THE MISERLY DON'T WANT COMPANY

NY POST ^ | 5/29/03 | Jared Paul Stern

[paltz]

THE fact that it's hip to be poor will no doubt come as a surprise to everyone but the rich.

The rich don't stay rich by blowing all their dough, you know. Only the worst sort of nouveau riche parvenus think expensive clothes, flashy dinners and white stretch-limo nightclub jaunts make them more important.

[battlegearboat]

Brother, can you spare a dime?

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

As someone years ago said,
"Money will not buy you happiness, but is makes being miserable so much easier."

[Cicero]

There's a happy medium between spending like a Wall Street nouveau riche and penny pinching like Hetty Green.

In my experience even the old rich got carried away during the nineties bubble and started indulging in conspicuous consumption, but maybe now they will come to their senses.

[dljordan]

When I worked for Hospital Corporation of America the guy that started the company (1400 hospitals), Dr. Frist senior was a billionaire and drove and old chevy caprice. It wasn't because he was cheap it was just that he didn't CARE what he drove. He was 80 years old and was still seeing his patients. His son is the senator from Tennessee.

[WellsFargo94]

It's nice to know that even though I don't enjoy shopping, I'll still look like a million bucks!

[gcruse]

And how about the guitar old Willie Nelson flails away at? That sucker's got a hole wore in it the size of a cauliflower. And it ain't that it sounds all that good, either.

[lorrainer]

Only the worst sort of nouveau riche parvenus think expensive clothes, flashy dinners and white stretch-limo nightclub jaunts make them more important.

The Wall Street "Big Dog" culture that ushered in the age of clownish excess looks doubly stupid now that it's no longer economically viable because it was always devoid of taste and style.

Anybody remember that article posted this week about how the hoi-paloi in DC miss the X42 gang and their stretch limos going from one party to another? And how they don't like how the Bushes don't throw parties like the last administration?

[Tokhtamish]

Perhaps it has something to do with the kind of money and what is the role bimbos/himbos play in your life.

People who made it as overgrown salesmen, real estate types like Donald Trump, need to project a flashy, winner image. They have to be at the fanciest parties with the hottest girl in the room.

Techie types don't care about flashy image or bimbos.

[paltz]

Techie types don't care about flashy image or bimbos.

After working at an e-commerce firm in Manhattan during the 90's boom, I can't really agree with that. The techies were habging out with the bimbos at nicest clubs that their fat salaries could get them into.

[Paul C. Jesup]

The NY Post seems to a problem with NONE-snobbish rich people.

Sounds like for the most part these people (except for the girl) understand the value of a dollar and prefer a meal at the local 24 hour greasy-spoon than a $1000 dollar a plate suit and tie restaurant.

These people sound like the sane rich people. I wish there were more like them.

[Paul C. Jesup]

The NY Post seems to have a problem with NONE-snobbish rich people.

Sounds like for the most part these people (except for the girl) understand the value of a dollar and prefer a meal at the local 24 hour greasy-spoon than a $1000 dollar a plate suit and tie restaurant.

These people sound like the sane rich people. I wish there were more like them.

[Tokhtamish]

I suppose I was thinking of people like Larry Ellison and Bill Gates.

When you think about it, flashing money is all about attracting bimbos/himbos. If you don't want "that element" in your life a deliberate cheapness is a way of saying, "Don't imagine for a minute that I am going to lavish you with luxury merely because you sleep with me. I am nobody's fool."

[SamAdams76]

The secret to getting rich, of course, is to live below your means. That is, to spend less than what comes in. Thriftiness is a hard habit to break. While I can afford much better, I prefer to drive my used car (it's paid for) and I wear my $15.94 Wal-Mart jeans until there are holes in them. When dining out, if given a choice between Applebees and some fancy yuppie restaurant, you know where I'll be. Give me the Bourbon Street steak, medium.

I prefer the fat bank account to the luxuries others bestow upon themselves when they make a little money. You never know what will happen further down the road. I know somebody in a similar situation to mine who bought a boat and a vacation home up in Maine. That sucked all the money out of him. Then when he got laid off, he was in dire straits. He told me the two happiest days of his life were the day he bought the boat and then the day he sold the boat. The boat was watertight but it leaked money like it was the Titanic.

[boris]

"A yacht is a hole in the water into which you pour money."

I forget who said it.

--Boris

[goodnesswins]

Lol...recently we bought a halfway decent side chair for our living room for $3 at a garage sale (needs a slipcover)....and this weekend got a comfy, large, North Carolina made chair and large foot stool for $40 at a garage sale....In 20 years of marriage the only new furniture we've ever purchased was a bedroom set, and bookcases.

[SamAdams76]

In 20 years of marriage the only new furniture we've ever purchased was a bedroom set, and bookcases.

I guess we can join the club too. My wife and I were married in 1987 and we bought all our furniture then. We still have it today and it looks pretty much like it did when we first bought it. We'll be passing this stuff onto our children.

Now the furniture we bought was quite expensive. Oak and teakwood. But it's built to last. About once every two years, we oil it down and it gleams like it was still in the showroom. It's usually cheaper in the long run to buy the best. I know people who are buying furniture all the time because they get cheap stuff made out of particle board. It looks like crap three months after they get it home.

I'm the same way with stereo equipment. Kenwood turntable from 1977. Sony CD player and receiver from 1985. Sony tape deck from 1988. Cambridge Soundworks speaker system from 1990. It still all sounds great today (but I really want to get one of those jukebox CD players).