From what I gather, nouveau riche is french for new money.  Meaning these are people who acquired considerable wealth during their generation.  This means that they made money through their own sweat.  Although the term nouveau riche was used as a derogatory remark back in the days to distinguish those who were born into a rich family but it all changed in the 21st century.  In the past, nouveau riche were discriminated upon by the old money (people whose family has been wealthy for generations).  They said this is because of how they acted in the society.  They are accused of being uncultured for lavish spenditures and they do not act as refined as those who were born rich.  But I agree to what other people say.  They were just stereotyped maybe it’s because of envy.  You know the feeling of somebody acheiving more than what you have achieved.  For me it’s like that.  A lot of people may it be in the old days or the present wants to be rich.  And so when they see somebody succeeding they just can’t help but feel envious.  However, nowadays, the term nouveau riche has a more positive tone to it.    Because today, people don’t just look into how rich a person is.  They also look at your achievements and what you have done for the society that you belong to.  I guess this is because people have started to understand that these people are successful in whatever goal they have set for themselves.  They have persevered to reach the stature where they are right now.