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Why don't rich people realize that they are rich?
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Anonymous
| Just have to say to the PP that posted that Atlantic article - LOVED it. Thanks for the link. Very appropriate - time well spent! |
Anonymous
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We make in the mid 2's and don't have to budget. We can by anyting and not have to worry about it. I can live on my savings for 2+ years. Life is good.
Do you feel better that I have admitted that my life is stress free? |
Anonymous
| We make close to 200k and are far from rich. I suppose we'd be rich in some midwestern cow town where the cost of living is close to nothing but not here in this area. It's all relative and perspective. OP's opinion is just that, their opinion and everyone has one. |
Anonymous
Might be time to think about relocating to Appalachia-again, just an opinion. I think they have cows there. |
Anonymous
Oh, is Appalachia out west? |
Anonymous
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I'm fairly ignorant about Appalachia, but I would be surprised if they have much of a cattle industry. Mountainous terrain and all...
I agree with 1659's post and will add that while DC has a cost of living that's high relative to Midwestern cow towns, it is low relative to NYC, London, Moscow, Tokyo, etc. So in those cities, it takes that much more to maintain a middle class lifestyle. |
Anonymous
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Another aspect of why people do/don't self-define as rich. I think Americans now in their thirties and forties grew up expecting that, as had always happened before, they would do better financially than their parents. So we worked hard in school, went to college, worked hard in our careers, put some money away for a rainy day, had kids, bought a house, etc., etc. But, at least if we had professional parents, we then looked up and discovered that, while we may be doing well, we have less free time, disposable income, and feeling of financial well-being than our parents did. When that's the case, it's hard to feel "rich" even if, by objective standards, you might be.
(I realize that this is an attempt to answer the question "why don't rich people realize that they are rich?" rather than the alternate form "why don't people who have more money than I do admit that they are rich?".) |
Anonymous
| OK-you got me-boo hoo for all those struggling on 250k be it here, there or anywhere-I'm the terminal patient in the cancer ward and I understand how painful your tennis elbow is-I hope you feel better, now let me die in peace. |
Anonymous
| 250k forty years ago may have been rich. My grandparents bought their house for $13,000 and had a mortgage of $58. Today that house will sell for $600,000. On a salary of $8k a year you were well off. So.... does no one think that $250k today is not what it was even fifteen years ago? I just do not think it is rich and I don't make even close to it, I think it is well off and nice, but certainly not rich. |
Anonymous
PP, I admire the clever analogy. That was well said. Sorry about the terminal illness that pegs you as in poor health, not fair health. Glad you can see how tennis elbow keeps some people from making the excellent health rolls. At $130-$150k, I'm... oh... gouty or maybe arthritic myself. |
Anonymous
More appropriatel, opinions are like assholes, everyone's got one. YAWN. My 1000 thread count Egyption sheets are calling my name. |
Anonymous
How charming you must be. |
Anonymous
| There was nothing wrong with PP's comment. "Poor" is not a moral judgment. |
Anonymous
| This is one of the silliest topics I have ever read. The one comment I do disagree with is that if you have a cushion, then you are not middle class. If you have a cushion, then you are a good money manager. Now I agree that if you live in poverty, then it is impossible to have a cushion until you are able to increase your income. However, there are plenty of middle class people who live very frugally and have a cushion. You may have to build that cushion up by just a couple of dollars a week, but you can do it. Likewise there are people with huge incomes who live paycheck to paycheck. If you can afford to put a roof over your head, clothes on your back, and food on the table without public assistance, then you are middle class. The richest person I personally know, never went to college and grew up under horrible circumstances -- very poor, no father, alcoholic mother, rough neighborhood. He is now a multi-millionaire. He got there because he knew what he wanted out of life and worked his butt off. Personally, DH and I have chosen another track, where we can provide for our family, but are not willing to work the extra hours required to be "rich". We chose instead to be rich in our family life. Thus -- no big cable bill, no big cell phone bill, eat out only once or twice a month (for about $20 each time), vacations consist of driving to visit family, no private school, no nanny, etc. I am not jealous of people I know who are better off than we are. They either worked their butts off or got lucky. It doesn't matter, since I choose to be happy where I am. |
Anonymous
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Don't know if this has been mentioned before (so forgive me if it has) but people keep talking about how $200,000 doesn't go far in this expensive city so how could they be rich?
Hey, I am rich because I can afford to live in a house by the metro in this great city and go to great theater, restaurants, museums, and huge ralleys down on the mall. Yeah, I could buy a mansion in Cleveland for what my little ugly house by the metro cost me but then I'd be in Cleveland. Really, no disrespect to Cleveland. I'm from there and I loved it but work brought me here and I've grown to love DC. So yeah, we make 225 HHI but still live in a dumpy little house in a sketchy neighborhood, but LOOK at the fabulous playground we live in. I know I'm rich. |