WaPo on Net Worth

[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. I've found people I can relate to here. I'm certainly not someone calling someone with $2M at 40 a resident of Loserville, though. My liquid investable assets are $2.3M (total NW about $4M) which, as people here will quickly point out, is low relative to my income. In that way, I recognize that I'm behind where I should be given my earnings. I don't feel like a loser, but I do feel anxious, and I don't feel rich even though some might consider me so given my income. These aren't topics I discuss IRL with anyone because that would be obnoxious. So I come here. 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.

Wonderfully representative post!! This is the prototypical DCUM Pinocchio at work again. OP, just so we’re clear, 99.9% of the people on this forum humblebragging about their wildly abnormal yet seemingly modest net worth is the red flag of the century. What sort of person making $1M per year is frequenting a local blog like this?!? Either a liar or a loser.

[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. I've found people I can relate to here. I'm certainly not someone calling someone with $2M at 40 a resident of Loserville, though. My liquid investable assets are $2.3M (total NW about $4M) which, as people here will quickly point out, is low relative to my income. In that way, I recognize that I'm behind where I should be given my earnings. I don't feel like a loser, but I do feel anxious, and I don't feel rich even though some might consider me so given my income. These aren't topics I discuss IRL with anyone because that would be obnoxious. So I come here. 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.

Wonderfully representative post!! This is the prototypical DCUM Pinocchio at work again. OP, just so we’re clear, 99.9% of the people on this forum humblebragging about their wildly abnormal yet seemingly modest net worth is the red flag of the century. What sort of person making $1M per year is frequenting a local blog like this?!? Either a liar or a loser.

+1, if PP is soooo rich, doesn’t he/she have more important rich people things to do, like taking big scary risks?

[Anonymous]

A lot of people on this forum have financial planners.

A family member of mine has one and he recently told her she and her spouse need 6M + long term care insurance just for elder care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

Merry Christmas - gift link

https://wapo.st/48F5rel

Thank you. I really should pay for media. According to this link, I'm high income and high net work after being born into poverty. and paying off student loans at 30! I'm married and have always made more than DH so I earned millions in 20 years! amazing. I still can't believe it. FWIW, 10 yr old minivan and a SFH tear-down near metro that might fetch 900k from a developer. maybe. I'm not joking when I say 2024 is the first time I've felt rich. I know that is stupid but going to bed hungry, cold, hot, no clothes, unsafe living conditions, after all that, it took a long time and a lot of money to feel this feeling. I am so grateful.

At this point I also have a high-paying job. Once I hit this job, I finally got to see how the other half lives. It's amazing. I just watch and listen. learning how to pass for wealthy.

[Anonymous]

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

Please see this link

https://www.dclibrary.org/washingtonpostonline

[Anonymous]

I really don't care about the 80% or below of Americans. They are meaningless to me. What I care about is myself and what I need to live comfortable. Babbling about how much better off I am compared to the average is pointless. You're not scoring any virtue signaling points.

Maybe it's because I spent many years as an expat living and working in developing and second world countries that I long ago stopped thinking about the average. The middle classes in those countries aren't measured by people in the economic middle. But by lifestyle. My 80-100k salary at the time was very comfortable and put me well into the top 1% but it was still just an upper middle class salary and lifestyle. The wealthy and upper middle class locals knew exactly what it meant.

The US is shifting slowly towards this model where the middle class is not the 50% middle but closer to the top 20%. Which is historically the case, and what you find in most countries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really don't care about the 80% or below of Americans. They are meaningless to me. What I care about is myself and what I need to live comfortable. Babbling about how much better off I am compared to the average is pointless. You're not scoring any virtue signaling points.

Maybe it's because I spent many years as an expat living and working in developing and second world countries that I long ago stopped thinking about the average. The middle classes in those countries aren't measured by people in the economic middle. But by lifestyle. My 80-100k salary at the time was very comfortable and put me well into the top 1% but it was still just an upper middle class salary and lifestyle. The wealthy and upper middle class locals knew exactly what it meant.

The US is shifting slowly towards this model where the middle class is not the 50% middle but closer to the top 20%. Which is historically the case, and what you find in most countries.

Harsh but true. What’s the point of applauding yourself for making 120k, which is higher than average for this area, if you live a lmc lifestyle on it?

[Anonymous]

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

I'm too cheap for the paywall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

Please see this link

https://www.dclibrary.org/washingtonpostonline

Would have been easier if you just cut and paste the article.

[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. I've found people I can relate to here. I'm certainly not someone calling someone with $2M at 40 a resident of Loserville, though. My liquid investable assets are $2.3M (total NW about $4M) which, as people here will quickly point out, is low relative to my income. In that way, I recognize that I'm behind where I should be given my earnings. I don't feel like a loser, but I do feel anxious, and I don't feel rich even though some might consider me so given my income. These aren't topics I discuss IRL with anyone because that would be obnoxious. So I come here. 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.

Wonderfully representative post!! This is the prototypical DCUM Pinocchio at work again. OP, just so we’re clear, 99.9% of the people on this forum humblebragging about their wildly abnormal yet seemingly modest net worth is the red flag of the century. What sort of person making $1M per year is frequenting a local blog like this?!? Either a liar or a loser.

+1, if PP is soooo rich, doesn’t he/she have more important rich people things to do, like taking big scary risks?

+2

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the gift link!

[Anonymous]

Lots of rich people have nothing better to do than s***post online, look at Elon Musk.

[Anonymous]

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

and i'm too smart. Paper has been going south for a long time. I can always find a way around. Too bad - it was once great until it became a Pravda for the liberals

[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.

It's actually really common for high-compensation individuals to retire with nothing significant saved. Divorces, expensive cars/toys/vacations, home improvements, etc. adds up. Eventually, they just run out of time and there's no more "next year". I've heard that story many times first/second/thirdhand at our firm.

My mom was a physician and retired with about $1 million. We have no idea where 40 years of high income went. She pissed it all away somehow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people on this forum have financial planners.

A family member of mine has one and he recently told her she and her spouse need 6M + long term care insurance just for elder care.

My mom recently passed away after spending 12 years in assisted living. Her ltc insurance covered it and the total was about $400k. Her level of care requirement was not very high until the last year of it. Most people don’t spend more than 2-3 years in assisted living before they pass away. All this is to say that $6m seems vastly excessive.