Reply to Do most of you not realize how out of touch and privileged you are?

Forum Index » Money and Finances

Reply to "Do most of you not realize how out of touch and privileged you are?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I was just thinking about this very subject after reading some posts in the real estate thread about how there are no livable homes available below $1 million in the DMV. Where do people think the vast majority of the residents of this area live?

I think the cause of being out of touch is, for the most part, having also grown up UMC. I grew in a working class family. Neither of my parents went to college and worked in blue collar jobs. Our HHI is about $400K. I thank my lucky starts every day for this and live by the mindset that the rug could be pulled out from under me at any time. Despite my working class upbringing, I am not foolish enough to think I somehow "earned" my success. I had a loving family who supported me, worked in less than desirable jobs so I could go to college, and benefited from the luck of being in the right place at the right time in terms of career opportunities, the historic bull stock market, and low mortgage interest rates. [b]A lot of people do all of the "right" things but the outcome is very different. [/b]We live in a $600K house in the suburbs. We drive Hondas and Toyotas. I do not have the sophisticated tastes of the UMC displayed on DCUM. I am more comfortable around WC and MC people. I do not care if my kitchen or bathrooms are the most up to date. My goals are to pay for as much education as my kids want and retire early because I value that more than annual European vacations.[/quote]

This.  You know who works really hard?  The woman who cleans my company's offices.  She is an incredibly hard worker, and a sweet, friendly person besides.  And she's never going to be successful by the metrics of the UMC, even though she is probably a better person than at least half of them.

The other thing is that a lot of people don't do all the right things, and they still "make it," because they have a robust safety net and other privileges.  Rich (white) kids at my high school got caught vandalizing street signs.  You know what happened to them?  Nothing.  The cops called their parents and they went home with a warning.  And back to school, and off to college.  A poor/black kid makes the same dumb choice, and he's going to jail.  A UMC person develops a drinking problem, he's got a bigger financial cushion, and sick leave, and he can afford to call an Uber instead of getting dinged with a DUI, and he can afford rehab, and people put up with him.  A LMC person develops a drinking problem, they can end up jobless and homeless.  No one is perfect, but the cost of mistakes is much higher for those further down the ladder.  [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics