It's okay to be rich -- just pretend you aren't. Don't have a big car, don't have flashy clothes. In France people have a tendency to be suspicious about wealth. If you're rich you probably either got it from your family or you exploited people to get it. I'm painting a caricature here but it's not far from the truth. French people don't really celebrate financial success.
I've had very similar experience with Russian culture. It seems to have split into two really - 1) people obsessed with wealth and acquiring it, 2) people that are very suspicious of wealth and blame societal/economic problems on the first group.
(I'm French)