Do you think people who have money are bad?

[Anonymous]

spin off from thread on 8.5K in expenses a month. There is a lot of hostility towards people making a lot of money. Do you think they are bad people? Is it simply class warfare? Do you find it immoral. It appears some do. Does it depend how they made the money? For example, do you feel differently if someone invented something useful versus a partner in a law firm versus someone who wrote a best selling novel? Why? What if you inherited money? Does that make you a bad person? Just brainstorming "out loud" as I cringe at some of the comment directed towards affluent people on this board. I certainly would not judge you for what you make. And not all low paying positions are more honorable than high paying ones. I just think there is too much duality, or black and white thinking on this topic. Let 'er rip. . . .

[Anonymous]

I think I find it distasteful that there are people who complain about having to share their money with the less fortunate when they are ROLLING in dough. I had a friend whose dad refused to work for three months per year, because that would put him in a higher tax bracket. I used to wonder if he had any idea how priveleged he was to have the option NOT to work for three months out of the year? He was really angry about paying taxes.

It saddens me to know the neediest won't be getting a decent health care package but there are still plenty of BMWs and Mercedes on the road.

I just wonder sometimes, how much money does a person really need? Do people with a ton of money even stop to think about the degree to which they indulge themselves, when there are so many others who are so needy?

[Anonymous]

Coming from money on the maternal side and none on the paternal side, I have experienced both states of mind. What makes me truly happy is seeing affluent parents model financial and social responsibility for their children. Those are the people who really have it all, and they are welcome to it.

[Anonymous]

I think if you make or inherit a lot of money, you should enjoy it. If you choose to send your kids to a preschool that costs close to what I make in a year...that is your right..

My perspective is probably different than others. I grew up well to do. Went to all private schools. Belonged to the best clubs and went of lavish vacations. I have siblings in this area who snub my family because we do not make the kind of money they do. We have many mental health issues in our family and I am sad to say they are too proud to get help. We were raised in severe dysfunction and they are raising their families the same way. Well, I married a guy who works for the government and loves his career. I have never been a career person, but have always had a job. We are raising 3 kids, send them to public school and I am a million times happier now than I was as a child. My kids don't get everything they want in a public school setting, they have to work for everything they get. They have many more choices than I ever did. They have great friends who are from varied cultures and economic groups. And I am free to address my issues without fear of having my private affairs aired in a social forum.

From my perspective, money does not buy happiness, it buys options. However, if I had money, I probably would not have chosen the options I did and life might not be as rich as I feel it is now. My friends are also money blind. I think snobbish behavior is monetary profiling, and I won't stand for it! LOL

[Anonymous]

I don't think people who have money are bad. I think that those who spend foolishly are stupid.

[Anonymous]

Grew up first generation Americans.love this country. We worked hard and all three of my siblings have done well. We have earned it and we love the ability to do well. We can't understand the complainers..think they are losers. By the way..even when we were technically "poor" we never thought bad of the rich, we just worked toward being rich someday and we are pretty close to being there. We are (all three of us) sad that the US is moving toward laziness..sad..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Grew up first generation Americans.love this country. We worked hard and all three of my siblings have done well. We have earned it and we love the ability to do well. We can't understand the complainers..think they are losers. By the way..even when we were technically "poor" we never thought bad of the rich, we just worked toward being rich someday and we are pretty close to being there. We are (all three of us) sad that the US is moving toward laziness..sad..

You and your family should be very proud. You should also appreciate that it sounds like, while "poor", you did have some advantages like a supportive family (mom and dad around?), that I'm willing to bet valued and encouraged education and hard work, that many "poor" don't have.

[Anonymous]

I am wealthy. But I think that wealth carries risks.

Some wealthy people start to measure their own worth, or the worth of others, by how much they have or how they came by it. They start to believe that luxuries are necessities. They become slaves to their houses and cars and clubs and schools. These people can be undone by their own success because they are chasing a false dream. In the process, they let materialism and greed change their character until they are valueless. And some of them lose it all when fortunes change. It is so hard to believe that people with many millions of dollars can end up ruined. But it happens.


I read a post on this site that really got me thinking. OP asked a question along these lines: 'how do I tell my children they can't have something when they know we can afford it'? I realized, as I scanned through the posts, that most people had no way to answer the question. They had no value system that give them reasons for limiting what they bought aside from what they could pay for. Their only moral guide was economics. Older generations knew that there is virtue in thrift and that excess could do real harm.

There is another way to look at wealth. Wealth can provide freedom and opportunity. Plenty of people look at it that way. Money gives them the chance to spend time with family, do interesting things either in their jobs or outside of them, and to do good things for others. They can still enjoy simple things. Possessions are not their drug of choice.

So I guess I don't hate wealth but I am deeply suspicious of materialism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am wealthy. But I think that wealth carries risks.

Some wealthy people start to measure their own worth, or the worth of others, by how much they have or how they came by it. They start to believe that luxuries are necessities. They become slaves to their houses and cars and clubs and schools. These people can be undone by their own success because they are chasing a false dream. In the process, they let materialism and greed change their character until they are valueless. And some of them lose it all when fortunes change. It is so hard to believe that people with many millions of dollars can end up ruined. But it happens.


I read a post on this site that really got me thinking. OP asked a question along these lines: 'how do I tell my children they can't have something when they know we can afford it'? I realized, as I scanned through the posts, that most people had no way to answer the question. They had no value system that give them reasons for limiting what they bought aside from what they could pay for. Their only moral guide was economics. Older generations knew that there is virtue in thrift and that excess could do real harm.

There is another way to look at wealth. Wealth can provide freedom and opportunity. Plenty of people look at it that way. Money gives them the chance to spend time with family, do interesting things either in their jobs or outside of them, and to do good things for others. They can still enjoy simple things. Possessions are not their drug of choice.

So I guess I don't hate wealth but I am deeply suspicious of materialism.

i love this post

[Anonymous]

I don't think people who have money are bad; after all, I hope one day to have some myself!
But I sometimes wonder if they share the same values; knowing you can buy your way out of almost any trouble creates a disregard of laws and social mores, in my view...
Just as knowing you have nothing to lose (extreme poverty) creates a disregard for consequences...
Maybe I am just too middle-class to easily mingle with most members of either group

[Anonymous]

I have decided that an iPod is not appropriate for you yet for a variety of reasons.

[Anonymous]

"So I guess I don't hate wealth but I am deeply suspicious of materialism."

Agreed 100%! Materialism, in general, comes from a very dark place.

"But I sometimes wonder if they share the same values; knowing you can buy your way out of almost any trouble creates a disregard of laws and social mores, in my view...
Just as knowing you have nothing to lose (extreme poverty) creates a disregard for consequences... "

This is the smartest thing (2 different posts, I refer to the latter) I have read on DCUM. It shows someone has insight and not just disgust for those who have more.

There are huge social ramifications for having money (and also for not). I know people who downplay their wealth to avoid inappropriate questions. In defense, is it really anyone's business? I also know far more people who try to pretend they are wealthy. Sad commentary on the social ideals of this area, in general.

[Anonymous]

I just wonder sometimes, how much money does a person really need? Do people with a ton of money even stop to think about the degree to which they indulge themselves, when there are so many others who are so needy?

I think this too. Does anyone really need to spend 6K/month on incidentals like one of the posters in the previous thread does? I spend most of my life feeling like I spend constantly and rarely reign in my purchases and I'm lucky if I ever reach half of that including groceries, entertainment, gifts, gas, and every other last thing our family consumes to survive on this planet. I honestly wonder what the heck I would purchase with that kind of money and that is how it gets easy to criticize those who do. Basically, at one third of that income I feel 100% fulfilled and I wonder what we would do with more except buy more stuff and better stuff which I know wouldn't make me any happier than I am today. Really.

Also, there is always a fair amount of "I make $500K/year and live in an old house, drive old cars, live paycheck to paycheck" talk on this board. Sentiments like this tend to creep into every thread about money and are really hard to take. Listen, you make more money than 95.5% of people in this country which happens to be among the wealthiest places on the planet (if not the per capita wealthiest). Please do not complain. Having little left at the end of the month once you save $20k/month (distributed into college, retirement, short-term, long-term, intermediate term and immediate term savings accounts) is not living paycheck to paycheck. Sending 2 kids to private school to the tune of 70K/year is not living paycheck to paycheck.

[Anonymous]

We are not weathly, but are comfortable. We donate money, volunteer and are self-sufficient.

I do not think there is anything wrong with being wealthy. I do think there is something wrong with being too judgemental! (Irony in that sentence...)

To each his own. For people complaining about what do wealthy people do to help less fortunate people out, I think a good question to also ask yourselves, is what are YOU doing? It might not be money, maybe its time, but everyone can do something. Maybe its small, but it matters.

[Anonymous]

Let's face it, this is a really, really judgmental area. There are so many pretending to know something about nothing. Even someone else's business. It's tiresome.