What he HELL does everyone do in OC to make money? (Sacramento: colleges, salaries)

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by LuvSouthOC

Nothing wrong with that!

Oh good, the only Ferrari I can afford is a 1/16 scale model.

[LuvSouthOC]

Originally Posted by expatCA

Oh good, the only Ferrari I can afford is a 1/16 scale model.

I won't admit or deny having a model F430.

In Germany and the UK, you see Maclarens around. I love those and saw one in Laguna Niguel recently and nearly fainted when I saw it. I started pointing it out (to eye rolls and lack of interest by my passenger) and exclaimed, WOW!

[CaliRestoration]

Originally Posted by adr3naline

Oh man, Newport was already enough of a drive for me.

If you do go, you may want to show up with a car other than the 355. CD is full of haters that might be out for ya.

You're right. Maybe I'll just go in my truck. I've got a lot of fans on this website.

[CaliRestoration]

Originally Posted by SOON2BNSURPRISE

Interesting read this thread.

I have friends that have some beautiful cars. Three classic cars that they take to car shows. The wife drives a big Escalade and has a 5 series BMW. No exotics of any kind. They also have two beautiful Harley's. I always thought that they owned their home, a 1960's era home similar to my house. Turns out that they rent their home even though they own all these cars and have plenty of toys.

My wife and I own a 2011 Honda Accord and a 2003 Chevy Astro Van. Both are paid for. We fund our 403B accounts and save money each month. We are paying down our mortgage at a faster rate. Nothing seems wealthy about our lifestyle. Just a regular blue collar lifestyle. Our home is worth somewhere around $525,000 and that is only based on what homes are going for in the neighborhood. Most of the homes are similar in our neighborhood and all the lots are the same size. Kind of easy to get about what the homes are worth. If we were to sell our home and ended up with $250,000 we would be worth a million easy. Of course we would need to buy another home somewhere else. Either way we have a nicely funded retirement account so far, but still far from where we want it to be. I don't normally count the value of the home, although I know some people do count home value.

I don't feel like a millionaire at all. We are just living a lower middle class lifestyle in Oxnard, CA.

It is interesting to see so many people in cars that i would love to own. I did have a Porsche before we owned our home. Sold it to pay down bills. We prefer no bills now.

That's the SMART way to do it. You won't be broke EVER with that mentality. I wish more people thought about their finances like you, especially in $30,000'er Southern California.

I think nice cars are for people who can buy them, and not ever worry about what it cost to maintain them. People who have the type of mentality to spend more than 20% of their take home W2 pay on a leased sports car will always be short on cash, and never increase their wealth.

[dl4060]

Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia

There IS a lot of money here but there's also a lot of people pretending to be richer than they are. A huge percentage of those luxury cars you see are leased or were purchased with cash from a home equity loan. It's not uncommon to see 20-somethings living with mom and dad while driving a $50k car. As for the homes, a lot of people rode the boom up and traded up every couple of years while the banks didn't care to investigate their ability to repay.

This. There are lots of people who have made money here, and lots of professionals, but many people are not as wealthy as they appear to be. Also, many people live in normal looking homes that cost lots of money. These people will often have very expensive cars which look out of place next to a normal 2400 square foot home. But remember, that 2400 square foot home might well cost 1.7 million. In a normal part of the country 1.7 million will buy you a mansion where an 80k car won't look out of place.

[taimaishu]

Originally Posted by dl4060

This. There are lots of people who have made money here, and lots of professionals, but many people are not as wealthy as they appear to be. Also, many people live in normal looking homes that cost lots of money. These people will often have very expensive cars which look out of place next to a normal 2400 square foot home. But remember, that 2400 square foot home might well cost 1.7 million. In a normal part of the country 1.7 million will buy you a mansion where an 80k car won't look out of place.

People who are "rich" do in fact lease their cars since they don't plan on owning the same car that gets played out after 3 years and want to drive a new model after the lease.

Poor people Finance, Rich people lease or buy out cash.

[Jamesdeen]

Originally Posted by atlantaharlem

No wonder that county can be real "inferior"

what

[dl4060]

Originally Posted by taimaishu

People who are "rich" do in fact lease their cars since they don't plan on owning the same car that gets played out after 3 years and want to drive a new model after the lease.

Poor people Finance, Rich people lease or buy out cash.

Some rich people lease, but many of the people in OC in 80k cars are leasing because they can't afford to buy. I see that far more often around here. When you get to the 300k level for a car that is a bit different.

[Bert_from_back_East]

While there are many successful physicians, attorneys and business owners/entrepreneurs in Orange County, there are many more high-yielding professionals who work in healthcare administration, consulting, project management, sales and account management, finance and wealth management, real estate and insurance who earn just as much money, if not more.

[LuvSouthOC]

Originally Posted by Bert_from_back_East

While there are many successful physicians, attorneys and business owners/entrepreneurs in Orange County, there are many more high-yielding professionals who work in healthcare administration, consulting, project management, sales and account management, finance and wealth management, real estate and insurance who earn just as much money, if not more.

Speaking only for my community, it is a mix of highly paid professionals, and increasingly, business owners. There are many physicians but attorneys are a dime-a-dozen.