Stuff Rich People Do

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They have very large expensive beach cottages, which they use to house their many children and grandchildren and friends of the children and grandchildren (which is how I got to see this first hand.) The daughters or wives mostly don't have to work, so stay at the beach all summer; the Dh's fly down to see their wives and kids on the weekend. They were very generous and provided food for everyone in the house and took us out to eat.

When my friend and I left the house, she turned to me and said "was that just a fantasy or do people really live like that?" It was really nice and I have never experienced anything like it before or since.

In many European countries, this is pretty common both in the upper AND middle classes.

OK, dads drive (not fly) to the nearby beach house/ condo in the weekends, and said house/ condo is way less spacious, but essentially everything else is the same.

[b]Something is broken in our country.

This is so LOL to me. Something is broken because the middle class can't afford second homes. Not, say, the income gap, the homeless people, that still not everyone has insurance, etc[/b].

No kidding, perspective, people. "WHAAA......poor me!" Lake effing woe be gone is not "broken." Jesus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you refer to HHI you are not rich. You may be very well off, but you are not rich if that HHI spigot can ever be turned off.

True. Rich is when you only care about the net worth you've already accumulated...and you minimize HHI, covering expenses while minimizing taxes.

Which, incidentally, is why we should introduce an annual wealth tax and reduce income tax rates.

Right, because you are surely entitled to a share of the wealth that someone else has already created. Assume that you love estate taxes as well. Everybody hand over their money for the greater good!

+1

Don't get me started. Everyone needs to pay for this schmuck, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Poor here. Doesn't depress me but I still think about the horse being flown around to meet the girl on vacations.

LOL. Same here! That example upthread of the horse being flown around really made an impression on me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As someone with a HHI of $120k, this thread depresses me and reminds me of the many places I've fallen short in life. Thanks OP.

150k HHI here and feel like a peasant

And that is about three times the median national average.

Just stop. The median national house price is also $188K while the median DC house price is $545K, so things here just cost more, OKAY?

You stop. Housing costs more, yes. And the median income reflects that, as is is 109K compared with about 53K for the national median. What money in this area buys you is convince, job security, amenities, and proximity to a helluva lot of shit. It may not buy you a house Robin Leach would have raved about, but it buys you was more than many in the rest of the country have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you refer to HHI you are not rich. You may be very well off, but you are not rich if that HHI spigot can ever be turned off.

True. Rich is when you only care about the net worth you've already accumulated...and you minimize HHI, covering expenses while minimizing taxes.

Which, incidentally, is why we should introduce an annual wealth tax and reduce income tax rates.

Right, because you are surely entitled to a share of the wealth that someone else has already created. Assume that you love estate taxes as well. Everybody hand over their money for the greater good!

+1

Don't get me started. Everyone needs to pay for this schmuck, right?

No on his entitled to anything, you schmuck. But it is disproportionately unfair that someone sitting on millions in investments does not get taxed as punitively as actual EARNED income.

[Anonymous]

You do realize they were already taxed on that money when they earned it right? Now that it's invested, you want them to be taxed again?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You do realize they were already taxed on that money when they earned it right? Now that it's invested, you want them to be taxed again?

Hello: my pre-investment INCOME was taxed. My investment is MORE income, and yes, should be continued to be taxed. It is not a stagnant pile of money sitting in a dark corner of my basement. It continues to grow and earn me even more money, so yep. Tax it. That's like saying i shouldn't be charged sales tax because I already paid income tax on the money I am using to buy whatever? Like, what?

[Anonymous]

You are paying sales tax on the item, not the money you are using to buy the item.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are paying sales tax on the item, not the money you are using to buy the item.

But why should I pay any tax when I have already been taxed? You bought something with your income...your investment...then you are taxed on the income the investment generates. It is exactly analogous to a sales tax.

[Anonymous]

My friend's children go to a school with a lot of wealthy families and the biggest "rich people" thing she's reported is that one family ships their daughter's horse (via plane) to wherever they are on vacation for a couple weeks so she won't miss her riding time.

We may have a winner.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You do realize they were already taxed on that money when they earned it right? Now that it's invested, you want them to be taxed again?

Hello: my pre-investment INCOME was taxed. My investment is MORE income, and yes, should be continued to be taxed. It is not a stagnant pile of money sitting in a dark corner of my basement. It continues to grow and earn me even more money, so yep. Tax it. That's like saying i shouldn't be charged sales tax because I already paid income tax on the money I am using to buy whatever? Like, what?

Do you even begin to understand how the system works? Earnings on investments are taxed.


The PP above was advocating a wealth tax where you pay tax just for having money in the bank, not the earnings, just a straight wealth tax. A wealth tax, just like an estate tax is simply theft.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Poor here. Doesn't depress me but I still think about the horse being flown around to meet the girl on vacations.

LOL. Same here! That example upthread of the horse being flown around really made an impression on me.

And the horse flies first class!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Poor here. Doesn't depress me but I still think about the horse being flown around to meet the girl on vacations.

LOL. Same here! That example upthread of the horse being flown around really made an impression on me.

And the horse flies first class!

I feel bad for the horse. Even in first class.

[Anonymous]

Our master bath has his and hers toilet rooms. Both have bidets and his also has a urinal.

[Anonymous]

Here's a brutal tragedy that outlines the difference between conspicuous consumption, HHI, and actual wealth. Maybe 'rich' people should fly their horses to destinations less often??

http://nypost.com/2016/05/02/rich-kid-who-killed-dad-over-allowance-cut-may-not-have-been-rich-after-all/

The spoiled hedge-fund scion accused of murdering his father for cutting his allowance by $200 might have thought twice if he had known his dad was only worth $585,555.50.

Thomas Gilbert Sr.’s fund, Wainscott Capital Management, never took off and he was in no position to fund the kind of lavish lifestyle of leisure and black-tie parties his son, Thomas Jr., had become used to, according to court papers.