Does DCUM skew super wealthy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reading this board, I feel way "behind" and it actually stresses me out to the point I brought it up to my therapist, who told me that people often lie on such boards (no shock but still). Seems like everyone here rakes in 500k and calls it middle-class. Is this the new normal? Is this board comprised of like a dozen big law people? What the heck?

Yes. But when you say a dozen biglaw people you really mean a couple of thousand partners in the DC area. Add to that lobbying, consulting, and accountants and you are like 7500 plus people. And that is not counting the execs at area companies. This is a wealthy area.

[Anonymous]

I post only the good things about my financial status, like we recently gained a higher income, and not the embarrassing stuff like we spent a lot of years barely saving for retirement and are way behind where it seems everyone else is in their late 40s. I’m with you that this board is probably bad for my mental health.

[Anonymous]

Isn't middle class in DC 200K? So the average person makes that which means the above average is going to be above that.

In 2010 I was a single Mom making roughly 100K and 10+ years later I'm a married business owner x3 with an HHI of 500K. I've been on DCUM at least that long.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been here for more than 10 years. I’m don’t think many people lie, but:

1. DCUM skews wealthy.

2. There is a community of prolific posters here, as well as occasional posters. If the prolific ones post on many different financial threads, you have the impression they’re different people.

3. Posters tend to post if they can be the outlier, usually in a good way, or sometimes in a bad day, to counter the narrative of a post. So you have examples of very wealthy posters and low-income ones. The majority of whatever the topic is usually isn’t well-represented because once a few post, the rest don’t bother, since that’s not the most interesting position. So you may have a third of posters disclosing great wealth, a third relatively modest means, and a third middle class incomes/assets. Whereas the total DCUM population is maybe 75% middle class!

I hope this makes sense.

How do you know many people don’t lie? I’ve lied and pretended to be different posters several times, and I know I’m not the only troll.

While I have suspected this, I really hate the confirmation. But I guess that deep down I hope that most people want to truly help and come from a place of kindness. The joke is on me.

PP just told you they lie, and you choose to believe her?

[Anonymous]

I don't lie on this forum. I've found helpful advice here and haven given some back, I think

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Take it with a spoon of salt.

The saying is: Take it with a grain of salt.

I think the PP was trying to be hyperbolic with the saying.

[Anonymous]

I agree that DCUM likely skews wealthy in general, and it’s also likely the people who are most interested in talking about money are on the wealthy end of a pretty wealthy spectrum. But I also think that less wealthy people are here and they just don’t talk as much, unless it’s to point out that the wealthy people who claim to be middle class or struggling are deeply out of touch. We only hear from the people who have high incomes, have billions saved for retirement and never make money mistakes and are 100% happy with the ascetic lives. If everyone just spoke up and shared their experiences, we wouldn’t only hear from the wealthy people and it wouldn’t seem so skewed. If you look back in the earlier days of the forum, it used to be like that and the conversations were so much more balanced and informative and something where you could really learn some helpful tips.

[Anonymous]

Look at the US counties with the highest per capita income and count how many are in the DC Metro area.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-income_counties_in_the_United_States

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Take it with a spoon of salt.

The saying is: Take it with a grain of salt.

Whoosh.

[Anonymous]

Comparison is an enemy of joy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been here for more than 10 years. I’m don’t think many people lie, but:

1. DCUM skews wealthy.

2. There is a community of prolific posters here, as well as occasional posters. If the prolific ones post on many different financial threads, you have the impression they’re different people.

3. Posters tend to post if they can be the outlier, usually in a good way, or sometimes in a bad day, to counter the narrative of a post. So you have examples of very wealthy posters and low-income ones. The majority of whatever the topic is usually isn’t well-represented because once a few post, the rest don’t bother, since that’s not the most interesting position. So you may have a third of posters disclosing great wealth, a third relatively modest means, and a third middle class incomes/assets. Whereas the total DCUM population is maybe 75% middle class!

I hope this makes sense.

How do you know many people don’t lie? I’ve lied and pretended to be different posters several times, and I know I’m not the only troll.

PP you replied to. You are in a very small minority. Most people don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been here for more than 10 years. I’m don’t think many people lie, but:

1. DCUM skews wealthy.

2. There is a community of prolific posters here, as well as occasional posters. If the prolific ones post on many different financial threads, you have the impression they’re different people.

3. Posters tend to post if they can be the outlier, usually in a good way, or sometimes in a bad day, to counter the narrative of a post. So you have examples of very wealthy posters and low-income ones. The majority of whatever the topic is usually isn’t well-represented because once a few post, the rest don’t bother, since that’s not the most interesting position. So you may have a third of posters disclosing great wealth, a third relatively modest means, and a third middle class incomes/assets. Whereas the total DCUM population is maybe 75% middle class!

I hope this makes sense.

How do you know many people don’t lie? I’ve lied and pretended to be different posters several times, and I know I’m not the only troll.

Wow. You need to get a life. Lying takes so much effort compared to being real and telling the truth. For real, go do something positive and productive PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been here for more than 10 years. I’m don’t think many people lie, but:

1. DCUM skews wealthy.

2. There is a community of prolific posters here, as well as occasional posters. If the prolific ones post on many different financial threads, you have the impression they’re different people.

3. Posters tend to post if they can be the outlier, usually in a good way, or sometimes in a bad day, to counter the narrative of a post. So you have examples of very wealthy posters and low-income ones. The majority of whatever the topic is usually isn’t well-represented because once a few post, the rest don’t bother, since that’s not the most interesting position. So you may have a third of posters disclosing great wealth, a third relatively modest means, and a third middle class incomes/assets. Whereas the total DCUM population is maybe 75% middle class!

I hope this makes sense.

How do you know many people don’t lie? I’ve lied and pretended to be different posters several times, and I know I’m not the only troll.

PP you replied to. You are in a very small minority. Most people don't.

And you know this how?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been here for more than 10 years. I’m don’t think many people lie, but:

1. DCUM skews wealthy.

2. There is a community of prolific posters here, as well as occasional posters. If the prolific ones post on many different financial threads, you have the impression they’re different people.

3. Posters tend to post if they can be the outlier, usually in a good way, or sometimes in a bad day, to counter the narrative of a post. So you have examples of very wealthy posters and low-income ones. The majority of whatever the topic is usually isn’t well-represented because once a few post, the rest don’t bother, since that’s not the most interesting position. So you may have a third of posters disclosing great wealth, a third relatively modest means, and a third middle class incomes/assets. Whereas the total DCUM population is maybe 75% middle class!

I hope this makes sense.

How do you know many people don’t lie? I’ve lied and pretended to be different posters several times, and I know I’m not the only troll.

Wow. You need to get a life. Lying takes so much effort compared to being real and telling the truth. For real, go do something positive and productive PP.

And you need to get a life rather than trying to earnestly advise trolls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reading this board, I feel way "behind" and it actually stresses me out to the point I brought it up to my therapist, who told me that people often lie on such boards (no shock but still). Seems like everyone here rakes in 500k and calls it middle-class. Is this the new normal? Is this board comprised of like a dozen big law people? What the heck?

I've definitely noticed lies coming from people claiming to be lawyers. I'm a lawyer and I will see stuff that just makes zero sense. Pretty often.