Who are you mid-thirties with a manse in Georgetown?

[Anonymous]

Ehh. Wake me up when they have a mansion in Kalorama next to ambassadors, and the kennedys. Georgetown is so gauche.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a million dollar house in close in MD, but our mortgage is so high we don't have any thing left over (to buy clothes, go to restaurants, definately not vacations) and I almost wish we had bought less house.

It's not always what it appears on the outside.

Maybe the Gtown 30 yr old is married to an alcoholic, or a 50 yr old, or a meanie or someone who travels constantly and she is home alone with kids all the time.

You can't compare your insides (feelings) to someones outsides (external appearances) because who knows if they are happy.

I don't think your house is what the OP had in mind. A Georgetown mansion is in the SEVERAL million dollar range. A million bucks would get you a 3-bedroom rowhouse at best.

Signed, someone who lives in a million dollar freaking RANCH HOUSE with a 90s-era kitchen. Great neighborhood though.

OP is talking about people with FU money. Being able to strech to buy a million dollar house is not in that league.

I only know one person wtih FU money. He was in DH's fraternity and they graduated both on the 5 year plan a total boozer, C student, probably most likely to end up drunk in a ditch. He is in his mid-30s and has successfully started and sold 2 companies. He has made 10s of millions. He sold a local very prominent company, so I won't say the name, people on here might know him. I think his EQ is what got him all that success.

However, he does not live in G'Town, he lives out in the burbs in a palatial estate.

One of my college friends has FU money, inherited of course. You'd never know it to meet her but when you go to her huge 4-bedroom apartment on Central Park West you get the idea. She's got a nice husband and cute kids. She doesn't work but she has a nanny only a couple of afternoons a week, so her life is pretty much a lot like mine except she doesn't have to worry about things like doing laundry and saving for college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm one of a few (actually the ONLY) woman in an office full of men who make buckets of money. They have nice looking, fit, social wives, who take care of the home and children while working hard to fight time. ALL of the men cheat. I think the money creates a HUGE ego and an "I can do whatever I want attitude". Even though their wives seem quite nice and definitly trophy, for some reason the men just cannot keep their dicks in their pants.

Honestly, I'm glad my DH makes a "mere" 180k-yes I live in a warped reality, because once people get in the high six figures and into the 7 figures, people start to think they are above the rules. Also, FWIW, I understand that women can behave badly as well.

This is so true. Starts at about $350K for someone who didn't grow up with that kind of money.

SO true. Everyone I know who doesn't make big money is a perfect spouse, in church every Sunday, and never gets so much as a speeding ticket.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm one of a few (actually the ONLY) woman in an office full of men who make buckets of money. They have nice looking, fit, social wives, who take care of the home and children while working hard to fight time. ALL of the men cheat. I think the money creates a HUGE ego and an "I can do whatever I want attitude". Even though their wives seem quite nice and definitly trophy, for some reason the men just cannot keep their dicks in their pants.

Honestly, I'm glad my DH makes a "mere" 180k-yes I live in a warped reality, because once people get in the high six figures and into the 7 figures, people start to think they are above the rules. Also, FWIW, I understand that women can behave badly as well.

This is so true. Starts at about $350K for someone who didn't grow up with that kind of money.

SO true. Everyone I know who doesn't make big money is a perfect spouse, in church every Sunday, and never gets so much as a speeding ticket.

Big money also goes to church... My cousin's husband supposedly never misses a Sunday and he is the biggest womanizer out there... Everyone in our family knows it. It's disgusting. He's a self-made millionaire who also cheats on his taxes.

[Anonymous]

Not all big money has problems. Although many people would like to think so. Money doesn't solve everything, but FU money sure is great to have! The problem is, in this area there are more people with the attitude and NOT the money to back it up.

[Anonymous]

20:45 - you are not kidding. If anyone with misery loves company, it is here!

[Anonymous]

I have had lots of money and lost it and am hoping to make it up soon. I can honestly say you can be happy with our without money but it's a hell of a lot easier to be happy with it. To be fair, some of the additional stress we experience w/o money may have been brought on ourselves but some of it I imagine is universal when you don't have it so I'm looking forward to being back there again. And indulging in dinner out regularly with my husband again. I think we'll relish it so much more now.

[Anonymous]

Why are people here so nosy? Is this another thread?

[Anonymous]

Money may not buy happiness, but poverty definitely buys unhappiness. If 80% of my insomnia, my stress, and my marital disputes is driven by financial concerns, doesn't it follow that alleviating those concerns would alleviate 80% of my worries? I read once that you can't give your children happiness... but you can definitely give them misery. Same concept.

I don't want FU money (great turn of phrase, by the way); I just want about 30% more than I have. That's all. Same house with a smaller mortgage, newer modest car, private school, and a savings cushion. That's my whole list. Ok, maybe a boob lift. But really, that's it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have had lots of money and lost it and am hoping to make it up soon. I can honestly say you can be happy with our without money but it's a hell of a lot easier to be happy with it. To be fair, some of the additional stress we experience w/o money may have been brought on ourselves but some of it I imagine is universal when you don't have it so I'm looking forward to being back there again. And indulging in dinner out regularly with my husband again. I think we'll relish it so much more now.

How'd ya lose it? Share your riches to rags stories with the crowd.

[Anonymous]

18:17 nailed it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is SO interesting to me how people can't accept that someone else just flat out has more than they do. We have to tell ourselves that they must be unhappy, or their spouse is an ass, or some other way in which our lives are actually preferable. We love to cite examples of our colleagues, in-laws, or cousin's best friend's brother's college roomate who are super rich and super miserable. It's so funny how otherwise reasonable people will actually say this stuff with a straight face. The fact is that people with a lot of money are the same as people with less money. Some are happy, some aren't, some have great marriages, some don't. I know plenty of middle-class people with cheating spouses, unhappy marriages, and meaningless lives.

We are definitely not Georgetown-mansion rich but we're pretty comfortable. We're healthy, have great friends and family, and DH and I are both truly in love with each other and our kids. I'm sure there are people who try to zero in on the time my DH and I argued at a party or the tantrum they saw my 3-year-old throw at preschool dropoff and say that I have a terrible marriage and an out-of-control kid, which is of course no surprise because I have money. This doesn't bother me at all if helps them sleep at night, but it's pretty funny how absolutely illogical it is.

Agreed. It's just plain silly to assume that people with big wealth are also miserable deep down or otherwise unhappy in some way. It's not always either/or, people. Some people really do have both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have had lots of money and lost it and am hoping to make it up soon. I can honestly say you can be happy with our without money but it's a hell of a lot easier to be happy with it. To be fair, some of the additional stress we experience w/o money may have been brought on ourselves but some of it I imagine is universal when you don't have it so I'm looking forward to being back there again. And indulging in dinner out regularly with my husband again. I think we'll relish it so much more now.

How'd ya lose it? Share your riches to rags stories with the crowd.

Nothing terribly exciting - hubby's job just started to slow down right when I got pregnant and we kept thinking things would pick up (they didn't). Fortunately, while there have been awful lows (literally counting pennies), the highs are about to return (fingers crossed).

[Anonymous]

20:53 -- hey, I think I know your friend, and she's really nice and unassuming, BTW. In many ways like another FU $$ family we know -- DH's roommate at Princeton -- his dad was a Fortune 50 CEO and Asst Secy in the Reagan Admin; her family is very old $ from New England. They live very well (in Westchester with houses in the Hamptons and Vermont), but are super-nice, fun and modest. When DH and his pal were in college and grad school, the CEO dad always used to say to his son, "When are you gonna start making some money and get off the dole?" Son is an investment banker and certainly could have afforded to retire long ago, but likes to work. Has $ bought them happiness? As other PPs have said, they've never experienced stress due to finances; on the other hand, like everyone, they've had their problems -- illness and death don't check your credit rating first.