How do the not-so-grassroot live?

Ian F wrote: In reply to mazdeuce: True... the owner of my last company was firmly in the 1%. He and his wife drove nice cars at the time (BMW X-5 4.4 & M-B CL300 - this was 10+ years ago), but I'm sure they could have afforded nicer cars if they wanted them. However, his real passion was flying. Over the 10 years I worked there, he had a few different planes, but a year or so before I left he bought a jet.

Airplanes are a wonderful equalizer-- it doesn't matter how much you spend, they are all 15% more than you can afford.

Datsun1500 wrote: Higher income people don't just spend money at will, they have the same discussions and worries we all have.

Nah I think if they have the same discussions and worries, they're doing something seriously wrong.

One of my professors had a Cirrus SR-22; He was ultra-conservative; perhaps he Ramseyed his way to the top.

Datsun1500 wrote: I think it depends on who you are as a person. If you are a "look at me" person and you make good money, you buy show off stuff. If you are not a "look at me" person, you buy reasonable things. The problem is the things some see as reasonable, others see as show off. I live in a nice area, in a nice house. There are bigger ones, but I don't want a bigger one. The problem is some people could see mine and think it's huge. I don't. My daily driver is an Audi R8. I bought it and drive it, because I like it, I did not buy it to keep it in the garage and tell everyone I have it. I think having a car like that in the garage, only as a toy, and not letting people touch it, is pretentious. Having it as a driver, letting your friends drive it, and kids sit in it at cars and coffee is not pretentious, you might disagree. We went to Italy for spring break because I want my kids to see the world, not just another beach. Does that make me an shiny happy person? Higher income people don't just spend money at will, they have the same discussions and worries we all have.

Every single post you have ever made makes so much more sense now.

Anywho, continuing on...

GameboyRMH wrote:

Datsun1500 wrote: Higher income people don't just spend money at will, they have the same discussions and worries we all have.

Nah I think if they have *the same* discussions and worries, they're doing something seriously wrong.

It's quite easy to scale expenses to earnings.

I caddied for 10 years. There was one guy who is just filthy rich. Absolutely the nicest guy in the world. He spends money just to spend money, to get it out of his hands and into the hands of people who need it. He'll drop $20,000 at the florist just cause. He'll buy $20,000 worth of band instruments for schools.

I remember when the Ipad2 came out, my friend asked him if he was going to get it. The guy told him something that was really a very depressing thought to me: "I don't know... I have no wants in the world, if I want something I can just go buy it. I don't need it."

That is an awful thought to me. To not want for anything, to be able to attain anything. I want to try to get there, but I'm not sure that I want to actually get there.

FWIW, he lives in a very expensive area in a big and gorgeous house, but it is not ridiculously large--4 car garage, 7000 square feet, and 3 kids. The kitchen is probably 1000 square feet. The master is probably 800sqare feet, the master closet 250. 2 guest bedrooms, every bedroom has a bathroom... He also said they end up with wasted space. The guest rooms aren't used (except by guests), the office isn't really used, the huge dining room isn't used... He has a den for watching tv by himself, but otherwise they pretty much stick to their own bedrooms, the kitchen, living room, and family room. More or less the same as my experience growing up in a 2800 square foot house.

In reply to Datsun1500:

Sounds like you have a respectable and fun lifestyle. The reason I brought up the "spring break" thing was because that option is so far out of reach for me and to hear it from somebody is kind of a shock. It's hard for me to take a Friday for a three day weekend. I don't like to travel, so that doesn't really bother me . No one called anyone an shiny happy person anyway.

ronholm wrote:

CGLockRacer wrote: This is somewhat appropriate. http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-act-like-a-millionaire-2013-8 I also have read the book "The Millionaire Next Door". http://www.amazon.com/Millionaire-Next-Door-Thomas-Stanley/dp/0671015206 Some of the people in the 1% are the ones you would least expect. I'm not one, and it'll be a long time before I have a shot.

Any see that study that shows the turnover rate among the "1%"? It was something like every 10 years 60% (or more) of them were new faces.

This also highlights the fact that the transition in and out of these income brackets is weird. To go from not being able to afford cheese during your last year of college (true story) to realizing that you have enough money to buy a car that costs more than the house you bought a little over a decade ago is strange. I think that's part of the reason you get very wide disparity in how people live at equal income levels. I don't think I could ever live in 5,000 square foot house any more than my wife's co-worker could drive a 911 every day even though the same level of income makes both of those things atainable to both of us.

I’ve said it before, we probably all know and have many friends in the 1% category. We have two families we are close friends with, both have multi multi million $ trust funds. They lead normally middle/upper middle class lives in subdivisions like the rest of us. They have cheaper cars, one family exclusively drives hand me down’s from other family members. If you didn’t know them intimately, you’d think they were regular $100-150k a year folks like the rest of us. I have other friends with multiple cars, many acres, guns, big pole barn and every electronic toy known to man. To look from the outside people assume they are ‘1%’s, but in reality they are always one step from bankruptcy to live a life they simply can’t afford. One day it will catch up with them.

Most of my wife’s clients are solidly 1%’s. She walks dogs and it certainly takes a serious pay check to pay someone to come and walk Fido every day, especially when some have stay at home parents etc. Almost universally these are all great people. Business owners, lawyers, Doctors (both hubby and wife) etc. Not one of them feels the need to live in a 14,000 sq ft. house to show off their money. You just don’t stay in the 1% with a flashy lifestyle unless you are really in the 0.1%

They say the average millionaire need new shoes and a haircut.

Not all but some folks with money have money because they're not stupid with their money.

If I had money, I'd buy a motorcycle. That explains a lot.

People tend to work within their means, whatever those are, and adjust as things change.

A Corvette CAN get good gas mileage.

mtn wrote: I remember when the Ipad2 came out, my friend asked him if he was going to get it. The guy told him something that was really a very depressing thought to me: "I don't know... I have no wants in the world, if I want something I can just go buy it. I don't need it." That is an awful thought to me. To not want for anything, to be able to attain anything. I want to try to get there, but I'm not sure that I want to actually get there.

It seems as if there's something I'm missing there. You want to get to the point where there's not a lot of need- that what you need is right there.

But your client sees the iPad as what it is- a luxury. That's a more valuable lesson- there's a HUGE difference between want and a need. Most electronic devices are far more want than need. Heck, most of what we have is more want than need. IMHO, a key to accumulating wealth is seeing that borderline, and particularly understanding the value of want.

I give my wife a hard time on some vacations- she is ok spending $X00.00 for a flight that lasts for a few hours, but wants to save $X0.00 for a 7 day trip. We've corrected that value equation.

Adrian_Thompson wrote: If you didn’t know them intimately, you’d think they were regular $100-150k a year folks like the rest of us.

Just found this interesting since, if the numbers I found are correct, a $100k/yr household income puts you in the top 15%........

z31maniac wrote:

Adrian_Thompson wrote: If you didn’t know them intimately, you’d think they were regular $100-150k a year folks like the rest of us.

Just found this interesting since, if the numbers I found are correct, a $100k/yr household income puts you in the top 15%........

Sounds about right. Don't know how accurate this is.

I experienced a real culture shock when I really got to know one of my former co-workers. He is from Fiji and is a pretty high ranking priest in his particular sect of Hinduism. He really has no desire for objects of any kind. To him he thinks "why would I buy a screwdriver when I can just borrow one from a friend". Same for most anything. I remember him asking to borrow some wd-40. I just assumed he was to broke to buy it, but the thought of acquiring more things is just foreign to him. He was able to buy 4 houses for him and his family after being in the states for less than ten years working a 12$ an hour job because of this. In his mind the only thing you worry about is making sure you take care of your family. Each child was given a house when they married.

He is also the most generous man I have ever known. Every time I loaned him a tool or repaired something for him it was paid back in delicious food or an evening with his family or just any random kindness.

It is just an attitude you do not encounter in this country where consumerism is so rampant.

I wish I could be more like him.

In reply to Ditchdigger: How do you borrow WD40? Scrape it off and put it in a bag once the hinge stops squeaking

I've known quite a few 1%'s, even though I hate that term. It's impossible to group them together behavior-wise, just as it is any of us. No two people are exactly the same, no matter what the income level. Most of the people that I know that have "made" it on their own are not flashy. Some you would have zero idea they even had any money. Others feel the need to show everyone, and they usually are not the most well off.

There was a guy that used to race with a friend of mine, and he complained about being homeless since all he has was his half million dollar motor coach and a Ferrari he towed behind it. Of course there's another one that flew his entire company and their spouses to Europe on vacation one year.

Truth is, people are people, and human nature is human nature. Money simply highlights the traits a person already has.

I like to think of 1% in two categories.

First category: worked for their fortune. Made it big. Do they live in excess? Yes, but at least they remember cleaning toilets back in highschool. These are the folks that will throw a party for their friends of all incomes and not worry about their guests bringing something. You want dinner? They'll pay. Try this beer, its expensive but who cares. Want to split a room in a vacation home with us? No problems. They hate taxes and government as much as the next guy but they believe anyone should have equal opportunity to get to the top (even if taxes and government helped them.)

Second category: kids of the first category. berkeleyers.

Disclaimer: I have good friends in both categories.

racerdave600 wrote: Money simply highlights the traits a person already has.

Are you saying that if I had more money I could be taller? Or that my ween would be even smaller? I'm almost positive that I couldn't be a bigger ass hole no matter how much cash I had.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

racerdave600 wrote: Money simply highlights the traits a person already has.

Are you saying that if I had more money I could be taller? Or that my ween would be even smaller? I'm almost positive that I couldn't be a bigger ass hole no matter how much cash I had.

I'm sure you would find a way.

Trans_Maro wrote: They're my customers. Good people (the ones I work for anyway). I dislike the term 1%ers, the douchebag occupy creeps use that term for anyone they don't agree with. One of my customers donated the property and bankrolled the construction of an entire summer camp for kids: http://rockridgecanyon.com/ He once told me "It's not every day that you get to build your own lake" One of them built a new wing at a Ronald McDonald house. Another funds an addiction treatment center. Every time I hear someone complain about the rich getting a tax break, I usually ask them which hospital or cancer clinic they built.

Let's wind this back a bit.

The term 1% is defined as "the top 1 percent of American households who had a minimum income of $516,633 in 2010." (Who are the 1 percent? - The Washington Post) It really has nothing to do with your political stance. It's just a term used for people who have a certain level of income. No douchebaggery involved. Just a number.

I'm sure there are very nice people who are 1%'s as well as complete @ssholes who are 1%'s. They all put on their pants one leg at a time and worry about their kids like the rest of us.

You brought up the tax break thing. The rich pay less taxes than poorer folks. In a country based on a belief in equality that seems unfair to most. Even if they used the savings to build a summer camp or clinic. Those are noble ways to spend money but the tax thing is unfair. At a minimum they should pay the same taxes on their income as folks who earn less.

There is a cost to this lopsided tax issue. Wikipedia covers it well. This is a factor in income inequality. A situation that can and may destabilize the U.S. if it continues at the current rate. How Income Inequality Is Damaging the U.S. - Forbes

HiTempguy wrote: Every single post you have ever made makes so much more sense now. Anywho, continuing on...

Fo Realz.

If I had a bunch of money, you know what I would do? 2 chicks at the same time.

logdog wrote: If I had a bunch of money, you know what I would do? 2 chicks at the same time.

Not all women are into money.

mazdeuce wrote:

logdog wrote: If I had a bunch of money, you know what I would do? 2 chicks at the same time.

Not all women are into money.

The type of chicks that would double up on a dude like me are.