If you have the kind of job where you have to take calls on your vacation, you aren’t working a 40-hour/week job. Being on call pretty much all of the time is working harder than someone who leaves their job at 5:00 and doesn’t have to think about it until they show up again the next morning. |
I have no idea what you are talking about. Perhaps I'm not understanding what you mean by "down to earth"? Because I'm not seeing a lot of over-the-top pretentiousness anywhere. Not seeing a lot of "stuffy people" either. Oblivious entitlement, yes. Competitive and striving, yes. Obsession with appearances and keeping up the Joneses and upward mobility exists around here, of course, especially on this website, but out in the DMV wilds? I don't see that much of it in action. And I certainly don't see anyone assuming that folks who are what I would think of as "down to earth" are not "rich." I do think a lot of people on DCUM see UMC and think that it = rich, and that isn't the perspective of everyone and muddles conversations like this a bit. |
The feeling of Siam fort I have when my kids’ problems are so first world, compared to the problems I had growing up. |
Discomfort not Siam fort! |
I get it. We have older cars (DH's is 18yr and mine is 7) too. But we spend a small fortune eating out and I do find myself (relatively) willing to spend on clothes and jewelry, whereas I don't spend on my home. I feel like I need to get over that and spend more (I did recently get a new king-sized bed from Anthro, and I'm really happy about it -- but furniture is expensive and that scares me for some reason). We are savers and I donate 10% of my income too. |
The world feels absurdly small. DH and I are going to be renting a home similar in size/location to the one we own, and we looked at 3 houses. Two were shown to us by the owner/landlords and we had a crazy amount in common, including people, with each one. I had a friend who would respond to "It's a small world" with "No, it isn't. It's a small social class." |
Most of my NW was not inherited, as in someone died and left a pile of cash to me. Most of my NW is money I have worked for. But ... family wealth is why I've been able to accumulate that money -- for example I have zero student loans; my mother paid for college, my grandmother paid for my law school, and my boyfriend (with family wealth of his own that allowed him to be able to afford it) paid for my MFA (he's now my DH). And I was able to buy a condo in my early 30s when an apartment building I lived in went condo because my mother gifted me money to use as a down payment. That property appreciated, and I made quite a bit of money when I sold it when DH and I bought our house. So I have accumulated wealth as a result of some things that cost some money up front -- a professional education and the opportunity to invest in real estate. Money that came from family wealth, even though it didn't come to me after someone died. So although I'd agree with you that the NW of lots of rich folks, especially around here, doesn't consist of directly inherited funds -- generational wealth is still at play. |
Best autocorrect ever, lol. |
I'm not PP but I think PP is saying that there exists a stereotype that people who are down to earth are not rich. PP finds this stereotype comical because in PP's experience, people who are rich are also down to earth as they are likely self made. |
A minority of rich people are down to earth, that’s true. But the vast majority of rich people are not down to earth. This is a fact that explains the stereotype. |
I guess I'm really not understanding what this "down to earth" metaphor means to y'all. I'm not trying to argue, I just really don't understand exactly what this means to those of you posting this. |
+1 Its really hard to enjoy it. I'm also astounded by how much career success around me was built by family connections/priviledge vs. hard work. |
Never wanted to buy anything, and the richer I get, the less things I want.
The rich are quiet people minus the Kardashians. |
Why does poster think poor people don’t know rich people?
I was insanely poor growing up. My Mom in 1979 was a widow with a zero net worth, 9k a year income and 4 kids. A rusted out car that barely ran in a tiny tiny run down house right in top of train tracks on a tiny plot. But I knew tons of millionaires and friends parents were very rich. |
I always thought rich people would be more enlightened and kind because they were financially abundant and highly educated - shocked to find out it’s often the opposite.
I’m also shocked at how hard they push their kids to achieve - as though they have just washed up on shore and are fighting for food. Why subject your already wealthy child to physically dangerous sports? The number of wealthy kids on crutches and sustaining multiple concussions with proud parents amazes me. Poor people in the past boxed - you don’t need to do that. I’m surprised at how much they compete with and try to one up one another financially. The car stickers for college/luxe vacations/private clubs are unique to UMC/wealthy areas - maybe just umc but stilll. I figured it was one big happy rich community where everyone is happy around one another and rich…but no - they still compete. Maybe more so than lower class areas |