Posted on 08/05/2007 11:06:00 AM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines
MENLO PARK, Calif. —Today's New York Times has an article about people who are worth millions and are still complaining:
But many such accomplished and ambitious members of the digital elite still do not think of themselves as particularly fortunate, in part because they are surrounded by people with more wealth — often a lot more.Silicon Valley is thick with those who might be called working-class millionaires — nose-to-the-grindstone people like Mr. Steger who, much to their surprise, are still working as hard as ever even as they find themselves among the fortunate few. Their lives are rich with opportunity; they generally enjoy their jobs. They are amply cushioned against the anxieties and jolts that worry most people living paycheck to paycheck.
The article details the "plight" of one of these "working poor millionaires" (my term, not theirs):
Yet each day Mr. Steger continues to toil in what a colleague calls “the Silicon Valley salt mines,” working as a marketing executive for a technology start-up company, still striving for his big strike. Most mornings, he can be found at his desk by 7. He typically works 12 hours a day and logs an extra 10 hours over the weekend. “I know people looking in from the outside will ask why someone like me keeps working so hard,” Mr. Steger says. “But a few million doesn’t go as far as it used to..."[Hal] Steger, 51, a self-described geek, has banked more than $2 million. The $1.3 million house he and his wife own on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean is paid off. The couple’s net worth of roughly $3.5 million places them in the top 2 percent of families in the United States.
Time to get out the world's smallest violin. Steger, most likely chose by the Times because he is a represenative of this new class of middle class millionaire as two million in the bank and a paid off house worth at least another million. 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)?
I might be wrong, but given Steger's age (he's 51), I think this is another example of that baby boomer "I want it all" mentality.
“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 think it’s great that a person your age already has a savings target in mind....when I was under 35 all I could do was put into the company 401K and hope for the best!....fortunately, it worked out OK.
You abviously live in a dreamland.
Economic “Californianism” is becoming endemic in the Western US - folks willing to relocate just take their equity out of Cal to places like Western WA, Western OR, or Southern ID.
Which is great for the natives, except Californians bring their drooling monogoloid politics with them.
We hate them, until they buy our houses. We move elsewhere.
It is 72 degrees on the Centeral Coast... there is no way in hell I’ll ever move from the coast.... 2 miles from the coast has been my limit for the past 10 years... and I plan to get oceanside before long.
Being rich is knowing what wealth is.
Hah - in your dreams. 10 year notes return 4.7% at todays market. This is maybe 1.7% above GOVERNMENT ADMITTED INFLATION, or $68,000 per year, and after tax you are not even making the rate of inflation.
Why? I’d like to retire in a nice place with a good lifestyle. If I have to eat beans and rice and not be able to travel and have fun I’d rather work.
Why? I’d like to retire in a nice place with a good lifestyle. If I have to eat beans and rice and not be able to travel and have fun I’d rather work.
I have 5 acres on the Shenandoah. Today I got 20 pounds of the sweetest yellow and white peaches imaginable for $10. Some meals this week will be just peaches. Once the house is paid off I figure I can live nicely on $10k a year.
Different strokes for different folks....
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