Savannah James flies first class while her bestie flies business — and they’re both fine with that
TheGrio...
We unpack the etiquette and nuances of having “mixed-income” friendships in today’s economy.
There’s having a friend with money, and then there’s having a friend with money. We’re talking, rich, rich. We’re talking first-class to Japan, rich. But does that necessarily mean that if they got it, you do, too? Well, you can just ask Savannah James and her good friend April McDaniel.
During a recent episode of their podcast, the longtime friends, business partners, and hosts revealed the financial dynamics of their “mixed-income” friendship and how it affects their relationship.
It came up when the women revealed that during a recent trip to Japan, while James, the wife of billionaire NBA star LeBron James, rode in first class, McDaniel was in business. Over the course of the flight, McDaniel visited James, the two watched a movie together, and James even made sure her friend had extra snacks.
Speaking about the situation further on the podcast “Boardroom wth Rich Kleiman,” McDaniel explained that she doesn’t feel entitled to James’ money or resources.
“There’s two different lifestyles that exist. Like we’re not delusional about that,” McDaniel explained. “Savannah has accommodated where I’m at.”
“If we want to go away, I can’t just be like, ‘All right, we going away tomorrow.’ I’m on a budgeta,” she said with a laugh and a little extra flair on the word budget, before adding, “We’re plotting and planning. We’re planning out, like, we don’t just show up at Fashion Week week of. Like, we don’t move like that, even though people think we do. And I think accommodating, like even if we’re going on the same trip, I don’t feel the need to be at first because that’s not in my budget.”
James noted that she’s frankly never been made to feel pressured to open up her pocketbook by any of her friends.
“My friends are very respectful of my situation, all of them,” James said. “Like, I’ve never had an instance like that one time. And I think that they are, you know, if I’m like, we’re going somewhere, they already understand what it is. There’s no expectation of, like, taking care of something or just me being responsible for them.”
Many have since voiced their thoughts, with plenty criticizing James for not simply paying to upgrade her friend. In this economy? What’s really the etiquette here? There’s generosity, and then there’s obligation. For a lot of us, particularly in communities where sharing resources is part of how we take care of each other, there really is a strong “if I got it, my people got it, too” mentality. That can come from an incredibly generous place, however, is it realistic?
This conversation is much bigger than James and McDaniel. Every few weeks, it feels like some new debate involving traveling with friends and finances takes off online. Someone admits they don’t want to fund a friend who can’t afford the trip and gets dragged for not simply gifting it. Someone else creates a spreadsheet detailing which friends are participating in which activities and accommodations based on what everyone can afford. Other groups have gotten creative, pooling money throughout the year into shared travel funds so that whatever they collectively save becomes the budget when it’s time to go.
As it turns out, the etiquette around mixed-income friendships is actually pretty nuanced. While appearing on the podcast “Friend Forward” in 2025, financial therapist Aja Evans shared how a friendship should have room for the financial realities of everyone in the dynamic. That could look like exactly what James and McDaniel described, finding an option where one person gets the steak, the other gets the burger, and they both still get to enjoy each other’s company. Regardless of who has money and who doesn’t, Evans stressed that money shouldn’t determine the strength of the friendship.
“Your friends should love you no matter what,” Evans said point-blank.
“And if they don’t, we need to have a different conversation,” she continued. “If your friends are kind of making you feel bad about not being able to afford something, or making you feel bad because you can pick up the bill sometimes, and not in the nice ‘I’m so grateful’ way, making you feel bad. Like, why do you have it like that? If they’re making you feel like that, it’s time for a deeper conversation about this friendship.”
Etiquette expert Elaine Swann similarly boils navigating money with friends down to three guiding principles — “respect, honesty, and consideration.”
That includes resisting the urge to make assumptions about what someone else should pay simply because they appear to have more. While recently on “CBS Mornings,” Swann discussed splitting expenses among friends—especially if you are the one in the higher tax bracket—and offered really simple advice for the person who feels obligated to swoop in and cover everybody.
“Don’t pay,” she said. “Really, don’t pay. Just wait. It’s you that feels uncomfortable.”
We’re also having these discussions at such a fascinating time. Gawking at wealth is all very early 2000s, when we were constantly plied with footage of the rich and famous. There were music videos, multiple cake-decorating shows, VH1 countdowns about celebrity mansions and lifestyles, and, eventually, the rise of “Gossip Girl” and “The Real Housewives.” Then came a housing crisis and a recession.
Some 20 years later, amid another period of intense financial anxiety, the way we look at wealth is totally different. It’s more annoying than aspirational. Haven’t you heard? We’re broke! So the thought of a wealthy-ass friend married to someone whose estimated net worth is roughly four points over $1 billion being able to make a friend’s life a little more luxe and simply not doing it is, for obvious reasons, rubbing some people the wrong way.
Frankly, though, we don’t actually know how much money James or her husband has readily available. Forbes currently estimates LeBron James’ net worth at about $1.4 billion, but that is exactly what it is — an estimate. We know even less about their household’s private financial arrangements or James’ personal finances. And keeping it a buck, a friend flying first class tells you nothing beyond the fact that they somehow got a first-class ticket.
That’s where respect has to extend in both directions, even toward the people we assume are balling and shot-calling. Accept generosity when it comes your way. Genuinely ask for help when you need it. Have honest conversations about what you can afford. At the same time, someone else having more money does not automatically create an obligation to spend it on you.
None of this means we shouldn’t think more deeply about community, generosity, and all the ways having means can absolutely be used to support the people we love. There is something beautiful about being able to say, “I got you,” especially when they genuinely do. We just can’t go around feeling entitled to people’s money, be they friends, family or otherwise. And if we’re being honest, McDaniel doesn’t exactly sound like a woman sweating her business-class seat. She has repeatedly said she isn’t.
A good mixed-income friendship probably isn’t one where everybody has to live and spend at the level of the richest person in the group, or where everybody has to shrink themselves to the budget of the person with the least. It’s one where everybody’s reality has room to exist without shame, resentment, or expectation.
McDaniel doesn’t even need a first-class ticket to enjoy first class. Apparently, she can just wander up there, climb into her friend’s pod, watch a movie, get tossed a blanket, and score some extra snacks. Maybe those are the perks of having a rich friend.