Where does this notion come from that wealthy people don't drive nice cars?

[Anonymous]

The humble millionaire next door seems like nonsense to me; rich people are not driving 25 year old Volvo station wagons. And everyone with a nice new luxury car obviously isn't broke and overextended. I'm currently in a swank town and every car is a new Range Rover, Porsche crossover, Tesla, or Audi-BMW-Mercedes (they all look alike). The worst car I see are new Chevrolet Tahoes, which are like 80 grand. If that humble old money thing ever existed, it certainly doesn't anymore.

[Anonymous]

Everyone is writing off luxury SUVs thanks to Bush era tax codes

[Anonymous]

I guess I don't exist then. I am sure I am not the only person to drive a 20 year old entry-point Japanese sedan while my stock portfolio has ballooned to 20M. I think it depends on what sort of wealth you're talking about: if it comes from salary, and people are surrounded by others with the same salary, that's going to lead to visible signs of wealth. But if they made their money in a more discreet way and do not socialize with others who have that level of wealth (or who like them chose not to display it)... then it leads to driving a dinged up Corolla.

[Anonymous]

It’s not that rich people don’t drive nice cars. It’s that old money. People do not drive Nice cars.

And yes, there’s some weird tax law about which vehicle vehicles you can write off in a couple of luxury models designed cars exactly to the specification.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess I don't exist then. I am sure I am not the only person to drive a 20 year old entry-point Japanese sedan while my stock portfolio has ballooned to 20M. I think it depends on what sort of wealth you're talking about: if it comes from salary, and people are surrounded by others with the same salary, that's going to lead to visible signs of wealth. But if they made their money in a more discreet way and do not socialize with others who have that level of wealth (or who like them chose not to display it)... then it leads to driving a dinged up Corolla.

Can you even access that money without major tax implications?

[Anonymous]

Source?

[Anonymous]

Did you even read the millionaire next door? Most drive honda's. The poorest people I know drive "nicer" cars, the multimillionaires myself included drive honda's, toyota's, nissan's. Poorer people tend to fake the funk and think that they're fooling people.

[Anonymous]

I was talking to my friend about this. We are both in our 60s and looking for our next car. Both of us can afford to pay cash for a luxury car. Time is important to us. We do not want to spend our time dealing with repairs and recalls. No more kids to schlep around So we're probably going to go with a compact, reliable Japanese car that is loaded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess I don't exist then. I am sure I am not the only person to drive a 20 year old entry-point Japanese sedan while my stock portfolio has ballooned to 20M. I think it depends on what sort of wealth you're talking about: if it comes from salary, and people are surrounded by others with the same salary, that's going to lead to visible signs of wealth. But if they made their money in a more discreet way and do not socialize with others who have that level of wealth (or who like them chose not to display it)... then it leads to driving a dinged up Corolla.

lol Same. We could be friends. Mines 25 years old. For some reason I love that people think I don't have money.

[Anonymous]

I think your premise began with Sam Walton, founder of Walmart, who drove an old pick up truck, I believe. Also, there is plenty of "old money" that live off of trusts that are specifically designed to not allow such purchases or the trusts are no longer spinning off as much income due to dilution over generations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess I don't exist then. I am sure I am not the only person to drive a 20 year old entry-point Japanese sedan while my stock portfolio has ballooned to 20M. I think it depends on what sort of wealth you're talking about: if it comes from salary, and people are surrounded by others with the same salary, that's going to lead to visible signs of wealth. But if they made their money in a more discreet way and do not socialize with others who have that level of wealth (or who like them chose not to display it)... then it leads to driving a dinged up Corolla.

Can you even access that money without major tax implications?

This is a question a poor person would ask.

[Anonymous]

I think the conversation started from the idea that you can't assume someone is rich just because they are driving a really expensive car (true), then went to "a person could be really rich in a beat up old Volvo/Toyota!" (upthread "old money" pp), which is also true.

That morphed to "everyone in a very expensive car is deep in debt and on a lease" / "all rich people are driving 8+ year old beaters" -- both obviously false.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The humble millionaire next door seems like nonsense to me; rich people are not driving 25 year old Volvo station wagons. And everyone with a nice new luxury car obviously isn't broke and overextended. I'm currently in a swank town and every car is a new Range Rover, Porsche crossover, Tesla, or Audi-BMW-Mercedes (they all look alike). The worst car I see are new Chevrolet Tahoes, which are like 80 grand. If that humble old money thing ever existed, it certainly doesn't anymore.

Imagine spending $80K on a Chevy Tahoe! A fool and his money soon part!

[Anonymous]

We are wealthy, and are driving a Honda and a Toyota that we will drive into the ground (the new Honda replaced a 14-year old Honda minivan). We don't spend our money on luxury vehicles

[Anonymous]

I agree. I think DMV is very different than anywhere else in the country. There is a very real “millionaire next door” attitude, dating back to waspy ambitions.

Nearly everywhere else in the country, affluent Americans are driving nice cars.