Subtle signs of wealth

[Mungo]

So here’s one that should spark a bit of discussion…

I’ve been teaching in universities for about 20 years. Although the average students are middle class, there is variation, from painfully deprived to staggeringly wealthy.

Among the wealthy, there are those who desperately flash their cash and do everything to make sure you know. And there are those who are really very discrete about it.

Over the years, I’ve picked up some curious traits that give away the ‘discretely wealthy’. A few examples:

When cooking a communal meal, they struggle to measure pasta or rice accurately, and usually make far too much. And then, after the meal, don’t really know what to do about the leftovers and will quietly try to tip them on the bin when no one is looking.

When buying rounds at the pub, if you say ‘it’s your round’ out of turn, they just go buy, quite happily.

If they lose or break a personal item doing something uni related, they never make a claim. They also generally under count things like mileage.

So - what traits do people think reveal that someone is much wealthier than they might otherwise seem…?

 

[Morkai]

They say rum instead of room.

 

[User00047]

Name crops up 11 times in the CIC English Roe Review?

 

[Mungo]

Name crops up 11 times in the CIC English Roe Review?

I wouldn’t call that subtle

 

[merlin]

So - what traits do people think reveal that someone is much wealthier than they might otherwise seem…?

Dressing like this?

 

[HonestJohn]

When someone in front of you at the store checkout goes through 5 cards to desperately find one that has enough credit left, offer to pay for their shopping - at least just to get the problem resolved and get their turn

 

[Klenchblaize]

Those SD members who don’t pay a Supporter’s subscription. Being canny with money is how they’ve accumulated their wealth!

K

 

[Steve Q]

They tend to buy high quality products, but ones WITHOUT the obvious flashy labels.
Omega watches, not Rolex.
Good phones, but not replaced every six months.
No conspicuous consumption on social media.
Do not brag about charitable donations.

 

[Wmjas]

When I was at the royal ag college at Cirencester many, many moons ago, it used to be funny to see the difference between the people who were there to study up to be an agent and those that were there to follow on in daddy’s shoes. The former used to wear bright red trousers and a brand new tweed jacket, the latter more often than not would wear faded clothes and an old tatty tweed jacket (usually passed down 3 generation). No judgement it just always made me smile to think that some of the scruffiest people I’d met were some of them wealthiest and visa versa.

 

[Steve Q]

There is an old truth in places like San Tropez, Monaco, etc that the chap in the blazer and sailing cap is a gigalo, and the unshaven guy in tatty shorts and knackered plimsoles is a millionaire!!!

 

[Heym SR20]

Pampas grass in the garden. I will leave it to @Mungo to explain

 

[Selous]

I once had a client come in that looked as tatty as could be but then discreetly handed me a business card with his full title, being the Earl of xyz. Thoroughly nice bloke too. I equally had a premiership footballer come in and open the batting with “Do you know who I am?”….,Nope, not a clue!!
I know which consult I enjoyed more!!

 

[Lever357]

I once had a client come in that looked as tatty as could be but then discreetly handed me a business card with his full title, being the Earl of xyz. Thoroughly nice bloke too. I equally had a premiership footballer come in and open the batting with “Do you know who I am?”….,Nope, not a clue!!
I know which consult I enjoyed more!!

Sounds like the Earl of Lonsdale. I met him on a shoot, he was wearing an old tweed jacket, may have been tied at the waste with bailing twine. He was driving an RB44 which I was having a good look at and he had asked me what the discs were for that were attached to the front wheels. I replied probably so you could use them for winching. He was amazed I knew and proceeded to tell me how he had helped rescue someone in Australia years ago with those attachments on the wheels of a Land Rover.

 

[jimo]

When I was at the royal ag college at Cirencester many, many moons ago, it used to be funny to see the difference between the people who were there to study up to be an agent and those that were there to follow on in daddy’s shoes. The former used to wear bright red trousers and a brand new tweed jacket, the latter more often than not would wear faded clothes and an old tatty tweed jacket (usually passed down 3 generation). No judgement it just always made me smile to think that some of the scruffiest people I’d met were some of them wealthiest and visa versa.

When I was at Seale Hayne many moons ago we used to ask “what is the difference between clotted cream and Royal Ag students?”
Not much cos they’re both rich and thick

 

[Donkey Basher]

They tend to buy high quality products, but ones WITHOUT the obvious flashy labels.
Omega watches, not Rolex.
Good phones, but not replaced every six months.
No conspicuous consumption on social media.
Do not brag about charitable donations.

 

[Rhodesianjess]

A wind up watch is generally a rich man's discreet giveaway, the pressure cooker stainless job with sparkly bits too flash. Leather soled shoes also, indicating handmade with resoling on private last when needed. When you see them in the same vehicle on a shoot day for quite a few seasons, not the latest credit fad car. Guns that arrive in cases then transferred to well used leather slips, not the £100 PU leather jobs. Some cartridge bags also have crests embossed on them if you look carefully. After lunch,ring guage of the cigar is a tell,too big is flash, medium and very dark generally about right. The lighter used is metal, not plastic throwaway job.

 

[Rory]

 

[Triggermortis]

They tend to talk to you and not at you.

 

[nun_hunter]

Clothes (especially suits and shirts) that fit properly.

 

[enfieldspares]

Inherited wealth versus acquired wealth? Supposedly the first is scruffy, always scruffy. Why? Well "at home" everybody knows who they are. And when away from there nobody knows who they are. So it therefore doesn't matter. And inherited wealth? The sort of person who probably bought their own furniture.