for starters, they splurge on cars and fine dining but cheap out on everything that can be bought online
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I think Taiwanese people are cheap when it comes to basically everything. They are the cheapest people I know on the planet.
I haven’t found very many nice cars here, but it might be because I live in Kaohsiung. 80% of the brands I see here are Toyota, Hyundai, Honda, VW, Mazda, Volvo, and Suzuki. So nice cars are maybe just a Taipei thing rather than a Taiwanese thing, but you’d expect nice cars in big cities anyway.
As for fine dining, most people I know just get hotpot or yakiniku or Korean BBQ when they want to eat something nice. Haven’t seen very many food pics from fine dining establishments, at least among my friends.
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Freaking housing. Taiwanese as a whole do not appreciate nice housing at all.
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Yes. They are the cheapest people i have ever met.
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What do taiwanese over splurge
Things they can show to others to gain “face”.
For example: Food (when friends are there), bike gear (to show off to other riders), cellphones (show off to work colleagues), kid’s schools, etc.
What do taiwanese cheap out on?
Everything else that doesn’t earn “face”.
For example: House interior, food (when friends are not there), toilet paper (stockpile insane amounts because of a small discount), gasoline, etc.
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I lived in other parts of Asia/ word where people splash out on gizmos and brands, but are borderline bankrupt. Here I don’t see that as much, I do see people I know are quite wealthy riding around on 25+ year old scooters.
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They splurge on fine dining for sure. The buffet at the Mandarin Oriental charges $2,500 a pop and it’s booked solid for months.
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Plenty of nice cars in Taipei. I see Bentley, Bugatti, Lambo on a daily basis. Mercedes are like the regular Joe’s car around here.
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Key word: Buffet. 
Only cheap Taiwanese people would take one of the world’s most renowned hotel chains and reduce it to an all-you-can-eat restaurant. 
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Splurge: religious figurines, insurance, hand bags/purses, phones, travel, renovations(both for restaurants and homes).
Cheap out: construction(poorly designed/constructed houses as well as really grudgy looking food places), clothes, scooter maintenance
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There are a lot of filthy rich people in Taipei who spend their time collecting coupons and points deals for free coffee.
Costco has the highest percentage of consumers with incomes higher than 100,000 per month of all retailers. It really encaspsulates the Taiwan spirit. Decent quality at low prices if buy in bulk.
Wealthy Taiwanese families will drive to Costco in their Mercedes and go to eat free samples as a family activity for the day.
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Taiwanese will splurge on magic stuff like fortune telling or Feng Shui or magic potions.
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Jesus H. Christ
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I wasn’t exaggerating. I’m sure cheaper peoples exist somewhere on the planet. Maybe I just haven’t found them yet.
Of course I’m generalizing, but so is everyone else here. And not just in this thread. 
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Was gonna say this. A ton of my coworkers seem to travel wildly often. Well, wildly often for a school schedule and principal-enforced no travel during semester rule which doesn’t let you travel for most of the year. Like all of them I know that actually go outside and do things beyond like just eating n shit are going abroad.
I know one is seemingly wanting to get married eventually here and she’s been abroad twice this year. How do you even save for the ridiculously priced real estate here with that kinda schedule?
A bonus generalization! Go for the trifecta.
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I would say this about 華人 in general, HK and Mainland folks can be sa cheap.
Cars is showing off, so they spend big on that, as much as they can afford, even when not needed.
Bags and watches too, and phones, they splurge on that.
On clothing they have a few nice ones, then they go to buy the cheapo stuff at the market.
Dining, very weird: they like to splurge at times at fancy restaurants or presumed ones, then they love all u can eat and buying stuff at wet markets, where I wouldn’t buy anything given the hygiene situation and even bargain the hell out to save a few NTs (same in HK).
On travel is even more puzzling, they like to splurge on airplane fees and maybe nice hotels, but then abroad they most likely going to eat at all u can eat places or cheapo Chinese places and then complain about food… Also they basically don’t care about anything but taking pics of the “most important” landmarks and then shopping at outlets or duty-free.
For housing, well, the leitmotiv I hear is “given the weather here, it’s pointless to have nice things, they’ll get ruined and after like 10 years u need to refurbish, so why care?”
Also the concept of what is of value and what not is very different… It’s all about perception and face, less on actual value and quality.
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They complain about the cold when it’s not actually cold.
They complain about salty foods when they aren’t actually salty.
They complain about sweet desserts and beverages when they are supposed to be sweet.
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Taiwanese are cheaper than the average Chinese
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Not too sure on that