Was having this conversation with my friend from x country which I don’t want to mention so question doesn’t get ruined.
He came to visit me in Panama and says the rich in Panama are very reserved and don’t show off.
I found it weird because to me they simply just brag about different stuff than just cars and jewelry.
Comments
Some show off to their neighbors, I guess? They live in fancier neighborhoods full of very expensive houses. I’m sure some of them are competitive about it, but probably a lot of them just live in a nicer house simply because they have the money to.
In general you wouldn’t be able to tell they’re particularly wealthy just by looking at them.
New money shows off, old money is a lot more laidback.
There is a massive difference in attitude and outlook between a rich person from Jd. Europa and a rich person from Alphaville.
Only the new rich show off. Specially those who only own credit cards. So, if we do whatever we want. I’m sure they can do whatever they want. It’s call freedom and be aspirational.
The Latam Old Money elite are very reserved and low profile. They know that they are a privileged class due to the history and wars during the Empire. Due to this, they try to stay out of the public eye. They tend to be polite, condescending and amiable with everyone even service personnel, if perhaps in a somewhat superficial manner, because you know, la noblesse oblige.
They don’t even get too involved with the politics of their country in a direct way and cede that responsibility to the expendable latin american political class to do it for them in a rather disinterested way. Most of them are large business owners (many are multimillionaires and some are worth billions of dollars), are of mostly European descent (white) and have multiple nationalities besides their own latam country and residences in the Old World and the USA.
They congregate in blood-exclusive clubs and communities. You can never join in if you don’t have that old world lineage even if you are wealthy or powerful yourself. Their heritage is their greatest status and this allows them a very privileged, almost princely, existence in their respective countries. They also tend to know the elites of the other Latam countries many times.
Reserved.
Showing off or displaying wealth is pretty frowned upon, althought this is slowly changing.
I have a friend who owns 4 large hotels in Panama his parents made him sell his Lambo because said that brings too much attention. They also constantly tell him not to load certain pictures to social media. These are an old school money family that have been here since the 1920s from Spain.
Same happened with my buddy whose dad found one of Panamas biggest super market. One day dad got pissed made his son in his mid 20s sell everything but his Porsche because it doesn’t stand out.
(Both have Porsche but old classic models from the 70s and 80s which are worth more than newer models but to an average person they would think old cheap Porsche)
However they are big on having beach houses, fincas and boats.
Billionaires here will fight not to be on any richest list or Forbes list.
Crime isn’t bad here and people don’t get kidnapped but rich people don’t want poor people to know what they have.
Same in Mexico the rich elite don’t show off or wear gold jewelry like that
So reserved very few people know their names, with wild (and blatantly wrong) speculation from the populace on who the richest Costa Rican is.
New rich shows off, but old money is very reserved and showing off is very frowned upon and seen as unclassy.
Depends, at least from my experience as someone economically at least within the top 10% of mexican society
Got their money from the narco? Usually show off
Got their money legitimally? Usually reserved
Got their money from corruption/dirty business? Mixed bag
In Argentina showing off is frowned upon, so even the new rich don’t show off a lot compared to other Latin American countries.
They’re all cartel people they show it off like crazy
I realized until later in life that me and my friends grew up as children of the 1 % and I guess most of us were pretty reserved.
Show off and hypocrite. I remember that one Chavez minister told everyone that no matter what you do, everybody should earn the same money. That an Engineer or Doctor is no more than a construction worker or housewife. That everybody has the same necessities.
The guy had a Yatch so large that you can fit a smaller Yatch in the pool. Where his family threw parties that could feed a neighborhood for a month. just your typical Chavista scum.
Yes.
They all live in Miami
Mostly reserved all by themselves. The people who think they’re the 5% are loud and tacky af.
The Slims, Larrea, Aramburuzabala families prefer and pay for privacy.
the top 5-20% loves to show off and be loud. They love to be in the high class social magazines and will drive expensive cars, drink expensive drinks and wear expensive clolthes.
The 5-1%. The TRULY rich go by almost like the average middle to low class person. You would not even notice them unless you went into their homes. They drive regular people cars, they wear regular clothes and eat regular peoples foods. They spend it on travel and their housing.
Old money is quite reserved, at least for the most part.
New money and government officials and friends? Holy shit. They will not hesitate to show how fucking much they’ve stolen, they will not hesitate to tell you how much of a fucking peasant you are. Usually, they are escorted by their typical entourage of identical sugar babies, and you can hear them from a mile away. Oh and mind you, those are the guys who go on national television preaching how being rich is bad.
Look, part of the 5% in my country included Silvio Santos, a discreet rich man although TV presenter and owner, Louis Barci an investor, Luciano Hang (came from Havan) Bolsonaro’s electoral leader and in the young guard there is Neymar, Felipe Neto, Luan Santana and other noisy eccentrics
I see way too many Porsches here in Lima than it makes any sense for there to be, so I’d say they show off. If you can afford a Porsche (or perhaps even if you can’t) you will get one.
Reserved, but you notice if you know how to look
Very reserved. It’s considered vulgar to show off money.
Real money is very reserved here. There’s new money that may show off but it’s definitely not 5% elite.
There is a thing… If I do a quick search for what the monthly income to be on the top 5% of Guatemalans is, I find that it is around 2k€.
That is not a lot. I know people over there that are earning more than that and they’re still working class, yes, with a Uni degree in something desirable, but working class.
Does it mean that the rich people in the country are not that rich? No, on the contrary. It means that the difference between the top 5% and the top 1% is bigger, and the difference to the top 0.1% is even bigger. The country is still owned by feudal families after all.
But it does help to show how the wealth distribution graph works in reality.
So people in the low part of the 5%? Yes they do, with being able to afford a recent car, or maybe even a new one if they settle for a compact or the like!