re: I've decided that after years of saying "I have no hobby," I actually do

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I drive a 2007 Volvo sedan that gets 32 MPG and has 70k miles on it. I'll drive it until it has 200k.

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Just sold my beater 2004 Volvo for $2500; decided that the Chinese ownership isn't going to deliver the same quality (and the brand has discontinued making smaller cars) so I jumped ship to VW, my new TDI gets 55 hwy, 44 city.

But back to the original topic: you have no idea if this family inherited money, or was gifted with a house when they got married, or have a trust fund from grammaw or oil wells out in the piney woods. Don't judge their total circumstances on the parts they display to you: you say he wouldn't know a mutual fund, but maybe he doesn't need to know about them. A surprising number of people have steady royalty income from mineral rights, leased timber property, etc.