Rich Person wrote:
I do not. Do you?
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You do realize that the dude making $500k per year has a net worth and lifestyle that resembles that of a guy making $25k per year than the truly rich in this obscene society we live in? The upperest of the upper crust make 20 times $500k per year and more. Their reward for shipping jobs out of the country
If you have to get up and go to work every day you're not rich, you just have more toys.
Perfect example from yessir. Well put.
As an aside, I doubt the OP pays any personal income taxes btw and bristles when he sees a few bucks taken away in payroll taxes every paycheck - of course he likely gets it all back as a refund at yrs end. (forgive me if I am wrong) But those darn rich people... the nerve of paying basically all the taxes in the country.
Fight club wrote:
Perfect example from yessir. Well put.
As an aside, I doubt the OP pays any personal income taxes btw and bristles when he sees a few bucks taken away in payroll taxes every paycheck - of course he likely gets it all back as a refund at yrs end. (forgive me if I am wrong) But those darn rich people... the nerve of paying basically all the taxes in the country.
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If you think rich people pay anything near all the taxes in this country, you have no idea about how our tax system works.
My sister married a multimillionaire. Their life is awesome. They may have problems that everyone else has, but they can solve most of their stress in life with their money.
If their car breaks down it is no big deal. No stress about how to afford a new one, no additional time pressure to find a good deal, they just go get a new one - usually what ever one they feel like.
If their furnace goes - they just call a guy and he does whatever has to be done - at any price. They don't ever think about it again. There is no budgeting for the repair, no sacrifice of something else.
No cutting the lawn, no cleaning up, no doing laundry. Their time is spent just doing exactly what they want to do.
They go on vacation 4 or 5 times a year. Whenever they feel run down, or stressed they go somewhere fancy and recharge.
Money can't cure cancer and can't make your deadbeat kids any easier to deal with, but it sure can remove all the crap that wears you down every day.
I know 2 guys that make over $500k have networth of much more. Both work extremely hard, TONS of hours, and both guys are very smart. One has degrees from Duke & Harvard, the other from some other small private school that currently escapes me.
Thier lives are very nice, BUT they have very very little free time. While they might take a nice vacation once or twice a year, the rest of the year is HELL (well it would be too me.)
Now they have kids in private schools, stay at home wives WITH nannies. Both guys are generous to a fault and both came from very middle class backgrounds, so they are both self made guys-no inherited family money.
I do envy their accomplishments to a degree, but I wouldn't switch lives. I enjoy being able to go for my run at the end of the day, race on weekends, go home before 10pm, and not worry about being on call 24/7.
The point about not worrying about day to day expenses like a broken down car, house repairs, etc.. is a good one. Most people that live pay check to pay check are doomed when confronted with stuff like that. Thank goodness I'm at least beyond that situation.
A truly rich person has a good life outside of the realm of the money society.
'But, shit ain't like that.'
That's why you have 2 million in prison. I bet 90% of those people on $50k could do the job of the $500k person given the chance
Over the last 10 yrs I have made between $550K and $3m per year. Completely depends on my bonus.I agree with what most others have said. We have our issues, just like any other family. I feel like the value of a dollar isn't lost on us.However, I laughed when you said J Crew and Ralph Lauren. I doubt my wife would touch that stuff. I've learned over the years (ever since we had our first windfall year) that you can find much, much more expensive that J Crew and Ralph Lauren. Head to nieman-marcus to get you started. It goes up from there. She tends to do most of her shopping in nyc boutiques now, even though we live on the west coast. I will admit, the clothes are usually not only expensive, but they fit extremely well and are very high quality. That being said, I doubt I would bother to shop so carefully if I was single.
yessir wrote:
I house sat for a family last summer- dad was president of a large university, mom was a doctor. They had their fair share of issues just like any family does- logistical issues of who's bringing the kids to piano practice and finding a baby sitter so they can go to dinner. This was not unlike any other family I've known.
The largest different I saw between them and "normal" people is that when it came down to buying things- whether cars, appliances, food, clothes, school supplies, basically anything, they bought the best of the best. They could afford to do that. They had several nice cars, shopped for all their groceries at a very expensive organic store, and did their school shopping at J crew and Ralph Lauren. Their kids attended the best private school in the area, and they went on nice vacations to exclusive places in the summer when dad had time to do so.
One major downfall of this was that dad was hardly around because of his work. It sometimes seemed like they were always aware that Dad makes all this money for us but is it really worth it if he's never here?
This all being said they were the NICEST people in the world, they donated a lot of money, the mom organized a lot of fund raisers, they were always very nice to me and very fair, they had a lot of friends and a very full life...although I'm not sure if I would want to live like they did. Cool to see how the "other side" lives.
I might be able to believe that 90 percent of people making 500k per year can do the job of someone who makes 50k per year, but not the other way round.
I could also believe that 10 percent of people making 50k per year could learn to do the 500k per year job. Any higher percentage than that, and you are delusional. People who make that kind of money are very skilled and/or very ambitious. Cry all you want, but it's true.
They are usually very skilled at talking BS. How many of those highly skilled directors do you see driving profits of a company down only to get paid off and then land another directors roles somewhere else.
Being an American and brainwashed with capitalism would you ever really be able to admit anyone was overpaid
You should cry as you don't trust your own ability. Me I just consider them lucky
I would think differently if they had set up their own company from scratch
whatever911 wrote:
However, I laughed when you said J Crew and Ralph Lauren. I doubt my wife would touch that stuff. I've learned over the years (ever since we had our first windfall year) that you can find much, much more expensive that J Crew and Ralph Lauren. Head to nieman-marcus to get you started. It goes up from there. She tends to do most of her shopping in nyc boutiques now, even though we live on the west coast. I will admit, the clothes are usually not only expensive, but they fit extremely well and are very high quality. That being said, I doubt I would bother to shop so carefully if I was single.
yessir wrote:I house sat for a family last summer- dad was president of a large university, mom was a doctor. They had their fair share of issues just like any family does- logistical issues of who's bringing the kids to piano practice and finding a baby sitter so they can go to dinner. This was not unlike any other family I've known.
The largest different I saw between them and "normal" people is that when it came down to buying things- whether cars, appliances, food, clothes, school supplies, basically anything, they bought the best of the best. They could afford to do that. They had several nice cars, shopped for all their groceries at a very expensive organic store, and did their school shopping at J crew and Ralph Lauren. Their kids attended the best private school in the area, and they went on nice vacations to exclusive places in the summer when dad had time to do so.
One major downfall of this was that dad was hardly around because of his work. It sometimes seemed like they were always aware that Dad makes all this money for us but is it really worth it if he's never here?
This all being said they were the NICEST people in the world, they donated a lot of money, the mom organized a lot of fund raisers, they were always very nice to me and very fair, they had a lot of friends and a very full life...although I'm not sure if I would want to live like they did. Cool to see how the "other side" lives.
Oh yeah,I agree with you. I just meant that when their elementary school age son needed a shirt or a pair of shoes, they would go to J Crew or RL for it- most people would head to JC Penney. She had Louis Vuitton bags, Chanel clothing, every type of designer shoe you could ask for...she knew where to shop, that's for sure.
Basically, I meant their equivalent of JC Penney or Sears is J Crew or Ralph Lauren, and don't look at price tags- just buy it.
My mother does. She can to the US at 11 without being able to speak a word of English in the aftermath of the Korean war. My grandfather worked as a maintenance man before eventually getting an engineering degree from Dartmouth. Her family placed a great deal of emphasis on hard work and education which is why she holds and MBA and an MD and why my uncle is a surgeon, my aunt went to Yale and got an MBA from either Harvard or Yale, and my other aunt went to Penn law. They worked very hard to get where they are. Sure they don't have to worry about some of the more mundane things in life like being able to make a car payment, but none of my relatives live lavishly though one aunt in particular could. My mom's car has 130,000 miles on it, my dads 250,000. They live in a nice but not overly lavish house. They invest aggressively and spend generously on mine and my brother's education. No nannies, no maids, no gardeners, no spending beyond their means, no debt.
Also, most people have a grossly overinflated perception of what doctors make. My mother does well, but she is also in one of the highest paying fields. An average Pediatrician makes ~150k, internal medicine 200k, general surgeon 300k. Not to say 150k is nothing, but this is after 4 years of college, 4 years of medical school, and 3 years of residency (5 years in the surgeons case which is a VERY grueling training program) none of which pay except for the residency where you'd make about the same as waiting tables for the hours you put in. Most do it because they love their job and helping people, not for the money. Sure there are the ortho guys, plastic surgeons, and neuro guys who can make a great deal more, but they are the exception rather than the norm.
DocLove wrote:
They are usually very skilled at talking BS. How many of those highly skilled directors do you see driving profits of a company down only to get paid off and then land another directors roles somewhere else.
Being an American and brainwashed with capitalism would you ever really be able to admit anyone was overpaid
You should cry as you don't trust your own ability. Me I just consider them lucky
I would think differently if they had set up their own company from scratch
You're an idiot. In the USA you get paid for what you know, or what you can do. The market will do the rest. Why don't teacher's make much money? It's because just about anyone can do it. Same with waiters, truck drivers, etc..
Sure there's a degree of luck, but usually the harder you work and the smarter you are, the "luckier" you get.
Oh please. Property taxes in this country are extremely tame. Years ago there was effectively a property tax revolt and the property owners go their way.
financially astute wrote:
thanks for the insight ryan, for some silly reason i thought that Mansion+LuxuryVacationHome(s)+Yacht= property taxes up the wazoo but obviously i have no idea. thank you for enlightening us all that the wealthy do not pay over 95% of the income taxes in this country- oh wait, nevermind.
ryan foreman wrote:If you have a huge mansion, a couple luxury vacation homes, a yacht,.....Thats why it is a lot of BS when you hear that the "rich" pay a lot of taxes....
My Dad was making $800,000 for a few years in a row but I don't think it lasted forever. And his brother was making about $1 million per year in salary. One was in advertising and the other was the president of a major weapons corporation. They didn't come from money. Just hardworking, lucky, baby boomers.
otis wrote:
Knower of People wrote:I probably know at least 500 people personally who make over $500K per year.
No, you don't.
Wow, I don't think I actually know 500 people.
The richest guy I know was a poor farmer. After WWII, when the Interstate highway system was first being built, the gov't decided to put two bisecting highways (that is to say one north/south, the other east/west) right through his farm. They didn't want any trouble so they gave him a fairly large sum of money. Of course what they really gave him was a large tract of real estate sitting on the intersection of two Interstate highways. He subsequently developed the land, became a local real estate mogul. As the area went from a collection of tiny hick towns to a large metropolitan area over the next sixty years he became phenomenally wealthy.
'Why don't teacher's make much money? It's because just about anyone can do it.'
No, it's because there is no profit in it. I doubt you would make a good teacher by the way
By the way have you ever heard of the credit crunch. A lot of very well paid people didn't see that coming.
DocLove wrote:
By the way have you ever heard of the credit crunch. A lot of very well paid people didn't see that coming.
Didn't see it or didn't want to see it coming?
It was incredibly obvious to all who chose to look that banks wouldn't be able to indefinitely loan money to people who weren't going to pay it back.
People just didn't want the party to end.
maked?