Middle Class Millionaires

[Magic Man]

It is about why middle class millionaires don't feel rich and continue to work.

Maybe because they want too much stuff. Newsflash: Living in Manhattan is ridiculously expensive. If you don't spend ridiculous amounts of money on stuff, then you don't need to work anymore, if you have 10 mil or more.

 

[Zephyr]

If you make 50k or more a year, you are pretty damn rich.

 

[Truth_Faith13]

Please see my P.S. two posts above yours.

Oh right, that sounds more like what they are on here in the UK!

 

[Jackytar]

My neighbour is a millionaire. He has a ton of property - houses and apartments, a farm, and he lives in a converted garage because it'd cost him money to live in a house. He drives a 20 year old banger and dresses like a bum.
He has convinced me that wealth is wasted on the wealthy :yes:

There was an interesting book on this a few years ago called "The Millionaire Next Door". It was written by a couple of marketers who were working for Mercedes Benz. The company wanted to find out where the millionaires were to target their marketing better. What they discovered was that, in general, those with ostentatious lifestyles (big house, upscale neighborhoods, fancy cars, country club membership etc.) were high income but did not have a lot of savings. You are more likely to find actual millionaires living very modestly. Most of them are business owners doing mundane things like building fences or selling carpet. Their friends, neighbors and even their own children don't know they are millionaires. Also, about 80% of them are self made. Typically, if you accumulate great wealth your children will squander it and your grandchildren will be back at square one. Always exceptions, of course. My favorite line in the book came from a cattle rancher they were interviewing. He said something like - "those folks in Houston like to wear a big hat but they don't have any cattle. Me - I don't wear a big hat, but I've got a lot of cattle." My wife and I are close to having a million in assets but we are not rich and we live modestly relative to our wealth. We own a business but I still work at my ~ 60G/year job and have no plans on quitting anytime soon. When we see somebody living at the extent or beyond their means we say knowingly to each other "Big hat, no cattle".

Jackytar