Signs once wealthy now in genteel poverty?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just look at online listings in nice neighborhoods. Lots of dilapidated houses in expensive zip codes that look like the family was hanging onto for dear life. Case in point: https://www.redfin.com/MD/Chevy-Chase/204-Oxford-St-20815/home/10651222

This is very rude of you. Clearly this home was owned by an older person (or persons) who had been there for forty years. Of course things will need updating, especially after retirement when perhaps ungrateful adult kids do not help out and MoCo continues to raise its excessive real estate taxes on your property.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LOL this is not a family hanging on for dear life. Clearly just priorities beyond decor - looks like my house in Bethesda.

Anonymous wrote:Just look at online listings in nice neighborhoods. Lots of dilapidated houses in expensive zip codes that look like the family was hanging onto for dear life. Case in point: https://www.redfin.com/MD/Chevy-Chase/204-Oxford-St-20815/home/10651222

Exactly! They probably have a very large net worth. We certainly do and see no reason to further invest in our DC home when we will soon retire to our summer home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Genteel poverty = Brett Kavanaugh circa 2017

Oh, my, yes. And his raise was not that large.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know a lot of middle aged adults with so so jobs who talk about their rich grandparents. They are waiting for some big inheritance that may or may not be there. Not sure if this is what OP is looking for. Descendants of wealthy people who did not do well for themselves. They are not living in poverty, just middle class or very low UMC.

There are people in my family like this. Educated, low paying jobs or no job, parents gifted their house, decent inheritance allows them live middle class, but not rich. Getting by and okay with that. Because they are above such things(i.e., genteel)? Not sure. Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are there any stories you can share? I haven’t seen this topic for a while now so I am starting a new thread.

Sonja Morgan. Just tragic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a lot of middle aged adults with so so jobs who talk about their rich grandparents. They are waiting for some big inheritance that may or may not be there. Not sure if this is what OP is looking for. Descendants of wealthy people who did not do well for themselves. They are not living in poverty, just middle class or very low UMC.

There are people in my family like this. Educated, low paying jobs or no job, parents gifted their house, decent inheritance allows them live middle class, but not rich. Getting by and okay with that. Because they are above such things(i.e., genteel)? Not sure. Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations.

Or kids who had trust funds that weren’t that big.

I didn’t grow up wealthy but now have a seven figure HHI. We have a net worth in the low eight figures.

Some of the kids that I grew up thinking were super wealthy turned out to be not so wealthy after all. They are very middle class in adulthood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a lot of middle aged adults with so so jobs who talk about their rich grandparents. They are waiting for some big inheritance that may or may not be there. Not sure if this is what OP is looking for. Descendants of wealthy people who did not do well for themselves. They are not living in poverty, just middle class or very low UMC.

There are people in my family like this. Educated, low paying jobs or no job, parents gifted their house, decent inheritance allows them live middle class, but not rich. Getting by and okay with that. Because they are above such things(i.e., genteel)? Not sure. Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations.

Or kids who had trust funds that weren’t that big.

I didn’t grow up wealthy but now have a seven figure HHI. We have a net worth in the low eight figures.

Some of the kids that I grew up thinking were super wealthy turned out to be not so wealthy after all. They are very middle class in adulthood.

How do you know though? Maybe they just aren't spending their money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a lot of middle aged adults with so so jobs who talk about their rich grandparents. They are waiting for some big inheritance that may or may not be there. Not sure if this is what OP is looking for. Descendants of wealthy people who did not do well for themselves. They are not living in poverty, just middle class or very low UMC.

There are people in my family like this. Educated, low paying jobs or no job, parents gifted their house, decent inheritance allows them live middle class, but not rich. Getting by and okay with that. Because they are above such things(i.e., genteel)? Not sure. Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations.

Or kids who had trust funds that weren’t that big.

I didn’t grow up wealthy but now have a seven figure HHI. We have a net worth in the low eight figures.

Some of the kids that I grew up thinking were super wealthy turned out to be not so wealthy after all. They are very middle class in adulthood.

How do you know though? Maybe they just aren't spending their money.

She of course doesn’t know. She just likes to fantasize that she has now surpassed those to whom she felt inferior in the past.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there any stories you can share? I haven’t seen this topic for a while now so I am starting a new thread.

Large inherited furniture that doesn’t really fit in a smaller house
Pedigree college education in something like archeology, comparative literature, cultural anthropology, or art history
Old fashioned good manners and educated speech patterns
Family burial lots in prestige cemeteries
Sends thank you notes
Well travelled

"Well-traveled" is such a dumb expression. It's not a virtue or a character trait.

It speaks to values. Curiosity about the world vs appliances furniture or cars. When you’re not used to spending money on the latter because they were always there or handed to you, you continue to not want to spend on those things.