Wealth and money

musicismylife78

This could be an interesting thread.

One documentary that is a must see (that no one has seen) is Born Rich. It is directed by the son of the CEO of Johnson and Johnson. Its an exploration of the lives and values and views of the very rich. Its premise is interesting, and unheard of in that the director basically admits that from an early age his father and his family had an unspoken rule that despite the fact the family was uber rich, billionaires, and that the son was basically set for life in whatever he chose to do, if anything, that talking about money was verboten and wrong and frowned upon. It seems this paradox, these are the richest of the rich, they are the richest families in America, in the world, and one would think money and wealth would be a topic of conversation. The director was worried that his documentary and its premiere would cause his father to disown him. The opposite end of it, is someone like Warren Buffett’s granddaughter, who appeared on Oprah. She was decidedly a hippie, dreadlocks, an artist, bohemian, yet was an heir to a multibillion dollar fortune. Oprah asked if she felt she could live and carry on and not be hurt if her grandfather ended up not leaving her much, or any, money. She said she would have a hard time dealing with that. Very interesting.

I was curious if some people on this board who are wealthy could speak on it. Do you feel like your peers look at your differently because you are wealthy? Does your family act as the people profiled in Born Rich do, in that speaking with your family about money and your families wealth is wrong and a big no no? What is/was it like (being wealthy)? Do you have summer/vacation houses? Do you belong to country clubs? Attend prep school? Does anyone here have a home in Martha’s vineyard or The Hamptons or any of the other so called “playgrounds of the rich”? I don’t want to hurt wealthy people’s feelings, as I have many friends who are wealthy, but as a person who is decidedly unwealthy, my own opinion of it is that it seems like that lifestyle is stuffy and stiff and tradition filled. It seems like its “dress conservatively, prep school, community service, golf, tennis, country clubs, and very exclusive (in terms of money of course, but also in terms of race)”. Is this an accurate view? Did you ever feel guilty about your or your families wealth? Is the view of a JCrew/Ralph Lauren wearing preppie, one with argyle clothes and a sweater draped from their necks an accurate one? Times seems to be changing as I was literally stunned when I opened a Rolling Stone and in one of the ads for Ralph Lauren clothes, the male model wasn’t some shirtless clean shaven person who is typical of such ads, this model had long hair, in dreadlocks, and a beard. What an odd figure for the company to use as a representative! What were the advantages and disadvantages of having wealth?

markymark550

Wish I could give you some insight, but I grew up in a middle to upper middle class family. It would be interesting to read those thoughts and views though.

jammergirl

i grew up in a decidely lower-middle class family. not that i would call my upbringing "low" by any means, we just didn't have hardly any disposable income to speak of. my dad was a firefighter for the state, and my mom took odd jobs. i had a wonderful childhood and i definitely know the value of a dollar, and i wouldn't wish anything about it was different.
as far as knowing rich people, my first experience with being friends with them came when i went to college. this group of wealthy girls were my neighbors and they befriended me and my sister. they all came from a suburb of monterey, and all of them had never had a job in their lives. money never really was an issue with us, except when they wanted to go shopping, which seemed like all the time. they would think nothing of dropping over $500 on clothes in one afternoon, and thats before they even got to the makeup counter! i'm not making fun of them or saying they were bad people, but it was just kind of mind-boggling.

Stelly

I heard an interview with Warren Buffett where he said he plans to leave zero inheritance for his family. He wants them to understand that you need to work hard to get places in life. So, his Granddaughter is screwed!

Buffett still lives in the same house he bought, like 40 years ago. Very modest, average home. Interesting guy!

thunderDAN

ok first off, I am by no means 'rich.' My family has money, but not enough to buy houses in the Hamptons or things like that...there is midwest rich- where 125k a year is living the dream, and there is East Coast rich where a million a year is living the dream.

So anyway, I grew up in Ohio (and still live there) so since my family owned a successful business we had a decent amount of money. We weren't wiping our asses with it, but we had enough to go on a couple Vacations a year, nice homes, and able to join a fairly exclusive country club where I spent most of my childhood summers. I grew up in a neighborhood that was all 'old money.' My next door neighbor was the owner of the Timken Company to give you an idea of what I'm talking about (Timken Co. is a Fortune 500). I lived in a school district that had money, where if you didn't go to the Catholic school (where most of the really rich kids went), you just went to the public school- where it wasn't unusual for the kids to be driving BMWs, Mercedes and 2 guys even had H1 Hummers..in high school. Well my mom didn't want me or my sisters to grow up around that, so my parents paid for us to go to another public school 20 miles away... ok, but we did fit the mould you described. I always got practically anything I needed or wanted as a kid growing up. I wore basically only Ralph Lauren from age 1-12. I learned to golf, ski, sail, and play tennis at a young age (although I was still a good baseball player). My brother was an All State Lacrosse player and my sister was All County as a tennis player.. I had a cell phone in the 8th grade....never paid a bill nothing..

However this is the thing. My dad grew up spoiled (he had a corvette at 16 and a new car every year after) but he didn't want us to be like that. He didn't really spoil us. If I needed new shoes for basketball or a new baseball glove, I always got it, and most of the time it was top of the line- but it wasn't like you see people on TV.

But here is the thing (and I started a thread about this a month ago when I realized this problem). Growing up I always had everything I wanted, but now that I'm older, I find it hard to get the things I want. It's like growing up you don't even think about it, but now that I'm not dependent on my folks anymore, it's hard to buy the things I'm used to and live the lifestyle I had growing up. It's not that big of a deal though just sometimes I feel like I'm very materialistic because I become jealous of others sometimes. I mean I'm still somewhat preppy (my wardrobe is about 80% Banana Republic ((but I basically wear plain t shirts and jeans all the time)). It's just different. I graduated college, and except for some money for graduation and some for bdays and Christmas, my family doesn't give me anything moneywise. I'm fine with it because I'm actually starting to value money more now.

I don't know if this is what you were asking this for, but that is what I got.

To sum it all up: My family was Midwest Rich and I didn't value money until I got older and starting making it myself