Posted on 08/07/2007 2:59:22 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
By almost any definition — except his own and perhaps those of his neighbors here in Silicon Valley — Hal Steger has made it.
Mr. 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.
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. Maybe in the ’70s, a few million bucks meant ‘Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,’ or Richie Rich living in a big house with a butler. But not anymore.”
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The article makes it clear that the damn fools who are “scraping by” on $5 or $10 million need to move. Good schools indeed.
People who have more money spend more money by proportion, it doesn’t mean they don’t have to work their ass off to “get by”. And they work harder than most - how the heck does one get there otherwise?
As an aside, this is one reason why I think the 60s and 70s were so destructive, because the message was to jettison that whole “work scene, man” and big generation, everyone wanted to read Kerouac and hit the road and discover America. Sure, it’s fun but eventually reality intrudes, one is suddenly over 30 and definitely not to be trusted...
Not everyone “dropped out” but there were a lot of talented people whose energies were dissapated into unproductive avenues, and frankly right now we need all the leadership in the various demographics we can get right now!
"You look around,” Mr. Barbagallo said, “and the pressures to spend more are everywhere.” Children want the latest fashions their peers are wearing and the most popular high-ticket toys. Furniture does not seem up to snuff once you move into a multimillion-dollar home. Spouses talk, and now that resort in Mexico the family enjoyed so much last winter is not good enough when looking ahead to next year. Summer camp, a full-time housekeeper, vintage wines, country clubs: the cost of living bloats.
And so one is staggering on the economic treadmill, no longer buoyed by their wealth, but pressing forward and panting hard because their neighbors are doing better. We only have so much time on earth, do not compare your life with that of your neighbors. Value it by your own standard and code.
Simple logic. Broke at a higher level!
Well that is another matter entirely. “Non-essentials” or even “essentials” covers a lot of ground depending on who you talk to.
I moved.
Still have my business in San Jose even though I’m 175 miles away.
But I certainly don't feel rich when I look at my checking account after the bills are paid off each month. It seems the more I make, the more that gets spent. My wife and I work so many hours that dinner is usually at the Outback or Olive Garden with the kids (with an average tab over $100) and it sure costs a lot in taxes to live in Taxachusetts. I figure I spend about $100,000 in taxes each year which is more than most Americans make. At the end of the day, I sure don't feel rich.
So I guess anytime I wanted, I could sell the house and buy a house for cash somewhere else in the country (like the Deep South) and just get some stress-free job for the next 15 years, just to keep me occupied while I wait for my 401(K) to kick in. The prospect sure is tempting.
I would, there is more to life then work.
I think you have to set goals and stick to them.
Once you reach your objective stop, get out of the rat race. Don’t continually raise the bar because someone else is doing better. Life is too short.
It is hard to let go...
It amazes me how cheap real estate is here in Dallas/Fort Worth compared to most other metro areas. One of the homebuilders here has a 3300 square foot model for about $136K!! That’s just an example, of course.
You’d be surprised at how much house you can get for $600k down here in Texas. The property taxes aren’t much higher than in Taxachusetts, and you can reduce them by keeping some livestock on the property. And, we don’t have state income tax either.
Me too. My house is in Las Vegas, my work in San Francisco. Airfare is a lot cheaper than overpaying some mortgage lender. ;)
“And they work harder than most - how the heck does one get there otherwise?”
I know a lot of people who were born into it. Work had nothing to do with it.
Living in the bay area pretty much sucks... Noise, traffic and you can’t see the stars...
I lived in Sunnyvale for 6 years, that was enough for me.
We just sold (closed escrow last week) our 20 year old 1700ish sqft track house as-is (we wore it out) for $418k in Central California... The buyer is replacing all the cabinets, carpet, light fixtures etc...
Leave it to a bunch of libs to worry about “feeling rich”!!!
You could buy the next best thing to a mansion for $350-600K here, in many Midwest and Southern states. $700K-$1.2 million will get you an actual mansion in many places like that. What a difference!
We just got finished building a new house here in California.
It ended up costing twice what it was supposed to...
Even on the lower end these days it is hard to build a house for less than $175 a sqft in California.
I don’t understand how building in Texas (and other places) can be so much less expensive. Material costs are not that much different across the country. Land is more expensive here but the above minimum building cost is not including the land.
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