Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's no shortage of rich people in Bethesda, but %-wise there's still plenty of non-rich.

By "non-rich" I assume you're including people with $300,000 incomes who insist that they're "middle class."

I don't care how people categorize themselves, but income does not always correlate to wealth or "riches" for this exercise, we are not talking about the UMC, we are talking about mass rich vs the truly wealthy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's no shortage of rich people in Bethesda, but %-wise there's still plenty of non-rich.

By "non-rich" I assume you're including people with $300,000 incomes who insist that they're "middle class."

In NY middle class homes homeowners get a rebate on school taxes it is called STAR exemption. $500,000 is cut offs

$130,000 or below lower income no college tuition in NYS colleges .

$350,000 HHI is middle class

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have an uncle who is nearly the richest man in America, he has tech money and is a household name.. I can assure you, he does not rub elbows with the mass rich. His life is beyond your imagination. There is absolutely nothing regular people have in common with him.

PP, what are your interactions with your uncle like? Is it lots of amazing food and drinks, and sparkling accommodations, and seeing them delegate to staff? I'd love to be one of the types that can just chill out around wealthy people, but they intimidate me. I don't know why I'm fascinated.

It is mostly awkward. He's pretty nerdy though. He does have household staff and frequently hangs out with the likes of Obama , Zuckerberg, and Bill Gates and all the other current American royalty. He gives generous gifts. I would say it is bizarre to hang out with him and I cant say I particularly like it, but it is a curiosity for sure. He came from a very humble background, his siblings (my aunts uncles, parent) are all super smart, but normal. It's weird.

Names please...otherwise I’m calling troll

Call troll then. Why should I care?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have an uncle who is nearly the richest man in America, he has tech money and is a household name.. I can assure you, he does not rub elbows with the mass rich. His life is beyond your imagination. There is absolutely nothing regular people have in common with him.

PP, what are your interactions with your uncle like? Is it lots of amazing food and drinks, and sparkling accommodations, and seeing them delegate to staff? I'd love to be one of the types that can just chill out around wealthy people, but they intimidate me. I don't know why I'm fascinated.

It is mostly awkward. He's pretty nerdy though. He does have household staff and frequently hangs out with the likes of Obama , Zuckerberg, and Bill Gates and all the other current American royalty. He gives generous gifts. I would say it is bizarre to hang out with him and I cant say I particularly like it, but it is a curiosity for sure. He came from a very humble background, his siblings (my aunts uncles, parent) are all super smart, but normal. It's weird.

Names please...otherwise I’m calling troll

Anonymous wrote:1. The Millionaires Next Door
2. The Capitalist Class
3. The Glittering Rich
4. The Ruling 15,000 Families of the United States
5. The Forbes 400 List

This is an interesting way to look at the hierarchy of the wealthy.

I grew up probably on the high end of 1. My father was fairly successful himself, but he also made people in group 2 even wealthier and was never wealthy enough to live off capital. I had a friiend growing up who was definitely at least the high end of 3, maybe even 4 (his family were big real estate developers in a major city, not exactly a household name outside their locality and not international jet-setters, but very politically influential where they lived). I went to private school for elementary and middle school, public high school and an elite LAC. So I certainly crossed paths with the very rich, but was never part of that world.

Today most of my friends and acquintances are not even in 1, though some are. Spouse is from group 1, but most likely her family isn't as wealthy as mine (but a hell of a lot more "smart" with their money than my parents were!) She grew up in Silver Spring and she met her "rich" friends from CC and Bethesda at her parents' synagogue (who really probably weren't any wealthier than her parents in reality - both she and her brother didn't have to incur any student debt and they both went to expensvie colleges).
Neither of us today have "big money" jobs. We certainly realize we have some comforts due to our family backgrounds.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have an uncle who is nearly the richest man in America, he has tech money and is a household name.. I can assure you, he does not rub elbows with the mass rich. His life is beyond your imagination. There is absolutely nothing regular people have in common with him.

PP, what are your interactions with your uncle like? Is it lots of amazing food and drinks, and sparkling accommodations, and seeing them delegate to staff? I'd love to be one of the types that can just chill out around wealthy people, but they intimidate me. I don't know why I'm fascinated.

It is mostly awkward. He's pretty nerdy though. He does have household staff and frequently hangs out with the likes of Obama , Zuckerberg, and Bill Gates and all the other current American royalty. He gives generous gifts. I would say it is bizarre to hang out with him and I cant say I particularly like it, but it is a curiosity for sure. He came from a very humble background, his siblings (my aunts uncles, parent) are all super smart, but normal. It's weird.

Anonymous wrote:There's no shortage of rich people in Bethesda, but %-wise there's still plenty of non-rich.

By "non-rich" I assume you're including people with $300,000 incomes who insist that they're "middle class."

Anonymous wrote:To put it in perspective, how often do you (UMC) hangout and socialize with your landscaper? ...not the owner but the guys cutting your lawn? The is a far greater difference between someone with $80million+ Net Worth and your, say, $2 million NW than between your $2 million NW and that of your landscaper’s.

The ultra wealthy are an entirely different stratosphere of power and influence able to affect many areas of our society and future.

The UMC and lower wealthy live luxurious lives compared to most but still have little or no power in comparison to the ultra wealthy.

This is a great point and eye opener for me - possibly, if I connected at a spiritual level, I'd spend time with anyone. But if not, it comes down to conversation material I suppose?

in my 20s, I rented a room from a family with a much higher income than I was raised with and got along fine (DW wanted to have easy money for herself I think). I was constantly intimidated (my issue). They wore their fancy loafers/shoes in the house all the time instead of kicking back in fuzzy socks, and never changed into athleisure LOL. They were buttoned up. I once saw the DH looking on ebay and I said "oh are you looking at houses?" and he said somewhat condescendingly "they are chateaus". LOL I remember trying to scrounge around for snacks late at night, and they simply did not have easy food around, it was all stuff you'd need to prepare. I drank a lot of freshly squeezed OJ and the delicious milk that was delivered weekly in glass bottles.

I will tell you this - it was the best lesson to me to see first hand that money does NOT buy happiness. Terminally ill DH, the DW spent 4 hours a week in therapy, and the DD had tics from stress.

Anonymous wrote:I have an uncle who is nearly the richest man in America, he has tech money and is a household name.. I can assure you, he does not rub elbows with the mass rich. His life is beyond your imagination. There is absolutely nothing regular people have in common with him.

PP, what are your interactions with your uncle like? Is it lots of amazing food and drinks, and sparkling accommodations, and seeing them delegate to staff? I'd love to be one of the types that can just chill out around wealthy people, but they intimidate me. I don't know why I'm fascinated.

I have an uncle who is nearly the richest man in America, he has tech money and is a household name.. I can assure you, he does not rub elbows with the mass rich. His life is beyond your imagination. There is absolutely nothing regular people have in common with him.