Awkward Wealth

[eta2020]

The Indian tech guys that are here on temporary visas are the ones that purple is probably talking about. They make about half of what their US counterparts ( or those with H1s) make. Hi tech companies will outsource some of their work to companies like Wipro or HCL. Then Wipro/HCL will bring them in on temp visas to on site at the company who did the outsourcing. The upshot is that these young Indian guys are working side by side their coworkers making 1/2 as much. They're happy to do it as they would make much less in India.


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I work all my life in high tech industry in Operating System design. You would be surprised what they make It is huge dollars...even interns will get way more then 60k.

 

[purplesky]

You are kidding yourself. Indian community in USA is one of the wealthiest and best educated population ....if not THE wealthiest.

Google for yourself. I will not be pointing you to numerous sources...

I know. My sister dated a doc from India for several years. His parents were both docs also and this guy had some cash obviously. He had no siblings so his parents bought him anything and everything. He had a boat and a small plane and 2 saabs. Nice guy but really spoiled.

He had a nice ski boat and we went water skiing all the time.

These are tech workers here on a work temp visa that I am talking about.
So they all stay in this house while on project assignments in the area.
Its a really nice neighborhood. The real estate agent for the builder told me that they wanted to buy a whole section of the neighborhood. For some reason the builder said it wasn't legal. I remember at the time it seemed strange.

There are many Indian docs and Indian IT in the area. They are very smart.

They save their money and are very frugal. I hope I didn't offend anyone on here.
I think part of the Indian culture is to have many family members living under one roof. I see families walking together all the time. The in- laws in tow

 

[purplesky]

I work all my life in high tech industry in Operating System design. You would be surprised what they make It is huge dollars...even interns will get way more then 60k.

They are also very involved in medicine. My last physical was performed by a young Indian doc. He was actually super cool.

 

[bmcgonig]

I work all my life in high tech industry in Operating System design. You would be surprised what they make It is huge dollars...even interns will get way more then 60k.

I work in hi tech too and saw this first hand, and found out what they made from the guys themselves.


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[eta2020]

I think high tech companies do not care whom they hire. It is very very hard to find smart people. (especially college hires)

I don't know what they teach kids nowadays but for OS type of work you simply can nor find young people. So if you find some young kid you are lucky manager.

 

[jon-nyc]

No tangent too obscure for the awkward wealth thread. Maybe I'll share a recipe...

 

[Gumby]

No tangent too obscure for the awkward wealth thread. Maybe I'll share a recipe...

Well, you could. But you'd have to introduce it properly. Something like - "even though I have a Sutton Place apartment, here's how I cook collards . . ."

 

[pb4uski]

Who would have thought this thread would go 458 posts?

 

[MichaelB]

Who would have thought this thread would go 458 posts?

Yes, it is awkward.

 

[pb4uski]

Yes, it is awkward.

But it has got a wealth of posts.

 

[Al in Ohio]

Well, you could. But you'd have to introduce it properly. Something like - "even though I have a Sutton Place apartment, here's how I cook collards . . ."

Viewing this long a thread on my old 2008 vintage Imac just doesn't do it justice. If it gets any longer I am going to have to buy a new model with a much larger screen to reduce my scroll time.

 

[MRG]

I think high tech companies do not care whom they hire. It is very very hard to find smart people. (especially college hires)

I don't know what they teach kids nowadays but for OS type of work you simply can nor find young people. So if you find some young kid you are lucky manager.

They teach them to trust the OS it's magic, don't look at or attempt to understand. I don't know where the next generation will come from either.

Working with probably 35 sharp grizzled veterans (C++) guys on a critical application, maybe 2 really understood low level environments. When I was doing S/370 assembly development it may have been 1 in 100(less experienced team).

All the OS type people I worked with were gifted. I don't know if you can teach the curiosity required for that type work.

Interesting to me personally as I always wanted to know what made some people really understand or just get by.

 

[dunkelblau]

I see this myself, too, working in Silicon Valley. Many of our full-time employees, and also interns, are Indian. They're very highly educated, and while I'm not privy to their salaries, I suspect many of them are paid lower on average.

And they are willing to work longer hours. In fact, I have to catch myself at times from taking advantage of this. My plate is overflowing with projects, and I've pushed a few to one of my coworkers because he always seems to have time for them.

I now suspect it's not because his plate isn't already full, but rather he's working later hours, and possibly on weekends. I'm not sure if it's cultural, or whether he feels he has to "prove himself", or what. I might pull him aside one day and try to find out how many hours he's really putting in, if he's willing to talk about it. If he's putting in 50/60+ hours a week, then we need to talk to our manager about getting another req open for a FTE rather than taking advantage of somebody.

If he's putting in only 50/60 hours a week and no weekends, then he's not really working full time by local standards.

IMO wealth isn't awkward but high spending can be if you don't believe you're entitled to live better than those around you. I make it a point to not buy things that the average American can't afford, but I don't expect everyone else to believe or behave similarly.

 

[Lsbcal]

This thread is depressing. Before it started, I thought I was the only one with money in the bank.

 

[rodi]

Yes, it is awkward.

LOL

Ok - if this were in the morning I would have spewed coffee. Instead I spewed wine...

My keyboard is suffering.

 

[LoneAspen]

Anyway, back to BMW's...looks like a 5-series starts around $539 per month to lease. But if you want to really show off, you need a 7-series sedan, which starts at $909 a month, or go topless with a 6-series convertible, which starts around $1079 per month.

Having lived in the Silicon Valley area for a number of years now, BMWs and Mercedes have lost their allure. When I lived in Indiana and Colorado, I thought they were nice cars, and something to strive for someday. But literally every other car on the road here in the Bay Area is a BMW or Mercedes. They have totally lost their appeal to me because they're so ubiquitous. I've seen high schoolers driving around in new BMWs.

If I were looking to buy a "luxury" (for this area) coupe or sedan, it would need to be something I don't see so many of driving around, like an Aston Martin, Bentley, Jaguar F-Type, etc.

If I'm going to drop that kind of $$$ on a car, it would have to be a brand that I don't see 20 of every half mile on the road.

 

[eta2020]

Having lived in the Silicon Valley area for a number of years now, BMWs and Mercedes have lost their allure.

Our non US born interns working on Masters are driving 25-30k cars (some of them)

Personally I think once you can buy one with ease, driving BMW looses its appeal. I was planning to reward myself with diesel Mercedes when my NW reaches 2 Million.... By then I somehow did not care about one at all.

 

[eta2020]

I upped to Honda Civic

 

[sanfanciscotreat]

Yes I see so many luxury cars on the road. Some have to be leases or just $700 car payments over 96 months. I think I just heard recently that the avg. car loan is about 7 years.

Yes picking the right degree is important these days. Sad to say you could throw in a english or History degree with that basket weaving. Unless you get a masters and teach. But wait you will need a Doctorates also. 100k later.

Depends on the field whether is costs money for an advanced degree or not. I earned mine while getting paid a research assistantship. Graduate degrees in some agricultural fields pay quite well.

 

[jollystomper]

You know, if I don't want folks with less than me caring out about my wealth and making me feel awkward, I have no right looking at those with more than me - real or perceived - and caring about what they have.

It just seems my "wealth" really grew when I stopped focusing on what other had to measure myself, and started focusing on what my needs were and what I was going to do to achieve them.

Perhaps because I personally know a lot of folks on both ends of the wealth spectrum is why I have this attitude. Or maybe I saw how worry about others wealth has destroyed and older brothers financially and personally. He was doing well in the college education/administration field and likely would have eventually risen to be a college president at a time when few minorities held that position. He had very good material items and savings. But he saw his siblings going into different fields and perceived we were making more than him. So he decided to change his career path into real estate and various related activities... and the result has been a disaster for him financially, for his marriage, and for his relationship with his children.

So I just focus on myself and my family, it is much less stressful than feeling awkward or making others feel awkward.

 

[Andre1969]

Having lived in the Silicon Valley area for a number of years now, BMWs and Mercedes have lost their allure. When I lived in Indiana and Colorado, I thought they were nice cars, and something to strive for someday. But literally every other car on the road here in the Bay Area is a BMW or Mercedes. They have totally lost their appeal to me because they're so ubiquitous. I've seen high schoolers driving around in new BMWs.

About 25 years ago, I remember reading about a rich guy who was having a 1959 DeSoto Firedome convertible restored. I forget where he lived, but it was some ritzy place in California. He was having it restored at White Post Restorations, which I think is either in Virginia or West Virginia. One of his friends had said that, for the amount of money he's putting into that old car, he could go out and buy a Ferrari. His reply was along the lines of "Yeah, but when I pull up to the country club in THIS car, people will NOTICE!"

In my case, I never really got into the allure of fancy, prestigious new cars, I guess because my Dad was into old cars, and a lot of that rubbed off on me. My grandparents on my Mom's side of the family watched me alot when I was a little kid and by that time Granddad had retired, but did a lot of shadetree mechanic work. And the guy in back worked on cars, restored them, raced them, etc.

Even if I got filthy rich, to the point I could have almost any new car I wanted, I don't think I'd go much higher than a well-equipped Dodge Charger. I'd probably start plurging more on older cars, though.

 

[JoeWras]

Having lived in the Silicon Valley area for a number of years now, BMWs and Mercedes have lost their allure. When I lived in Indiana and Colorado, I thought they were nice cars, and something to strive for someday. But literally every other car on the road here in the Bay Area is a BMW or Mercedes. They have totally lost their appeal to me because they're so ubiquitous. I've seen high schoolers driving around in new BMWs.

If I were looking to buy a "luxury" (for this area) coupe or sedan, it would need to be something I don't see so many of driving around, like an Aston Martin, Bentley, Jaguar F-Type, etc.

If I'm going to drop that kind of $$$ on a car, it would have to be a brand that I don't see 20 of every half mile on the road.

In the Valley, Tesla is the new BMW.

Your wealth may be "awkward" to the guy feeding you free food in the cafeteria, but you are saving the world. Thank goodness.

 

[LoneAspen]

About 25 years ago, I remember reading about a rich guy who was having a 1959 DeSoto Firedome convertible restored. I forget where he lived, but it was some ritzy place in California. He was having it restored at White Post Restorations, which I think is either in Virginia or West Virginia. One of his friends had said that, for the amount of money he's putting into that old car, he could go out and buy a Ferrari. His reply was along the lines of "Yeah, but when I pull up to the country club in THIS car, people will NOTICE!"

That's very true. In San Jose, there's a very upscale pedestrian type shopping area called Santana Row, but it still has a street running through it. On weekends, you can see a lot of nice cars being driven past. Especially in front of the Valencia Hotel which has a small area for parking in front of the hotel. Every once in a while, you can see Ferraris, Lamborghinis, etc, parked in front.

Those get a lot of looks, and people taking selfies next to the cars. But if you really want to see people gawk, park a restored classic car out there, like a late 50's Corvette, Thunderbird, Bel Air, or that guy's 59 DeSoto.

A Ferrari 458 or Lamborghini Gallardo starts to look rather pedestrian next to a restored classic.

 

[LoneAspen]

In the Valley, Tesla is the new BMW.

A couple of people at work have bought Teslas, and some folks were talking out it in the hallway, and I was like "meh". Who cares. They might as well have been talking about somebody who just bought a new Toyota Camry.

I like Teslas. A lot. And if I was going to continue to live in the Valley for the next few years, I'd probably get one myself. But to me, it's not a "luxury" car, it's just transportation.

 

[Andre1969]

I've seen a Tesla on the street every once in awhile. They seem a bit anonymous and wallflower-ish to me. I think it's because they tend to be low to the ground, and in this day of minivans, SUVs, pickups and crossovers, and even mainstream everyday cars being taller, it sort of gets lost in the crowd. Usually they're a dull color too, like black, charcoal, gray, etc. So they just don't stick out. It's an attractive car, I'll give it that. And once you finally notice it, it has sort of a customized, expensive look about it. But it just doesn't seem to draw a lot of attention to itself.