Where are all the high income folks?

[Anonymous]

HHI of $700k just bought a 2012 Toyota and my mortgage is $3k/mo. I have a happy low stress life because I can easily pay all my bills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are all the high income folks? why is every comment on here 5k a month is too expensive for a mortgage, we would never lease a car, this is middle class no that is upper class etc etc


This is money & finances, shouldn't there be, you know, people with money?

There are an abundance of people on this forum who don’t understand how to use low interest debt to their advanatage. That doesn’t necessarily correlate to their income.

+1

it blows my mind.

Let me blow your mind even more. You ready? I have no mortgage on my primary home. This does not be I have not leveraged my money. I think you are very linear in your thinking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are all the high income folks? why is every comment on here 5k a month is too expensive for a mortgage, we would never lease a car, this is middle class no that is upper class etc etc


This is money & finances, shouldn't there be, you know, people with money?

There are an abundance of people on this forum who don’t understand how to use low interest debt to their advanatage. That doesn’t necessarily correlate to their income.

+1

it blows my mind.

Let me blow your mind even more. You ready? I have no mortgage on my primary home. This does not be I have not leveraged my money. I think you are very linear in your thinking.

Different poster here. Sure I can imagine scenarios where your situation of no mortgage and leveraged investment could have happened. But in the low interest rate environment of the past few years, it'd be pretty illogical to not take advantage of a loan backed by a primary residence. What other funding source for leverage gives you superior rates? We are carrying something like 3% on our primary residence.

[Anonymous]

You can make a ton of money and still think certain things are a lot of money.

My parents have an HHI of $1M or so and a net worth of several million. They own property in Manhattan. My mom still won't usually pay for Acela tickets to go from NYC to BWI because she thinks they're too expensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can make a ton of money and still think certain things are a lot of money.

My parents have an HHI of $1M or so and a net worth of several million. They own property in Manhattan. My mom still won't usually pay for Acela tickets to go from NYC to BWI because she thinks they're too expensive.

Sorry to break it to you, $1M isn't much in Manhattan anymore

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are all the high income folks? why is every comment on here 5k a month is too expensive for a mortgage, we would never lease a car, this is middle class no that is upper class etc etc


This is money & finances, shouldn't there be, you know, people with money?

There are an abundance of people on this forum who don’t understand how to use low interest debt to their advanatage. That doesn’t necessarily correlate to their income.

+1

it blows my mind.

Let me blow your mind even more. You ready? I have no mortgage on my primary home. This does not be I have not leveraged my money. I think you are very linear in your thinking.

Different poster here. Sure I can imagine scenarios where your situation of no mortgage and leveraged investment could have happened. But in the low interest rate environment of the past few years, it'd be pretty illogical to not take advantage of a loan backed by a primary residence. What other funding source for leverage gives you superior rates? We are carrying something like 3% on our primary residence.

Not the person you responded to, but I'm in a similar situation. Call me dumb or illogical or paranoid, but I'd rather leave my primary residence out of this "leverage" game. I don't feel the need to leverage every single asset I own. The house is paid off, and it's gonna stay that way. I have enough money. Obviously different people feel differently about how much money is "enough".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:High income, low risk. I don’t want a $5k mortgage and I don’t need one because I can put money down on my house and still have enough leftover to invest. I don’t lease cars because that’s a waste money. I’ll drive me cars for 7-10 years and then decide to sell them or drive them into the ground.

If you really were high income, $10k a year on a lease would be loose change

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:High income, low risk. I don’t want a $5k mortgage and I don’t need one because I can put money down on my house and still have enough leftover to invest. I don’t lease cars because that’s a waste money. I’ll drive me cars for 7-10 years and then decide to sell them or drive them into the ground.

If you really were high income, $10k a year on a lease would be loose change

NP but so what? I am not "really" high income ($400-500k HHI), but I don't throw away my loose change. Why should a rich person throw away their equivalent of loose change?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can make a ton of money and still think certain things are a lot of money.

My parents have an HHI of $1M or so and a net worth of several million. They own property in Manhattan. My mom still won't usually pay for Acela tickets to go from NYC to BWI because she thinks they're too expensive.

Sorry to break it to you, $1M isn't much in Manhattan anymore

They're doing just fine. They have a beautiful apartment in a completely renovated pre-war building and just bought a Steinway baby grand.

Also, these graphs would suggest that $1M is still quite good: https://statisticalatlas.com/county-subdivision/New-York/New-York-County/Manhattan/Household-Income

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can make a ton of money and still think certain things are a lot of money.

My parents have an HHI of $1M or so and a net worth of several million. They own property in Manhattan. My mom still won't usually pay for Acela tickets to go from NYC to BWI because she thinks they're too expensive.

Sorry to break it to you, $1M isn't much in Manhattan anymore

They're doing just fine. They have a beautiful apartment in a completely renovated pre-war building and just bought a Steinway baby grand.

Also, these graphs would suggest that $1M is still quite good: https://statisticalatlas.com/county-subdivision/New-York/New-York-County/Manhattan/Household-Income

I'm wondering just how you got that idea, seeing how the graph tops out at $250k

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can make a ton of money and still think certain things are a lot of money.

My parents have an HHI of $1M or so and a net worth of several million. They own property in Manhattan. My mom still won't usually pay for Acela tickets to go from NYC to BWI because she thinks they're too expensive.

Sorry to break it to you, $1M isn't much in Manhattan anymore

They're doing just fine. They have a beautiful apartment in a completely renovated pre-war building and just bought a Steinway baby grand.

Also, these graphs would suggest that $1M is still quite good: https://statisticalatlas.com/county-subdivision/New-York/New-York-County/Manhattan/Household-Income

I'm wondering just how you got that idea, seeing how the graph tops out at $250k

$250K or above places one in the top 5% of incomes in Manhattan, which clearly suggests that the statement "$1M isn't much in Manhattan anymore" is patently false.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can make a ton of money and still think certain things are a lot of money.

My parents have an HHI of $1M or so and a net worth of several million. They own property in Manhattan. My mom still won't usually pay for Acela tickets to go from NYC to BWI because she thinks they're too expensive.

Sorry to break it to you, $1M isn't much in Manhattan anymore

They're doing just fine. They have a beautiful apartment in a completely renovated pre-war building and just bought a Steinway baby grand.

Also, these graphs would suggest that $1M is still quite good: https://statisticalatlas.com/county-subdivision/New-York/New-York-County/Manhattan/Household-Income

I'm wondering just how you got that idea, seeing how the graph tops out at $250k

The graph shows that $250k is in the top 5% of household income in Manhattan. So it stands to reason that $1M, which is higher than that, is "still quite good," as PP said. How is this confusing?

[Anonymous]

Honestly this is why I love DC and find it different from a lot of cities I've lived in across America (LA, Chicago, NYC) - sure, there's a ton of new money, you'll find that everywhere, but for the most part you find more millionaires driving 15 year old cars here than anywhere else.

It's cool to be financially smart...and less conspicuous with your money. DC values education over that low class vegas flash.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly this is why I love DC and find it different from a lot of cities I've lived in across America (LA, Chicago, NYC) - sure, there's a ton of new money, you'll find that everywhere, but for the most part you find more millionaires driving 15 year old cars here than anywhere else.

It's cool to be financially smart...and less conspicuous with your money. DC values education over that low class vegas flash.

I don't know that DC is exceptional in that sense. I grew up in Westchester County, NY and saw plenty of old money people driving beat-up Chevys. You'd never know they had trust funds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can make a ton of money and still think certain things are a lot of money.

My parents have an HHI of $1M or so and a net worth of several million. They own property in Manhattan. My mom still won't usually pay for Acela tickets to go from NYC to BWI because she thinks they're too expensive.

Sorry to break it to you, $1M isn't much in Manhattan anymore

They're doing just fine. They have a beautiful apartment in a completely renovated pre-war building and just bought a Steinway baby grand.

Also, these graphs would suggest that $1M is still quite good: https://statisticalatlas.com/county-subdivision/New-York/New-York-County/Manhattan/Household-Income

I'm wondering just how you got that idea, seeing how the graph tops out at $250k

The graph shows that $250k is in the top 5% of household income in Manhattan. So it stands to reason that $1M, which is higher than that, is "still quite good," as PP said. How is this confusing?

I can't believe a graph that says the lower level top 5% of Manhattan incomes is $250k or that the median is $800k.


Who's buying all the $5 million dollar apartments? who's sending kids to $50k a year private school? who do all those $100k luxury cars on the upper east & west sides in belong to? who do all the boutiques sell to?


Why do people making $500k+ a year say they can't afford the city?

This should be good