duPont Registry and sad people

My girlfriend brought me a current copy of the magazine after her latest conference hotel stay.

Pretty fun reading through the listings for Lambo's, Ferrari's, Rolls, etc. Lots of "if only"... But the most interesting things are teh advertisements. $45k guard dogs to keep your kids safe, armor plating for sports cars, meet foreign women, ... Is this what you deal with when you finally get rich?? How sad.

What if I want armored guard dogs to keep my sports cars safe from my kids from meeting foreign women? Can they do that too?

Friend's boss took a ride from Texas to Argentina. Because he's a billionaire he couldn't share any information with people. He couldn't let his friends know how his trip was going for fear the info would get out and he'd be kidnapped. He came back very very lonely. There is a point where money makes there world weird.

mazdeuce wrote: There is a point where money makes there world weird.

My friend's father in law owned an island in the Bahamas. He sold it for more money than he could comfortably bring back into the US. He ended up living out the remainder of his life in a mountainside village in Mexico that was populated by wealthy, ex-pat Americans who were too rich to go home.

Not horrible by any stretch, but yes, weird.

Here I am with my $120k house in a decent neighborhood, I have a 2006 Scion xB paid off that's fun to play with, a 1987 Toyota MR2 that's definitely fun to play with, my girlfriend, two dogs (Pit Bull and French Bulldog), "some" cats, not too many bills... And I'm pretty damn happy.

Maybe buy yourself a fun sports car or two, a really good house, and then donate the crap out of the rest? Versus living in fear for the rest of your life.

I've met a few entrepreneur billionaire types. So far all of them are wired quite differently than the average person - or even the quite successful millionaire folk. It's not a big a step over to planet weird. In managing those kinds of thought processes, ambition and drive, I don't think there's a point where they are satisfied with life.

oldtin wrote: I've met a few entrepreneur billionaire types. So far all of them are wired quite differently than the average person - or even the quite successful millionaire folk. It's not a big a step over to planet weird. In managing those kinds of thought processes, ambition and drive, I don't think there's a point where they are satisfied with life.

Don't mistake drive to succeed with not being satisfied with life. Have you considered that this drive is satisfying to some.

The guard dog and armor plating is probably aimed at people living in less-safe countries than the US...Mexico for example where protection for the rich is big business, or it could be for people who have done clearly not-so-good things to make their money and understandably want some protection.

I have some relatives who live in Madagascar making very good money, but it's basically like living in Somalia. They need to live in a compound with armed guards and everything needs to be shipped in. The kids basically don't leave the compound.

About the foreign women, I can only guess that drowning in gold digger Bob Costas gets old after a while and eventually you want to settle down and find a wife, now personally I don't see how seeking women from a different country is going to help, but that's what a lot of the "russian bride" agencies advertise towards.

I read a 1%er mag like that I ran across in a barber's office once (pretty sure the shop owner's husband donated it)...it was full of ads for megayacht builders, horrifically expensive watches, ads for the Fisker Karma and Bentley sedans...but a common theme was that the way these things were advertised implied that they were really selling one-upmanship. It's like at a certain point it's less about helping yourself and more about showing up the other guy, oddly also something you see among rather poor people.

I've known people to keep it very low key, and that works. You can afford a brand new Lamborghini and have an Infinity? Who knows the better? Thats right, not even your family.

Yep, one-upmanship seems to be what drives these people. It's fine if that's what they want. Me, I could care less what the Joneses think of me.

I don't know any seriously seriously rich people, but I do konw a couple in the $10mil range. They are all down to earth and live on less per year than several people I konw who make circa $130-180k but routinly spend 20% more than that. The millionairs driver paid for cars that all cost less than $30k new, they don't have fancy cloths or vacations. You get rich and more importantly stay rich by not spending. I can't imagine what hundreds of millions are like though.

Jerry wrote: Here I am with my $120k house in a decent neighborhood, I have a 2006 Scion xB paid off that's fun to play with, a 1987 Toyota MR2 that's definitely fun to play with, my girlfriend, two dogs (Pit Bull and French Bulldog), "some" cats, not too many bills... And I'm pretty damn happy. Maybe buy yourself a fun sports car or two, a really good house, and then donate the crap out of the rest? Versus living in fear for the rest of your life.

Hey, I have a $120,000 house, a Kia Soul instead of the xB, an '85 MR2, two dogs (one is a pit) and two cats. Are you copying me? I turned my girlfriend into a wife, so of you get married and have a son then I know you are copying me...

Read the book "The Millionare Next Door".

http://www.amazon.com/Millionaire-Next-Door-Thomas-Stanley/dp/0671015206

Not canoe. It will give you insight on who a lot of millionaires really are. The ones you hear about on TV are actually probably very cash poor.

Adrian_Thompson wrote: I can't imagine what hundreds of millions are like though.

In my limited experience, they're different. I've known quite a few that make it to the tens and then opt out of the game. The guys who stay in it to get to the hundreds of millions are really after things other than money. The really interesting characters are those who inherit huuuuuge piles of money. Pretty much all of the feel an obligation to their ancestors to turn it into more money. The problem is often that they think they should do it in a hands on fashion which seldom works well. All of my experience is with oil money, so it might be skewed, but getting to know everyone from my illegal alien mobile home moving neighbors to the multi multi millionaires that my wife works for/with makes the world an interesting place.

My FIL gave me the latest DuPont Registry.

I cried myself to sleep that night.

CGLockRacer wrote: Read the book "The Millionare Next Door". http://www.amazon.com/Millionaire-Next-Door-Thomas-Stanley/dp/0671015206 Not canoe. It will give you insight on who a lot of millionaires really are. The ones you hear about on TV are actually probably very cash poor.

That's an excellent book and a real eye opener. There are so many people who 'look' like they are rich but in reality are two paychecks from complete disaster...

I met one of the guys who was instrumental in the 'tobacco settlement', he's got huge money right now. He's still a partner in the law firm that finally rammed the thing through but he doesn't work, there's a bunch of associates who do the day to day grunt work. He spends like a drunk sailor and the word is that he has made some very shaky investments not to mention there was a HUGE rift in the firm while they were squabbling over who would get what out of the settlement, he and the other partners are constantly at each other's throats. It would not surprise me to see him back in an office scrabbling for billable hours soon.

One of my dad's favorite sayings was 'Overalls to overalls in three generations'.

I'm pretty sure my boss thinks I'm a secret millionaire because my dad had an executive-level position for a while. In reality I'm two paychecks from complete disaster. It's tons of fun to feed into the myth though

I'm not rich by any means, but I did use to travel to lots of not-nice areas for work in foreign countries. There were several instances of armed guard escorts, hotel lockdowns, gated safe-houses, and even once in Indonesia- armored vehicle transport. Knowing that this was all being done for my own safety, and that I am pretty much nothing in the grand scheme of things was frightening, eye-opening, and definitely sad. I can't imagine being someone who actually has something worthy of value to their name, haha.

pinchvalve wrote:

Jerry wrote: Here I am with my $120k house in a decent neighborhood, I have a 2006 Scion xB paid off that's fun to play with, a 1987 Toyota MR2 that's definitely fun to play with, my girlfriend, two dogs (Pit Bull and French Bulldog), "some" cats, not too many bills... And I'm pretty damn happy. Maybe buy yourself a fun sports car or two, a really good house, and then donate the crap out of the rest? Versus living in fear for the rest of your life.

Hey, I have a $120,000 house, a Kia Soul instead of the xB, an '85 MR2, two dogs (one is a pit) and two cats. Are you copying me? I turned my girlfriend into a wife, so of you get married and have a son then I know you are copying me...

Well, getting married later this year. So.........

Curmudgeon wrote: Yep, one-upmanship seems to be what drives these people. It's fine if that's what they want. Me, I could care less what the Joneses think of me.

And, remember, most of the time the people who look rich are actually in debt up to their eyeballs from "keeping up with the Jonses." The truly rich people usually aren't ostentatious about it, because saving money (as opposed to spending it) is what made them rich in the first place.

I remind myself of that every time I start comparing myself to other people.

Not being able to afford anything on the Dupont Registry makes me sad

(yeah, I'm shallow like that)

Adrian_Thompson wrote: The millionairs driver paid for cars that all cost less than $30k new,

None of them are car guys, though. Car guys in that range tend to have nice car collections, or racing teams, etc. You meet them at Cars & Coffee events in their classic Ferraris (not the new ones, but 275s and Daytonas and the like).

I know rich car guys, and they don't drive $30k Camrys.

aussiesmg wrote: Don't mistake drive to succeed with not being satisfied with life. Have you considered that this drive is satisfying to some.

I get that - the guys I know are wired different - it's not about satisfaction, not even about the money other than helping them keep score. They enjoy the perks of wealth so they have all the toys, but there is a deep-seated compulsion - for one it seems to be a hoarding thing. Another it's a winning thing. Neither can hoard enough or win enough not matter how much they have or succeed. There was a story a few years ago, one of the guys that made the fortune list of wealthiest people - he landed a few down from the top - so he apologized to his wife for not doing better...

The studies that I've seen suggest that yes, on the mean rich people are happier, but often at the expense of being able to appreciate many of the simpler pleasures of life. My personal experience as a chauffeur in the Beverly Hills area is that a lot of them are fearful and distrusting. Everyone wants a piece of their pie and cannot be trusted (or so they think). I used to say that Beverly Hills types gave being rich a bad name because so many were unhappy, but as I grow older I'm realizing that lots of people are unhappy regardless of income.

Funny story. I went to an indoor gocart track the other day for a private party, and one of the fellows there was a fabulously rich Chinese businessman. He said that he had a full scale racetrack built on one of his properties. One day there were bulldozers lined up outside his gate. Evidently, while you can build a racetrack there without permits, the government can run a highway through your property without any advance notice too! He got back most of his money, but abandoned what was left of the track.

Adrian_Thompson wrote: I don't know any seriously seriously rich people, but I do konw a couple in the $10mil range. They are all down to earth and live on less per year than several people I konw who make circa $130-180k but routinly spend 20% more than that. The millionairs driver paid for cars that all cost less than $30k new, they don't have fancy cloths or vacations. You get rich and more importantly stay rich by not spending. I can't imagine what hundreds of millions are like though.

Reminds me of the families at where I taught school. There was the shiny happy person I hated in the single-digit millions. He liked to share with me, the fresh out of college assistant teacher (at the time) how much he'd just spent on his fancy new custom chopper (which was one of the ugliest, gaudiest, worst-themed bikes I'd ever seen) and name drop various other contents of his garage. Yawn. Or the other people who had their own forms of conspicuous consumption and their kids all wore the latest name grand stuff.

Then there was one family. One of the most plain, down to earth, with the really great kids. They had a Chevy Astro, a Cadillac CTS, and one or two other cars that were nice and respectable, but completely functional and not flashy. These people were easily the wealthiest at the school. They owned a company that made I think most of the target-practice drones used by the military. You wouldn't know it unless you went to their house, which had a guest house to the side bigger than most people's primary residence and a theater downstairs. They were really great people. Friendliest and with probably the least superiority complex at that school.