Post: #1

Quote:The money-news site The Billfold recently ran an interview with an anonymous physician who earns $570,000 a year and says, “I know that technically I am in the 1%, but I don’t feel rich at all.” He went on to explain how he owns a home worth nearly $1 million, three cars, a couple of investment properties, and a chunk of a profitable healthcare company yet still frets that he doesn’t have enough. “I don’t feel secure,” he said. “Before I had a job, the six-figure mark was a goal for everyone. And now I’ve hit the half-million dollar mark. I don’t know if I’d feel rich if I ever met the seven-figure mark.”

Commenters howled, of course, deriding the discontented doc’s self-indulgence and making many predictable observations about materialism run amok. “It’s emblematic of the insane level of lifestyle creep that allows someone who makes $500k+ a year to feel not rich,” wrote one reader, reflecting the sentiment of many others.

The anonymous doc, whom the site dubbed “Jake Smith,” acknowledged his own materialistic impulses. “There is a palpable pressure to keep up with the Joneses,” he said of the social demands in his affluent community, which is in the suburbs of a sizeable eastern city, according to Logan Sachon of The Billfold. Yet he also showed a degree of restraint, making do, for instance, with a 7-year-old Lexus when many of his neighbors drive brand-new Range Rovers. That doesn’t exactly generate sympathy but it shows more self-awareness than the wealthy — or caricatures of the wealthy — are typically known for.

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-excha...00130.html

Woe is me.

Post: #2

Goes to show that lifestyle > money.

Post: #3

Yea when I make that money there will be no keeping up with the joneses.

I am the Joneses!

Post: #4

These idiots (let's use the doc as an example) who easily make enough to feed a small village of hungry people look at people like Bill Gates and Carlos Slim who make billions and feel the need to compare themselves. Even if they were somehow able to upgrade themselves into producing billions they would most likely still complain. This is proof that money can't buy happiness and in many cases actually causes more problems if not administered properly.

Post: #5

I'm playing the world's smallest violin for the doc, but $550,000 really aint rich, its confortable, especially if a doctor working long hours. A millionare businessman obviously works long hours, but he had the advantage of building sweat equity in his business.

Plus, ever met an alpha doctor?

Something tells me that question will start a flame war

Post: #6

Its all relative. Im making a very solid income of 120-140k. Compared to almost all my friends, Im making it rain. Now that I moved I have some friends making 500k-1m a year. Its got me scrambling to find other sources of income.

In a way its a good thing to be inspired and challenged, which having rich friends can culture. At the same time, im very happy though, even if I was making this amount the rest of my life. Having a wife and kids though, forget it. Ill bet this dudes wife spends a good deal of the money.

Post: #7

My dad is the same in that he doesn't think of himself as rich. $500k a year is nothing compared to the big dogs. That said, he knows he is comfortable and worked his ass off to get there.

Post: #8

(05-22-2013 05:33 PM)_DC_ Wrote:  Ill bet this dudes wife spends a good deal of the money.

Exactly. Its is coincidence that the two women involved in the David Petraeus scandal were both married to doctors?

Post: #9

(05-22-2013 04:41 PM)jariel Wrote:  The money-news site The Billfold recently ran an interview with an anonymous physician who earns $570,000 a year and says, “I know that technically I am in the 1%, but I don’t feel rich at all.” He went on to explain how he owns a home worth nearly $1 million, three cars, a couple of investment properties, and a chunk of a profitable healthcare company yet still frets that he doesn’t have enough. “I don’t feel secure,” he said. “Before I had a job, the six-figure mark was a goal for everyone. And now I’ve hit the half-million dollar mark. I don’t know if I’d feel rich if I ever met the seven-figure mark.”

Tough luck bro.



On a more serious note, this is evidence of a lifestyle/perspective issue. $570,000 can only leave you feeling "insecure" when your lifestyle expectations are out of whack. If you keep things in perspective and tame the materialism (ex: maybe give up the second or third home in the Hamptons?), you should feel very secure indeed with that kind of cash.

Credit to the guy for at least taming his materialism when it came to the car.

(05-22-2013 05:27 PM)Exactaking Wrote:  I'm playing the world's smallest violin for the doc, but $550,000 really aint rich, its confortable, especially if a doctor working long hours. A millionare businessman obviously works long hours, but he had the advantage of building sweat equity in his business.

$550,000 isn't "rich"? What exactly is "rich"?

With an income of $570,000, you are making more than 99.9% of people on Earth. I mean that literally-of the planet's 7 Billion+ citizens, you're outearning all but 983,000 of them. In the USA (arguably the wealthiest country on Earth), you're out-earning over 99% of people. Your chances of becoming what is considered a "High Net Worth Individual" at some point are very good with an income that high, assuming you can manage it properly and keep your expenses in check. Very few people can say this.

How high exactly must one go to be considered "rich"?

Post: #10

(05-22-2013 05:42 PM)Athlone McGinnis Wrote:  On a more serious note, this is evidence of a lifestyle/perspective issue. $570,000 can only leave you feeling "insecure" when your lifestyle expectations are out of whack. If you keep things in perspective and tame the materialism (ex: maybe give up the second or third home in the Hamptons?), you should feel very secure indeed with that kind of cash.

Credit to the guy for at least taming his materialism when it came to the car.

That's exactly the point. People like this are delusional and envision themselves as a part of some kind of celebrity culture that only exists in American media and not in the real world. No one "needs" four fancy cars or a vacation home in an expensive summer destination.

I know people (myself included) that aren't making nearly what this guy is, but you can have a nice apartment, whatever kind of food you like all the time, go out drinking and partying all the time, and generally do whatever the fuck you want on a much smaller salary, with enough saved up in the bank "to feel secure" just in case shit happens. These people need to turn off their fucking televisions and step out of the Dockers commercial.

Post: #11

One of the greatest challenges for someone in the six-figures and beyond salary bracket is to live significantly below their salary standard. To keep it comfortable, but below the level of extravagance. I think most are afraid of being seen as cheap by their peers. They HAVE to have a luxury automobile or two. They HAVE to live in an incredibly expensive house in an exclusive enclave. If they buy a plate, it has to be the most expensive plate on the market. They get caught up in that. You shouldn't feel the need to pretend to be poor to prove a point, but I think they find that all of that stuff doesn't really make them happy - it creates this self-imposed pressure.

Post: #12

(05-22-2013 05:51 PM)Timoteo Wrote:  One of the greatest challenges for someone in the six-figures and beyond salary bracket is to live significantly below their salary standard. To keep it comfortable, but below the level of extravagance. I think most are afraid of being seen as cheap by their peers. They HAVE to have a luxury automobile or two. They HAVE to live in an incredibly expensive house in an exclusive enclave. If they buy a plate, it has to be the most expensive plate on the market. They get caught up in that. You shouldn't feel the need to pretend to be poor to prove a point, but I think they find that all of that stuff doesn't really make them happy - it creates this self-imposed pressure.

Anyone who thinks saying no to a luxury car is a "challenge" has never faced any real adversity. Come on...

Post: #13

(05-22-2013 04:41 PM)jariel Wrote:  He went on to explain how he owns a home worth nearly $1 million, three cars, a couple of investment properties, and a chunk of a profitable healthcare company yet still frets that he doesn’t have enough. “I don’t feel secure,” he said. “Before I had a job, the six-figure mark was a goal for everyone. And now I’ve hit the half-million dollar mark. I don’t know if I’d feel rich if I ever met the seven-figure mark.”

The goal in life is to be happy, not rich. His priorities are misplaced and his mentality is bankrupt.

Post: #14

(05-22-2013 06:03 PM)Vitriol Wrote:  

(05-22-2013 05:51 PM)Timoteo Wrote:  One of the greatest challenges for someone in the six-figures and beyond salary bracket is to live significantly below their salary standard. To keep it comfortable, but below the level of extravagance. I think most are afraid of being seen as cheap by their peers. They HAVE to have a luxury automobile or two. They HAVE to live in an incredibly expensive house in an exclusive enclave. If they buy a plate, it has to be the most expensive plate on the market. They get caught up in that. You shouldn't feel the need to pretend to be poor to prove a point, but I think they find that all of that stuff doesn't really make them happy - it creates this self-imposed pressure.

Anyone who thinks saying no to a luxury car is a "challenge" has never faced any real adversity. Come on...

The point is that people feel the need to live up to their salary. I'm not looking at this from the perspective of someone that doesn't make six-figures. From that perspective, of course it seems silly to say that is a challenge. But for someone that feels they must compete with others in that salary bracket...they know they'll get whispered about if they aren't driving a certain kind of automobile.

Post: #15

If you read the interview he also mentions that he has a 2-3 years worth of living expenses saved as a cash cushion, pays $300 a week for a personal chef to prepare his family's meals (despite his wife not working, you go girl!) and is pulling $200k per year in passive investment income. So yeah, homeboy is doing quite well for himself though he doesn't seem to realize it.

This is what happens when you live in a consumer culture that pushes materialism and status-whoring through expensive purchases. People have really lost sight of the importance of living within your means. Just because your income increases doesn't mean your expenses have to increase at the same rate.

Post: #16

Stealth bragging. Insecure wealthy people have to tell everyone how much money they have, then try to hide their bragging behind a veneer of first world problem complaining. Wealthy people who actually have class avoid explicitly describing their wealth because to do so is crass and boorish.

Post: #17

Alpha doctors? You're joking, right.

I Game doctors every time I go in for a visit.

These assholes usually don't have a fucking clue what they're doing.

I wanted a mole removed and I knew asshole would blow it off because it was the end of the day so I struck up a conversation with asshole and eventually he took it off.

Shitfuck forgot to use anesthesia but Jim Norton Fan is a Real Man and didn't flinch.

Shitfuck also forgot to put on examination gloves before the procedure but luckily Jim Norton Fan politely reminded him by saying "I hope your hands aren't cold." Shitfuck then realized he didn't have gloves on.

These cocksuckers have a God complex when most of them are shitheads. OTOH the PA who has treated me since walks on water. Dude probably makes 1/3 to 1/2 of what shitfuck makes.

Jim Norton Fan is alive today because of Game.

Game. It's good for what ails you.

Post: #18

People like this doctor need to get a grip. You've never going to feel secure unless you deal with your own internal lack of security and you are never going to feel 'rich' until you deal with your own internal poverty.

For fucks sake, what else does this guy want in life? It is people like this who lust after yet another condo, who do the most fucked up and corrupt things thing for cash, that let us all down.

More and more, I think a lot of "rich people" are deluded idiots, who think money can buy them something, whereas, back in Europe a few hundred years ago, "class" was a primary value and money just facilitated that. The modern consequence, is in America, where money has become class, and the people's greed there knows no ceiling. And for what?

To be honest, I feel sorry for people like this, there is something moronic and juvenile about their scramble to "feel secure" and "rich". Go to any rich hotspot anywhere in the world, and you will often predominantly see these miserable, internally destitute cardboard cutout characters, like rats trying to scrambling around to get more bucks.

Post: #19

Doctors?

A God complex?

Post: #20

There are two hurdles. The first is the poverty line. Second is the upper middle class/HNWI line. Unless you're self employed in a unglamorous business, you gotta put on a front, a front that sucks up income. Read Bonfire of the Vanities, theres a part where Sherman McCoy remarks he's going broke in a million dollars a year:

Quote:“I’m already going broke on a million dollars a year! The appalling figures came popping up into his brain. Last year his income had been $980,000. But he had to pay out $21,000 a month for the $1.8 million loan he had taken out to buy the apartment. What was $21,000 a month to someone making a million a year? That was the way he had thought of it at the time-and in fact, it was merely a crushing, grinding burden-that was all! It came to $252,000 a year, none of it deductible, because it was a personal loan, not a mortgage. (The cooperative boards in Good Park Avenue Buildings like his didn’t allow you to take out a mortgage on your apartment.) So, considering the taxes, it required $420,000 in income to pay the $252,000. Of the $560,000 remaining of his income last year, $44,400 was required for the apartment’s monthly maintenance fees; $116,000 for the house on Old Drover’s Mooring Lane in Southampton ($84,000 for mortgage payment and interest, $18,000 for heat, utilities, insurance and repairs, $6,000 for lawn and hedge cutting, $8,000 for taxes.[...more expenses I don't feel like typing out...] The tab for furniture and clothes had come to about $65,000; and there was little hope of reducing that, since Judy was, after all, a decorator and had to keep things up to par. The servants…came to $62,000 a year…the abysmal truth was that he had spent more than $980,000 last year. Well, obviously he could cut down here and there-but not nearly enough-if the worst happened! -Tom Wolfe, Bonfire of the Vanities (1987)

Post: #21

(05-22-2013 07:55 PM)cardguy Wrote:  Doctors?

A God complex?

My asshole friend whos going to Podiatry school acts like this (yes, podiatry, he almost became a nurse but was able to get into the most rigorious type of medicine). The guys an insecure moron who used say he was God, also claims his IQ is 130. He was in special ed until the 7th grade, and can't live it down. I guess that's what it takes to be a podiatrist

Post: #22

IQ 130 is only top 2%.

Post: #23

Often the really wealthy don't really give a shit what people think of them. In a sense, I guess they are "secure", they don't need the latest car or to show off to their friends. In fact, they'd often prefer people didn't know how rich they are. If you have landed into inherited money, you can see from day dot how being at the top of the pyramid can often be lonely and isolating. So they'll often prefer to drive an old car, wear average clothes and just live their lives.

It is often the new rich, who need to be flashy, keep up the joneses. But if you are born into a lot of money, and already have some sort of social cache, that ceases to matter so much, you know you are probably wealthier than the Jones's, but also, perhaps often more realistic about what that money really means and what is can and can't do for you.

Post: #24

That's because money doesn't mean shit if you live a sad life. I have this uncle whose net worth is nearly $50 million, but guess what? He's got achalasia, and he can't eat anything solid, furthermore his wife bosses him around. What good is money if you live a crappy life?

Post: #25

In the footballing world, you have every day people commenting on their wages per week and it's just a completely different world they live in. Nobody can relate to them unless they're in the same bracket.

For example:

A football club has someone earning £60,000 a week.

Another player is set to sign with an offer of £40,000 a week.

"£40,000 a week! Most of the country don't even earn that in a year!"

The player who is offered the £40,000 a week declines, having seen someone else in the same position as him earning £60,000 a week, so he signs for another club for £75,000 a week.

The every day people says "what the fuck?! What's he gonna do with an extra £35,000 a week?!"

That £35,000 a week would make an insanely big difference on someone's life outside of the footballing/entertainment world, let alone the grand total of £75,000 a week.

What difference does it make to the footballer who is used to big cars, big houses, big nights out and big bank balances?

Is it any different from me being offered £30,000 a year at one company and £40,000 at another? Not really, but what it comes down to is the standards you've set yourself.

As kids, you don't appreciate money. So whether you're poor, rich, average or whatever, as a kid it really doesn't have a value. Footballers start earning big money from the ages of 17 these days, the youth schemes can earn a couple of grand a month at 16 and under. They're accustomed to that lifestyle and by the time they're adults, they're multi-millionaires and comfortable with it. But they still look at the top, top earners and don't see themselves as wealthy as them.

You know when you buy an expensive new piece of clothing and you want to keep it brand sparkly new? You're careful everywhere you go not to spill something on it or have someone step on it or whatever? When you have all that cash, you don't have that feeling. You have new clothes, but that feeling of value goes because you can just go and buy something else. The director of my old company told me that, and he's a multi-millionaire and I'll never forget that example.

They don't know what it's like to struggle making ends meet every month when they have all that money, so when they don't have that struggle, how can they put a value on their wealth? How can they look around and say "I'm so privileged" when it's the norm to them? I'm like that, and I'm not even rich. I earn a fair bit of money, more than a lot of people my age (outside of banking) and I don't feel any better off than them but I know people who have given me stick out of jealousy for what I earn in the same way that the every day people cuss about footballers.

I think what it boils down to is that people look up at what they don't have instead of looking down at what they do have.