Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Economics > Investing
 [Register]
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.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 09-22-2018, 01:19 PM
 
Location: San Antonio
3,536 posts, read 12,294,772 times
Reputation: 6037

Advertisements

This is tough question for me because I have a guaranteed non-contributory retirement. I have a few hundred thousand in actual assets, but not anything close to 1 million. But, if you count my retirement, I have around $2,000,000. That is, assuming I live to an average age. I don't really know if that's how it works, but to the question of have I reached $1M.... maybe? Kinda. (late 30s)
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 09-22-2018, 02:04 PM
 
Location: The analog world
17,077 posts, read 13,295,483 times
Reputation: 22904
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Zero View Post
We have many friends that have likely met that mark, but we didn't share it with them either. When we hit it, I told my wife. Besides her, I think the only other people we explicitly shared it with were my parents. They made a lot of sacrifices for me and my siblings, and I think they took some comfort (and probably some pride) in knowing how much it all paid off. They knew we were doing well since we had already been helping with a lot of the finances, but that number was still a nice milestone to share with them.
It's interesting to me that you feel comfortable sharing that kind of information with family members. Nobody outside of my spouse, me, and our financial advisor knows the extent of our assets. Not even our children. It's none of their business.

We live a middle class lifestyle. All they know is that we own an average house in a nice(ish) neighborhood, drive older cars, take the occasional vacation, and put away money for the kids to attend college. Everything else we keep close to the chest.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-22-2018, 02:53 PM
 
Location: NY/LA
4,646 posts, read 4,520,529 times
Reputation: 4116
Quote:
Originally Posted by randomparent View Post
It's interesting to me that you feel comfortable sharing that kind of information with family members. Nobody outside of my spouse, me, and our financial advisor knows the extent of our assets. Not even our children. It's none of their business.

We live a middle class lifestyle. All they know is that we own an average house in a nice(ish) neighborhood, drive older cars, take the occasional vacation, and put away money for the kids to attend college. Everything else we keep close to the chest.
My parents were always pretty open about their own finances. My dad was an accountant for one of NYC's many public sector organizations, so it was pretty much a middle-class upbringing. And when we bought a car (when I was probably in fourth grade), we talked about car loans (and why they paid in cash). When they saved up enough to buy a rental property, we talked about why they took out a mortgage and about the rental income. We talked about delayed gratification, opportunity costs, setting goals and making plans.

For me, I think it helped to have those discussions in the context of actual numbers and decisions my parents were making.

Last edited by Mr. Zero; 09-22-2018 at 03:09 PM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-22-2018, 03:04 PM
 
6,844 posts, read 3,928,890 times
Reputation: 15854
Never did, never will. But once you have more than you need it is just a number on a statement.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-23-2018, 09:16 AM
 
Location: NJ
31,771 posts, read 40,545,884 times
Reputation: 24590
Quote:
Originally Posted by randomparent View Post
It's interesting to me that you feel comfortable sharing that kind of information with family members. Nobody outside of my spouse, me, and our financial advisor knows the extent of our assets. Not even our children. It's none of their business.

We live a middle class lifestyle. All they know is that we own an average house in a nice(ish) neighborhood, drive older cars, take the occasional vacation, and put away money for the kids to attend college. Everything else we keep close to the chest.
when my children are old enough, i intend to share with them exactly how much i have and exactly what i plan to do with it. i feel it will help them learn how to manage money and also eliminate any questions about my plans for myself and them. i would like for them to see themselves as part of a team and let me help them make sound financial decisions.

nobody right now knows exactly what i have. my wife has full ability to see everything but she doesnt really care (as long as she knows its plenty). id like to teach her some basics in case something happens to me but she has no interest. me and my brother work together so we are able to be very open with each other. its nice to have someone to talk openly with, most people would see it as bragging probably. i disclose things here also. i feel like others may find certain things interesting and i like being able to say things that i cant say in person.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-23-2018, 03:55 PM
 
Location: Wooster, Ohio
4,088 posts, read 2,979,337 times
Reputation: 7205
I became a millionaire in the summer of 2013. I do not remember when I became a millionaire not counting the house, or when I had $1 million in investments. Sometime between then and now.

The Millionaire Next Door said that the average millionaire was 57, with 3 children and the wife he originally married. The average annual income was $130,000. Dual Income No Kids (DINK) should have an advantage. If kids are as expensive as some people say, singles with no children should also fare well. The fact that these groups do not tells me there is a mindset correlated with building wealth.

I have often wondered why I was able to become a millionaire right on target at the age of 57, despite being single, and only earning half of the average millionaire's income. I have to assume it was because I share the millionaires' values, not the values of my peers.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-23-2018, 06:47 PM
 
748 posts, read 817,310 times
Reputation: 697
Thinking about having $1M is extremely limiting if you ask me.

It's a lot of money.

But if you have a business, it can grow in value from say $1M to $5M almost overnight. It's hard to get to that $1M, but once you hit it, it can quickly become a distant memory. And $5M can turn into $25M just as quick. And so on and so forth. Money, especially large amounts generated though leveraged business operations, can snowball quickly.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-23-2018, 09:36 PM
 
6,570 posts, read 4,213,875 times
Reputation: 7012
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Zero View Post
My parents were always pretty open about their own finances. My dad was an accountant for one of NYC's many public sector organizations, so it was pretty much a middle-class upbringing. And when we bought a car (when I was probably in fourth grade), we talked about car loans (and why they paid in cash). When they saved up enough to buy a rental property, we talked about why they took out a mortgage and about the rental income. We talked about delayed gratification, opportunity costs, setting goals and making plans.

For me, I think it helped to have those discussions in the context of actual numbers and decisions my parents were making.
I think your parents did a great thing by discussing financial issues with you. More of us need to do this sort of thing with our children.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-24-2018, 03:05 AM
 
106,091 posts, read 108,054,666 times
Reputation: 79659
our kids don't know our exact worth but they have a general feeling because we always discuss business with them . one son is a partner in our real estate venture so he gets what we get in the sales of the real estate .

they also read the articles in money magazine and fidelity investment magazine about us so it is out there regardless .
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-24-2018, 04:20 AM
 
1,767 posts, read 1,735,009 times
Reputation: 1439
I like what CaptainNJ said- "when my children are old enough, i intend to share with them exactly how much i have and exactly what i plan to do with it. i feel it will help them learn how to manage money and also eliminate any questions about my plans for myself and them."


My father is (still working) a financial advisor for wealthy and some ultra wealthy clients. He has been in the business almost 50 years but I cannot remember once my father discussing even basic finance let alone investing with a proper asset allocation. I always knew my father made a good living but he was always frugal, living in a middle class neighborhood, driving basic cars- no luxuries etc. Given my upbringing it only is on par for the course I have no idea of what his estate planning looks like or even if he has chosen a POA in the event he becomes incapacitated.


I learned a lot from my depression era Grandparents plus reading, reading & reading more on the subject. Obviously, most of us feel this is also common sense but there are millions of people who just don't get it. Good for your CaptainNJ for taking a lot of the guess work out of it and hopefully saved your children some time on creating a plan for themselves.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
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.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Economics > Investing

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top