Does it seem like the #1 signal of wealth is a summer/weekend home?

[Anonymous]

We are going to a friends vacation home next weekend. They have two so they will be at the other one.

[Anonymous]

I have a vacation home and am FAR from wealthy. It's in a low cost of living area and I love it but I'm definitely not rich by any standards.

[Anonymous]

If it's grandfather's summer cottage in Nantucket or MV, then yes - it's a signal. Although the grandchildren of wealth are the ones who are watching it drain away more quickly than they'd like.

Most of Florida signifies UMC to me. Palm Beach being the outlier. Although I do have a soft spot for Key West.

Some schmo's place in Ocean City or Rehoboth - nope. Those beaches are junk and yet too crowded. Too far of a drive for too little. Not an aspiration for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If it's grandfather's summer cottage in Nantucket or MV, then yes - it's a signal. Although the grandchildren of wealth are the ones who are watching it drain away more quickly than they'd like.

Most of Florida signifies UMC to me. Palm Beach being the outlier. Although I do have a soft spot for Key West.

Some schmo's place in Ocean City or Rehoboth - nope. Those beaches are junk and yet too crowded. Too far of a drive for too little. Not an aspiration for me.

You sound lovely. So down to earth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A very rich person once told me that the key to wealth is one house and one wife. It made me laugh, but probably true.

doesn't answer your question, but I agree with a previous PP that you can probably swing a second home without being all that rich, especially if you can rent it out a lot of the time.

This. Owning multiple houses is a PITA. Been there, done that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A very rich person once told me that the key to wealth is one house and one wife. It made me laugh, but probably true.

doesn't answer your question, but I agree with a previous PP that you can probably swing a second home without being all that rich, especially if you can rent it out a lot of the time.

Yes, that's an old saying: "One house, one spouse" is the key to wealth.

We have wealthy friends with a vacation house, and they let us use it all the time. We restock whatever's low in the liquor cabinet and pay for the cleaners. Maybe we're not signaling wealth, but we're pretty happy with the arrangement!

Leech.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:no - the #1 signal of wealth is 3-4 kids while living in a tier 'a' city and sending them all the privates.

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-ultimate-status-symbol-is-a-big-family-2015-5

As tina fey said:

"I thought that raising an only child would be the norm in New York, but I’m pretty sure my daughter is the only child in her class without a sibling. All over Manhattan, large families have become a status symbol. Four beautiful children named after kings and pieces of fruit are a way of saying, “I can afford a four-bedroom apartment and a hundred and fifty thousand dollars in elementary-school tuition fees each year. How you livin’?”"

In my experience, 99% of the time that signals a significant estate via the grandparents or parents, not independent wealth.

+1 People with weekend/country homes that I know are typically white and far from the immigrant experience and have had a "place by the shore" left to them by dear old Gramps.
"

That's how I got mine. It's my grandparents home. They have passed away. My mom was a single mom and no way to care for us during the summer so we got sent to grandma and grandpa for the summer. They left the house to my brother and I. Grandpa bought the land in the 50s and built the house in the 60s. When it was built, is was the boondocks. I remember being able to ride my bike for miles down the beach road. Now its a very in place to summer, very touristy, and very built up. I hate it now. It's a really long drive with a lot of traffic. The property taxes are crazy. We don't rent it out and we don't use it very much. At some point we need to sell it but it has too much sentimental value. Oh, and it has the added bonus of no A/C. Grandpa always said to open a window and feel the breeze. There is no damn breeze!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With Memorial Day approaching, it seems everyone that has money is off to the coast, maybe Florida, or up to Maine, etc. The UMC pretenders seem to rely on invitations to join, or else they're stuck in town.

Haha, op, it must be miserable being you.

Seriously!

And just an FYI, OP, the truly wealthy people are not the ones who drive fancy cars and have vacation homes.

What is truly wealthy to you? I grew up in Middleburg, VA with extreme wealth, running in the same circles as the Mars family and Mellon family. Having multiple homes was the norm and no one was driving a Chevy. We showed horses more expensive than what i bet you consider a "fancy car". The truly wealthy are not pinchung pennies with their multiple homes and cars. My parents still are alive and last month just returned from their ranch in Texas where they basically stay most of the winter.

I don't know anyone who is truly wealthy who drives a Chevy or anything that is not a luxury car. The truly wealthy are past the point of trying to save.

[Anonymous]

We sold our ocean front vacation home in Florida earlier this year. We are not rich at all, at least not by your standards. You do know that real estate in Florida, outside of Miami and a few other exceptions is dirt cheap? Property taxes, not so much.

Florida is not my top destination and it's not a good investment so we sold up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A very rich person once told me that the key to wealth is one house and one wife. It made me laugh, but probably true.

doesn't answer your question, but I agree with a previous PP that you can probably swing a second home without being all that rich, especially if you can rent it out a lot of the time.

Yes, that's an old saying: "One house, one spouse" is the key to wealth.

We have wealthy friends with a vacation house, and they let us use it all the time. We restock whatever's low in the liquor cabinet and pay for the cleaners. Maybe we're not signaling wealth, but we're pretty happy with the arrangement!

You are awesome to do you that,

[Anonymous]

We own a house on Eastern shore and a farm in Little Washington both of which we bought ourselves and neither of which we rent. But I do not consider us to be wealthy. Most of time we are stuck in city with kids' activities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A very rich person once told me that the key to wealth is one house and one wife. It made me laugh, but probably true.

doesn't answer your question, but I agree with a previous PP that you can probably swing a second home without being all that rich, especially if you can rent it out a lot of the time.

Yes, that's an old saying: "One house, one spouse" is the key to wealth.

We have wealthy friends with a vacation house, and they let us use it all the time. We restock whatever's low in the liquor cabinet and pay for the cleaners. Maybe we're not signaling wealth, but we're pretty happy with the arrangement!

Leech.

Why is she a leech? We have a country home and happily lend it to friends. We hardly use it and I'm happy that someone can enjoy it. If that makes my friends leeches, then i ? leeches.

[Anonymous]

We have a home at the shore (not ocean front but a block away) and we're not DCUM wealthy.

I agree that having 3-4 kids in private school is something that always signals money to me. It means they have a quarter of a million dollars of pre-tax income to spend yearly. That gives me pause.

A vacation home? No. That's just 2 years of tuition for 4 kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A very rich person once told me that the key to wealth is one house and one wife. It made me laugh, but probably true.

doesn't answer your question, but I agree with a previous PP that you can probably swing a second home without being all that rich, especially if you can rent it out a lot of the time.

Yes, that's an old saying: "One house, one spouse" is the key to wealth.

We have wealthy friends with a vacation house, and they let us use it all the time. We restock whatever's low in the liquor cabinet and pay for the cleaners. Maybe we're not signaling wealth, but we're pretty happy with the arrangement!

Leech.

N.p. here. Pp, you are seriously stuck up. If i was wealthy and had a close friend, of course I would share. How can you name--call over this?

[Anonymous]

Maybe. The key is listening to certain details. Wealth is indicated by the following:

1) they don't rent it ever
2) it's not in the general good area; it is in the perfect area (i.e. Beach block or better yet beach front AND close to main drag)
3) they don't worry about traffic because they stay weeks on end
4) they are renovating/ interior designing it (and generally all at once)
5) it has space to entertain and they constantly invite people.
5) the