The rich may be different from you and me -- but they don't want to be. That's the basis for one of the latest trends in elite lifestyles, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article on "yawns" -- people who are "Young and Wealthy, but Normal."

"If the symbols of the yuppie were Armani suits and BMWs, the symbols of the yawn are Dockers and microcredit," reported the Journal, which went on to name sweater-wearing Seattle billionaire Bill Gates as the "patron saint of yawnhood," thanks to his "philanthropy, nerdy clothes and close family."

There's always been a strong yawn streak among the Northwest's very wealthy, says Robert Trenner, CEO of the wealth management firm Cornerstone Advisors in Bellevue.

Sure, there are young software millionaires buying $50 cocktails in trendy bars in Seattle's Belltown district, but those are the exceptions. The "centimillionaires" -- those with the really big money -- are "much more quiet about their wealth."

Part of it is a matter of shared regional values. And part of it has to do with the nature of wealth in the Seattle-area tech sector, which even now can mint new millionaires almost overnight. Those people have a strong incentive to stay "normal," Trenner says. "All of your friends are still where they were, so what are you going to do, shed all of your old friends?"

The low-key Northwest lifestyle is another factor. Millionaires and celebrities here mix with the public and largely go unnoticed -- or at least unmolested. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer -- whose Microsoft shares alone are worth more than $12 billion -- still gets out in the community and has a relatively normal life.

Says Trenner, "People in Seattle are trying to use their wealth to build meaningful, fulfilling lives for themselves and their children ... which ain't a bad mantra."