But doesn't that seem like insanity...to spend $56,000 and 4 years to earn the right to work for a $30K salary?

I have seen new/ fast money create nightmares for many people.

My friends with the ''No Worries type of money are the ones with the most worries.

Money people that don't have a purpose are a mess in many cases. They have problems other non wealthy people don't have.

Money is an odd element. Its like nitrous in a car. It can take you places fast, and it can be quite the thrill, but you still have to have some idea of where your going, or your gonna end up f*cked.

good analogy

Being wealthy is, of course, relative.

There's always someone richer than you (except for the richest person, that is). Can anyone actually imagine how the very wealthy live? I'll eliminate Bill Gates from that list, not because he's the wealthiest at $40B, but because his life style has been described in periodicals for us peasants to read.

Let's take Kim Jong Il, dictator of N. Korea. Relatively secluded, not many people really know of his lifestyle, except that it's lavish even at a mere $4B income. Here's a snippet:

"His personal wealth is estimated at $4 billion, amassed in part, U.S. officials say, through drug and missile sales and counterfeiting. He has several wives and children, one of whom is apparently being groomed for eventual succession. And he lives large. On a one-month train journey across Russia in 2001, Kim used silver chopsticks to feast on fresh lobster, sushi, and other delicacies, washed down by Bordeaux and Burgundy red wines. For amusement, he screened films and basked in the company of four "lady conductors," who belted out old Soviet tunes."

Sherwood

I had a good friend in high school whose uncle won the lottery. 4 Million, all at once.

Before he won the lottery he lived in a run down community known for it's trashy inhabitants.

After he won the lottery... stayed in the same place. I think he added on to his double wide. He bought an old Jag XK, a pool table, lots of yard decor (a gazebo and an above ground pool).... etc etc etc.

No investments whatsoever.


He had to find a job and go back to the work force within 4 or 5 years.


Just proves again that money doesn't buy intelligence.

I'm somewhere between that 5% and 1.5%; a little closer to the 1.5%. Living in Los Angeles, that certainly doesn't make you "wealthy" by any stretch of the imagination. It makes you sort of upper middle class, that's it. When my daughter was in college, it meant most capital improvements went on the 2nd on the house. Selling the DB4 allowed me to buy down some of the 2nd mortgage, replace really, really beat carpeting with hardwood floors and replace leaky, old, corroded, doors and windows with new double panes, and replaster the pool that needed replasteriing 15 years ago, and still have some money left for a rainy day. Without that sale, I couldn't have done any of that.

As was aptly said abovel, ending up with enough to live comfortably when I'm older is my main goal. I get kidded alot about my railing about taxes. You would too if between the city, State and Federal governments they took about 40-50% of your gross income.

Do I think about the poor(er), only in terms of them getting something for nothing.

It wouldn't be hard to think of myself as wealthy when I look at my typical customer (I have a pawnshop). They are very willing to give me a glimpse into their lives. One thing I've noticed is they don't expect any improvement in their day-to-day status (or from that of their parents or grandparents, I've been doing this a while in the same town).
One of many sad lines, "I'd buy that if I ever got enough money"
Jim

I was just over the $250k salary range a few years ago, and chose to quit at 50 to have time for myself. My job was fine, easy actually, I was a construction manager for a road construction co. The problem was we had crews working day and night so I always had guys working, so even if I was home the phone was always ringing.

So now I am living off money that I had saved and invested over the years and getting by on much less. And I would be willing to give up much more before I would return to work just to pay for more things. Now I am in no way poor, and would not like to have to worry about paying bills. But my lifestyle didn't change much from when I was making 100k to 250k.

I was happy in my college days when I had little money, but I never had to worry about a roof over my head or food. I knew my family was always there for me.

Kim Jong Il is a piker when it comes to living large.

Go to Bandar Seri Begawan sometime, and check out the Sultan's car collection. More than 2000 specially built Ferraris, Astons, Bently's, Mercs etc. More that 2000!

The Merc factory made him a few Gullwings from the old molds etc, with modern mechanicals. Wretched excess.

I know a guy (a designer) who got the contract just to do curtains and fabrics for the sultans new palace (when it was built in the late 1980's). This guy retired to the south of France on that contract, and has been living well there ever since. On a curtain contract!

I remember having no money to spare and getting by on pennies a day for food. I went for years without a vacation. If I was to describe what rich was back then I would have said anyone that makes more that 50 grand a year. I am at a point where the only debt we have is my wife's car and that is a loan at a super low rate. We could write a check at anytime to pay it off but the loan is something like 1.5%.

Our combined income is more than I dreamed possible just 20 years ago. I do not consider myself rich at all, but compared to so many I am. My daily driver is the same car I have owned for 19 years. I have had my 911 for 14 years. I am a car nut but I don't change cars very often. I would love to get a 996 911 GT3. I am lusting after them.

That's true. It wasn't that long ago that my food budget mostly came from change I found under vending machines. Gotta love those Sacajawea golden dollars that'd just come out. I don't think I was truly poor though because I had a place to live and I had a bike to get around on. I was a grad student and had a job until everyone got laid off because the department ran out of money. Luckily I saved what I could and never had to take out loans (in-state tuition / public university) so I could still cover school but it was close. One semester I remember writing a check for classes and then riding my bike home as quick as I could to go take my change jar to the bank and deposit it so the check wouldn't bounce.

My last semester though after all this happened I was basically broke. Nobody was hiring but you've still gotta eat. At the time the best way to get money for that was to go to a couple of main classroom buildings every couple of days to pick up 2 or 3 dollars in dropped change under the snack machines. I'd also scavenge parts off long-abandoned bikes on campus to build one that worked and then sell it for cheap. It was enough to get by. Things like that really make you appreciate what you've got now. And the 6-pack of powdered donuts a coworker gave me today :D.

Bingo.
Most wealthy people were not always wealthy.
They remember what it was like to be poor and often are very frugal because of that.
I'm not wealthy but many times my friends comment on how I live below my means.
I remember times when I didn't eat for a day or two because I was waiting for my paycheck so I could get some food.

I can afford allot of nicer things than I have now but I prefer to save money rather than spend it. It gives me freedom.

The guy who started The North Face (and Sportif - or something like that) made a ton of $$ off the latter company. He bought a large amount of land in Patagonia - about the size of a large national Park, and is rehabilitating it as a park/wild area.

Now, that is wealth.

I have a friend who is obscenely wealthy. His father was the General Manager of General Motors, a long time ago. The last time I saw my friend, he was getting read to become the head of the largest (national) bank of a large, South American country. He was dating a recent Miss ____ (name of the country). His caddy has assistants. He almost never gets to drive a car.

Anyhoo.......he said to me that he somewhat envies me and folks like me because of the realness of our relationships. He says he lives in a world where almost everyone has ulterior motives. He can trust almost nobody in his life.

My Dad used to say," Son...money can't buy you happiness, but let me tell you...it can buy your choice of misery"

One bad thing about being rich ( I'm guessing ), is the entourage of superficial women who want to be your wife to get into your wallet. Martin Frankel, who ran a $3 billion insurance fraud scheme, had a harem of gold-diggers whom he regularly chained and whipped as part of his fascination with BDSM. What's funny is he is one of the ugliest men you would ever meet, and yet these women were all about getting nasty with him so they could get some fast cash.

Do rich people fantasize about being poor? Of course not...

Do the fantasize about being happy? Many do...

Exhibit A. Michel Jackson

And a long list of other rich people who have killed themselves.

I wonder if "rich" people kill themselves more often than poor people

"Rich" people can only kill themselves once - same as poor people...I think.