Quote:
Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
We joke, but I think a surprising number of people have secret vices that consume most of their money. I've known guys who have no wife or kids, a beater that's parked most of the time, who don't buy nice clothes or furniture or anything, don't travel, and who can't even consistently make rent in cheap one-bedroom apartments. They spend 2k or more a month in a manner that is not visible to any of their friends or family. Presumably some combination of drugs, hookers, and gambling.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NuclearFart
It's been mentioned before but it bears repeating - some people are just plain bad with money regardless of income. Their spending habits and waste levels just scale with the money.
It's actually quite easy to have a really high cash burn rate in this city without resorting to vices, especially if you're surrounded by colleagues doing the same thing. I know a few high income earners who have a personal shopper at Holt, drink/eat out all the time, fancy car lease(s), fly first class, hotel suites instead of regular room, huge mortgages...etc. Some of them live hand to mouth with big debt, just as they did making 40-50k/year a decade ago.
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Not that a crippling coke habit isn't possible but I've tended to notice it is more along the lines of what NuclearFart is saying.
It is shockingly easy for high income earners to be flat broke. The most popular vices we see and hear about, drugs/alcohol/gambling, are typically only a part of a much larger issue and often not present at all. Eating out constantly at fancy places, frequent expensive outings be it golf/theatre etc, frequent vacations, personal shopping habits, home furnishings, vehicles etc seem to be extremely common from what I've seen.
It is also scary deceiving. I know so many people that judge a person's wealth on what they own.
"oh jim and jane have a big house, a vacation property, a boat, two brand new luxury cars, their entire house was furnished at williams-sonoma and restoration hardware, I had no idea they made so much money!!"
When in reality it is more like "holy #### they are going to be serving us as walmart greeters when they are 70 because they are saving nothing for retirement and have based their entire life strategy on keeping up with the Jones".