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Although money does not buy happiness, it does exempt you from many stresses that are caused by not having enough money. If you are poor and not happy, I'm not surprised. If you are rich (meaning you no longer have to work to survive) and are not happy, then you can afford to get counseling and fix those psychological glitches.
Although I would not even want to live an affluent lifestyle, I really would be much happier if I didn't have to worry that my spouse and I worked our whole lives and yet (thanks to the housing collapse, taxes and near-zero interest on our savings) will never be able to retire or even have some time off to enjoy our lives before we die. Both our jobs require obscene work hours and allow almost no vacation time off. Instead of things getting better, they continue to get worse, with taxes and cost of living surging ahead of flat wages and higher and higher copays for "benefits."
If I had it all to do over again, and the choice was to live the way we do (with the income that tax officials like to label as "rich" but no corresponding high-end lifestyle) or just work sporadically and be "poor" but free to live our lives--then I'd take the latter. No question.
I can totally relate to this sentiment because years ago when Reaganomics reared it's first debut and the deck was solidly stacked against ordinary people, it made me look hard at the carrot and stick routine I was obliging myself to participate in as term and condition of civilization.
I could have left USA, but I decided to stick around and fight for my country. I took my money elsewhere and am leading a sensible life in WV outside the fray of commercialism, mazes of complex rules/regs, and communities torn asunder as collateral damage via political warfare inflicting themselves upon the masses.
In our younger days, we struggled, won't lie about that. And did not really know how to save back then, it was wanting something like right now.
As you get older, and realize the value of a dollar, is when things changed for us, and as my Husband any myself started making decent money. I did many things on the side, started my own craft business from the house, we made vintage lamps and sold them, did very good at that. Husband did vending on the side, we always did something in relation to also have a full time job.
I realize now, that i don't have to have something like right now, although now i can have it right now, but something has changed. Because i now can, does not really seem to matter, trying to make a point, don't quite know what the point is! Well poster above don't believe what you want about CD members, you don't own 3 homes at one time, without having some smarts and money. We live in one we just remodled it is a 4,000 plus sq foot single level home. Rent the 2 others out, which does help quite a bit. Worked hard for this O.C. Home. But then again, money is not everything, and i do realize this. They do say that money is the root to all evil, take a look at our politicians and we know this to be true.
Can you imagine how unhappy they would be if they were 10 mil in the hole
My old college roommate retired at 55 from a company that went from being a one-horse sawmill in Oregon to a major wood products manufacturer. He was with them for the ride and became one of the national managers. His stock had increased over the years so that he was a wealthy man.
He bought a 7,000 square foot house on 17 acres with a lake, renovated it, built a field kitchen and bath house by the lake, had a 2,500 square foot workshop with his woodworking tools, travelled extensively, and had six automobiles for he and his wife.
two years ago he bought land and invested in developing it for a business. He got caught out and overextended, and lost almost everything he owned. I would guess that this year alone he lost over two million dollars.
He is not happy about the losses, and he is in the market for a job again.
The one thing I noticed about him the last time I saw him was that he had anything he wanted for the effort of pointing his finger, but he was never able to enjoy what he had. He always was looking for the next acquisition, the next toy, the next whatever. The things he already owned held little interest for him.
So, you may be correct. He certainly was not happy with it, and he is not happy without it.
Most millionaires do not live like millionaires. There is a good book called "The Millionaire next Door". You should read it. The ones who have it are not the ones who spend it.
Location: Jonquil City (aka Smyrna) Georgia- by Atlanta
16,259 posts, read 24,761,129 times
Reputation: 3587
Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidTrader101
Hello,
In this country, if you had a choice would you rather be poor, middle class, upper middle class, or rich?
Or to put it differently, would you rather be a poor person in a low income neighborhood, an ordinary middle class person, a middle class person with some affluence in an upper middle class neighborhood, or a millionaire in a mansion?
Of these four levels of society, which one do you think is best for you and which one do you think is most fulfilling?
Location: Jonquil City (aka Smyrna) Georgia- by Atlanta
16,259 posts, read 24,761,129 times
Reputation: 3587
Quote:
Originally Posted by cuebald
My old college roommate retired at 55 from a company that went from being a one-horse sawmill in Oregon to a major wood products manufacturer. He was with them for the ride and became one of the national managers. His stock had increased over the years so that he was a wealthy man.
He bought a 7,000 square foot house on 17 acres with a lake, renovated it, built a field kitchen and bath house by the lake, had a 2,500 square foot workshop with his woodworking tools, travelled extensively, and had six automobiles for he and his wife.
two years ago he bought land and invested in developing it for a business. He got caught out and overextended, and lost almost everything he owned. I would guess that this year alone he lost over two million dollars.
He is not happy about the losses, and he is in the market for a job again.
The one thing I noticed about him the last time I saw him was that he had anything he wanted for the effort of pointing his finger, but he was never able to enjoy what he had. He always was looking for the next acquisition, the next toy, the next whatever. The things he already owned held little interest for him.
So, you may be correct. He certainly was not happy with it, and he is not happy without it.
Most millionaires do not live like millionaires. There is a good book called "The Millionaire next Door". You should read it. The ones who have it are not the ones who spend it.
The only thing in life worse than not having anything is to have it and lose it. I agree about the spending. If I became rich today- like if we hit the lottery in the lotto group at work- I would make changes but my house is not one of them. If it is too big for me to clean myself, I don't need it and the HOA community pools are fine with me. Honestly, there are only 2 things I would do that the rest of neighbours probably cannot do- quit my full time job and devote my time to civic projects AND, yes I have always wanted a Corvette and I would finally get to have one! I might open a business too but not until I did a lot of study on it first.
My old college roommate retired at 55 from a company that went from being a one-horse sawmill in Oregon to a major wood products manufacturer. He was with them for the ride and became one of the national managers. His stock had increased over the years so that he was a wealthy man.
He bought a 7,000 square foot house on 17 acres with a lake, renovated it, built a field kitchen and bath house by the lake, had a 2,500 square foot workshop with his woodworking tools, travelled extensively, and had six automobiles for he and his wife.
two years ago he bought land and invested in developing it for a business. He got caught out and overextended, and lost almost everything he owned. I would guess that this year alone he lost over two million dollars.
He is not happy about the losses, and he is in the market for a job again.
The one thing I noticed about him the last time I saw him was that he had anything he wanted for the effort of pointing his finger, but he was never able to enjoy what he had. He always was looking for the next acquisition, the next toy, the next whatever. The things he already owned held little interest for him.
So, you may be correct. He certainly was not happy with it, and he is not happy without it.
Most millionaires do not live like millionaires. There is a good book called "The Millionaire next Door". You should read it. The ones who have it are not the ones who spend it.
Interesting story. I love your last paragraph because it's true! I think of my parents who are rich and live a very frugal life. (which is good for me ) They drive a 4 year old mini-van and a 10yr old Chevy truck. The two things they spend chunks of money on are travel and philanthropy.
In this country, if you had a choice would you rather be poor, middle class, upper middle class, or rich?
Or to put it differently, would you rather be a poor person in a low income neighborhood, an ordinary middle class person, a middle class person with some affluence in an upper middle class neighborhood, or a millionaire in a mansion?
Of these four levels of society, which one do you think is best for you and which one do you think is most fulfilling?
Thanks,
And what responsibilty has each taken here if they wanted to be more than poor?
For instance, the wealthy work ungodly long hours at productive lucrative things. What choices have those wanting to be wealthy made and how hard have they worked to become the hated class of Democrats everywhere?
Originally Posted by allenk893 Stop lying Sanspeur!! I don't believe you!! What is a millionaire doing on City-Data?!!
Do I detect the smell of sour grapes? I'm willing to bet that there are many CD members with a net worth in excess of a paltry million bucks...It really doesn't take all that much...If you own your home, have managed your finances sensibly enough to be debt free, have some savings, a pension plan, a few investments, or own a business as I do. Bear in mind that it often take years to reach that point, and I have spent those years... A big plus is that I do no longer have a wife out squandering my hard earned money....
Not everything that counts can be counted; and not everything that can be counted counts. Albert Einstein
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Poor and honest.
