So I used to be one of those people who posted here about driving an old minivan and living in an unassuming house.

We moved out of state 2 years ago. Where we live now, everyone is driving luxury cars. Although we did not move our minivan, I do feel a bit of the pressure to upgrade our cars. I dislike feeling this way, but this is an anonymous forum, so here you go! There may be fancier cars in our future.

Anonymous wrote:it’s a lie the class obsessed tell themselves to soothe their feelings of inadequacy.

Well, it's how UMC can become wealthy. For those who truly make a ton of money or inherited it, they don't need to do this.

We make $400k in the DC suburbs. We have a smaller SFH in a good neighborhood with excellent public schools. We drive our cars for 10+ years and buy a standard Toyota/Honda. If we had upgraded the house, cars, and/or paid for private schools, we would not be saving nearly as much and would just be working each month to pay for our expenses. Being frugal has been a game changer - you can't make it up on Starbucks and homemade lunches. It's because our monthly expenses are $5000+ lower than they could be, and we are investing all of that and have been for years.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone is exploiting tax loopholes to write off their cars. They’re essentially driving them for free. Middle class are the only suckers driving used and out of warranty cars.

Unless they own their own business how are they writing them off?

Ask your tax preparer. And if they act skittish, find a new tax preparer because everyone is doing it and has been doing it. Only total suckers are playing by the "rules" these days.

Yes, go buy a vehicle that you don't want and then run the high risk of getting audited. Smooth move.

Worrying about the audit boogeyman is so middle class coded.

Anonymous wrote:In west Texas, the poor people drive Chevy or Ram pickups. Middle class have an F-150, but it is at a lower trim level than the wealthy folks, and it might be King cab or single cab rather than double cab.

Sounds awful.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

This. It’s the “new money” folks (specifically, the subset who are high income/low net worth) who are driving the expensive cars.

LOL. "Old money" can like, and buy, nice cars.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone is exploiting tax loopholes to write off their cars. They’re essentially driving them for free. Middle class are the only suckers driving used and out of warranty cars.

Unless they own their own business how are they writing them off?

Ask your tax preparer. And if they act skittish, find a new tax preparer because everyone is doing it and has been doing it. Only total suckers are playing by the "rules" these days.

Yes, go buy a vehicle that you don't want and then run the high risk of getting audited. Smooth move.

Most wealthy people drive a safe, comfortable car that is reliable and has nice features and meets their specific needs.

Some of them choose to do that in a luxury brand, and some of them choose to do that in a non-luxury brand.

They are not a monolith.

What’s up with the money forum not offering any advice about, you know, making money or investment tips, but is so heavy on stupid topics like wealth inequality or why rich people don’t actually drive inexpensive cars. How about we focus on useful info? Capiche?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone is exploiting tax loopholes to write off their cars. They’re essentially driving them for free. Middle class are the only suckers driving used and out of warranty cars.

Unless they own their own business how are they writing them off?

Ask your tax preparer. And if they act skittish, find a new tax preparer because everyone is doing it and has been doing it. Only total suckers are playing by the "rules" these days.

Anonymous wrote:it’s a lie the class obsessed tell themselves to soothe their feelings of inadequacy.

What's hilarious is this nonsense is pushed by two diff ideologies: Reddit lib strivers + bootstrap propaganda by Facebook conservatives

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.

This “notion” comes from research and data. See the book, “The millionaire next door.” It is worth writing a book about precisely because it is surprising and counterintuitive.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone is exploiting tax loopholes to write off their cars. They’re essentially driving them for free. Middle class are the only suckers driving used and out of warranty cars.

Unless they own their own business how are they writing them off?

you can be a W2 wage earner and also own a s manage multiple investment properties that require a heavy duty vehicle. Depends on how creative you care to get. These are many benefits to managing properties yourself vs outsourcing it.

Anonymous wrote: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.

This. It’s the “new money” folks (specifically, the subset who are high income/low net worth) who are driving the expensive cars.

it’s a lie the class obsessed tell themselves to soothe their feelings of inadequacy.

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.

How did you get to 20M? Just buying apple in 1995 or something?

Hahaha. It’s funny how certain posters have become memes on this sub-forum.