WaPo on Net Worth

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s behind a paywall for me but this forum makes me feel poor. It’s hard to be excited about my 401(k) hitting $1 million when reading about people worrying about retiring with accounts worth $6 million+.

I do feel like people on here exaggerate though because some of the people I know in real life who act the richest also have enormous 1st and 2nd mortgages and HELOCs, etc. so it’s a facade.

Post when you hit $1M. I'll celebrate with you. It is an awesome milestone to hit!

I will celebrate you too PP. I am a stone's throw from $1 million so I understand

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s behind a paywall for me but this forum makes me feel poor. It’s hard to be excited about my 401(k) hitting $1 million when reading about people worrying about retiring with accounts worth $6 million+.

I do feel like people on here exaggerate though because some of the people I know in real life who act the richest also have enormous 1st and 2nd mortgages and HELOCs, etc. so it’s a facade.

This is a really interesting point. The one guy I know who drives the most expensive car and lives on the most expensive house and has the biggest beach house also has huge mortgages and is constantly moving money around HELOCs and personal loans to address cash flow throughout the year.

One of my grad school classmates is now a specialist surgeon making 7 figures. He has 2 divorces, 5 kids and now a new wife with a baby on the way. I don’t know that he’s much better off than others with a more modest income.

He’s definitely not, as he probably started making that big income very late, and clearly went crazy after he graduated. Physicians are some of the saddest and financially unsuccessful people out there.

My buddy is in Big Law and makes around $300-400K depending on his year and hours. He came to Big Law a bit late, around age 31.

Dude blows through money like crazy. He's 37, has barely dented his student loans, doesn't own property (always lived in HCOL places - HK, London, NYC). Has only gotten serious about retirement savings in the last two years. But he has tons of expensive watches, nice clothes, always going on international vacations (buys premium economy and upgrades to business), expensive Michelin star restaurants every two weeks, etc.

If he was married and raising kids, he'd probably save a lot more.

7th year biglaw earns $535k with bonus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s behind a paywall for me but this forum makes me feel poor. It’s hard to be excited about my 401(k) hitting $1 million when reading about people worrying about retiring with accounts worth $6 million+.

I do feel like people on here exaggerate though because some of the people I know in real life who act the richest also have enormous 1st and 2nd mortgages and HELOCs, etc. so it’s a facade.

This is a really interesting point. The one guy I know who drives the most expensive car and lives on the most expensive house and has the biggest beach house also has huge mortgages and is constantly moving money around HELOCs and personal loans to address cash flow throughout the year.

One of my grad school classmates is now a specialist surgeon making 7 figures. He has 2 divorces, 5 kids and now a new wife with a baby on the way. I don’t know that he’s much better off than others with a more modest income.

He’s splitting his so many ways it’s more modest what he’s left with

[Anonymous]

So true. All these people identifying as upper middle class making $500K/year. There's nothing middle about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"What I find interesting is how incredibly detached from reality this forum is."

Speak for yourself. I make $1M/year in my 40s. That's my reality. Others are worth billions. That's theirs. This board isn't detached from reality at all. What makes it great is that there are a lot of highly successful people willing to share info about managing money (and earning it) and I find it helpful and fascinating.

The poster talking about this forum being detached from reality is correct.

Also the overwhelming majority of info shared about "managing money" here is BS. It is not "helpful and fascinating"; most of the time it's textbook what not to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"What I find interesting is how incredibly detached from reality this forum is."

Speak for yourself. I make $1M/year in my 40s. That's my reality. Others are worth billions. That's theirs. This board isn't detached from reality at all. What makes it great is that there are a lot of highly successful people willing to share info about managing money (and earning it) and I find it helpful and fascinating.

The poster talking about this forum being detached from reality is correct.

Also the overwhelming majority of info shared about "managing money" here is BS. It is not "helpful and fascinating"; most of the time it's textbook what not to do.

The "textbook what not to do" is exactly what made them successful. Don't you understand that taking more risk sometimes works out? If you don't want to take the risk, you're not on the fastest track, and that's perfectly fine, as long as you don't spit on all the others who made different choices.
You can be middle class and happy, but middle class and jealous is not a good look.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: If it feels out of touch with reality to you, then you're free to frequent other money boards, of which there are many, that cater more to the average person rather than high income and high net worth.

Also: whatever you may think is going on in the area money advice here, it is NOT "catering" to people with high income and high NW! lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"What I find interesting is how incredibly detached from reality this forum is."

Speak for yourself. I make $1M/year in my 40s. That's my reality. Others are worth billions. That's theirs. This board isn't detached from reality at all. What makes it great is that there are a lot of highly successful people willing to share info about managing money (and earning it) and I find it helpful and fascinating.

The poster talking about this forum being detached from reality is correct.

Also the overwhelming majority of info shared about "managing money" here is BS. It is not "helpful and fascinating"; most of the time it's textbook what not to do.

The "textbook what not to do" is exactly what made them successful. Don't you understand that taking more risk sometimes works out? If you don't want to take the risk, you're not on the fastest track, and that's perfectly fine, as long as you don't spit on all the others who made different choices.
You can be middle class and happy, but middle class and jealous is not a good look.

I doubt we're talking about the same "info" being shared when we talk about what is textbook what.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"What I find interesting is how incredibly detached from reality this forum is."

Speak for yourself. I make $1M/year in my 40s. That's my reality. Others are worth billions. That's theirs. This board isn't detached from reality at all. What makes it great is that there are a lot of highly successful people willing to share info about managing money (and earning it) and I find it helpful and fascinating.

The poster talking about this forum being detached from reality is correct.

Also the overwhelming majority of info shared about "managing money" here is BS. It is not "helpful and fascinating"; most of the time it's textbook what not to do.

The "textbook what not to do" is exactly what made them successful. Don't you understand that taking more risk sometimes works out? If you don't want to take the risk, you're not on the fastest track, and that's perfectly fine, as long as you don't spit on all the others who made different choices.
You can be middle class and happy, but middle class and jealous is not a good look.

I doubt we're talking about the same "info" being shared when we talk about what is textbook what.

Oh, I have an idea, since I've shared some things that have been excoriated by certain people. This is why I responded: sometimes it works. All the financial experts who work 9-5 jobs and have clients like the PP are not-rich. Otherwise they'd be in another line of work, or nor working at all. So what is their advice worth, hmm? The "textbook" that PP thinks contains the Holy Grail of Finance isn't actually something you need to follow to the letter. There's only one rule that works: the magic of compounding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"What I find interesting is how incredibly detached from reality this forum is."

Speak for yourself. I make $1M/year in my 40s. That's my reality. Others are worth billions. That's theirs. This board isn't detached from reality at all. What makes it great is that there are a lot of highly successful people willing to share info about managing money (and earning it) and I find it helpful and fascinating.

The poster talking about this forum being detached from reality is correct.

Also the overwhelming majority of info shared about "managing money" here is BS. It is not "helpful and fascinating"; most of the time it's textbook what not to do.

The "textbook what not to do" is exactly what made them successful. Don't you understand that taking more risk sometimes works out? If you don't want to take the risk, you're not on the fastest track, and that's perfectly fine, as long as you don't spit on all the others who made different choices.
You can be middle class and happy, but middle class and jealous is not a good look.

I doubt we're talking about the same "info" being shared when we talk about what is textbook what.

Oh, I have an idea, since I've shared some things that have been excoriated by certain people. This is why I responded: sometimes it works. All the financial experts who work 9-5 jobs and have clients like the PP are not-rich. Otherwise they'd be in another line of work, or nor working at all. So what is their advice worth, hmm? The "textbook" that PP thinks contains the Holy Grail of Finance isn't actually something you need to follow to the letter. There's only one rule that works: the magic of compounding.

You’re talking to one person who has used the word “textbook” in two posts, BTW.

And you think that “magic” is being robustly promoted here? LOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"What I find interesting is how incredibly detached from reality this forum is."

Speak for yourself. I make $1M/year in my 40s. That's my reality. Others are worth billions. That's theirs. This board isn't detached from reality at all. What makes it great is that there are a lot of highly successful people willing to share info about managing money (and earning it) and I find it helpful and fascinating.

The poster talking about this forum being detached from reality is correct.

Also the overwhelming majority of info shared about "managing money" here is BS. It is not "helpful and fascinating"; most of the time it's textbook what not to do.

The "textbook what not to do" is exactly what made them successful. Don't you understand that taking more risk sometimes works out? If you don't want to take the risk, you're not on the fastest track, and that's perfectly fine, as long as you don't spit on all the others who made different choices.
You can be middle class and happy, but middle class and jealous is not a good look.

I doubt we're talking about the same "info" being shared when we talk about what is textbook what.

Oh, I have an idea, since I've shared some things that have been excoriated by certain people. This is why I responded: sometimes it works. All the financial experts who work 9-5 jobs and have clients like the PP are not-rich. Otherwise they'd be in another line of work, or nor working at all. So what is their advice worth, hmm? The "textbook" that PP thinks contains the Holy Grail of Finance isn't actually something you need to follow to the letter. There's only one rule that works: the magic of compounding.

You’re talking to one person who has used the word “textbook” in two posts, BTW.

And you think that “magic” is being robustly promoted here? LOL

Your post makes no sense.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for posting. I really like the "Average percentage of assets held by each wealth group" chart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"What I find interesting is how incredibly detached from reality this forum is."

Speak for yourself. I make $1M/year in my 40s. That's my reality. Others are worth billions. That's theirs. This board isn't detached from reality at all. What makes it great is that there are a lot of highly successful people willing to share info about managing money (and earning it) and I find it helpful and fascinating.

The poster talking about this forum being detached from reality is correct.

Also the overwhelming majority of info shared about "managing money" here is BS. It is not "helpful and fascinating"; most of the time it's textbook what not to do.

The "textbook what not to do" is exactly what made them successful. Don't you understand that taking more risk sometimes works out? If you don't want to take the risk, you're not on the fastest track, and that's perfectly fine, as long as you don't spit on all the others who made different choices.
You can be middle class and happy, but middle class and jealous is not a good look.

I doubt we're talking about the same "info" being shared when we talk about what is textbook what.

Oh, I have an idea, since I've shared some things that have been excoriated by certain people. This is why I responded: sometimes it works. All the financial experts who work 9-5 jobs and have clients like the PP are not-rich. Otherwise they'd be in another line of work, or nor working at all. So what is their advice worth, hmm? The "textbook" that PP thinks contains the Holy Grail of Finance isn't actually something you need to follow to the letter. There's only one rule that works: the magic of compounding.

You’re talking to one person who has used the word “textbook” in two posts, BTW.

And you think that “magic” is being robustly promoted here? LOL

Your post makes no sense.

It’s perfectly sensible; you just read poorly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"What I find interesting is how incredibly detached from reality this forum is."

Speak for yourself. I make $1M/year in my 40s. That's my reality. Others are worth billions. That's theirs. This board isn't detached from reality at all. What makes it great is that there are a lot of highly successful people willing to share info about managing money (and earning it) and I find it helpful and fascinating.

The poster talking about this forum being detached from reality is correct.

Also the overwhelming majority of info shared about "managing money" here is BS. It is not "helpful and fascinating"; most of the time it's textbook what not to do.

The "textbook what not to do" is exactly what made them successful. Don't you understand that taking more risk sometimes works out? If you don't want to take the risk, you're not on the fastest track, and that's perfectly fine, as long as you don't spit on all the others who made different choices.
You can be middle class and happy, but middle class and jealous is not a good look.

Are you the person supposedly making 1M a year? The posters here are not taking calculated risks and making big and unusual moves to drastically increase their returns. They’re just ignorant and don’t know anything beyond Ramit Sethi type basic finance info. It’s hilarious that you find this advice helpful and fascinating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m too poor for the paywall.

Merry Christmas - gift link

https://wapo.st/48F5rel