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Why So Many Rich People Don’t Feel Very Rich

economix.blogs.nytimes.com

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Re: Why So Many Rich People Don’t Feel Very Rich

#81

Post by fingerprinter »

I can sum this up for me and my family (fyi...we live quite meekly):

We don't feel "rich" because if something catastrophic happens (one of us loses our job, major health problem, really bad turn in economy again) we are not insulated despite all of our savings for the rest of our lives. We have, perhaps, 2-4 years ability to stave of bankruptcy and the lot. That number is different for everyone, but the "rich" don't think about that, ever. They are set and will always be set unless _THEY_ do something stupid with their money.

Bottom line: I am not rich because I am not in control of the rest of my life still. I am dependent on the system and the people who actually control the system still. "rich" and "money" have always been about freedom to me. Because I am not truly free, I am not rich.

Make sense?

Re: Why So Many Rich People Don’t Feel Very Rich

#82

Post by stevenbedrick »

_delirium wrote: post #19
jellicle wrote: post #10

It's simple. Make $100K, live near people making $90K = rich. Make $100K, live near people making $110K = poor.

I definitely noticed this in grad school. For a few years, I had a $30k fellowship, when the normal stipend, which all my friends made (and which I made the other years) was around $20k. I felt like I had more money than I could reasonably spend, saved about $5k of the excess, and splurged about $5k on what seemed to me to be luxury items, like fancy beer and trips. From my perspective I was, if not wealthy, at least…

Yup, this hits the nail on the head. I was in the same situation- I lucked out into a very nice fellowship whose stipend the first four years of grad school started out one or two kilobucks higher than the standard level, and (amazingly, for a grad school stipend) went up a little bit each year. By the end, I was almost at $30k, and felt like a millionaire compared to friends who were on the school's standard stipend scale. Of course, during the fifth year, for various reasons, the fellowship's funding agency adjusted their stipend scale, at which point I discovered that there is a very real difference between making $25k and $30k. Even better, my funding ran out entirely a few months ago, so the last four or five months of my PhD have involved living off of my savings from the previous five years and the odd bit of consulting income.

Let this be a lesson to other grad students out there: save like heck, 'cause you never know when there's going to be a gap in your funding, or a change in its level.

Re: Why So Many Rich People Don’t Feel Very Rich

#83

Post by kscaldef »

narrator wrote: post #28

The reality of this phenomenon is that people who have done everything "perfectly" in their life and academic career feel a bit cheated when their income tops out in between 100k and 200k. They might be senior engineers or doctors or lawyers but they've hit this brick wall as far as income, sometimes in their 30s and yet there are all these people out there that make more than 10x or even 100x their annual income. No…

> and yet there are all these people out there that make more than 10x or even 100x their annual income

Where by "all these people" we mean an extremely small fraction of the population. If I think about things honestly, I'm paid more than almost everyone I interact with regularly. Many of these people aren't lazy or stupid or dropout or what-have-you. They also went to good schools and got good grades and are excellent at what they do; but it turns out that the "brick wall" in their field is a fraction of what it is in the tech industry. So, yes, I know a few people making more than I do, mostly in jobs I don't want to do, with working hours I wouldn't tolerate; but I'm not feeling too sorry for myself.

Re: Why So Many Rich People Don’t Feel Very Rich

#84

Post by dev_jim »

roc wrote: post #49
Alex3917 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The article points out an annual income of $172,000 as being rich, but by implication, these people still have to work for their money." I think the real issue is that someone making 300,000 probably doesn't have much more disposable income than someone making 80,000. Whatever extra money they have is likely just going to a slightly nicer house, their IRA, dental insurance, a slightly better preschool for their kids…

> "someone making 300,000 probably doesn't have much more disposable income than someone making 80,000" I don't think that's borne out by the stats. As I recall fixed costs essentially flat-line as a percentage of income somewhere south of 200k, up until you reach the "don't look at prices anymore" brackets. Also, I note that it really doesn't take much more disposable income to add flashy consumption. Five thousand…

> Five thousand dollars is easily two annual trips to Hawaii

Have to nitpick here. $5k is one average Hawaii vacation for a couple. It costs almost $2k just to fly out there.

Re: Why So Many Rich People Don’t Feel Very Rich

#85

Post by wallflower »

narrator wrote: post #28

The reality of this phenomenon is that people who have done everything "perfectly" in their life and academic career feel a bit cheated when their income tops out in between 100k and 200k. They might be senior engineers or doctors or lawyers but they've hit this brick wall as far as income, sometimes in their 30s and yet there are all these people out there that make more than 10x or even 100x their annual income. No…

> About one in five of us is retired. About two-thirds of us who are working are self-employed. Interestingly, self-employed people make up less than 20 percent of the workers in America but account for two-thirds of the millionaires. Also, three out of four of us who are self-employed consider ourselves to be entrepreneurs. Most of the others are self-employed professionals, such as doctors and accountants.

Many of the types of businesses we are in could be classified as dull-normal. We are welding contractors, auctioneers, rice farmers, owners of mobile-home parks, pest controllers, coin and stamp dealers, and paving contractors.

"The Millionaire Next Door"

http://www.bookbrowse.com/excerpts/index.cfm?book_number=242...

Re: Why So Many Rich People Don’t Feel Very Rich

#86

Post by [deleted] »

narrator wrote: post #28

The reality of this phenomenon is that people who have done everything "perfectly" in their life and academic career feel a bit cheated when their income tops out in between 100k and 200k. They might be senior engineers or doctors or lawyers but they've hit this brick wall as far as income, sometimes in their 30s and yet there are all these people out there that make more than 10x or even 100x their annual income. No…

[deleted]

Re: Why So Many Rich People Don’t Feel Very Rich

#89

Post by dockd »

narrator wrote: post #28

The reality of this phenomenon is that people who have done everything "perfectly" in their life and academic career feel a bit cheated when their income tops out in between 100k and 200k. They might be senior engineers or doctors or lawyers but they've hit this brick wall as far as income, sometimes in their 30s and yet there are all these people out there that make more than 10x or even 100x their annual income. No…

Be in sales. This will have some overlap with your other ways.

Re: Why So Many Rich People Don’t Feel Very Rich

#90

Post by LiveTheDream »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #61
narrator wrote: post #28

The reality of this phenomenon is that people who have done everything "perfectly" in their life and academic career feel a bit cheated when their income tops out in between 100k and 200k. They might be senior engineers or doctors or lawyers but they've hit this brick wall as far as income, sometimes in their 30s and yet there are all these people out there that make more than 10x or even 100x their annual income. No…

5. Become a top developer at a big software company. (A variation on 3. You probably won't earn $100 million, but you could definitely earn $1 million. ) 6. Become a top performer in entertainment (music, sports, movies). A fun fact ignored by most people: it isn't just CEO pay that has skyrocketed over the years. Alex Rodrieguez gets $33 million/year, at his peak Babe Ruth got (inflation adjusted) $1.1 million.

    5. Become a top developer at a big software company.
    (A variation on 3. You probably won't earn $100 million, but you could definitely earn $1 million. )
Do you mean $1 million/year as a software developer? Details, please!

    6. Become a top performer in entertainment (music, sports, movies).
    A fun fact ignored by most people: it isn't just CEO pay that has skyrocketed over the years. Alex Rodrieguez gets $33 million/year, at his peak Babe Ruth got (inflation adjusted) $1.1 million.
See the "superstar effect" http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2039498
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