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The Middle Class Mind / The Wealthy Mind

Amelorn

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Originally Posted by RSS
Lauren Hutton: When Revlon offered me a million dollars it was real money. It wasn't lower middle class like it is today.

I'd be amazed if someone lower middle class (college educated, but a poorly remunerative position such as social worker or rural teacher) possessed $1 million in liquid assets.
 

RSS

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Originally Posted by Amelorn
I'd be amazed if someone lower middle class (college educated, but a poorly remunerative position such as social worker or rural teacher) possessed $1 million in liquid assets.
I think one needs to take into consideration who made the comment.
 

scientific

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hmm let's ask google images
lauren-hutton-totally-looks-like-willem-dafoe.jpg


i work (indirectly) for a forbes list dude and all my intel indicates he's a cheap, yet well-dressed bastard
 

CouttsClient

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I have been able to carve out a place in the world and I understand wanting to live well and feel successful but reading these threads about people wanting to buy cars that equal the amount of money they earn in a year, buy clothes they need to put on credit cards, and generally do things they can't really afford is sad. Thinking BIG but acting small is a good indicator that someone is on the right track financially. I always fund new ventures by getting as much as possible for free even when the money is available. I will put the new office in a rat-trap warehouse if it won't affect the client relationship and will save $500mo on a lease.
biggrin.gif
Spending out because you think it makes you look successful won't make you rich. Stop wasting time trying to be the best and spend the energy and time trying to make more money. Being rich is the goal. Not looking rich. Make a few million then splurge on something big but never forget to watch very carefully the bottom line. I think one of the greatest lies told about wealthy people is that money isn't thought very often about. "They don't even have to think about it". It is hard to think about anything else. Having it, making it, losing it...never ending thoughts. Probably more true for those of us that didn't have much $ to start with. "How to Get Rich" by Felix Dennis is a great book on the subject. It is the closest thing I've read to how I feel/think about making and having money: 1. Good idea? Who cares? Execution is key. 2. Talent is indispensable, although it is 'always' replaceable. Identify it, hire it, nurture it, reward it, protect it. And when the time comes, fire it. 3. If you are unwilling to fail, sometimes publicly, and even catastrophically, you stand little chance of ever getting rich. 4. If you care what the neighbours think, you will never get rich. 5. If you cannot bear the thought of causing worry to your family, spouse or lover while you plough a lonely, dangerous road rather than taking the safe option of a regular job, you will never get rich. 6. If you have artistic inclinations and fear that the search for wealth will coarsen such talents, you will never get rich. (Because you fear, in this instance, is well justified.) 7. If you are not prepared to work longer hours than almost everyone you know, despite the jibes of colleagues and friends, you are unlikely to get rich. (This doesn't mean office hours) 8. Ownership. Own EVERYTHING. Don't ever give even 1% of ownership away unless you have gone down every other path and have no choice. Scream, cry, kick, yell, but never give up anything. "If you cannot treat your quest to get rich as a game, you will never be rich." "Tunnel vision helps. Being a bit of a **** helps. A thick skin helps, as is a capacity to work so hard that your best friends mock you, your lovers despair and the rest of your acquaintances watch furtively from the sidelines, half in awe and half in contempt." "Somewhere in the invisible heart of all self-made wealthy men and women is a sliver of razored ice".
 

lemmywinks

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Originally Posted by aaksheytalwar
Only the incomes are from NY perspective. The description and expenditure was only for India.

Below is income to expenditure on apparel only from a USA perspective:


MAN'S FORMAL WARDROBE Decent
6 Suits @ $600 each avg
$3600
20 Shirts @ $75 each
$1500
10 Ties @ $50 each
$500
2 Belts @ $50 each
$100
2 Shoes @ $200 each
$400
TOTAL ~$6000 (Family of four income $100-250k)
MAN'S FORMAL WARDROBE Recommended
10 Suits @ $1000 each
$10000
40 Shirts @ $100 each
$4000
20 Ties @ $75 each
$3000
5 Belts @ $100 each
$500
4 Shoes @ $375 each
$1500
TOTAL ~$20000 (Family of four income $250-500k)

MAN'S FORMAL WARDROBE Borderline Affluent
20 Suits @ $2000 each
$40k
50 Shirts @ $150 each
$7.5k
40 Ties @ $100 each
$4k
10 Belts @ $200 each
$2k
10 Shoes @ $500 each
$5k
TOTAL ~$60k (Family of four income $750k-1.5m)
MAN's FORMAL WARDROBE Affluent (not Rich)
30 Suits @ $4000 each
$120k
100 Shirts @ $300 each
$30k
100 Ties @ $200 each
$20k
20 Belts @ $400 each
$8k
20 Shoes @ $2000 each
$40k
TOTAL
~$220k (Family of four income >$2m)


What the ****?
 

mkarim

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Originally Posted by lemmywinks
What the ****?

Understatement of the year.
 

Gibonius

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Originally Posted by lemmywinks
What the ****?

He's very detail oriented about his alternative universe, that's for sure.
 

Reevolving

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Originally Posted by aaksheytalwar
A person who earns $100k a year can't afford to spend more than $5k a year on his family's apparel. Else he will always be in debt like most American's.

Originally Posted by CouttsClient
....threads about people wanting to buy cars that equal the amount of money they earn in a year, buy clothes they need to put on credit cards, and generally do things they can't really afford is sad. Spending out because you think it makes you look successful won't make you rich. Stop wasting time trying to be the best and spend the energy and time trying to make more money. Being rich is the goal. Not looking rich. Make a few million then splurge on something big but never forget to watch very carefully the bottom line. ".


Great stuff. Can you guys answer the simple question in this thread?
http://www.styleforum.net/showthread.php?t=248651
 

RSS

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Shouldn't this be the Middle Class Mind versus the Upper Class Mind
or perhaps the Middle Income Mind versus the Wealthy Mind? Lets be honest, there is little difference between the wealthy mind and the middle class mind. More often than not, the wealthy mind is -- at most -- a middle class mind.

Of course, the above assumes that one makes a distinction between class and income. I'm not sure most know the difference ... which brings me to my next point.

Over the last 60 years, the world has done a considerable amount of 'dumbing-down.' Today the greatest majority of middle and upper income people are VERY lowbrow. Middlebrow seems to be on its way to extinction. In America I see two causes -- both of which caught fire in the 1960s -- as follows:

The Left: Academia's movement away from a true liberal arts education.
The Right: The growth of fundamentalist religion which emphasises emotion over reason.
 

Piobaire

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Originally Posted by RSS
Shouldn't this be the Middle Class Mind versus the Upper Class Mind
or perhaps the Middle Income Mind versus the Wealthy Mind? Lets be honest, there is little difference between the wealthy mind and the middle class mind. More often than not, the wealthy mind is -- at most -- a middle class mind.

Of course, the above assumes that one makes a distinction between class and income. I'm not sure most know the difference ... which brings me to my next point.

Over the last 60 years, the world has done a considerable amount of 'dumbing-down.' Today the greatest majority of middle and upper income people are VERY lowbrow. Middlebrow seems to be on its way to extinction. In America I see two causes -- both of which caught fire in the 1960s -- as follows:

The Left: Academia's movement away from a true liberal arts education.
The Right: The growth of fundamentalist religion which emphasises emotion over reason.


I think things are moving faster in today's world. Fifty years ago it was still pretty accepted that "upper class" came about three generations after wealth acquisition and that then you were upper class whether the family lost its wealth or not. Today it is broken down to "those with money" and "those with money that are pretentious." Remember, you might have millions but you either need to "keep it real" or think Larry the Cable Guy is high class comedy else you will be deemed pretentious.
 

JesseJB

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Middle Class- Yearning for the day they can order bottle service and take lots of photos.
Wealthy- Yearning for that last bottle to finish their Scotch collection?
 

RSS

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Originally Posted by Piobaire
Remember, you might have millions but you either need to "keep it real" or think Larry the Cable Guy is high class comedy else you will be deemed pretentious.
So if I watch an episode of New York Housewives* -- I'm not familar with Larry the Cable Guy -- I'm okay ... but if I'm listening to the Poulenc Organ Concerto in g minor I'm pretentious? This wasn't so in 1960. But by1970, I had begun to sense that such an attitude was coming.

Looking back, Kennedy was held in esteem because of his education. George W Bush was held in esteem for his lack of it in spite of his having had access to one.

* I was asked to watch an episode. I was told it is a reality show but that is not possible. I can't imagine that there are real people -- beyond those on CE -- who will so eagerly flaunt their lack of intelligence and a near complete disregard for propriety.

Piob, if ever you replace your avatar with a Beer Drinkin' Joe, I'm going to be depressed.
 

Piobaire

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Originally Posted by JesseJB
Middle Class- Yearning for the day they can order bottle service and take lots of photos.
Wealthy- Yearning for that last bottle to finish their Scotch collection?


Sorry, but in my mind, bottle service = low class. I am as blue collar as the next guy but I won't go to a place with bottle service as it will be full of douches.
 

Piobaire

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Originally Posted by RSS
So if I watch an episode of New York Housewives* -- I'm not familar with Larry the Cable Guy -- I'm okay ... but if I'm listening to the Poulenc Organ Concerto in g minor I'm pretentious? This wasn't so in 1960. But by1970, I had begun to sense that such an attitude was coming.

Looking back, Kennedy was held in esteem (perhaps too much so) because of his education. George W Bush was held in esteem for his lack of it in spite of his having had access to one.

* I was asked to watch an episode. I was told it is a reality show but that is not possible. I can't imagine that there are real people -- beyond those on CE -- who will so eagerly flaunt their lack of intelligence and a near complete disregard for propriety.


This is what I'm saying.

Signed,
Blue Collar Man
 

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