Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
You would be surprised how many people you know that have been in the same home 15 years or more and keep the same cars for 10 years or more have a net worth in excess of a million. ...Many people with high net worth appear to not be doing very well financially to those that spend it all trying to "keep up with the joneses" because they perceive not having new cars, etc. as not being able to afford them.
Very true and perceptive. My husband and I once had a friend ask us very kindly if we were "doing all right." That perplexed us until we realized she was offering to help us out financially if we needed it. Then we were embarrassed. We drive old cars and our house is small and a little shabby, but we probably have more net worth than she does.
i have always driven nice cars because i like cars . i was never in to the big house thing . in fact we rent .
but we invest elsewhere and we enjoy whatever money we can spend
i have always driven nice cars because i like cars . i was never in to the big house thing . in fact we rent .
but we invest elsewhere and we enjoy whatever money we can spend
As long as the number one priority is long-term security and stability, it's hard to challenge any others.
As adamant as I am about increasing consumer sensibility and resistance to fostered consumption, I consider reasonable luxuries and extras to be as essential as some minimalist set of living expenses. Life without pleasures is only worth living for a small segment that gets pleasure from their frugalism.
But it has to be considered, and proportional, and not impact long-term financial health. We splurged a little on nice cars... and then are still driving the last set over ten years later. And I have a summer car that never fails to get Ooooohs when I open the garage... but it's appreciated 30% and is an asset for sale.
That's why Rule #5 is "Enjoy Life. (You shouldn't have to be told that.)"
We once employed a whole passel of them. We owned a successful and profitable (human services) company and made an exceptional income from it... and lived pretty modestly, in a sprawling older ranch house I continually upgraded with my own sweat and skills. It housed up to eight of us in comfort. (We sold it in two weeks, just under asking, at the bottom of the housing/mortgage crisis.)
We had a tier of senior employees, mostly early 30s and married... who all bought lavish, sprawling hillside houses in the hottest developing areas around us. These were educated professionals, sometimes four or five degrees to a couple, and they spent 4-6 times our home cost to have these showplace homes... while childless or having no more than one toddler to use that 4500sf. Some of these houses were almost hilariously empty of furniture; a completely bare bedroom or three was common.
I don't know for certain what happened to them all after we closed the company; all had good job offers elsewhere. But I'd bet all of them got flattened by the recession and the likely crush of short-term adjustable/balloon mortgages, I'd wager some are still seriously upside-down in their houses, and that none of them can stretch much further than a paycheck or two.
Us? We now each own our own houses and have comfortable or better assets... having laughed ourselves sick at being pre-qualified for a $2.1M mortgage just before the bubble burst.
Same circumstances. Same opportunities (with some scaling). Completely different outcomes because of simple financial judgment.
Pretty sure your exceptional income over the time you owned a company contributed more heavily to you landing on your feet when you closed it than your selection of a modest home. How long did this exceptional income last? I'd have to guess it was way longer and way more exceptional than what you paid your employees. The superior financial judgment you had is based on being older, having a higher income over a longer period of time, and buying a cheaper house. Really only the last can be attributed to financial judgment, the rest are not.
And props on how you admit you have no clue what became of them when your company failed and then go on to speculate on the doom and gloom your former employees are experiencing. For all you know, they could have taken losing their jobs and parleyed it into better jobs and are now making exceptional incomes of their own. So they too can fail in the future, land on their feet and pat themselves on the back about their superior financial judgment.
Pretty sure your exceptional income over the time you owned a company contributed...
Not as much as you might think. These were not the 100+ field workers (who made good but not exceptional wages), these were the 5-6 senior directors. In their 5-10 years with us, they could have easily hit the plateau of financial independence. We just hit it a little earlier and more securely, and in large part due to different choices in RE purchase.
Quote:
And props on how you admit you have no clue what became of them...
I assume my then-wife, now-ex knows exactly where they are etc. I merely ran the business end of the company, a modest corner compared to operations, which was in a field completely outside my expertise. So my lack of knowing their fates is because I was never all that close to them as employees; they were just nice couples at the Xmas and summer parties to me.
But I knew how much they made (and in overall compensation we took very good care of our employees, even the part-time hourly ones; we routinely poached the best from competing firms) and I could guess (when not told) how much their houses cost, and overall the odds of most of them taking a huge financial hit in 2008 were pretty high.
This home is located on a lake that is extremely low due to issues with the dam. Those issues will not be resolved for years. There are several homes like that, some quite a bit larger, in that general area along the lake.
It is fairly centrally located to all three of the Tri-Cities and several prominent business people live there. Before the issues with the dam, it was a lovely lake. The owners will not get anywhere near asking, but if you are affluent and plan to be in there for a decade or more, it's probably worth a look.
We once employed a whole passel of them. We owned a successful and profitable (human services) company and made an exceptional income from it... and lived pretty modestly, in a sprawling older ranch house I continually upgraded with my own sweat and skills. It housed up to eight of us in comfort. (We sold it in two weeks, just under asking, at the bottom of the housing/mortgage crisis.)
We had a tier of senior employees, mostly early 30s and married... who all bought lavish, sprawling hillside houses in the hottest developing areas around us. These were educated professionals, sometimes four or five degrees to a couple, and they spent 4-6 times our home cost to have these showplace homes... while childless or having no more than one toddler to use that 4500sf. Some of these houses were almost hilariously empty of furniture; a completely bare bedroom or three was common.
I don't know for certain what happened to them all after we closed the company; all had good job offers elsewhere. But I'd bet all of them got flattened by the recession and the likely crush of short-term adjustable/balloon mortgages, I'd wager some are still seriously upside-down in their houses, and that none of them can stretch much further than a paycheck or two.
Us? We now each own our own houses and have comfortable or better assets... having laughed ourselves sick at being pre-qualified for a $2.1M mortgage just before the bubble burst.
Same circumstances. Same opportunities (with some scaling). Completely different outcomes because of simple financial judgment.
Sounds like a coworker of mine. Masters degree, CPA. Husband has a Masters and has a high-paying job. At 35, they're on their 4th home, each of which were custom built, with every upgrade imaginable. They've each purchased 2 brand new luxury vehicles in the 5 years I've worked with my coworker. They eat out almost every meal. She talks about the huge TV's they have, still in boxes, because they don't have time to hook them up. They take 3-4 "staycations" a year, at local luxury resorts, so their 2 kids can swim while they unwind. When they do go out of town, her husband refuses to drive, even if it's a 2 hour trip. If it's a fairly long trek, they upgrade to 1st class.
They have almost no retirement savings, and she's already talking about moving because she heard of a better school that her kids could go to if they lived a few blocks over.
Apparently, a Masters in Accounting doesn't mean you know how to actually manage your money.....
Apparently, a Masters in Accounting doesn't mean you know how to actually manage your money.....
Nor a degree in Econ, in my experience. But hey, you should frame that and sell it on Etsy.
These were smart, smart people - my wife would not hire anyone who couldn't keep up with her, and that was a high bar. But as financially dumb as a kid with his first $100 birthday check.
This home is located on a lake that is extremely low due to issues with the dam. Those issues will not be resolved for years.
You misspelled "centuries." You're welcome.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
