What he HELL does everyone do in OC to make money? (Los Angeles: condo, mortgages)

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by bhcompy

Your stereotypes are for a small portion of people. Just like the stereotypes of French being snooty and unwelcoming to foreigners and Italians being greasy guidos(granted I am a pretty greasy Italian). It's easy to paint a wide brush when you're not the one that's targeted by the crap you're spewing

The only ones I'm spewing on here would be Americans, of which I'm one. I'm particularly fond of Italians (the ones in Italy).

[naniekso]

Originally Posted by Charles

That's a great way to throw away $2.5M in retirement savings. If you bought a $20K car instead and stuck the other $40K in a mutual fund earning 10% a year, that $40K jumps to $2.5M by the time you are 64 years old.

don't forget inflation.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by naniekso

don't forget inflation.

Inflation is irrelevant. The $40K grows to $2.5M at 10% in forty something years whether inflation is 1% or 70%.

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by Charles

Inflation is irrelevant. The $40K grows to $2.5M at 10% in forty something years whether inflation is 1% or 70%.

It's not irrelevant. It determines how much purchasing power tht $2.5M will have in forty something years. If in the unlikely event it were 10% a year, that $2.5M would only buy what the $40K would today. If 70%, quite a bit less.

[Socalpal]

Originally Posted by SV808

Wealth is measured by net worth, not income. Many wealthy people have no income whatsoever. The IRS figures reveal that OC/LA is even below Detroit when it comes to % of high net worth individuals. You wouldn't know that by observing the behavior in OC.

In any case, if we want to measure it by per capita income (from 2009):

1. Teton County, Wyo., $132,728
2. New York, NY $120,790
3. Loving County, Texas, $99,593
4. Pitkin County, Colo., $93,465
5. Marin County, Calif., $91,483
6. Fairfield County, Conn., $81,576
7. Westchester County, N.Y., $74,878
8. San Mateo County, Calif., $71,753
9. Morris County, N.J., $71,713
10. San Francisco, Calif. $71,342
11. Somerset County, N.J., $70,949
12. Alexandria, Va., $70,632
13. Arlington County, Va., $68,270
14. Fairfax County, Va. (includes Fairfax City and Falls Church), $67,909
15. Montgomery County, Md., $67,525
16. Bergen County, N.J., $67,125
17. Hunterdon County, N.J., $66,449
18. Sully County, S.D., $64,352
19. Blaine, Idaho, $64,207
20. Collier County, Fla., $63,276
..
OC is no 58. at $58,820.

Per capita income, top 5% income, high net worth household per IRS always put NY/SF/DC at the top. As you see, we have a few very diverse counties on this list. I Don't know about NY, but people in SF and DC frown upon flash.

This is a ridiculous list.......

None of those counties has close to the amount of population that Orange County has....Orange County has 3 Million + people. Apples to Apples please.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

It's not irrelevant.

It is irrelevant. Nowhere in my post did I address purchasing power. The post simply described the mathematics of compound growth.

"Originally Posted by Charles
That's a great way to throw away $2.5M in retirement savings. If you bought a $20K car instead and stuck the other $40K in a mutual fund earning 10% a year, that $40K jumps to $2.5M by the time you are 64 years old."

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

It determines how much purchasing power tht $2.5M will have in forty something years. If in the unlikely event it were 10% a year, that $2.5M would only buy what the $40K would today. If 70%, quite a bit less.

This is 100% correct however it is irrelevant to my post. I made no mention of purchasing power. All I did was describe the mathematics of compound growth.

If inflation is 1% per year for 40 years and the $40K is is invested at 10% for 40 years it grows to around $2.5M.

If inflation is 100% per year for 40 years and the $40K is is invested at 10% for 40 years it also grows to around $2.5M.

Inflation is irrelevant. Inflation does not enter the equation of the compound growth.

[dantheman420]

I have lived in San Juan Capistrano (the crappy part right next to the train tracks) and the nice side (East of I-5) with my grandparents. I have also lived in Laguna Hills, Mission Viejo, Anaheim, Santa Ana, Garden Grove, Fountain Valley, and Stanton and I would not consider me or my family wealthy. I grew up in poverty with rich people all around me. Not everyone in the OC is rich. I do agree that it has a huge disparity from one end of the county to another (or sometimes one side of the tracks to the other).

I was born in OC in 1978 and I remember the I-5 being a small orange grove lined highway. All of my family (except for my mom) have left OC for other parts of California or different states all together. I am talking about my grandparents on both sides of the family, uncles, cousins, etc. Everyone left when OC became a land for millionaires only. I moved up to Portland Oregon in 2007 when my rent on my crappy 2 bedroom apartment in Fountain Valley went to over $1600 a month. I got a much nicer apartment in Portland for less than half of the rent I was paying in Fountain Valley.

So I have no idea what people in OC do for a living, but my guess is a lot of them are "old money" that want to live in a perfect weather "paradise". To me it never was paradise; everyone was always in a hurry, the smog and water are gross, people are extremely rude, etc.

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by dantheman420

I moved up to Portland Oregon in 2007 when my rent on my crappy 2 bedroom apartment in Fountain Valley went to over $1600 a month.

Where in FV did you live?

[Vinsanity]

It appears to me that it's simply a matter of jealousy with the OP. My family moved here 20 years ago as a lower-middle class household in an upper-middle class neighborhood, and I've never questioned how the rich kids are able to afford their toys. And in spite of being a few income brackets below the community median, it never appeared to me that everyone, or even the vast majority, were super-wealthy like the OP describes. I guess I'm just too focused on my own success and goals to worry about anyone else.

[mrwumpus]

It isn't just jealousy. A number of the so-called OC rich road the housing bubble wave to greedily misuse their houses as ATMs rather than responsibly paying down their loans. Now many of them are in default but living rent- and mortgage-free when they should be out on the street or struggling to pay rent on crappy little condos down here in reality.

Thanks in part to people like that and the greedy rich bankers who thrived on them and priced the rest of us out of the housing market, you and your children (and probably grandchildren) will be burdened with taxes and bailouts to pay for their sins.