Yeah, when my son got a job and moved out - I was instantly wealthy.
OKay, well actually I've never been wealthy but am very happy to have had a modest but comfortable life situation my entire life so far. I have an older car but it runs. I have a small house, but it's cheap to heat up in winter. I'm not into high fashion or world travel, so I don't feel cheated.
'Deserve' is what you are chased out of a torch-bearing village for having the best wife, fastest canoe, thickest hair, sharpest arrowheads and fattest belly.
I have the best husband, a very fast car, incredibly thick hair, an amazing gun or two, and i'm a bit overweight. Oh yeah, and the mormons chased me out of their village.
Once again, i'm wealthy beyond my wildest imagination and didn't know it.
ElderCarrion Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- >Have you ever been very wealthy?
Define "very". If you mean Bill Gates or Warren Buffet level, no. If you mean close to the upper income tax bracket, yes.
> How did great wealth affect your mood, attitude > and perception of others less blessed?
I'll take it over hand-to-mouth/no assets any day. There is more stress and more work to create the income and manage said, but it is a net positive by a long shot.
It didn't change my perception of others. I want to help, and have as best as I could, those in dire straights. I've always (both when poor and when not) given to charity that directly helps folks out. However, the lazy and stupid, I couldn't care less about.
> How did you get wealth?
I was born into a large family that was below the poverty line by a good margin. Then I made the mistake of marrying young (thank you church!) to real piece of work that resulted in me losing everything and being stuck with a huge amount of debt.
But I worked very hard, studied, saved, invested, planned, and toughed it out. I'm a working professional and so is my spouse, so we do well.
I consider my wealth as sufficient if I can support my family on my salary, preferably without my wife needing to work, but there would be no shame in her using her education to help support our family if it were needed, particularly once the children are no longer babies.
But seriously wealthy? No. My wife's parents are loaded, though, so one day our family net worth may be what some would be considered in the "wealthy" category.It will be interesting to see if it changes us. I think wife is a bit complacent in knowing that we have a safety net, but she has a legitimate chronic illness (cystic fibrosis) so I guess I can understand her not being all that fired up anymore about leaving the house every day to work. Every respiratory infection she picks up probably shortens her life span slightly.
I wish..., no actually being second generation American on my father's side, and seeing my parents work very hard and have their share of disappointments as immigrants uniquely experience. And myself working very hard for very little. Grinding poverty has been the story of my life. There is also the depression mentality that has been past down in my family that it's a sin to spend money and you should feel guilty for buying anything. money is meant to be horded.
Was Anyone else inadvertently instilled with this fear?
poopstone Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > There is also the depression mentality that has > been past down in my family that it's a sin to > spend money and you should feel guilty for buying > anything. money is meant to be horded. > > Was Anyone else inadvertently instilled with this > fear?
Oh, yah. My grandparents all survived the Great Depression. Some did OK, others were full on "Grapes of Wrath" level poor. So the notion of hording the greenbacks and feeling guilty about spending *anything* was very much part of my upbringing. It wasn't until very recently that I've lightened up about spending some on fun stuff and, even then, still feel a twinge of guilt. That said, I think there is a healthy medium. I still prefer to err on the side of saving and investing, but, heck, you got to have some fun as we only get one go around on this little blue marble.
I was told long ago that as a good faithfull member of the church, one should not seek after riches like nice cars, boats or expensive vacations. That money should be earmarked for more worthy things like a temple fund, missionary expenses and of course tithing. I have all of those things now,so guess what I am? Not a member anymore!
We inherited some family money which allowed us to pay off many nagging bills completely, which was wonderful. We did a lot of attractive work on our house.
We got nice bikes and decent (not ostentatious) clothes for the kids.
We made some good investments.
And, dream of a lifetime, I was able to spend two months rattling around Europe. I wanted to wait until my slightly younger husband was retired too and go with me, but he refused. He said if I went alone, I could afford to see twice as many places (which was true), and if we waited until he retired, you never knew what health issues might come up in the meantime. He was also right about that.
Besides that, he had never had the lifelong, gut-wrenching desire I'd always had to visit Europe. I loved every second of it.
I had a ratty old car that I was able to replace with a nice new van that comfortably contained our sizeable family.
So, our wealth didn't last for all that long, but oh, my goodness - it was sweet while it lasted!
I felt it was official in my case when I became an accredited investor. That was a few years ago and my personal net worth has roughly tripled since then.
However, I occasionally hang out with some of the real wealthy people (the 1% of the 1%) and feel like I am nearly destitute in comparison with their numbers.
People will give different advice about wealth. It does not bring happiness, so they say. I would disagree. Money brings security. Money brings freedom. I work because I choose to work, not because I have to.
deco Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > It does not bring happiness, so they say. I would > disagree. Money brings security. Money brings > freedom.
Wealthy is not the same as "high income". Wealth is about *assets* and *net worth*, not *income*. If you want to be wealthy, spend less than you make and put money into savings each month. Make the law of compounding interest work in your favor, not against it.
I recognize this is easier said than done, and haven't done particularly well at following the advice myself. I have a respectable income, but my "wealth" is questionable because my most valuable financial asset is a house that is still worth less than what I borrowed to buy it at the height of the real estate market. (Now that I'm not paying 10% of gross income to the lahrd, things are looking up for me.)
How did I get my "respectable income"? I worked hard in high school academics and was accepted to a high-ranking university (not BYU) and got a degree in Computer Science. Since then, it's been a mix of hard work, good luck, and taking charge of my own career. (I change employers every few years, rather than waiting to get a big raise.)
Not great wealth, but I have been completely debt free. My household income was around $140,000 in an area where average household incomes were $55,000. My modest house was paid off and worth $200,000 where average house prices were $250,000. I had two highschool-age kids. I had about $350,000 in retirement accounts and $40,000 in saving/checking. My wife and I both worked. I did not pay tithing. I felt very free with money to contribute to causes as I saw fit. All combined contributions totaled, I did not contribute anywhere near 10% even of my net income. Just being honest.
Net wealth has continued to grow. However, I sold my old house and took out a relatively small mortgage (I put more than 50% down on the house) on a "new" house, which we anticipate paying off within a few years. With the mortgage, j definitely feel more constrained with money, even though it is a tiny percentage of my net income.
I would be considered wealthy and in a pretty high income bracket, enough that we paid off a $340,000 townhouse in two years without scrimping and saving. But we worked damn hard to get there. We are both in our early thirties and we both came from average middle class families. We both have multiple engineering degrees and business degrees and both own our own successful companies. Mine made it onto the stock exchange last year and is doing well. We both started our companies from nothing at home.
We have no kids and have both worked in excess of 100 hour weeks to get to where we are for years with the goal of retiring by 45 without having to worry about money again. I would be really upset if people looked down on us for our success when it sure didn't come easy.
Be careful about early retirement. A friend of mine retired in his late 40s, and then the great recession happened (on top of a divorce.) It wrecked havoc with his retirement plans.
Our personal money saved for retirement is not invested. It is only building at 1% guaranteed a year, on a year by year basis. We also have a prenup that has been amended multiple times where we each are our own person with our own finances that the other can't touch. Our only joint holding is our home, which is not worth very much compared to the rest. It may not be romantic, but it is secure. We are careful.
Your retirement years can be long, however. My mom had a long retirement and her savings were seriously depleted by the end of it. She went through an inflationary period along with the "crash" of '87 and a couple of bubble-bursts. The unexpected can and will happen. Just a warning.
We were doing OK until 2008. Didn't get burned to the extent many in the US did but lost enough to put a crimp into our retirement plans. That being said, we're OK....just need to be careful with our spending. Living here with our government funded healthcare is a great comfort as we get further into geezerdom and the inherent health challenges that presents.
I'm in the 1% (both net worth and income) for my age bracket, and my household is in the 2% for income.
'Deserve' doesn't have anything to do with wealth. That's a moral argument divorced from reality; one man may perceive another's wealth as being deserved where another does not, but that doesn't make the man in question any more or less wealthy.
My wife and I both work, are fairly young, and we don't carry any debt besides a mortgage payment -- no student loan debt, no vehicle debt, etc. We minimize superfluous spending. I run my own consultancy in addition to a full time job while she manages our investment properties.
We've worked very hard to be where we're at. I grew up in a poverty-line household for most of my childhood; she had 6 siblings and working-class parents. We both worked crap jobs before and during college to pay our own way.
So, to get wealthy: -- Work hard -- Spend wisely -- Set goals -- Constantly review your priorities