Anyone else feeling guilty about how easy it is to make money?

[Anonymous]

I don’t feel guilty because I worked hard, saved aggressively and invested smartly. Do that over 30 years and you’ll be fine. Now the majority of my income is passive which is easy money but what it took to become easy wasn’t easy. If you are in your late 30’s and think you can coast based on some retirement formula you will be making a big mistake. Unexpected things can happen that you can’t possibly foresee. Once your kids are fully educated and standing on their own and your career is at its peak and everything is going well then you can begin to relax. My kids are your age and doing extremely well and I’d be very disappointed if they had your attitude.

[Anonymous]

I feel like you just jinxed us all, thanks a lot.

For real estate, it's not like it matters, really. It's all fake money - you cna't sell, realize the profits and then....what? Buy a different place at a higher interest rate?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Feel lucky and grateful to have had assets in the 2010s. It's a system where the rich get richer.

Yes. In 2009 I was poor and in grad school, and I wished that I had money to pour into the market. Alas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like you just jinxed us all, thanks a lot.

For real estate, it's not like it matters, really. It's all fake money - you cna't sell, realize the profits and then....what? Buy a different place at a higher interest rate?

you could've taken a HELOC before the rates went up and used it to put into treasuries now which have a higher yield.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like you just jinxed us all, thanks a lot.

For real estate, it's not like it matters, really. It's all fake money - you cna't sell, realize the profits and then....what? Buy a different place at a higher interest rate?

you could've taken a HELOC before the rates went up and used it to put into treasuries now which have a higher yield.

HELOCs are typically floating rate. No game to be played there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like you just jinxed us all, thanks a lot.

For real estate, it's not like it matters, really. It's all fake money - you cna't sell, realize the profits and then....what? Buy a different place at a higher interest rate?

This. The equity in your house is nice because you can tap into it if you need to, but it doesn’t really mean anything. I have a 2.75 rate too, but I can’t sell it and buy something else because it would just be a wash in this market. Not particularly brag-worthy. It was obviously a VERY expensive house to begin with to have that level of appreciation.

This is just another DCUM humble brag. Minus the humble.

[Anonymous]

I know what you mean, OP. Yes you worked hard and did things right but you/ we have been simply super lucky to have hit the jackpot of timing on several variables (tech and housing) at once. I do t see your statement as a brag as much as just kind of astonishment that you went from “there” to “here” so quickly. I know what you mean. This whole super low interest environment made me a
TON of money at the apex of my career. I happened to be right age and salary to be able to fill 401ks and already be in a house with proceeds from my last. I benefitted from easy earnings and didn’t have time to let lifestyle creep happen during the COVID era - now my money continues to make money and it gives me a lot more options.

That’s not a brag- I’m trying to acknowledge that we got really lucky, mostly. Some work.
Mostly just timing. And yes, amassing that kind of wealth before 40 on that salary was previously impossible. This last decade was different. Big gains. Obscene ones. The rich getting richer has been super apparent to me since about 2018 or so. Like a rocket ship. They can’t build 2-5M houses fast enough here in the western state I live in . It’s astonishing.

[Anonymous]

It's not normal, and it's causing the bottom to fall out of the middle class while the lower classes can't claw their way out.

I'm not saying this to attack OP, I'm saying this to say that... you're right. This is astonishing, and not normal, and not sustainable. You didn't do anything wrong but you "shouldn't" have that much money in a functioning economy. The system is straining.

[Anonymous]

Our rate is 2.49 percent and our house appreciated $500k in four years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know what you mean, OP. Yes you worked hard and did things right but you/ we have been simply super lucky to have hit the jackpot of timing on several variables (tech and housing) at once. I do t see your statement as a brag as much as just kind of astonishment that you went from “there” to “here” so quickly. I know what you mean. This whole super low interest environment made me a
TON of money at the apex of my career. I happened to be right age and salary to be able to fill 401ks and already be in a house with proceeds from my last. I benefitted from easy earnings and didn’t have time to let lifestyle creep happen during the COVID era - now my money continues to make money and it gives me a lot more options.

That’s not a brag- I’m trying to acknowledge that we got really lucky, mostly. Some work.
Mostly just timing. And yes, amassing that kind of wealth before 40 on that salary was previously impossible. This last decade was different. Big gains. Obscene ones. The rich getting richer has been super apparent to me since about 2018 or so. Like a rocket ship. They can’t build 2-5M houses fast enough here in the western state I live in . It’s astonishing.

OP here, I am not trying to brag, I am just surprised by how much things are going right for me and people in my social circle for the past 6-8 years. It seems somewhat surreal.

[Anonymous]

Curious if you were raised by middle class or upper class family.

My rich friends had college partially or completely covered, first car as a graduation gift, all the camps and activities that gave them a leg up in college admissions. It was easier for them to get into a good college and start saving right away because they weren’t in debt. Grad school poor when your parents are a safety net is different than poor poor.

Not mad at you, you seem surprised that you’re doing so well—just telling you how you may have had a leg up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We bought our house in 2017 and secured a 2.85% 30 year rate and the home has appreciated by close to 1 million.
Our 401k/Retirement Roth/Equity account has appreciated by a couple of millions, and our retirements are fully funded even under conservative assumptions.
Not even 40 yet and we are close to being financially independent despite having two kids in private schools and some nice cars and plenty of vacations. Something has to give right? This doesn't seem normal.

How much do you have?

adding together home equity/other properties/investment accounts/physical assets, ~4 million. We didn't feel like we were rich back in 2016-2017, maybe had 1 million in total assets, I feel like my networth has exploded over the past 5-7 years from just owning some tech stocks and a house

I agree but on the other hand, I think many others in our demographic / situation (like you, OP) are in similar boats, so expenses/costs have also ballooned for the types of things that cater to this demographic. E.g. the cost and availability of vacation homes, renovations, eating out, nice hotels, nannies, private tuition, camps, services like family photography, IVF etc. have also ballooned or become harder to access since 2017. Not complaining as I know we are still more fortunate than many, but just observing...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Curious if you were raised by middle class or upper class family.

My rich friends had college partially or completely covered, first car as a graduation gift, all the camps and activities that gave them a leg up in college admissions. It was easier for them to get into a good college and start saving right away because they weren’t in debt. Grad school poor when your parents are a safety net is different than poor poor.

Not mad at you, you seem surprised that you’re doing so well—just telling you how you may have had a leg up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Curious if you were raised by middle class or upper class family.

probably lower middle class early on, I came to this country when I was 8, with parents who were on engineers on work visas

[Anonymous]

Hope the golden horseshoe up your rear doesn't puncture anything.