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Old 07-24-2015, 12:23 AM
 
Location: Mid-Atlantic
32,846 posts, read 36,153,303 times
Reputation: 43630

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Quote:
Originally Posted by stan4 View Post
I think it's strange to wander around thinking that anyone who has more than you owes you something.
I do think about that in the middle of the night once in a while when I can't sleep.

In the middle of the night...
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Old 08-30-2015, 07:32 PM
 
Location: western USA
675 posts, read 642,070 times
Reputation: 745
Quote:
Originally Posted by Serious Conversation View Post
I know a handful of people who have done well for themselves, and whether young or old, are worth at least a couple million. All of those people seemed to stop talking with their former friends when they got wealthy, and instead tried to ingratiate themselves with high society.

Do you know people who do this? Would you do it?
Quote:
Originally Posted by dmills View Post
I don't think it is a matter of abandoning friends as much as it is having less in common. The friends have less ability to afford the lifestyle of the more affluent person. It presents an awkward dynamic in the relationship for everyone and I think they just end up spending less time together by default. Liz really no different than people who get married and then spend less time with their single friends. It's not that they think they're too good to hang out with the singles, but they just have different things in common.
Very interesting OP question, and great response here.

I am disabled, and a son of a Vietnam vet. So therefore, I get government assistance. It's not the lifestyle I love, but it is what it is.

I live in a condo in the city, and use public transit rather than a car. However, I have grown up, and remain, an aviation and car buff. That said, lately, I've spent lots of time in dreamland thinking about my dream lifestyle, which would include living at an airpark, which is where everybody has a home and garage for their cars, and a hangar for a personal airplane (or more).

So, as far as cars, one would be a 2015 Ford F-150 for tools and such. And my daily driver (or my other one, anyway) might be a 2013 Subaru Outback. In my hangar would be both a Cessna 172 and a HondaJet. I like Very Light Jets quite a bit.

The sum of all this would run into the millions, but not in a John Travolta, Boeing 707 at the house sort of way. It's millions that is used for fun, not to flaunt.

However, that said, airparks are often gated, and I'd likely become quite friendly with these likeminded neighbors who love to fly. So, yes, I do feel like my circle of friends would change. Not out of my own inflated sense of self, but a sense of commonality and convenience.

Friends come and go, and commonality is a huge cause of it.
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Old 08-30-2015, 09:33 PM
 
Location: So Cal
52,007 posts, read 52,457,444 times
Reputation: 52520
I wouldn't change anything personally, I make pretty decent money and have done fairly well in life, but I still cling to my blue collar background, it's just who I am.... nothing to do with self esteem issues, I just find blue collar middle class types to be my peeps, I just find the uber wealthy to be a little stuffy for my liking and maybe I'm generalizing who knows, but long story short, I prefer the working man aka the Bruce Springsteen crowd to be where I'm from....... I don't need to social climb, I find no use in that, it serves no purpose for me personally....
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Old 08-31-2015, 06:59 AM
 
Location: Nashville, TN -
9,588 posts, read 5,816,424 times
Reputation: 11116
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marc Paolella View Post
Please, no silly observations such as babies, retards, and cripples. No I don't want to kill them or marginalize them. I am talking normal adults here, and most of us can think of lazy relatives and friends and the contempt that usually accrues to them. Laziness is an awful quality in a person and something to be reversed. Earning money accomplishes that, and usually means that you are useful, engaged, and have value.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rugrats2001 View Post
I simply cannot imagine a real estate professional who is will to refer to people as "retards" and "cripples" while posting under their real name. I guess it takes all kinds.
Exactly, rugrats.

That anyone would refer to people as "retards" and "cripples" is vulgar enough. But for a (supposedly) educated "professional" in an "upscale" community to speak that way only reflects, quite frankly, the mindset and breeding of the Nouveaux Riches that the (blue blood) super wealthy have always found repellent. I come from a very middle-class background, but I can empathize with the super wealthy on this front. People with real money and real power feel no need to talk about money; for them, to draw attention to their wealth and their "value" is highly distasteful. Good manners and diplomatic skills are essential in their world, to which the New Rich will never truly belong. That will not ever change.

It's an overused expression, but a true one: money does not buy (social) class. No matter how desperately some ambitious, enterprising little movers and shakers wish it were so.

Last edited by newdixiegirl; 08-31-2015 at 08:14 AM..
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Old 08-31-2015, 07:00 AM
 
Location: Nashville, TN -
9,588 posts, read 5,816,424 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lilac110 View Post
Yep.

And then there's the difference between wealthy and high society. Wealthy is 200K a year. High society is Astors, Rockefellers, and Vanderbilts. And that you just have to be born into. Bill Gates can't buy his way onto their lists.
This.
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Old 08-31-2015, 07:04 AM
 
Location: Nashville, TN -
9,588 posts, read 5,816,424 times
Reputation: 11116
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marc Paolella View Post
Imagine it. The PC thought police have not gotten to all of us yet. There are still a few of us floating around who believe in the Law of Identity. A thing is what it is. A cripple is someone who is crippled. A retard is someone who is retarded. Changing words does not change reality. And I do not subscribe to the principle that "if we don't use ugly words, than we won't have ugliness".

And besides, if we don't have people like me, you won't know how obsequious you've become.
I see. I didn't know that being respectful and tactful is now considered PC and/or obsequious. My bad.
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Old 08-31-2015, 10:22 PM
 
Location: Louisville KY
4,857 posts, read 5,797,171 times
Reputation: 4341
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vasily View Post
A friend won a million in the lottery and the next day people at work were asking me why he was still working.

Someone who wins two million after taxes and invests it all, and draws down 4% annually will receive about $80,000 annually over 30 years(not adjusted for inflation). That's a comfortable middle class income but it's not what I'd call "wealthy".

If you're talking about five million ($200,000 annual income), then you're getting into wealthy territory in my book. But that's me. Following article is interesting -- the definition of "rich" changes with a person's income:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/17/up...abt=0002&abg=1
Personally; I think it daft to quit ones job just because they come in to a large amount of money. I would also try and live below my means.
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Old 08-31-2015, 10:41 PM
 
Location: Louisville KY
4,857 posts, read 5,797,171 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lovetheduns View Post
I would still maintain my friendships because I value them but I can see where the dynamic could change.

I am upper middle class in my area meaning I am in the 160k range. My life is also more "rich" in the sense that I travel frequently for work so most of my expenses are reimbursable (put it this way I am usually eating on someone else's dime most of the month) and I rack up tons of miles and hotel points which translates into pretty nice vacations. When I am not traveling I work from home and usually don't put in a 40 hour week the weeks I am home. So it is a very different lifestyle than most of my friends even now.

It makes some activities just different in the sense if a friend wants to go on vacation together, then I am just no longer going to stay in a dive. I am also usually not going to share a room (I am single). Not to say I don't make adjustments. I have a friend that I am going to the caribbean this year with-- she had a much lower budget than me and I am sharing a room with her, but it is a big room with an extra living room - a junior suite of sorts. We got it to fit in her budget. I am not fired up with the idea of all inclusive resort (usually the food isn't that great) but I love my friend to death and I view this trip as just some time to spend with her to celebrate one of her big life events.

But-- I have limits, I am not going to forego my first class airfare to sit in coach with her. *lol*
I understand how cool it is to do stuff like that, and I hope one day- if what I have planned comes together- I can have as such. I just don't see constantly spending more money because I make more of it. If I were doing something with friends, I figure humbling myself is 't a bad thing. All of that sounds hoity toity, I wouldn't want to be away from my friends, if all they coukd afford waz a hostel, then so be it, and I wouldn't let my friend fly alone, we'd either both fly coach, or 1st class on my coin. I have more loyalty than that to friends that's been good to me these years.
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Old 08-31-2015, 10:55 PM
 
Location: Louisville KY
4,857 posts, read 5,797,171 times
Reputation: 4341
Quote:
Originally Posted by snowtired14 View Post
So, what are we talking? A few million, tens of millions? For people around me, they'd never see the difference, I don't like McMansions, I don't want a high profile car, I'm not a boat person, I'm kind of an introvert so not a shmoozer and the social scene isn't for me. I'm naturally frugal, so frivolous spending, whether I have it or not, would be against my nature. My friends are my friends, not someone interested in me only because I have money. For those who remember, think Beverly Hillbillies.
Thiz here; I don't really like to show off, and I know most of my friends wouldn't ask me for anything, and or surprised if I do do something for them. They rarely ask me for anything, and usually get me back. I generally have more money than most do. What I would do if I had this perverbial millions, is help them get to where I'm at, or at least out of poverty. I would like to build my own sub division. Most of the things I like to do are normal middle class stuff, anyway. I'd rather build up a car, than buy some Lexus.
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Old 09-01-2015, 04:01 AM
 
Location: Lexington, Kentucky
14,709 posts, read 8,034,142 times
Reputation: 25005
I have never thought of anyone as "little people" or thought of people as something more because they had money...people are people.
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