21 Subtle Signs Someone Is Secretly Rich, But Hiding It

Buzz Feed

20-07-2025

A few weeks ago, I was scrolling when I came across a post from user Againmrbrown on the popular Ask Reddit page asking, "What's a subtle sign someone is rich but hiding it?" and naturally, my curiosity was piqued. I thought the answers were fun enough to share, so here are some of the best:
"'Are you rich?' 'Well, we are comfortable.'"
"Dressed like Adam Sandler."
"The lack of fucks given."
"I used to teach English abroad. In one class we were doing our introductions, telling everyone our names and what we do. One guy introduced himself, and the whole class drew breath after he said his last name. Turns out he owned one of the biggest construction companies in the country. Guy carried a shabby briefcase and drove a beat-up RAV4. You couldn't tell he was loaded at all. My kind of guy."
"I used to work with a guy who turned up late on his very first day. It was 1:30 in the afternoon when he arrived and said, 'To be fair, I'm the first person in my family to have a job in 500 years.'"
"They can complain about costs, but it never stops them from doing necessary work or updating things. If you pay attention, you can notice who actually is stopped by barriers to purchasing things or buying services."
"I used to work for Mercedes and Audi. The people who buy $150k cars outright are the ones who come in wearing almost-scruffy clothes. The people who come in wearing suits or chinos and sunglasses and Rolexes? They're not buying anything expensive."
"The richest person I have ever met drove a 1999 Mercury and dressed like he delivers pizzas. He owns large apartment buildings around the country and works higher up at a large bank for his day job. Bought a $2 million house in cash and let it sit for two years while he did another $2 million of renovations, but looking at him, he's just a regular guy, no fancy clothes or 'I'm better than you' attitude. His favorite restaurant is Chili's, if that tells you anything."
"They always prefer to spend money rather than time. I was waiting in line for a music festival with a friend. A festival we already had tickets to. He realized that the 'preferred' line was empty. So he straight up bought everyone in our crew preferred tickets, just so we could jump the line. That was, like, the only advantage. We literally all ended up with two tickets, because he didn't want to wait 20 minutes."
"Wearing nameless clothes, no flashy brands or vending machine-style jewellery. You'll never hear them talking about money; if you do, they'll never remark about how much they have or earn, and if they're a stranger, they will probably lie about their job to keep you from suspecting them of having money."
"Nice teeth and nice shoes. They also don't talk about money."
"No debt. They buy stuff as they need it, without having to wait until payday or save up. Having money provides a degree of spontaneity that us non-rich can't grasp."
"I've cooked for a lot of rich people. There's a big difference between people who grew up rich (were born into money) versus the people who made something for themselves."
"Both are generally not going to be overly flashy if they're actually rich. People who are born into money usually don't realize that most of the world is struggling, so they'll talk about their multiple homes, travel, and other expensive experiences as if it's normal conversation, and like you should be able to relate. Most likely, they grew up sheltered and detached from reality. I've noticed these people are pretty socially awkward and don't have a lot of genuine friends in their lives, so they'll be REALLY tight with their immediate family. They'll have some flashy things, but it'll be silly expenses — a dumb sculpture, spending ridiculous amounts of money on their dog, a drug addiction, etc."
"The people who earn their money are usually aware of the difference between them and most of the world. They can even still hold onto frugal tendencies. So it'll be more subtle clues: jewelry (on a woman, look at their ring), name brand or designer clothes, bags, sunglasses, how their hair, teeth, and skin look perfect, what kind of car they drive…"
"When their 'old' clothes still look better than your brand new ones."
"No cellphone case."
"Their children are living in an expensive apartment, traveling a lot, have expensive hobbies, maybe even a severe coke habit. First generation rich are usually humble and not flashy, but that's very rare with subsequent generations."
"They've got a certain ease in their attitude, never worrying about money or showing off, making decisions right then and there and not worrying about how to pay."
"Having an extremely curated aesthetic and going away on trips with family more than once a year."
"What's a big tell? How much someone spends on their hobbies."
"They keep a Modigliani in the bathroom. (This happened to me: my partner, who was an art history major, commented after we left a very modest apartment that there was a Modigliani in the bathroom.)"
And finally: "You can never really tell. There are fancy people who are rich and there are people who try to be fancy but are living in debt. There are people who look like crap who are filthy rich, and there are people who look like crap who are poor. Some rich people are humble, and others are assholes; you can never really tell unless you have access to their bank accounts."
Tell me all your thoughts in the comments below. Or, if you have your own anecdote to add, feel free to leave that too! I love hearing what you have to say.