Who is unapologetically Rich

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alright, since the debate on who constitutes "Upper Middle Class" is hotly debated on here, and people can't see to agree on whether 250-500K is rich or just barely making it as middle class, who on here lives a "rich" lifestyle and what is your HHI? Since people with 500K apparently budget carefully, drive 10 year Hondas, go to public school, and have modest vacations at the beach, who are all these people in the area that people complain about on the private schools forum who are in a bubble of wealth jetting off on fancy vacations and letting their 7th graders wear designer clothes? If you can afford to do several of the following, what is your HHI?

--Drive luxury vehicles (BMW, Acura, Audi, Mercedes, etc.) [b]have one for entire family including nanny and have collectables[/b]
--Live in a 1 million or more house in a nice neighborhood (NW DC, Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Arlington, McLean, or even Capitol Hill). 2million home in DC area, condo Vail, home Intercostal waterway and boat
--Fully fund retirement what retirement -- we don't work
--Fully fund 529s so your kid can go to the best college they can get into, even private school private all the way goes without saying
--Send your kids to private schools like Sidwell, NCS, GDS, etc. Boarding school
--Have elaborate vacations that frequently involve international travel, like most spring or Christmas breaks the Caribbean or Hawaii along with more occasional big trips to Europe, Africa, or Asia home in France, Vacation in Vail at our home. Fly private
--Afford music lessons, travel sports, tutors, and other enrichment, including expensive camps dressage lessons, flying lessons
--Allow your kids to wear designer labels, like a freshman in high school wearing $150 dollar jeans (7s, Diesel, etc.) when slumming
--Buy handbags that are 1000+ on occasion Berkin
--Invest some money in taxable investments after maxing out 401K and IRA our interest makes interest
--Have the occasional date night at a high end restaurant where you can blow $250 dollars on food and wine on a nice tasting menu fly to Paris

I'm curious, because there seems to be many neighborhoods filled with luxury vehicles, many people living in 1 million + houses, and many people in the DC area who enjoy travel, and many who complain about expensive clothes being worn in schools (both public and private)

Such quaint ideas about being rich. That is upper middle class.

I am not sure it is easy to find a 2500 sq ft house in any of those places for less than 1 m

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Alright, since the debate on who constitutes "Upper Middle Class" is hotly debated on here, and people can't see to agree on whether 250-500K is rich or just barely making it as middle class, who on here lives a "rich" lifestyle and what is your HHI? Since people with 500K apparently budget carefully, drive 10 year Hondas, go to public school, and have modest vacations at the beach, who are all these people in the area that people complain about on the private schools forum who are in a bubble of wealth jetting off on fancy vacations and letting their 7th graders wear designer clothes? If you can afford to do several of the following, what is your HHI?

--Drive luxury vehicles (BMW, Acura, Audi, Mercedes, etc.)
--Live in a 1 million or more house in a nice neighborhood (NW DC, Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Arlington, McLean, or even Capitol Hill).
--Fully fund retirement
--Fully fund 529s so your kid can go to the best college they can get into, even private school
--Send your kids to private schools like Sidwell, NCS, GDS, etc.
--Have elaborate vacations that frequently involve international travel, like most spring or Christmas breaks the Caribbean or Hawaii along with more occasional big trips to Europe, Africa, or Asia
--Afford music lessons, travel sports, tutors, and other enrichment, including expensive camps
--Allow your kids to wear designer labels, like a freshman in high school wearing $150 dollar jeans (7s, Diesel, etc.)
--Buy handbags that are 1000+ on occasion
--Invest some money in taxable investments after maxing out 401K and IRA
--Have the occasional date night at a high end restaurant where you can blow $250 dollars on food and wine on a nice tasting menu

I'm curious, because there seems to be many neighborhoods filled with luxury vehicles, many people living in 1 million + houses, and many people in the DC area who enjoy travel, and many who complain about expensive clothes being worn in schools (both public and private)

We are unapologetically rich, if unapologetically means 'no guilt'.

However, the only luxury car is the one my husband bought 11 years ago.
No big trips
Private school in high school; college-age student chose a state school - private high schools have been our biggest indulgence aside from investing in real estate
Kids don't wear expensive clothing. Good clothing, just not expensive. No one should ever pay retail.
Never buy expensive handbags - good LORD, there are sales and outlets!
No expensive dinners out.
Definitely invest, including in real estate

Am not 'frugal' in the sense a lot of people are. I shop, probably too much. But I could pay off my debts tomorrow if need be, and get store cards for the coupons and rewards they provide. I have a tech habit that can get expensive, so Ebay is my best friend...

[Anonymous]

Its about asset growth. If you take the time to build a base of investments and aggressively manage your DTI you can live a pretty solid lifestyle on a remarkably reasonable income (by DC standards anyway). Our DTI for instance is under 5%.

--Drive luxury vehicles (BMW, Acura, Audi, Mercedes, etc.); BMW X3
--Live in a 1 million or more house in a nice neighborhood (NW DC, Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Arlington, McLean, or even Capitol Hill). Close enough, ours was $920K.
--Fully fund retirement Depends what you mean fully fund, but we max out both 401Ks
--Fully fund 529s so your kid can go to the best college they can get into, even private school Again, not sure what fully funds exactly entails but we have $120K and our kids are 2 years old.
--Send your kids to private schools like Sidwell, NCS, GDS, etc. Kids too young for this yet, but its being built into the budget.
--Have elaborate vacations that frequently involve international travel, like most spring or Christmas breaks the Caribbean or Hawaii along with more occasional big trips to Europe, Africa, or Asia. Generally speaking we do Europe 1x a year and the Caribbean 2 or 3x a year. We own property in France and in Vail for skiing so those are common destinations for us. That said, we fly economy. Occasional travel to fancypants resorts like Amankila, St Regis, Waldorf. but those are more of a treat for us when we dont bring our kids. I have hotel points on Hilton and SPG which can often fund all or some of those stays. 2013 included three international trips and two domestics
--Afford music lessons, travel sports, tutors, and other enrichment, including expensive camps No real interest in camps from our kids but we do have our kids in music enrichment classes.
--Allow your kids to wear designer labels, like a freshman in high school wearing $150 dollar jeans (7s, Diesel, etc.) This is one we dont do because it just seems exceptionally stupid
--Buy handbags that are 1000+ on occasion Rarely for similar reason to above
--Invest some money in taxable investments after maxing out 401K and IRA
--Have the occasional date night at a high end restaurant where you can blow $250 dollars on food and wine on a nice tasting menu [b]Weekly date night, although we spend more like $100 to $150.

HHI is $300K. Its high certainly but not amazingly so. Low debt to income ratio is the key ladies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alright, since the debate on who constitutes "Upper Middle Class" is hotly debated on here, and people can't see to agree on whether 250-500K is rich or just barely making it as middle class, who on here lives a "rich" lifestyle and what is your HHI? Since people with 500K apparently budget carefully, drive 10 year Hondas, go to public school, and have modest vacations at the beach, who are all these people in the area that people complain about on the private schools forum who are in a bubble of wealth jetting off on fancy vacations and letting their 7th graders wear designer clothes? If you can afford to do several of the following, what is your HHI?

--Drive luxury vehicles (BMW, Acura, Audi, Mercedes, etc.) [b]have one for entire family including nanny and have collectables[/b]
--Live in a 1 million or more house in a nice neighborhood (NW DC, Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Arlington, McLean, or even Capitol Hill). 2million home in DC area, condo Vail, home Intercostal waterway and boat
--Fully fund retirement what retirement -- we don't work
--Fully fund 529s so your kid can go to the best college they can get into, even private school private all the way goes without saying
--Send your kids to private schools like Sidwell, NCS, GDS, etc. Boarding school
--Have elaborate vacations that frequently involve international travel, like most spring or Christmas breaks the Caribbean or Hawaii along with more occasional big trips to Europe, Africa, or Asia home in France, Vacation in Vail at our home. Fly private
--Afford music lessons, travel sports, tutors, and other enrichment, including expensive camps dressage lessons, flying lessons
--Allow your kids to wear designer labels, like a freshman in high school wearing $150 dollar jeans (7s, Diesel, etc.) when slumming
--Buy handbags that are 1000+ on occasion Berkin
--Invest some money in taxable investments after maxing out 401K and IRA our interest makes interest
--Have the occasional date night at a high end restaurant where you can blow $250 dollars on food and wine on a nice tasting menu fly to Paris

I'm curious, because there seems to be many neighborhoods filled with luxury vehicles, many people living in 1 million + houses, and many people in the DC area who enjoy travel, and many who complain about expensive clothes being worn in schools (both public and private)

Such quaint ideas about being rich. That is upper middle class.

One would think you would know how to spell Birkin.

Didn't like the flap -- gave it to the housekeeper.

[Anonymous]

I haven't read all the responses but I'm surprised you didn't put country club membership on your list, OP. It goes with many of the items on your list. We have HHI 400-500. We do some of the things on your list and have worked very hard for it, and for a long time. We recently joined a country club near our house for the tennis program, and I am amazed at how many of the members (especially the women) don't work at all and spend so much money on clothes, jewelry, vacation homes, cars, sports season tickets, etc. But they generally aren't well educated or well read, and most I am confident have never been to the symphony. Different strokes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alright, since the debate on who constitutes "Upper Middle Class" is hotly debated on here, and people can't see to agree on whether 250-500K is rich or just barely making it as middle class, who on here lives a "rich" lifestyle and what is your HHI? Since people with 500K apparently budget carefully, drive 10 year Hondas, go to public school, and have modest vacations at the beach, who are all these people in the area that people complain about on the private schools forum who are in a bubble of wealth jetting off on fancy vacations and letting their 7th graders wear designer clothes? If you can afford to do several of the following, what is your HHI?

--Drive luxury vehicles (BMW, Acura, Audi, Mercedes, etc.) [b]have one for entire family including nanny and have collectables[/b]
--Live in a 1 million or more house in a nice neighborhood (NW DC, Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Arlington, McLean, or even Capitol Hill). 2million home in DC area, condo Vail, home Intercostal waterway and boat
--Fully fund retirement what retirement -- we don't work
--Fully fund 529s so your kid can go to the best college they can get into, even private school private all the way goes without saying
--Send your kids to private schools like Sidwell, NCS, GDS, etc. Boarding school
--Have elaborate vacations that frequently involve international travel, like most spring or Christmas breaks the Caribbean or Hawaii along with more occasional big trips to Europe, Africa, or Asia home in France, Vacation in Vail at our home. Fly private
--Afford music lessons, travel sports, tutors, and other enrichment, including expensive camps dressage lessons, flying lessons
--Allow your kids to wear designer labels, like a freshman in high school wearing $150 dollar jeans (7s, Diesel, etc.) when slumming
--Buy handbags that are 1000+ on occasion Berkin
--Invest some money in taxable investments after maxing out 401K and IRA our interest makes interest
--Have the occasional date night at a high end restaurant where you can blow $250 dollars on food and wine on a nice tasting menu fly to Paris

I'm curious, because there seems to be many neighborhoods filled with luxury vehicles, many people living in 1 million + houses, and many people in the DC area who enjoy travel, and many who complain about expensive clothes being worn in schools (both public and private)

Such quaint ideas about being rich. That is upper middle class.

One would think you would know how to spell Birkin.

Didn't like the flap -- gave it to the housekeeper.

Hopefully her spelling and grammar is better than yours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I haven't read all the responses but I'm surprised you didn't put country club membership on your list, OP. It goes with many of the items on your list. We have HHI 400-500. We do some of the things on your list and have worked very hard for it, and for a long time. We recently joined a country club near our house for the tennis program, and I am amazed at how many of the members (especially the women) don't work at all and spend so much money on clothes, jewelry, vacation homes, cars, sports season tickets, etc. But they generally aren't well educated or well read, and most I am confident have never been to the symphony. Different strokes.

You must be fun to sit next to at the pool. And I can('t) image your locker room small talk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
One would think you would know how to spell Birkin.

Didn't like the flap -- gave it to the housekeeper.

Hopefully her spelling and grammar is better than yours.

Too easy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I haven't read all the responses but I'm surprised you didn't put country club membership on your list, OP. It goes with many of the items on your list. We have HHI 400-500. We do some of the things on your list and have worked very hard for it, and for a long time. We recently joined a country club near our house for the tennis program, and I am amazed at how many of the members (especially the women) don't work at all and spend so much money on clothes, jewelry, vacation homes, cars, sports season tickets, etc. But they generally aren't well educated or well read, and most I am confident have never been to the symphony. Different strokes.

Being rich does not mean being culturally aware. Maybe they find the symphony boring and buying a new handbag fun. Even more fun at our club is buying a new car or beach house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
One would think you would know how to spell Birkin.

Didn't like the flap -- gave it to the housekeeper.

Hopefully her spelling and grammar is better than yours.

Too easy.

Are. Sorry. I added grammar at the last second.

[Anonymous]

You can have these things without being "rich" you know. In our case, DH had a condo in NYC that he bought in the late 90s. Sold for profit and we plowed all of it into our DC house ten years later. Because our house payment is low and we have no other debt, we have excess funds for things like luxury cars (bmw x5, Mercedes e550), nice vacations (we're doing DW, Bonaire, OBX, and Banff this year), money to fund the kuds' college accounts, etc. Don't do private because we're in a good public district. I have a few nice bags (Chloe crossbody, LV tote, Channel jumbo flap). Weekly housekeeper, weekly babysitter for "date" night. Can't remember what else you asked about.

Anyway, the point is there is more than one way to skin a cat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
One would think you would know how to spell Birkin.

Didn't like the flap -- gave it to the housekeeper.

Hopefully her spelling and grammar is better than yours.

Too easy.

Are. Sorry. I added grammar at the last second.

Fortunately for me my grammar and my net worth are not related. Dumb as a rock and still rich.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And not just rich, but Rich with a capital R, baby!

I'm an unapologetic grammar snob myself as well

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
One would think you would know how to spell Birkin.

Didn't like the flap -- gave it to the housekeeper.

Hopefully her spelling and grammar is better than yours.

Too easy.

Are. Sorry. I added grammar at the last second.

Fortunately for me my grammar and my net worth are not related. Dumb as a rock and still rich.

Doubtful. Not the dumb part, the rich part.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Alright, since the debate on who constitutes "Upper Middle Class" is hotly debated on here, and people can't see to agree on whether 250-500K is rich or just barely making it as middle class, who on here lives a "rich" lifestyle and what is your HHI? Since people with 500K apparently budget carefully, drive 10 year Hondas, go to public school, and have modest vacations at the beach, who are all these people in the area that people complain about on the private schools forum who are in a bubble of wealth jetting off on fancy vacations and letting their 7th graders wear designer clothes? If you can afford to do several of the following, what is your HHI?

--Drive luxury vehicles (BMW, Acura, Audi, Mercedes, etc.)
--Live in a 1 million or more house in a nice neighborhood (NW DC, Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Arlington, McLean, or even Capitol Hill).
--Fully fund retirement
--Fully fund 529s so your kid can go to the best college they can get into, even private school
--Send your kids to private schools like Sidwell, NCS, GDS, etc.
--Have elaborate vacations that frequently involve international travel, like most spring or Christmas breaks the Caribbean or Hawaii along with more occasional big trips to Europe, Africa, or Asia
--Afford music lessons, travel sports, tutors, and other enrichment, including expensive camps
--Allow your kids to wear designer labels, like a freshman in high school wearing $150 dollar jeans (7s, Diesel, etc.)
--Buy handbags that are 1000+ on occasion
--Invest some money in taxable investments after maxing out 401K and IRA
--Have the occasional date night at a high end restaurant where you can blow $250 dollars on food and wine on a nice tasting menu

I'm curious, because there seems to be many neighborhoods filled with luxury vehicles, many people living in 1 million + houses, and many people in the DC area who enjoy travel, and many who complain about expensive clothes being worn in schools (both public and private)

Someone who is rich knows that expensive cars, clothes, and handbags can be obtained by almost anyone. HHI of $730K here and drive a Honda & Acura, no designer handbag, and kid wears clothes from Children's Place, Old Navy, etc. We have all of the other financial stuff mentioned but the cars and fancy stuff don't mean you're rich.