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!

Piss off, there's no 'snooping' as you well know, Ltd company accounts/balance sheets are in the public domain for all to see, I'm not sneering at all, just stating facts, so get lost..

Usually company accounts that don’t show much profit/value means the money is being withdrawn from the business so that talkies with the owner spending a lot.

You’d still have to look them up, presumably. Unless the guy in question is wearing his accounts on a placard on the school run.

Looking up company accounts is the very definition of pathetic. I know a few people who are in the habit of doing this and they are idiots. Competitive, jealous and usually doing far worse than those they are spying on.

Old Money are considered worthy and new money judged and belittled.
Working class people absolutely hate to see other working class people do well. It’s too close to home and proof that it can be done. Much easier to stomach when rich people are nothing like you.

But I never kid myself we're true middle class like my best friend who went to a famous girls' public school and her family home had stables and a bloody croquet lawn

That doesn’t sound like “normal” middle class to me! Definitely the top end of upper middle, if we are saying upper class is the actual aristocracy. I don’t know any doctors, accountants or lawyers whose houses have stables and a croquet lawn.

Very classy reply, thanks.

Yes, I know they're in the public domain. I still think it's odd and unappealing and says more about you than them, regardless of whether they're new money or not. But I'm a stranger on the internet, so why do you care what I think? If it makes you happy, go for it.

I come from a family who are “old money” and friends who are new money.

old money:
they don’t talk about how much money they have or how much things cost. They don’t wear big obvious branded designer clothing. They have a lot of class. No social media presence. Spend a lot of time with different celebrities.

new money
everything is big obvious brands and right in your face. Constantly telling me how much things cost and showing off. Plastering it all over social media. Needing to feel validated

my friends show off to me all the time and it’s draining. Funny thing is, they have no idea that my income is over triple theirs. I just don’t value the “In your face”
designer/social media parade and I like to keep my life quiet.

I really don't understand this.

I'm American from what, in US terms would be considered a mc family - no real family money, great grandparents all immigrants, but university educated as are all their children, except my grandfather who founded an extremely successful business. My parents are a doctor and a professor. Husband and I are city lawyers. So we've all been successful but definitely did not spring from landed gentry.

We live in a very affluent area of London and most of our friends are in similar professions. A few are from very old British families, but most aren't. Several grew up in council housing. Almost all are 'new money' by this definition. I also have three kids who have been at London private schools and I don't know one single person who wears obvious brands, boasts about how much things cost or plasters stuff on social media. Literally, not one. I would also not say that the old money ones I know are any lighter on the consumption of luxury goods, services or holidays. I do know one who explains loudly that he can't give anything to charity as all his enormous sums of money are held in trust. Doesn't stop him from ordering phenomenally expensive wine in restaurants, though.

Adding
They have a lot of class. No social media presence. Spend a lot of time with different celebrities.

You do realise that most celebrities are the polar opposite of that, right?

I’ve looked up the company accounts of a local private school. They claimed to be a “small business” their accounts say everything but…

I don’t mind being pathetic though 😉

Old money, very generous and hospitable, beautifully polite, they know their wine, several exotic holidays but drive an old car. Plain but well cut clothes, clothes often used for decades and repaired. Furniture in their homes is inherited. Understated quality always purchased but probably only once. Then it's used forever.
Will always be on fundraisers.

Will not think about spending £££ on a beautiful meal but probably haven't ever stepped inside a fast food premises.

New money, falling over themselves to show it off. Old money has that quiet confidence and doesn't.

That would be my definition too, it's so "vulgar" as one of my nanas used to say 😆I have no problem with someone being proud that they can afford expensive things, I had a penchant for designer products & holidays pre my sons birth & the never ending expenses since but I'd have died before I was bragging about the cost or location or car, in fact I'd nearly downplay it because honestly who cares? It never looks good

I think that's where the "Thanks [t's Penneys (Primark) hun" meme comes from, at least in Ireland anyway, it's nearly a badge of honour 😆

I love this thread, haha

Ill be honest, the idea of "new money" being more ostentatious speaks to me and seems true but I love it. Why shouldn't people who have changed their circumstances buy all the stuff they couldn't before? crazy big tvs and personalised licence plates. Not my style, but all power to them!

God. "Traditional middle class" sounds miserable. I'd rather have a warm clean home, nice car, and a big TV. And no fannying around with horses either.

Who are these old money people you speak of 😂
I live in an area known for people being private schooled for generations, oxbridge educated, work in law and finance.

I don't recognise your description at all.

Everyone drives electric BMW SUVs, carry Celine/loewe/chanel/goyard, wears new clothes that aren't their grand parents and falling apart and stitched together again.

Some are glamorous, some wear little or no makeup. Many, many have cosmetic tweaks.

Your description sounds like some weird pastiche

@Opine

Old Money are considered worthy and new money judged and belittled.
Working class people absolutely hate to see other working class people do well. It’s too close to home and proof that it can be done. Much easier to stomach when rich people are nothing like you.
Yes!! This is exactly correct. The vast majority of people on MN being derogatory towards 'new money' are people who have less that them and who are seething a little that others rose up whilst they didn't.

People doing well beit inherited or self made rarely have this attitude. It is generally lower middle class people or people who think of themselves as solidly MC but struggle month to month financially who feel this satisfaction of insulting those who have done better.

They can't afford the Maldives so find a way to suggest that the Maldives are a vile place full of wannabes. In reality they'd give up their week camping at a naice French campsite for a week in the Maldives in an instant if they could

Yes - this. I knew someone who shoehorned references to ‘the Porsche’ into every conversation. When a) it wasn’t particularly relevant to the conversation or b) a generic reference to ‘the car’ would more have sufficed anyway.

I was always tempted to refer to our ten year old Ford Focus numerous times in conversation to see if she would realize how ridiculous she sounded.

Another list of things to be snobby about? 😆

I do know some new money (earning millions annually) people and can compare them to the old money people (asset rich, generational wealth) at the same location.
The new money drive a new matte Range Rover with 3D plates (among other cars). And her Cartier/VC&A stacks are 5+ deep on both arms. Always Chanel or Goyard bags. Wears a lot of branded LV.
In contract the old money drives a CX90 and stacks max 3 per arm. No branding.

It’s about being secure enough in your wealth that showing it is redundant.

Your description sounds like some weird pastiche

Or the 21st century version of having a good forelock tug, which this thread amply demonstrates the Brits have not moved past yet.

Haha this thread really shows it all the criticism of new money but none of old money. New money are the ones that actually earned their money and didn't just sit around waiting for grandad to die

I have no idea why MN is so obsessed with class
And I also don't know why they are so sneery and look down on new cars!! It seems to be only acceptable to drive a 5 or 10 year old car with a massive boot.
I spend a large proportion of my day in my car juggling school drop offs and pickups and activities, I want to be as comfortable and safe as possible thank you. Hence I drive a brand new SUV with all the modern comfort additions and I don't care that MN thinks I'm ostentatious 😂.

I'm not sure everyone fits in a neat category like this thread suggests?
The people I know who come from wealthy backgrounds (for most people I've no idea what their history is) also have, or had, very well paid jobs and/or married a high earner, so earned plenty themselves,....and none drive a battered old volvo, or live in a drafty mansion with threadbare carpets! (I feel like this must apply to a tiny minority of people!!)

Having money doesn’t suddenly escalate you to the middle classes. I retired at 45, live in a very nice house with no mortgage and have enough money to never work again. I drive an oldish small car. I have one TV (not a big one) but many hundreds of books and a piano. I speak 3 languages, and go to the theatre regularly. I don’t own a single item of designer clothing with a logo. I’m not a fan of jewellery or anything flashy. We usually holiday in France or Tuscany. I grew up on rough council estates and in care and consider myself to be thoroughly, proudly working class.

Absolutely. Sod the draughty, grubby gite in the Ardeche. I want a 5* hotel with butler service and a pillow menu, ta very much.

Mm, yes, nothing says "understated" like an inherited Neo-classical mansion.

Yes, exactly. This thread is full of the most ridiculous tropes.

@Hunglikeapolevaulter

Agree on the forelock tugging. We're about three posts away from the kindly lady of the manor bringing calves foot jelly to the workers while the vile nouveau upstart in the next village flogs them for forgetting to shine the (tacky) silver.