Living like rich people?

Mojisola

Tim_Mullis wrote: »

Every item that is bought is carefully chosen and well invested in. Furniture is solid wood or leather and lasts many decades.

Terry Pratchett wise words -
“The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness.”

freshcotton

wealthy people are frugle because they want to preserve their wealth.

A fool and his money soon part. The problem with modern society is that people don't stop and think enough and question commercaisation. Companies are obsessed with taking your hard earned money. Question them every time you hand them a penny.

I don't buy the point that it's easier for wealthy people to stay rich. I come from an immigrant family and my grandmother arrived in the UK with 6 children and £50. Work hard and be frugle and you can gain wealth in a single generation.

lush_walrus

We live in an area of old money and yep as you say money is spent carefully and only on quality items. Our neighbour is 96 this house was previously the house the family lived in when the children were home in the summer. The rest of the year they were travelling for work while the kids boarded. She is incredibly wealthy and lives the way of old money she has a cook and a live in help, a gardener and a cleaner. She dresses beautifully but all outfits are 20 years old but appear brand new. Her house is single glazed, you can see through the gaps around her door.

And it's the same for the others in our road. All display no wealth but they clearly have it with 3 or 4 children each privately educated. All have functional old cars and Barbour jackets.

We on the other hand have the least wealth and have the newest car and are forever treating ourselves to something. The difference is we think twice about buying a waxed jacket for 500, they don't. We buy ten 100 jackets in the time they keep their one quality jacket. And that goes throughout everything we buy in life.

The newly wealthy are a different story, they spend and spend.

Sanctioned_Parts_List

"Living like rich people" is almost meaningless, as rich people's lives are just as infinitely varied as the rest of us.

I suspect how a person came to be wealthy in the first place determines how they behave with their wealth. People who found wealth through hard work and simple living simply keep up the habit whereas those paid disproportionate sums for trivial activities seem to be rather more inclined to show off.

N9eav

Its not always about wealth accumulation as you cannot take it with you.
From a purely human perspective (I could bring in a religious point)
Its about enjoying life while it lasts. So someone drives an old Volvo to save money. But what is that money for? You might enjoy an expensive luxury car and enjoy it every day for years and not have any savings... but happy.


For years we took Christmas vacations to visit friends in the USA. It cost a few quid when I added it all up and could have saved it or spent it on a bigger house etc... But we have had so much fun and have great memories as a family.


Life should be enjoyed. If that means having no money in the bank, but being warm and well fed, then so be it

chesky

Depends whether we're talking old money or nouveau riche. Look at disgusting Philip Green with his yachts and brassy wife. Not a good advert for the rich.

Thing is when you've got enough money to do the things you thought were vital to your happiness (like a new carpet) well, all of a sudden, you feel no urge to rush into doing it. Let it wait a bit. You know you can if you want but you don't have to do it now. It's always when you can't afford to do something that it becomes really, really important.

JL1990

Look at disgusting Philip Green with his yachts and brassy wife. Not a good advert for the rich.

I know this isn't really the right forum for this, but can we not have this level of sexism? You've put his wife in the same bracket as his yacht. It's objectification, shes not a possession.

Sorry, I just needed a moan.

enthusiasticsaver

My OH and I opted out of the accumulating "stuff" lifestyle years ago and it has probably saved us a lot.

What we buy we research thoroughly before getting it and do not shop for things unless we actually need them (notice I say need rather than want). For us it is about quality rather than quantity so consequently only just changed our TV after 15 years and I am still typing on a 8 year old laptop. I buy clothes when I need them rather than when the shops put out their new ranges and make a habit of getting rid of old outfits when I buy a new one.

For many people, they enjoy shopping so I guess they would hate to live the way we do but I can honestly say that I would rather do almost anything else rather than go shopping. I am also not bothered about keeping up with the "Jones's" and don't splash out on expensive branded clothes, cars or gadgets. I also hate clutter and when we travel, which we do often, we never bring back tat as souvenirs.

I am not sure however that we would call ourselves rich but more comfortably off. I don't know any really rich people but would imagine they are like anyone else and some spend and some save.

ReadingTim

JL1990 wrote: »

I know this isn't really the right forum for this, but can we not have this level of sexism? You've put his wife in the same bracket as his yacht. It's objectification, shes not a possession.

No, she was the Monaco tax-resident nominal owner of BHS who extracted millions of pounds in dividends from an ailing retail business which employed thousands of British workers, who offloaded the business for £1 and who now refuses to make any additional contributions to the pension liabilities of those now redundant British workers and pensioners.

That's what's disgusting. That's what's not a good advert for the rich. Not her sex, or even colour of hair.

Still, don't let mere facts get in the way of a moan

lush_walrus

N9eav wrote: »

Sometimes, those rich people have big houses, but no money. I watched a TV show about a gentry family than could not afford to buy the heating oil for their mansion and so lived pretty much in one room in the winter.

That's true also of some, my friends parents have a large 5 storey house in Chelsea I imagine it's worth 5 or 6 million maybe more. But The wealth is all in the house, outside of that they are quite normal people earning probably 100 or a little more between them.

Personally in that position I would sell and change to somewhere cheaper..