandon.

Now, he obsesses over every detail of every collection released by the designers, his wife told the WSJ.

Image: Andreas Pizsa via Flickr

Net worth: $56 billionForbes rank: 2

Background: The wealthiest man in America did not even graduate from college. Gates dropped out of Harvard University his junior year when he had his idea for Microsoft.

Net worth: $74 billionForbes rank: 1

Background: Carlos Slim came from humble beginnings. His father was an immigrant shoe maker and Slim built his fortune from almost nothing. And although he has billions now, friends say he wears cheap suits and prefers pen and paper to fancy computers.