Posted on 08/05/2007 11:06:00 AM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines
*CRACK*
Back to work with you, slacker!
= )
“...a few million doesn’t go as far as it used to...”
That happens to be true. Being a millionaire has long been perceived as being THE threshold for the truly rich. A million dollars is still a lot of $$, but now its barely enough to retire on. In CA, NY, & NJ, many homes that aren’t incredibly upscale cost over $1M. With many people making over $100K now, getting to be a millionaire isn’t as tough as it used to be. It may sound bizarre, but thanks to inflation, its true.
If this guy wants to keep on working, more power to him. Bill Gates kept on working hard well after he became a billionaire.
Hey with their communist/socialist friends like Obama, Edwards, Hitlery & Co who’re drooling at a tax hike, should’nt they be GLAD to be living in Kalifornia “The land of the socialist & hollyweird elites”.
You beat me to it...
Yeah, there isn’t much beach here. Nor much in the way of mountains. On the other hand, lots of people live just fine here on under 50K a year. He should do what I did over 30 years ago. Move. I also traveled around a bit before settling, courtesy of Uncle Sam, and I’m quite happy here. Even if my dad now calls me a flatlander. ;)
I agree with your financial estimates. Fortunately, it is not that daunting if you don't inflate your lifestyle and let your investments roll and compound. Also don't get divorced. A sage once said "if it floats, flies, or f***s, don't buy . . . rent!"
I;m working on retiring with ~2.5M in the bank. By that time, it should net me a lower class lifestyle. (I’m under 35.)
I don’t disagree wth what you say, but in fairness a 1.3 million dollar house in silicon valley is the equivalent of a $200,000 - 300,000 house lots of other places. The cost of living there is completely out of whack (I don’t live there). There are lots of places in California that a 1600-1700 square ft. condo/townhome costs $600,000 - 700,000 or more. And that’s not necessarily ocean front (those condos are often in the millions). This guy should consider himself very fortunate, but if he wants to get off the treadmill it’s time for him to move from silicon valley. Unfortunately, living the ‘California lifestyle’ has taken on such mythical stature that many people are willing to waste their lives holding on to this and giving everything working to stay there. I moved.
California is about to implode, IMHO.
The ongoing giddy sense of paradise, and raging prosperity in the Golden State for the last decade has been fueled by exploding real estate equity.
The economy isn’t really getting better here. But a lot of people have been given access to a lot of money, which they otherwise would not have. It was almost a decade of unexpected free money.
People who bought homes a decade ago for rational prices, become millionaires almost overnight. All that equity in a rising home market, drove a torrent of home-equity driven spending, which in turn fueled spending and kept generating higher taxes for the state.
That of course kept pressure off the state government (including the current Gov) to control spending, since it was being funded unexpectedly well by increasing revenues.
Well. Guess what...
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
He said California had been run by liberal morons for so long (remember, he was from the home of Libertarianism) that they had made the place unliveable. Their idiotic restrictions on landlords, developers and property owners had resulted in housing being so sparse and expensive that he already had his entire condo project leased out, and they hadn't even broken ground yet. He'd had to spend a year just cutting through red tape, and he said his wife thought he was crazy because he'd been offered a $25,000 bonus for doing such a good job, and he told them to keep it, at least until he got back to Vegas. He said with California taxes, he'd be pushed into a higher bracket and end up paying more than $25,000 in taxes if he took it. He ranted that the socialist nutjobs in Sacramento had managed to think of every way possible to punish anyone who tried to do anything remotely productive.
Again, that was 20 years ago. I shudder to think what it's like to live there now if you aren't a social parasite or a limousine liberal with a trust fund of money earned by someone else.
in Arizona they call them $35,000 millionaires...people that kept flipping up or refiancing to have a better lifestyle. All while holding down 35k jobs.
What, exactly, is stopping him from selling the house, moving someplace cheaper, and retiring (or finding a job that doesn't require him to work so many hours)?
Being an idiot probably has a lot to do with that. When he gets to the point that the hoary fingers of death are just around the corner, he'll even waste the last days/months/years of his life wondering why he blew all of his young healthy time keeping to this track instead of kicking back and spending time with the wife or bouncing some grandkids on his knees...
Understand and agree — for the private sector. People working for the state govt or Feds are in a differenct position, having guaranteed benefits for life. Their retirement is worth over $1,500,000 but they have no idea how good they have it.
I often see folks at work who make $12-$20/hr. They don’t seem to understand that there is no automatic retirement. They buy new cars w/ loans. They don’t make their own lunches. They buy daily Starbucks lattes. When they get to their mid-50s they are in for a rude awakening.
Wheras, the folks at work who make the bigger bucks, they bring their own lunches and buy used cars, etc.
How do I get to keep, in today’s dollars, what I’ve earned ?
You don't, you convert it into hard value assets that always rise in the aggregate in dollar value. Paper is crap, and just a promise. Turn as much of it as you can into gold, silver, copper, guns, long life durable goods, airable land, ammo, etc...
amen
My description of the Bay Area:
Those that have $10,000 are jealous of those who have $100,000.
Those that have $100,000 are jealous of those that have $1,000,000.
Those that have $1,000,000 are jealous of those that have $10,000,000.
Those that have $10,000,000 are jealous of those that have $100,000,000.
Hence, the social hierarchy is defined by a bunch of zeroes.
“Hence, the social hierarchy is defined by a bunch of zeroes.”
Point, set, and match!
There is a lot of truth to that, especially in the suburban parts of the Bay Area. People tend to be stiffer, angrier, and less friendly than in just about any other part of the country that I have been in - probably because they are stressed out by trying to live beyond their means.
I've put some of my stock earnings into stainless steel...S&W stainless. Just last week I noticed that the S&W 686+ I purchased in 1999 for $437 now seels for $830. The same has happened with the Ruger Mini-14 Ranch Stainless..$439 now sells for $830. The firearms arms have appreciated while having intrinsic value beyond a blob of precious metal. I live in an area where a good rifle can put food on your table without the need to travel great distances.
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