Following on from poor thread... What makes a person appear wealthy?

[Explodingatomickittens]

I'll start... Sloane Ranger girl hair...

The right clothes for the situation. I’m thinking particularly of outdoor clothing.

It takes a certain amount of confidence to knowingly look a mess 😂

Now now, I asked you a question first, it’s not polite to ask one if your own before answering.

Assuming you do have the good grace not to avoid it though and so are composing it as we speak…

My husband likes cars, and so we have a bit of a collection of which the RR is only one.

One if our homes is in the mountains, and so when we drive there in the winter we want something that can fit everything in and also that is able to handle the severe conditions.

If we were travelling light we’d perhaps take the little GR Yaris which is as capable, but doesn’t fit so much in.

This is really funny as I’m definitely not mega wealthy, but I would say we earn well above average salaries, don’t have to worry too much about money etc. my kid does do sport activities like swimming and gymnastics. However, I don’t have a serene glow 😂, my hair is normally scraped back not even straightened, don’t wear make up, don’t often get new clothes - granted they are from mid range shops like fat face and joules, but my fav ever jeans are from primark, I’m generally quite scruffy as I don’t have the time, babies clothes are hand me downs or from Asda, we don’t have a top of the range 4x4, just a second hand car. I suppose we do live in a big four bed house that is large for the area we live in. But it’s got me genuinely wondering do people think I’m ‘poor’ when they look at me? Or wealthy? Haha 😂

@ImmigrantAlice

That's fair enough to drive to the mountains.

It's people who use them for suburban school runs that I can't help but laugh at.

I'm fortunate enough not to need a car

I'm adding energy to the list.. Wealthy folk always appear to be energetic & "busy"..

Where does this view come from that people who live in a big house and have a flashy car must be up to their eyeballs in debt or are living paycheck to paycheck? For a start, you need to be pretty wealthy to be granted the high mortgage in the first place.

I have neither a large house nor do I own a car, however the people I know who live in large houses and drive nice cars are very wealthy - one is a dentist who runs multiple private surgeries with her husband, another heads up a cyber security consultancy firm and has more money than he knows what to do with.

I find the inability, on MN, to comprehend that a lot of people earn a lot of money quite baffling tbh. The way it is assumed that anyone claiming to earn £100k must be lying is particularly ridiculous - countless professions pay six figures after just a few years, it really isn’t that unusual.

I think the poster was just joking.

Saying 'microwaaaveeee'

The richest man I ever worked for (a billionaire on the times rich list) wore the stereotypical patched up old Barbour and old cords day to day. When he was driving himself, it was an old 80s Range Rover I suspect he’d had from new. Another not quite billionaire I worked for wore slightly smarter clothes but drove an 2018 Audi A3. I don’t think anybody in Waitrose would have guessed when he occasionally went to get himself something from there! Both were older and had inherited their wealth predominantly.

Yes, my DH and I are like this. 😂 I suppose it is because of some kind of confidence but it's probably also that it's hard for us to imagine that others care about clothes. (Probably wrong)

@Tekkentime yes, I had thought that was clear, but I guess not.

On a serious note, rather than material goods, I think a good indicator of wealth is the amount, quality and length of time that a person holidays for.

I don’t think it’s just confidence, some people don’t care about how they look, especially day to day, on school runs and the like.
I’ve had periods of my life when my confidence has been at rock bottom and still dressed the same as I do when I’m feeling great about myself. I think I’m just lazy - I can’t imagine spending 10 minutes ‘getting ready’ to go and get my daily coffee when I can just put a big coat and uggs on and be out the door quicker. Life’s busy enough.

Yes, as it implies people use their annual leave to go on holiday instead of caring for a sick child / general child care, which in turn implies that they are in a (usually) professional job - personal a senior role - which has a degree of flexibility instead of working fixed hours.

I was astonished to learn that a friend had to take a half-day of leave to go and collect her child as her childcare plans had fallen through. The parents where I work would just clear their calendar / rearrange meetings as needed.

Exactly @Usernamen . I'd rather spend my spare time reading than putting on make up/planning the perfect outfit. It's not a confidence thing just different priorities (not making a value judgement in either)

I think wealthy people don't feel the need to prove it, tend to be practical and not keeping up with Johnses. Their clothes and cars reflect the fact they don't feel the need to compete.

Generations of wealth can sometimes be indicated by inheritated jewellery, be it rings or brooches, beautiful silk scarves, and elegant handbags/umbrellas/accessories.

Recently I bought myself some lab grown fiamond jewellery, and I ve noticed people noticing my rings 😆😆😆...... They are not real diamonds but they look great as the style is understated and the stones are not obscenely big. I didn't buy them for the appearance of wealth, but its funny noticing people focusing on my hands. Some people are so impressed by (perceived) wealth. I wear a long winter walking coat most days, well cut and practical for the weather in my location. I think it is elegant and understated, perhaps the overall look makes the rings look authentic 😆😆.... I don't know and also don't care!

Anyone can"look" wealthy, posture, confidence, sensible and modest clothing, and nice jewellery.

I find the inability, on MN, to comprehend that a lot of people earn a lot of money quite baffling tbh. The way it is assumed that anyone claiming to earn £100k must be lying is particularly ridiculous - countless professions pay six figures after just a few years, it really isn’t that unusual.
I don't automatically think someone saying they earn 6 figures on here is lying, but the number of people on here who claim to be high earners seems higher than you'd expect given the distribution of wealth in the country.

I have to confess I wonder if some of them are genuine because it's really concerns me there's a lot of people who are apparently smart enough to have a good job paying £100k+, whilst also being so stupid to claim they have no idea how other people can manage to have a child / don't think it's possible to afford a child if you only have 100k salary and other faux naïve ideas.

Common sense says that most of the population raise a family on less than £100k, so it's obviously possible to have children on £100k. It's a question of choices and priorities.

On the complete flip side, I used to serve a man in the local pub I worked in. He always paid me in 50, 20 & 10ps, always looked a little unkempt and always would savor every drop of his pint. I assumed he was a bit hard up and would always make sure his pint was topped up right to the top (no head) because teenage me thought it was better value for money.

One day I'm sat in a different pub with my sister and he walked in with his wife. My sister leaned over to me and said he's the richest man in town, owns half of the local farms and is worth tens of millions. Wouldn't think it looking at him would you?

My jaw nearly fell off! Dont judge a book by its cover!!

I don't automatically think someone saying they earn 6 figures on here is lying, but the number of people on here who claim to be high earners seems higher than you'd expect given the distribution of wealth in the country.

No of course not, especially six figures pre tax, or combined income. It's not uncommon.

I agree, as I've read threads where there's such a high abundance of the highest earners in the country, all on one thread. Some of them are blatantly fake, and funny. They try to compete with one another, quite possibly, as they often ramp up their fantasy lifestyle as the thread goes on.

I think buying a massive SUV to do the school run around Victorian terraced streets, makes you look a bit daft without a BB.

People assume (rightly or wrongly) that daft people don't have good jobs, ergo must be up their eyeballs in debt to pay for it.

Not saying this is right

There was a mother doing the drop-off yesterday in a Ferrari 458, which she was struggling with a bit in the car park.

Rather than assume she was dim, I thought it much more likely that her normal car was in for a service, or unavailable for some other reason.

palygold
It is funny and it gets funnier when posters question the fanciful claims and get branded as jealous.
There's quite a lot of poster who seem to think any criticism or question on anything money related comes down to other people being desperately jealous.

My assumption now is the more a poster emphasises that they can afford something/assumes everyone with a different view can't afford it/assumes people must be jealous if they don't value the same monetary thing, the more likely it is that they're either on the wind up, or they really don't have that much money but enjoy people thinking they do

@ImmigrantAlice

Are Ferraris very big now? Not sure of the relevance

Exactly.

What are they trying to prove?

Large SUVs aren’t any larger in plan than family saloon cars, so let’s not pretend it’s the amount of road that they take up that’s your issue with them.

A Ferrari is as “unsuitable” in London as is a Range Rover if you were trying to make as facile a point as you were.