What are the main differences between traditional middle class & new money?

[Firebird65]

Following on from the recent thread about normal things we consider posh. Most were arguing things were "new money" not posh.. So what exactly are the differences between new money & traditional middle /lower upper class?
I am neither & would love money new or old!

This is a really good point.

Available cash.

This is such an elitist thread.

There’s loads of “traditional” middle class people in cities. Have you ever been to London? It’s not working class people that move in its affluent circles!

Also I am laughing at the suggestion that traditional middle class people live rurally. I know some people who live on farms in Corby. It’s a deprived area. You might like to think they’re middle class based on your strange definitions but no, they’re anything but.

This was all done back in the day by Jilly Cooper in her book Class. She used the term Nouveau Riche for new moneyed people as I recall. Saw it when clearing my mum's house wished now I had kept it to read before getting rid.

I’m not sure about this as someone in their 20s. You mention generational wealth but fail to realise that many of the so-called “tells” on this thread such as yours could be attributed to generational differences. Do you think zero younger middle class people spend money on designer items? Do you think their parents never get them expensive or designer gifts? I don’t think being fashionable is necessarily a symbol of new money, if anything it could be symbol of being enabled by wealthy families. I’ve seen people my age get showered in gifts by their MC families. It’s a massive part in how they stood out from others the same age who aren’t MC.

That last line makes me want to swear at you.

Not at all! It’s not about the designer labels, as such. It’s the flashiness of the logo I was talking about

Can you link the other thread please? Curious

NM shouts about it ad nauseum, TMC never mentions it. I have no idea why people are so obsessed though, do they have nothing better to do?

These threads always make me laugh.
Old money drives old Volvos is my favourite, Lord Brocket and Lord Pembroke might want to have a word.
Asset wealth, trying not to sell the family estate is the biggest reason you see cash poor wealthy people in old Volvos.
Let us keep pretending that the tastes of 50th generation wealth should be aspired to and every new trend is tacky……..As you were.

made me laugh as is my experience 😝

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5157347-supposedly-posh-things-you-think-are-common-trigger-warning-this-is-light-hearted?page=17&reply=138029181

There you go @Cheeseballer

These threads are so embarrassing - the obsession with class on this website is mind-blowing!

Well well. I never knew my old car made me so worthy. If I add straw to the handles will I further elevate my status?

Haha how very dare people make their own money and then spend it on consumer goods keeping people in work. Much more sophisticated to have generational wealth and hide it from the tax man and the public purse for eons through trusts and whatnot, so much more aspirational and classy.

The neuro diverse sentence is appalling. I wouldn't wish the difficulties on anyone.

To me new money is the large logos , flashy cars etc. I don't fit the stereotype though. I come from a working class background but have parents who became wealthy. But my handbag I just bought is Mulberry with no discernible logo, my other handbag brands of choice would be Bottega or Loewe which are if you know you know type brands with minimal logo visible.

My coats are Max Mara & Barbour unless you go looking inside the tag you wouldn't know the brand whereas someone wearing Moncler or Gucci would be much more ostentatious. I'd be more likely to be wearing a mix of high street and supermarket brands underneath (Hobbs nixed with Sainsburys).

My car was lovely when I bought it, but it's almost 10 years old now. It's a merc but was chosen for the boot space and it's always filled with equipment etc.

There are lots of generalisations, I live in a pretty affluent area. Loads of people have range rovers and teslas or both Most people seem to work in finance, law or medicine, which obviously pays well but with the exception of a few people I don't know their background, or whether they have inherited wealth. I don't know anyone who lives on a farm or stately home.

I know soneone well who comes from a wealthy background. They live in a large but fairly modest suburban house, they rarely put the heating on, but they update it reasonably regularly (no grey, but no fairly heirlooms either) and drive a new hybrid estate car.

I don’t know but by page 4 everyone will be arguing about it

You need to put a Labrador in the boot to be truly middle class, apparently.

So I actually have an old lab as well.

I am considerably more middle class than i thought.

I’m ’new money’* with a ND child. I can’t say I had a ‘strong desire’ for him to still be non verbal at 6, to spend entire days spinning in circles around the living room, to not be able to access mainstream education and to only sleep 4 hours a night, but there you go. You learn something new every day.

*well I think I’m ’new money’. DH and I both come from modest backgrounds but both now have six figure salaries, but I don’t drive a white Range Rover, wear designer labels or have a grey house and bifold doors, so I’m having a bit of an identity crisis after reading this thread.

Yes I think this is more akin to dirty money

Wow, why on earth would you wish your children to be neurodivergent? That is the correct term, by the way.

I find these threads hilarious. Where do all these people live that they have so many friends spanning all the social classes in order to make these sweeping generalisations?

All these ‘indicators’ sound like something people have picked up from reading the tabloid papers (new money = brash/big tvs/new cars/etc), or watching period dramas on Netflix.

My FIL is as ‘old money’ as they come and has the biggest tv I have ever seen in my life!!

There is zero difference.

The difference is between upper class old money and new money

The middle class are all much of a muchness.