WaPo on Net Worth

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for the gift link!

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

She probably spent it on her kids. That's where my high income goes. Expensive sleep away camp, private schools, travel sports, nice vacation, wonderful birthdays - I hope they don't sound as ungrateful as you when I'm old and have little for them to inherit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

She probably spent it on her kids. That's where my high income goes. Expensive sleep away camp, private schools, travel sports, nice vacation, wonderful birthdays - I hope they don't sound as ungrateful as you when I'm old and have little for them to inherit.

Most of this stuff is useless crap for actual rich people, not wannabe rich doctors. I would absolutely be annoyed if my parent pissed their money away on junk like this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

What kind of firm? Not biglaw. They make you save a fair amount for retirement.

So these are the most talented lawyers in the world, who work for Exxon at $1,500 an hour, and they can’t be trusted to set aside some money for retirement? Interesting.

Exxon has excellent retirement benefits for all their salaried employees, including a 401k and a pension. I'm sure the lawyers take advantage of it just like the scientists and engineers do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

She probably spent it on her kids. That's where my high income goes. Expensive sleep away camp, private schools, travel sports, nice vacation, wonderful birthdays - I hope they don't sound as ungrateful as you when I'm old and have little for them to inherit.

Most of this stuff is useless crap for actual rich people, not wannabe rich doctors. I would absolutely be annoyed if my parent pissed their money away on junk like this.

Thank God you're not my kid then!

[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.

^This!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

One of my grad school classmates is now a specialist surgeon making 7 figures. He has 2 divorces, 5 kids and now a new wife with a baby on the way. I don’t know that he’s much better off than others with a more modest income.

He’s definitely not, as he probably started making that big income very late, and clearly went crazy after he graduated. Physicians are some of the saddest and financially unsuccessful people out there.

My buddy is in Big Law and makes around $300-400K depending on his year and hours. He came to Big Law a bit late, around age 31.

Dude blows through money like crazy. He's 37, has barely dented his student loans, doesn't own property (always lived in HCOL places - HK, London, NYC). Has only gotten serious about retirement savings in the last two years. But he has tons of expensive watches, nice clothes, always going on international vacations (buys premium economy and upgrades to business), expensive Michelin star restaurants every two weeks, etc.

If he was married and raising kids, he'd probably save a lot more.

7th year biglaw earns $535k with bonus.

Eh, not necessarily. Depends on the firm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t want to pay to get past the firewall. I’m worth $7.3 million. Where does that place me?

Places you squarely in humble brag d-bag territory

If you don't have enough green money, at least you can have enough green envy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t want to pay to get past the firewall. I’m worth $7.3 million. Where does that place me?

"Very high". Same as the $875K commenter. The calculator doesn't really split into many groups, put makes a passing reference to the top 1% having a third of the wealth, and ignoring the top 0.1% who have a more outrageous share.

[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.

The world will make a lot more sense once you realize that rich people are just regular people lucky enough to have a lot of money. They aren't a different species.

They aren't hanging out on premium $2000/month chat forums with more elite debates about politics, local education, and whether women or men are at fault in divorce.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Washington Post has a calculator for net worth and HHI that just came out:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/interactive/2024/are-you-rich-american-wealth-net-worth/?itid=hp_most-read_p009_f001_1

What I find interesting is how incredibly detached from reality this forum is. There are tons of people here who claim a net worth of, say, $2M at 40 is basically next to loserville and you should immediately jump off a skyscraper and hide your shame. Some say you need $20M at 65 to retire comfortable in today's age. This points out how incredibly idiotic and detached from reality those views are when they reflect the views of the top 97% to 99% of already the wealthiest country on planet earth. Basically, the people on this forum are living on a really rarified bubble.

What you are missing is that the vast majority of people can't retire comfortably.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:yes. Well DCUM posters will argue to the death that they're "middle class" with their incomes in the top 1-5% of the US.

By literal definition they are delusional.

The 0.01% to 1% are wealthier.

Not the bottom , and not the top, so, the middle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

What kind of firm? Not biglaw. They make you save a fair amount for retirement.

So these are the most talented lawyers in the world, who work for Exxon at $1,500 an hour, and they can’t be trusted to set aside some money for retirement? Interesting.

You are so unsophisticated and ignorant financially. Big law firms have major retirement contribution requirements for tax reasons for the highest earning partners, but the IRS requires those programs to be across the board for lower earning partners as well, so the firms force all the partners to participate. They don’t do it because they don’t trust partners to plan for their own retirement. They do it For tax reasons.

[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.

The world will make a lot more sense once you realize that rich people are just regular people lucky enough to have a lot of money. They aren't a different species.

They aren't hanging out on premium $2000/month chat forums with more elite debates about politics, local education, and whether women or men are at fault in divorce.

The truly rich have bots that post on their behalf.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

She probably spent it on her kids. That's where my high income goes. Expensive sleep away camp, private schools, travel sports, nice vacation, wonderful birthdays - I hope they don't sound as ungrateful as you when I'm old and have little for them to inherit.

I am her kid. She paid for our tuition in the 80s and early 90s when it wasn’t that expensive (we went to in-state publics). So there was at least 20 years when she wasn’t paying for that. And she lived in a low cost of living area. I know she had a lot of people doing stuff for her - housekeeper coming twice a week, landscapers weekly - but it still seems like she didn’t play good financial defense.