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What is it like to be poor at an Ivy League school? (2015)
81–90 of 102 posts
Re: What is it like to be poor at an Ivy League school? (2015)
#82I can relate. I did not go to an Ivy League (though, maybe I should have at least applied). I grew up poor and outside of town. No school activities, ever. I could barely get rides to AP exams and SATs. I had a kid at 15. I would steal food from the cafeteria and sell it cheaper to other students so I could afford to eat that night. I believed my only way out of poverty was a college degree. I worked my ass off over…
> I did miss out on something that I wish I would have been told more explicitly: university is not just about an education, it is about networking. I got zero networking done. I got the degree and got out. Because of my lack of networking, I believe my career was slower to build.
Strange, when did you go to college? When I first arrived in college in 2012 the commonly held knowledge among students was that "while the education you'll learn here is important, but the chance you have to grow in the 4 years as a person and network with others is priority #1"
Re: What is it like to be poor at an Ivy League school? (2015)
#83Even being a poor grad student at an Ivy feels like this. The undergrads are wealthy and the grad students cherish every dollar of their ~$30k salary while still sometimes do side work to get by since city's have rents set for the higher income undergrads. There was some resentment we had for our students to say the least.
This article suggests that schools are taking an interesting step to avoid such resentment: White appreciates, for example, that Harvard gives low-income students free tickets to the freshman formal, but they have to pick up the tickets in a different line from everyone else. “It’s clear who is getting free/reduced tickets and who isn’t,” he says... This seems like it might be an effective strategy. Take the people w…
Meh, I usually agree with your comments, but in this case the resentment is towards people who have a lot of money and haven't earned it (not that they're bad people, they've simply been dealt a good starting hand).
Re: What is it like to be poor at an Ivy League school? (2015)
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
I worked near a 'nice' high school whose parking lot was filled with BMW's. Which is not really 'rich' but dual income in that area often meant 300+k family income by the time kids where in high school. Economically this meant a 5 year old car that might have been 50k new was not really unusual. In many ways the gap between 30k / year and 300k/year is larger than the gap between 300k / year and 3 million per year. PS…
Considering the median salary in the USA is $51939, which is the equivalent of 5.1% return on $1M cash, I would say the plenty of people who consider that more than "upper middle class" are correct.
5.1% return above average but still reasonable. However, inflation is ~2.5 - 3%. So, unless your spending principle that's 21k/year ignoring taxes. Also, many people get discounts on health insurance and other benefits that don't apply.
Sure, you can burn down your principle based on life expectancy. But that's only really useful if your old. At 40 even 1% in your first year will probably cause you to run out of money.
Re: What is it like to be poor at an Ivy League school? (2015)
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
Considering the median salary in the USA is $51939, which is the equivalent of 5.1% return on $1M cash, I would say the plenty of people who consider that more than "upper middle class" are correct.
5.1% return above average but still reasonable. However, inflation is ~2.5 - 3%. So, unless your spending principle that's 21k/year ignoring taxes. Also, many people get discounts on health insurance and other benefits that don't apply. Sure, you can burn down your principle based on life expectancy. But that's only really useful if your old. At 40 even 1% in your first year will probably cause you to run out of mone…
Long term returns on the S&P 500 have averaged ~7% real returns including dividends. In personal finance there's a "4% Rule" which is supposed to be your target annual withdrawal if you're living off the money as a retiree. The 3% spread allows for market crashes, long periods of stagnancy in returns and a small increase in living standards as you age, however, if you're young I do agree a smaller 2-3% withdrawal level is appropriate.
source: http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/042415/what-average-...
Re: What is it like to be poor at an Ivy League school? (2015)
#86I can relate to this, though my situation is a little weirder than most. My parents were immigrants and we were very poor when I was younger. They became doctors sometime around middle school, so we effectively shifted up to upper-middle class. Our quality of life changed in a few ways - didn't have to think about the cost of healthcare or school. But we also didn't start buying fancy clothes, cars, or food. My paren…
Your story is another fantastic example of how social class is culture, and that money alone isn't enough to advance from one social class to the next, you have to be able to put on the performance of the higher class as well, which is something you simply have to learn.
I highly recommend this piece about social class in the US: http://siderea.livejournal.com/1260265.html?format=light
Re: What is it like to be poor at an Ivy League school? (2015)
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
5.1% return above average but still reasonable. However, inflation is ~2.5 - 3%. So, unless your spending principle that's 21k/year ignoring taxes. Also, many people get discounts on health insurance and other benefits that don't apply. Sure, you can burn down your principle based on life expectancy. But that's only really useful if your old. At 40 even 1% in your first year will probably cause you to run out of mone…
Long term returns on the S&P 500 have averaged ~7% real returns including dividends. In personal finance there's a "4% Rule" which is supposed to be your target annual withdrawal if you're living off the money as a retiree. The 3% spread allows for market crashes, long periods of stagnancy in returns and a small increase in living standards as you age, however, if you're young I do agree a smaller 2-3% withdrawal lev…
Good point, though the S&P has not averaged 7% annual returns if you consider reverse cost dollar averaging. There where two decades when the S&P went negative in real terms including dividend reinvestment. It's actually tricky to find what percentage you could take out every year from 1950 to now and have the same amount adjusted for inflation at the end, and that's assuming things don't get worse.
Basically, you take out a lower percentage of your money on good years than bad. Further, you need to take taxes out to cover inflation. Aka, you pay taxes on 7% even if your real return was only 4%.
PS: There is a reason many institutions are ok with a very steady 3.5% ROI there is a lot of risk going for more.
Re: What is it like to be poor at an Ivy League school? (2015)
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
5.1% return above average but still reasonable. However, inflation is ~2.5 - 3%. So, unless your spending principle that's 21k/year ignoring taxes. Also, many people get discounts on health insurance and other benefits that don't apply. Sure, you can burn down your principle based on life expectancy. But that's only really useful if your old. At 40 even 1% in your first year will probably cause you to run out of mone…
Long term returns on the S&P 500 have averaged ~7% real returns including dividends. In personal finance there's a "4% Rule" which is supposed to be your target annual withdrawal if you're living off the money as a retiree. The 3% spread allows for market crashes, long periods of stagnancy in returns and a small increase in living standards as you age, however, if you're young I do agree a smaller 2-3% withdrawal lev…
You're not putting 100% of your portfolio in equities if you're living off its cash flow [1]. ZIRP means your fixed income can flow is weak. Things to consider when allocating as a retiree.
[1] imo it's okay to do this while you're in the workforce since you're salary effectively acts as your fixed income portion of the portfolio.
Re: What is it like to be poor at an Ivy League school? (2015)
#89I can relate. I did not go to an Ivy League (though, maybe I should have at least applied). I grew up poor and outside of town. No school activities, ever. I could barely get rides to AP exams and SATs. I had a kid at 15. I would steal food from the cafeteria and sell it cheaper to other students so I could afford to eat that night. I believed my only way out of poverty was a college degree. I worked my ass off over…
> I did miss out on something that I wish I would have been told more explicitly: university is not just about an education, it is about networking. I got zero networking done. I got the degree and got out. Because of my lack of networking, I believe my career was slower to build. Strange, when did you go to college? When I first arrived in college in 2012 the commonly held knowledge among students was that "while th…
I started way back in 2001 :) I'm sure they mentioned something about networking, but I think it may not have been as explicitly told to me as I required at the time.
Re: What is it like to be poor at an Ivy League school? (2015)
#90I can relate to this, though my situation is a little weirder than most. My parents were immigrants and we were very poor when I was younger. They became doctors sometime around middle school, so we effectively shifted up to upper-middle class. Our quality of life changed in a few ways - didn't have to think about the cost of healthcare or school. But we also didn't start buying fancy clothes, cars, or food. My paren…
What's your definition of rich white people? Just curious. AFAIK I've never met any "rich white people" of the type portrayed in nearly every Hollywood movie about school (high school or collage). I'm not saying they don't exist just that I haven't met any so I'm wondering if maybe I did and didn't know it. I certainly didn't met any kids in high school that had any kind of money to flash (a fancy car or other expens…
Tbh, my definition would be based less on fact than feeling. I lived in Brooklyn, and not terribly nice area of Brooklyn, so to me, "rich white people" were the ones who lived in nice apartments in Manhattan, or in really nice neighborhoods in Brooklyn. So I'd doubt all of their parents made more than 1mil/year, but I'm sure some did. If I had to ballpark, they probably made ~500k/year on average.
> I certainly didn't met any kids in high school that had any kind of money to flash (a fancy car or other expensive things to show off).
I've never met anyone that's similar to Hollywood movie characters. I'm not sure they really "flashed" their money, but it was clear they had access to nice things. Their clothes were definitely nicer, their parents would take them out to plays and expensive dinners.
It's possible this is the case because I grew up in NYC as opposed to the suburbs. The stereotypical "rich white person" in New York is exorbitantly rich. Maybe I'm just referring to those who were upper-middle class