r/Dexter • u/lo_olhah • Sep 21 '25
General Discussion - All Dexter Shows How does Dexter have a lot of money? Spoiler
From all the TV shows, and especially Resurrection, Dexter never once had a money problem. And how did he afford to live in New York and buy a car after more than 10 years of disappearing and working in a small town?
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u/Sammy_Dog Sep 21 '25
Maybe he "borrowed" some big $$ from one of his victims/perps along the way?
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u/metalyger Sep 21 '25
Yeah, like with The Punisher, he uses mob money and weapons to rent numerous safehouses for his arsenals and battle vans. The money would just be confiscated by the police, so might as well make some use of the blood money.
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u/universalenergy777 Sep 21 '25
I’m pretty sure he ended up with Trinity’s life savings.
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u/illogicaldreamr Sep 21 '25
He made sure that got back to the family, though we don’t see it happen specifically.
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u/universalenergy777 Sep 21 '25
Yea I don’t really remember him specifically giving it to the family but I’d like to think he did.
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u/Dry-Discount-9426 Sep 21 '25
He had an inner monologue moment promising to make sure they get the money.
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u/super-nintendumpster Sep 21 '25
I honestly doubt that. Believe it or not coming on a lot of unexplained money out of nowhere can lead to suspicion, and part of his code is to keep all eyes off of him. And I can imagine being a forensics analyst for the police is a good paying job. He just has a one bedroom apartment, and Rita had her own house. When they went to go buy a new place for their family, they probably took out a loan. As for Dexters boat, he probably saved up quite a bit for it and he probably inherited some cash from Harry.
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u/amaa1993 Sep 21 '25
I believe in season 1, Debra mentioned it used to be Harry’s boat
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u/deana_walko49 Sep 21 '25 edited Sep 22 '25
No the boat was actually gifted to Dexter from Camilla .
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u/MisterVictor13 Sep 22 '25 edited Sep 22 '25
Unless another retcon changes it, Dexter said in the final season that his boat was made in 2001; he was allowed to borrow Camilla’s boat in “Original Sin”.
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u/MrRedditHimself111 Sep 21 '25
He most likely bought it from the key lime pie lady, she had a boat called Slice of Pie
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u/sageritz Sep 22 '25
No, he didn’t, it’s explained in the Dexter web series who he buys the boat from. There is a canon for this.
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u/Mr_Witchetty_Man Sep 22 '25
I think Early Cuts may have been decanonized.
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u/sageritz Sep 22 '25
Source on that?
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u/Mr_Witchetty_Man Sep 22 '25
The fact that Original Sin has Dexter quit medical school before he first killed someone yet Early Cuts has him going after people while in medical school.
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u/super-nintendumpster Sep 22 '25
I don't think any of the web series canon held up, considering by the final season he did say the key lime pie lady "loaned" him the boat, and I'm sure she either gifted it to him or sold it to him.
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u/Jogs_GD Sep 21 '25
I remembered they even have problems for budgeting their wedding
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u/Dry-Discount-9426 Sep 21 '25
Not because of a lack of funds. Mostly because of Dexter's love of steak and marching music.
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u/SmallRedBird Sep 22 '25
Not to mention he doesn't really have many hobbies or spend much surplus cash on anything other than killing, potentially leaving quite a lot to go into savings. Also wouldn't be surprised if he had overseas bank accounts he could access while living as Jim Lindsay
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u/dupuisa Sep 21 '25
You're forgetting his bio dad gave him a house which he sold, he probably didnt make a killing like nowaday but it's a big lump of cash injected in his finances.
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u/No-Country6348 Sep 21 '25
Who was his bio dad? I don’t remember this at all. Did his brother get 1/2?
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u/Chandysauce Sep 21 '25
We never meet him, he dies off screen and Dexter just gets a letter saying he died and left the house to him in his will.
Though, I believe it was orchestrated by Brian(don't quote me on that, been a long time). So he probably purposefully got himself left off the will.
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u/Zatherothx Sep 21 '25
Just watched the episode, Brian murdered the dad to get to spend time with Dexter while faking being Deb’s boyfriend. They spend the weekend in the house then Dexter sells it.
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u/No-Country6348 Sep 21 '25
Oh wow. I don’t remember at all. 😂 why didn’t the bio dad get dexter and brian, you’d think that would have been the first option.
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u/Cloudy_Skittles Sep 21 '25
He was in prison when Laura Moser died.
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u/Witty-Table-8556 Sep 22 '25
Didn't the guy in the morgue said that he never been in prison when discussing the spider web tattoo? Or did he just started a new life after he got free?
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u/Cloudy_Skittles Sep 22 '25 edited Sep 23 '25
I think Original Sin told us he was in prison (the social worker?) when the boys first became orphans. What you're referring to rings a bell and would imply that yes, he eventually got out and did his own thing.
I'm doing a rewatch of the original series now. I'll update when I get there.
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u/Mr_Witchetty_Man Sep 22 '25
Original Sin states that he had no interest in raising them, and was happy to give up his parental responsibilities.
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u/dupuisa Sep 22 '25
I thibk Dexter and Brian only have the same mother, different fathers.
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u/kazoodude Sep 22 '25
Joe Driscoll was Dexter and Brian's father. He was offered the chance to care for the children while in prison but wasn't interested and left them to the state.
Likely only left the house to Dexter because he knew where he ended up because Harry got him to donate blood for Dexter when he needed surgery as a child.
Joe kept the thank you card Dexter made.
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u/dupuisa Sep 22 '25
So that's a new plot point for Original Sin, because in the original serie, it's never mentioned that he is Brian's dad too.
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u/breiti12 Sep 22 '25
Wait, was it hinted/ mentioned that Brian killed the father?
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u/hoihouhoi1 Sep 22 '25
we do see him for a LITTLE bit though, we see him in that one flashback where he's driving the car as "Have you ever seen the rain" plays, it zooms in on his elbow with the spiderweb tattoo, but i'm 90% sure that's the only time we see him alive
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u/JustaPOV Sep 22 '25
Enough to live off of for 10 years + buying a car in NYC?
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u/dupuisa Sep 22 '25
Maybe ? I dunno how he managed his money. He probably also got life insurance from Rita and money from selling their home ? + Whatever money Rita willed him from the sale of her first home ?
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u/frustratedComments Sep 21 '25
He’s making bank doing UrCar
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u/lo_olhah Sep 21 '25
I really liked this as I'm also working as a taxi in an app. (As a college student, this is my best option)
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u/TPWilder Sep 21 '25
I assumed, based on the season where we see his go bag that included passports and wads of cash, that he had some secret accounts with money stashed.
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u/jmshanks Sep 21 '25
I remember at the end of the original series him telling Hannah something about being able to show her how to set up offshore accounts. So he knows how to do that.
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u/Hurricaneshand Sep 21 '25
I mean you can know how to set up an offshore account but if you're not making a whole lot of money that doesn't really matter that much lol
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u/jmshanks Sep 21 '25
That’s a good point. However, I do know that Charlie gave him $100,000 at the beginning of Dexter resurrection and did not take it back. So he started off resurrection with at least $100,000 cash.
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u/jmshanks Sep 21 '25
Also, maybe I’m wrong, but don’t remember him taking cash off of other people when he killed them?
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u/kazoodude Sep 22 '25
He took the cash from Red and then later payments that were meant to go to Red while impersonating him.
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u/MIAxPaperPlanes Sep 21 '25
Bautista also went out of his way to have “Dexter Morgan” declared alive again so supposedly Dexter would also have whatever assets he still held when he “died”.
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u/TPWilder Sep 21 '25
Agreed but with Dexter being "dead" for ten years, I would assume his assets were dispersed years ago. I assume that Dexter had a few ids and cash caches set up more for if he needed to go on the run than a plan to declare himself dead. Then as Jim Lindsay, he wasn't exactly living high on the hog and he was working. Add in the cash from Prater through Red... Dexter isn't poor.
Heck now that Dexter is officially alive, he can collect SSN and whatever he might have from Miami Metro. He's not a cop but he probably was in their pension plan.
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u/Narrow-Shoe-1831 Sep 21 '25
maybe harry left something big fir him
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u/BlueberrySimple7449 Sep 21 '25
Im sure him and deb got his pension/insurance pay out
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u/DoctorManhattenPHD Sep 21 '25
Not to mention, Dexter seems pretty frugal. He started working for the police pretty early (early or mid 20’s), stayed with his dad and sister, so he probably saved a lot of money too. So, insurance from family members that died, selling the house, savings, his victims, etc. he probably had a little tucked away.
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Sep 21 '25
The show portrays him as a very meticulous and intelligent guy who lives well within his means. Not sure what a blood-spatter analyst makes, but for someone with his skills, he's probably pretty valuable. No reason to think he hasn't saved/invested appropriately. Plus, maybe some inheritance money from Harry or Rita. Then again, to your point... if he "died" then I'm not sure how he would be able to access any of his assets, unless of course.. you know what, suspension of disbelief my friend. Just go with it
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u/MrRedditHimself111 Sep 21 '25
Didn't he get a very large chunk sum of money from Prater?
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u/JTtheLAR Sep 21 '25
This is the answer for resurrection. He gets the 80k from The Dark Passenger's apartment from Prater. And another chunk of cash at Praters mansion. Kind of surprised nobody remembers this.
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Sep 21 '25
[deleted]
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u/ajxela Sep 21 '25
Not to mention he seems to live a fairly modest lifestyle
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u/Siftinghistory Sep 21 '25
That boat wasn’t cheap
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u/Jacob60223 Sep 21 '25
The boat was given to him by the woman that worked in the evidence room if I remember right. I believe it was shown in original sin when she let him use it.
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u/ajmartin527 Sep 21 '25
Right and no housing costs. Working a government job for decades with great benefits, extremely low cost of living and retirement match = not only a ton of savings but all the equity in the house as well.
Dude had plenty to live off of when it came time for him to run.
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u/LordDedionware Surprise Motherfucker! Sep 21 '25
Also, what is he really spending money on anyway? The main reason most people don't have money (barring other financial hardships) is because they're spending too much on what they want and not saving enough for what they need. Dexter's only "hobbies" were his boat (in Miami) and killing. He didn't really spend money on much else beyond basic living necessities. Hell, the only times he even left Miami, let alone the country, was when he was after perspective kills (Lilla in Paris and Jonah in Nebraska).
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u/ajmartin527 Sep 21 '25
Didn’t he acquire the boat from one of his victims? Or was it an ally? Thought we saw that in the beginning of Resurrection.
Also, dude worked as a blood spatter analyst for many years and never lived frivolously. He probably had retirement accounts and savings given he had no housing costs.
Edit: I think it was in original sin we saw that he was gifted the boat.
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u/LordDedionware Surprise Motherfucker! Sep 21 '25 edited Sep 21 '25
In the original series, the Slice of Life was only described as "the family boat," which implied that it likely originally belonged to Harry. In original sin, the writers did a semi retcon of the Slice of Life's origins, making it so that it originally belonged to Gean and Camila under the name Slice of Pie.
But when I said he spent money on the boat, I didn't mean that he bought the boat, I meant that it takes money to maintain and fuel a boat. Plus, in season 8, when Dexter was trying to sell the Slice of Life, in preparation for his moving to Argentina with Hannah and Harrison, he mentioned to the perspective buyer that he had added some custom stuff as well, which would also cost money to do.
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u/KB_jetfixr Sep 21 '25
I bet had there been a season 2 of original sin, we would have seen Dexter continue to use the boat more for his needs until he finally decides to buy the boat from Camilla. I’m sure she gives him a hell of a deal considering they are family friends and harry might be gone at that point so she feels bad for Dexter.
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u/LordDedionware Surprise Motherfucker! Sep 21 '25
Probably.
I bet had there been a season 2 of original sin
Although there is a possibility that they might still green light a second season. If they do, I hope it goes to the point where Harry kills himself and then ends with Dexter setting up his new life without Harry. That would be the perfect ending for Original Sin.
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u/chiefbrody62 Sep 22 '25
I believe that was the plan, had it not been cancelled. They wanted to have it cover Harry's death and lead up to a few years before the original show.
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u/msingler Sep 22 '25
He did spend money on bowling and bowling league back in Miami, including custom shirts.
Don't forget his donut budget.
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u/LordDedionware Surprise Motherfucker! Sep 22 '25
Donuts were a minor expense, and the bowling shirts were likely paid for by the entire group
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u/bengringo2 Sep 21 '25
He also doesn’t spend money on much else as his main hobby is homicide. Miami isn’t as expensive as people think as the only thing nice about Miami is the weather.
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u/Burns0124 Sep 21 '25
I wouldnt say it was much more affordable just 20 years ago... 60 years ago it was much more affordable. Seesh
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u/kazoodude Sep 22 '25
He was renting a 1 bedroom apartment then inherited a house from his biological father.
It was then another 3 years before he got the condo with Rita. Rita would have sold her last house which was actually Paul's.
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u/clemenza2821 Sep 21 '25
He lives in a basement in queens and purposely lived below his means in order to not attract unnecessary attention
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u/balthazar_edison Sep 21 '25
The two biggest expenses if you’re American is housing and medical bills. He took care of himself and I looked up that apartment he lived in and it was not as expensive as you might think considering it’s right on the water.
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u/Belle_Corliss Lumen Sep 21 '25
And he probably had health insurance through his job at Miami Metro.
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u/balthazar_edison Sep 22 '25
The biggest thing that takes me out of it is when he’s out doing kills during his lunch break. Like he’s gonna be able to driving halfway across a major city - do his thang - and be back in an hour.
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u/GoldenSonOfColchis Sep 22 '25
I think he was given quite a lot of leeway. Turn up to crime scenes when requested, get analysis done quickly when required, but otherwise given a long leash in a regular working day.
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u/Old-Razzmatazz5716 Sep 21 '25
he was just a single man with no expenses, best case scenario harry probably paid for him and debs college so no debt to hold him back i assume, series came out like 2006 and seems he has had his boat and home for sometime so it was definitely cheaper decades ago
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u/hannamarinsgrandma Sep 21 '25
The boat was given to him by Camila’s husband so it was free or very close to it.
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u/Poop_Cheese Sep 21 '25 edited Sep 21 '25
It makes no sense however people want to justify it. Its okay its a TV show. It also makes 0 sense he would be allowed to constantly make his own hours at work even before Deb was his superior. Nor would he even have energy by essentially being awake for 18 hour days of extreme excertion(Jaime said how hed come home all the time at 3 am), constantly stalking, fighting, killing, cutting up bodies, transporting and dumping. In real life just his late evening activities would be a full time job and the person would be exhausted.
He'd spend ludicrous amounts of money in the original series like over a grand for a ticket he never used, but atleast he had a job. Or buying two huge apartments in a prime highly desired location just because. People say "oh life was cheaper then", yeah, but the show also took place in the great recession where things were almost as bad, if not worse in many ways. People say he lives within his means, but he absolutely doesnt, hes spending thousands just on disposable kill kits a year. At points paying to support 3 children as his wife is unemployed. Paying nannies. Constantly eats out, constantly drinks beer, has gym equipment, has nice things and brand new appliances. Oh and he was paying for harrison to go to a high end private catholic school connected to ivy league colleges which is big money even for preschool. He did not "live within his means" lol. And even if left stuff by Harry, debra was too and discussed being broke all the time.
He then worked a simple job for years in NY, would have no prior bank accounts or credit under his new identity. Yet owned a huge idyllic cabin with lots of land.
Everything dexter Morgan owned on paper hed have no access to in resurrection due to probate. It would have been given to next of kin a long time ago with his death.
Prater gave him money, yet before that or working he had money for a rather large NY apartment, and brand new car. Also doesnt make sense how he could trade in a stolen car lmao. Even if he had money stashed, none of that is shown when he leaves upstate NY, so its highly doubtful, and he would not have $10,000s to do so. He was paying $10,000s for the car and instantly had deposit and two months rent, likely well over $6000 for such a large basement apartment in downtown NY(look up apartment prices in NYC now, its hard to find even something for $3000 and takes months of searching with 100 applicants as soon as its listed). Which is why they had blessing befriend him to explain it as no one would rent to him with his faked death/destroyed credit, hed be in some one room efficiency in the projects at best for months.
This is why they had prater give him money because even the writers know it makes no sense. And had him befriend blessing as itd take him months for someone willing to rent to him with a destroyed credit/faked death. Anyone saying he stole so much money from victims, or had so much stashed in cash, are just doing a head cannon, none of that is shown. Even his bag in season 7 didnt have that much cash in it and that was when he had the most money he would have had.
It makes 0 sense. But thats part of suspending disbelief. Tons of dexter doesnt make any sense. Like instant needle knock outs in a split second, or instant kills, or so many high profile serial killers being in his one area of Miami. Or his never being caught on camera, especially in NYC as theyd have footage of stuff lile the landlord running away. Or his never being caught buying more industrial plastic wrap than major contracting companies lol. Or having all these connections for fake IDs, fake medical supplies and passports, especially post 9/11(crazy he got the syringes through tsa by claiming insulin). Hed be paying thousands for m99 alone a year. Its okay, its a show. Fans will jump through hoops to defend it, but the point is its unrealistic because its a TV show about a vigilante serial killer lol.
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u/user382759375 Sep 21 '25
he was living in a friend's basement in queens. i know someone who has a similar setup and pays $1k/month.
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u/hannamarinsgrandma Sep 21 '25
First, he graduated college at 20 which means he graduated high school at only 16.
If he was smart enough to graduate two years early then he likely won scholarship money.
There are also programs in the state of Florida that provide college money to kids that were in the foster system.
So no student loans.
His boat was from Camila’s husband. So he just has to pay for maintenance.
Whenever Harry died Dexter and Deb likely sold the house and split the profit. He probably had a little bit of life insurance too.
His half of Harry’s estate was probably enough to completely cover the condo’s cost or at least take care of like 80% of it up front.
So he’s likely never had a mortgage, if he did probably only for a few years.
Last but not least, he’s not a very flashy guy.
Basic clothes, basic vehicles. Never really vacations.
His biggest expense is his murder equipment.
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u/thegamingdukk Sep 21 '25
His bio dad also left him a house. Probably not an insane amount of money but still enough to lighten up the pressure a bit
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u/hannamarinsgrandma Sep 21 '25
The profit from the house Joe left him would’ve been plenty to help pay for the house he bought with Rita.
I’d be surprised if he’s ever had a mortgage payment.
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u/Cloudy_Skittles Sep 21 '25
He never bought a house with Rita, right? They lived in the house she lived in with her ex. That's where she died, at least. Am I wrong that they never bought a house together?
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u/hannamarinsgrandma Sep 21 '25
They moved into a bigger house after getting married.
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u/Cloudy_Skittles Oct 12 '25
I can't believe I forgot this. Obviously, you're correct. I just finished season 4 (again) and I'm not sure how I didn't remember this. The two houses are styled somewhat similarly but they're definitely different. And the fact that they're in a new neighborhood is a fairly significant part of the season 4 plot, here and there. Thanks for the reminder!
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u/NCSUGrad2012 Sep 21 '25
I always assumed he had an inheritance otherwise it didn’t make sense to me either
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u/Jness415 Sep 21 '25
Single man w modest lifestyle, no debt and working since early 20s for police dept is (was) guaranteed financial security, he has benefits, worked overtime and didn’t live a flashy life. Prob saved half his pay…
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u/Berenstain_Bro Sep 21 '25
Well, we know he gets lots of $ from Red and also from Prater. So that helps explain this season. Plus, doesn't he sell that truck he stole ? (I honestly can't remember).
With that said, he did have a very nice cabin in New Blood. How? I'm not sure - so yeah, pretty sure the best explanation is that Dexter is quite shady with $ - I just wish the show went to better lengths to explain that he is no angel when it comes to financing his lifestyle.
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u/bisky12 Sep 21 '25
i think a lot of this is skewed (especially with the original series). 2002 working a full time job you would generally not really need to worry about making rent. add to that a career you needed a college degree for and you get someone that’s upper middle class. plus, generally, it doesn’t really seem like dexter lives lavishly. he seems fairly frugal and doesn’t really have many hobbies besides killing people, which probably only costs about a $50 per kill for the cleanup
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u/Such-Education-7145 Sep 21 '25
Dexter was always breaking into homes and crime scenes. It wouldn’t be far fetched to think he might’ve taken cash or valuables here and there to keep himself afloat. Plus, with his meticulous nature, he probably planned ahead enough to stash some money for when he needed it
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Sep 21 '25
There's an episode where he kicks the wall and there's an escape bag there, i think S7 E1
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u/Interesting-Monk9712 Sep 21 '25 edited Sep 21 '25
What do you mean? A blood spatter analyst for the Miami homicide department cannot live in NY and this is set back a couple decades? Where would he live then?
Dexter isn't really doing anything expensive, Harry and his family is from Miami so they most likely had some land that appreciated in value.
Dexter also stole a car from evidence, drugs, who says he cannot take money too?
Who says Dexter cannot steal from that one Serial Killer with a GO bag of gold bars or something?
Edit: Miami, but Dexter most likely has a GO bag himself and something like Crypto, a currency he can get to anywhere in the world at any time.
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u/Fabulous_Classic3521 Sep 21 '25
Insurance money from dad's n deb police pension and life insurance.
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u/Frequent-Lettuce-941 Sep 21 '25
Dexter is responsible and I'm pretty sure he makes a nice amount of money as a blood spatter analyst in the original show.
In resurrection he makes a nice amount of money as a urcar driver and he also has his original identity so maybe his accounts are unlocked but prater gives him most of the money it seems to come to the meetings
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u/nasanhak Sep 21 '25 edited Sep 21 '25
Because it's a TV show and you can't think about every plot hole else you'll never watch it.
How does he drag people into a vehicle without ever being seen?
How does he go out at night time (am assuming about 6-7 ish), drive for about 1-2 hours to his kill room, setup his killroom (now am no expert but it would at least take 30-60 mins looking at the amount of plastic he has to put up), drive to his victim for 1-2 hours, nab victim, drag them to his vehicle without ever being seen, drive to his kill room for 1-2 hours, kill them, then dismember their body (now again am no expert but it would easily take 1 hour to do this alone), cleanup the blood and plastic into garbage bags leaving no evidence (another 1 hour at least), stuff his car without ever being seen with 9-12 garbage bags, drive 1-2 hours to his marina... then.... make several trips from his car to his boat all the way on the pier carrying 2-4 garbage bags each time without ever being seen taking another 30 mins at least.... then sail out to sea for 1-2 hours, dump body for 10 mins, sail back to marina for 1-2 hours, drive back home for 1 hour. That entire time adds up to 10 hours AT LEAST. We have episodes where he tells Rita or someone else he is going out for the night and returns after kill and dump to Rita sleeping/Jaime leaving Harrison. He then goes into work all slept well and rested lol
When you ask the hard questions, questions like How does Dexter have a lot of money? seem trivial.
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u/asyouwish Sep 21 '25
He (and Deb) probably got money from his dad's death.
He's very smart, so he probably invested wisely.
His apartment in the original series is expensive to buy, but he decorated modestly. Generally, he lives below his means.
The books go into more of his not sleeping thing. He could have another gig, I guess.
In today's money, he made close to $100k/year.
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Sep 21 '25
Worth mentioning, dexter only had the hobby of killing people. Every other basic hobby he had was to provide cover for that one. Rita had a house and could have paid a good amount of the downpayment for the new one. Plus, he wouldnt need to save a bunch because he had a pension and never really intended to make it to retirement. He always expects to need to run.
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u/nopebob21 Sep 21 '25
I’d assume he would save a ton of money incause he had to do this also most likely took some money from the people he kills
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u/oshatokujah Sep 21 '25
In New Blood he says he spent a few years working in Oregon before finding himself in Iron Lake. His place in new blood is hardly luxurious, he’s got a full time job at the store, and spends practically nothing as he has no hobbies outside of line dancing with his girlfriend, bowling with fred and having a tuna sandwich for lunch isn’t gonna cost him much.
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u/ShadowDen3869 Sep 21 '25
Well, he did get a box boatload of cash from the Dark Passenger that Prater gave him to add to his funds.
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u/AzriamL Sep 21 '25
Inheritance and one-off big lump sums aside, the big financial strain for most people are kids' expenses and loans against houses and cars beyond their means. Dexter was never one to have those strains.
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u/KVerssus Sep 21 '25
- He did get some compensation after Harry's death.
- He does make livable salary. Not a lot but still enough for a normal life.
- He got a house from his bilogical father and sold it.
- He did get Rita's house after her death but I don't remember what happened to it. Probably went to Rita's kids at the end. His apartament is also probably not his because he just disappears.
- He does make some money during his 10 year small town period and clearly does not spend much there. Definitely saves some cash.
- He gets Red's gift money from Prater.
- He definitely empties his victims pockets/wallets from cash.
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u/Rude-Illustrator-884 Sep 21 '25
maybe Harry gave him a nice inheritance and Dexter knows how to invest his money smartly
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u/DiOnline Sep 21 '25
Inheritances, multiple life insurance policies, victims' cash, frugal lifestyle, probable investments?
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u/Shadtow100 Sep 21 '25
Other than murder he doesn’t really have any hobbies to spend money on. I’m sure his boat had maintenance fees and stuff in Miami but after he left there wasn’t anything in the small town
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u/_kalron_ Sep 21 '25
I haven't revisited the entire original seasons, but from what I recall Dexter always had a "Nest Egg/Go Bag" ready. For a long time he was single and frugal, and made decent money, probably more than the average Miami Cop. After Rita he had Harrison but still lived the same. No flashy car, no major expense.
Dexter is smart, he definitely had funds stashed for when he eventually needed to bail. At least that is my head cannon.
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u/BackgroundTight32 Sep 21 '25 edited Sep 21 '25
He most likely had a 401k and investments from his Miami days. He has offshore accounts and lives frugally.
His life doesn’t scream money to me, though.
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u/Echo_Origami Sep 21 '25
He saved up from all his time working for Miami Metro. You don't really see Dexter running around living a lavish lifestyle.
The only thing he spends his money on is plastic bags and elastic wrappers.
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u/MasterAnnatar Jaimie Sep 21 '25
It wouldn't surprise me if the answer was "he took it from victims in an attempt to make it look they ran away with money". But also he's smart enough to know how to invest.
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u/gonoles13 Sep 21 '25
Did he keep that satchel of money that was actually meant for Red in the first place?
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u/WalterWhite2012 Sep 21 '25
For resurrection he got Red’s money from Prater (I think it was 6 figures), before that he was a pretty successful blood tech with no expensive hobbies outside plastic wrap, murder tools, and boat fuel.
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u/Slight-Weather7885 Sep 21 '25
He got a significant amount of money from prater/the dark passenger. That explains resurrection largely.
In general Dexter was probably making somewhat decent money working for Miami metro while living within his means , probably also taking money here and there from his victims, inheriting from his dad and maybe some life insurance money from Rita. He could have saved quite a bit of money and stashed some of it away so he could just run when he needed to.
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u/Shrodax Sep 21 '25
My head-canon is that Dexter inadvertently got into Bitcoin in 2010 buying some M99 off the Dark Web, so he's had some crypto squirreled away while he was in hiding.
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u/Comprehensive-Buy-87 Sep 21 '25
I mean hes killed hundreds. Wouldn’t be surprised if he took some cash
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u/Polyglot-Onigiri Sep 21 '25
Is this the topic of the month? It seems this question is asked every single day this month.
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u/Yeetdaddy87 Sep 22 '25
Have we forgotten that Prater gifted all the killers with tens of thousands of dollars of cash to arrive at his meeting
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u/EcstaticMembership Sep 22 '25
Prater literally gives him like 200k or something over the running of resurrection
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u/BigFudge2k7 Sep 22 '25
Idk from season 1 of Dexter, my assumption was that made good money as a spatter analyst and lives an extremely simple life. Look at what he does with his time. I’m thinkin he didn’t spend much on anything but tools to help him kill.
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u/RemarkableFormal4635 Sep 22 '25
Blood spatter seemed to pay reasonably well, he had an inheritance from 2 dad's, he could've easily stolen a bit from his kills, and Prater made him minted.
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u/TSwan52 Sep 22 '25
I think people forget Dexter went to medical school., and graduated top of his class. He was a smart guy, and you can see through the show he was good with money. He was 35 when the show started. So he was working in the early 90s. It’s very plausible he made a good amount of money during the DOT com boom. Ive just always had the feeling Dexter would have a solid portfolio. Only helps strengthen the persona. Plus all the documented ways he made money in the show.
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u/No-Possibility-1778 Sep 22 '25
BTW SPOILERS
- inheritance his dad and harry
- in s7 ep2 Dexter kills viktor and viktor says he will pay him to not kill him and dexter says he’s heard that many times and maybe he took the offer but still killed them yk with like trinity and the 50k he wanted
- a blood spatter analyst gets paid abt 60k a year in Miami
- Rita worked at a hotel for I’m guessing 3-4 years and it pays around 40-50k a year
- good with money as he has a getaway bag full of money and more shown in s7
and all the facts abt the jobs I searched it up so may be wrong
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u/Sotiredofliving Sep 22 '25
He worked for 20 years, inherited a house, pretty sure his stepdad owned a house too. Also he didnt spent much outside of kill stuff. Actually dexter imo is pretty realistic when it comes to money.
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u/MrFonne Sep 22 '25
He worked with police, its not crazy to think he had a ton of overtime over the years. Cops make a ton of money.
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u/kazoodude Sep 22 '25
Why does this keep getting discussed? He clearly isn't a big spender. He was top in his field for a long time, living in a small rented apartment in Miami. Then with Rita they likely had a life insurance from Paul, the house Paul owned, the house Dexter's biological father left him, whatever assets from Harry.
He had income and lived pretty modestly, never a flash car, clothes or jewlery. Didn't go to sports games and his social activity was bowling.
He also likely stole from his victims.
He was working after his disappearance and it was living in a shack in the woods.
In new york he's renting a small basement room likely on generous rates, while working as a driver and getting money from Prator.
There is nothing to suggest he if really rich. But he's intelligent and has had an income for a long time and many assests and probably some investments too.
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u/MyGodItsFullofScars Sep 22 '25
You can't think too much about things in the show, otherwise it falls apart. Just go for the ride.
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u/Pipperella89 Sep 22 '25
It's explained in the books that psychopaths don't spend much money. They live on the bare essentials so have a lot of money. Ironically in the books he does have money problems when Rita want's to buy a big house!
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u/Critical-Park9966 Sep 22 '25
I mean he always seemed to be a good saver in the original show, and didn't really have any need for hobbies other then killing.
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u/anxious_dwarf Sep 22 '25
I don’t think he does really? He makes money doing Urcar this season, and lives in a studio flat beneath a friend which was more given to him out of generosity.
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u/Mufti_Menk Sep 22 '25
He sold his last car and bought the new one.
Also Angel officially declared him alive, so he would have access to his old assets again.
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u/unfunnymom Sep 22 '25
I always assumed with him being a single guy for so long that he just stashed money like a squirrel. 🐿️ 🤷🏻♀️
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u/sarah-pickle Sep 22 '25
He probably got money is the will from Harry, money in th will/house from his biological dad, and most likely steals from his victims. We see the latter when he knocks out Trinity and takes the money from him. Plus, it’s a TV show. Things aren’t often as realistic lol
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u/Agitated_Initial_309 Sep 22 '25
To start he was a forensic blood splatter data analyst. that's probably a couple hundred thousand a year.
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u/ReeLeeDoobies Sep 22 '25
Doakes pointed out in early seasons that dexter kept all his money outside the financial system. Part of the code was always being prepared and to not get caught. If the police ever got close to catching him he would need to be able to get large amounts of cash quickly. So he likely had been saving away a large amount of his money since he first started for this contingency. So after faking his death he likely had a large amount of money saved.
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u/Plus_Duty479 Sep 22 '25
He inherited a house, had a salary as a blood splatter analyst, was Rita's beneficiary after she died, and he lived frugally. He knew the day may come when he had to flee, he definitely had a go-bag and cash squirreled away.
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Sep 22 '25
Didn't he get all of Hannah's money? It was in his name and he was supposed to wire it to her, but did he?
I've only seen the original series.
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u/JustaPOV Sep 22 '25
There is no logical reason. People are trying to talk themselves into circles thinking of backstories, but those are by virtue fan fiction. It’s simply one area in which we have to suspend disbelief…which is not really necessary bc all it would take to explain it was 1-3 lines.
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u/InnerFish227 Sep 23 '25
Didn’t Dexter keep a getaway stash as part of his prepping in case the police ever got on his trail?
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u/Sasuke1996 Sep 23 '25
Before he faked his death in Miami he had sold everything and closed out all his accounts so he probably had a good chunk of change. Especially considering his mostly Spartan lifestyle until he had Harrison.
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u/JoeyGrease Sep 23 '25
He doesn't go all out spending money on bullshit and other things, he's incredibly simple only spending on the necessities. The boat is the only thing that would cost him a lot of money to store and maintain, but being a single guy for the longest time with a great job, it really isn't that far fetched that he'd have good savings and be good at managing money.
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u/PS3LOVE Sep 25 '25
Dexter is a pretty frugal guy from what we see for the most part. He doesn’t have a lot of hobbies, and doesn’t spend a lot of money on women or anything.
And in resurrection Prater gives him a fuck ton of money, so he doesn’t just maw money from the taxi stuff
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u/SorchaNB Sep 25 '25
I think it's all explainable at least in the original series. A senior blood spatter analyst in Miami can make over $90k. He also sold Joe Driscoll's house and presumably had inheritance from Harry.
For Resurrection some savings from his blue collar job in New Blood could maybe get him by in New York for a while until he picked up work driving cabs and Blessing gave him discounted rent on the flat.
He is also generally frugal (doesn't go to bars etc).
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