Not blurting it out

Looking at me people see a 50 year old guy family guy living in a small 1950 Era middle class house for 25 years, driving a well worn 30 year old truck, and running a small nonprofit I started in 2015.

My toys, a restored 76 Monte Carlo and a rustic 50 year old mountain cabin, are either not well known about locally or very middle class.

A few years ago I had to clue my mother in, as she was worried about me financially.

I'm reasonably gold digger proof.
 
Keim said:
Looking at me people see a 50 year old guy family guy living in a small 1950 Era middle class house for 25 years, driving a well worn 30 year old truck, and running a small nonprofit I started in 2015.

My toys, a restored 76 Monte Carlo and a rustic 50 year old mountain cabin, are either not well known about locally or very middle class.

A few years ago I had to clue my mother in, as she was worried about me financially.

I'm reasonably gold digger proof.
Click to expand...

I have never worried about gold diggers in my case. No woman wants money that badly.
 
Neighbors around here are few and far between and most everyone has lots of land. All pasture land looks pretty much the same to me and most homes are often way back in the woods so it's hard to see much of them. But they probably notice that I drive nice new cars and trucks and change them frequently. Other than that, I don't think anyone one has a clue.
 
Last edited:
I always wondered why I could not attract a gold digger. I guess I am under the radar.

Plus, it occurred to me that it is not how much money you have that matters, it is how much you are willing to spend on the gold digger. A broke heavy spender is a better deal than a frugal guy.
 
We live in the ranch house we bought in 1985, have 2001, 2004, and 2019 cars, and take our summer vacations on foot (backpacking). I'm sure that no one, not even family, suspects our real networth.
 
scrinch said:
We live in the ranch house we bought in 1985, have 2001, 2004, and 2019 cars, and take our summer vacations on foot (backpacking). I'm sure that no one, not even family, suspects our real networth.
Click to expand...

I remember reading once (in a paper magazine, 20 years ago, can't find it online) that Tony Banks, the keyboard player in Genesis who has got to be worth $50 million, used to take vacations with his wife in a VW camper van, because they enjoyed the simplicity.
 
I have four siblings and all but one is retired. For whatever reason, I'd love to know what their net worth is. Is that weird? Whenever we discuss travel, new cars, new homes, or vacation homes, I just wonder. At the same time, they suspect we have some money based on our living in California, travel and a splurge on a Porsche years back.
 
I have a friend in his 80s, that wishes he had not let out his financial situation. Some years ago, his son was getting a divorce, he gave his son $100k to buy out his son's wife, the son got to keep the house and some other things. In the last couple of years he bought another of his sons a house. Now he has a grand kid and a nephew asking for down payments. So far he has kept them at bay, because he pointed out all the problems the houses have just from the pictures. He is also telling them, pay off your credit cards, your car loan, save a 6 months emergency fund, and save a down payment.
Them chance of them getting that done, probably lets him off the hook. :LOL:
 
Loose lips sink ships.

Only we know. Not our children, not our neighbors, not our relatives. They certainly cannot tell by our lifestyle.

Why would we want others to know? Bragging rights, to somehow feel superior?
If anything DW is a little embarrassed by it.

We were brought up in an environment that discouraged ostentatious living. Finances were a very personal matter not to be shared. So called keeping up with the neighbors was a mugs game.

Never understood this comparison business that we see all time. Does everyone want to feel good or brad if they are above the artificial line so to speak. Beyond my comprehension.
 
Last edited:
scrinch said:
We live in the ranch house we bought in 1985, have 2001, 2004, and 2019 cars, and take our summer vacations on foot (backpacking). I'm sure that no one, not even family, suspects our real networth.
Click to expand...

And if they did suspect, would it matter?
 
brett said:
Loose lips sink ships.

Only we know. Not our children, not our neighbors, not our relatives. They certainly cannot tell by our lifestyle.

Why would we want others to know? Bragging rights, to somehow feel superior?
If anything DW is a little embarrassed by it.

We were brought up in an environment that discouraged ostentatious living. Finances were a very personal matter not to be shared. So called keeping up with the neighbors was a mugs game.

Never understood this comparison business that we see all time. Does everyone want to feel good or brad if they are above the artificial line so to speak. Beyond my comprehension.
Click to expand...
What is this "comparison business" of which you speak?
Are your neighbors taping updated net worth dollar amounts to the side of their mailboxes each week?
 
TheWizard said:
What is this "comparison business" of which you speak?
Are your neighbors taping updated net worth dollar amounts to the side of their mailboxes each week?
Click to expand...

No, we are in a plus 55 area. Every once in a while some of the chat gets around to the average retirement income in our country, or the average retirement savings.

All seems more than a little pointless without context. And...we are only concerned with our income and our retirement, could not care about anyone else or the so called meaningless published averages.

Lots of late model Audis, Lexus, Mercs on our cul de sac. And many with two in the garage. Some people still work, others not. I cannot imagine caring whether any of those who work can afford to retire and if not why not. Simply not our business nor do we care.
 
Last edited:
brett said:
Loose lips sink ships.
Click to expand...

It is funny how things can slip out. About 6 years before FIRE, we were with some neighbors and one asked "what would it take for you to retire?". I said, well another million would be good. He looked at me and said, "well, that means you already have at least 1 million".:facepalm:yup
 
CardsFan said:
It is funny how things can slip out. About 6 years before FIRE, we were with some neighbors and one asked "what would it take for you to retire?". I said, well another million would be good. He looked at me and said, "well, that means you already have at least 1 million".:facepalm:yup
Click to expand...


Well, true enough. BUT he didn't know whether it was ONLY 1 million that you already had. It could have been 10 million.:angel:
 
^^^^^
Yep, big difference between 1 and 10 million.
 
If I had $300,000 and needed $1.3 million to retire, I would say I needed another million. So, if you had been quick witted you could have denied that you already had a million.
 
BigNick said:
We have a new regional government in the part of Spain where we live. I don't like them much from a political point of view, but the other day I read that they are increasing the wealth tax threshold from <below what we have> to <above what we have>. This will save us about $1,000 this year. We don't really need another $1,000, but hey, I just fill in the form and the tax office tells me what to pay, that's the deal right?

The other day we were discussing the new government with (politically like-minded) neighbours and the subject of the wealth tax came up briefly. I don't remember the exact details of the conversation, but I very, very nearly revealed that we have enough in the pot that we have been paying it for the last couple of years. Our neighbours have no idea that we are worth 7 figures. We live in a normal apartment block with a modest car.

Is anyone else "under the radar" when it comes to letting on what you have in the bank? Do you have any strategies for preserving that?
Click to expand...


Have probably been more open with you folk on the forum here (rather anonymously) than with anyone I know. We live in an upper middle class area in a LCOL country. We drive the same car now 6 years and while nice with all the bells and whistles it is not a known luxury brand. The only thing people know is we travel a great deal, have renovated our home and have a 2nd home in the US but many know we rent it out when we aren’t there which is normal in our area. So no one really knows anything and better to keep it that way. Only my wife knows so if she divorces me I’m screwed! But DW doesn’t seem to care so probably alright on that front. And of course that we are still totally in love!
 
Gumby said:
People know we live in a nice house in a nice neighborhood and could easily look up a value on Zillow. They could not, however, determine whether we have a mortgage. ...
Click to expand...
FYI, This is not true, at least in the US. Mortgages are a matter of public record. I know someone that looks up whether people have a mortgage, and the amount, all the time. A quick google search will confirm this. This is what I got:

Although the requirements vary from state-to-state, each state requires the formal recording of real property in a county office in order to be valid. This means that almost every properly recorded property will have a mortgage record on public file (provided there have been any mortgages)
Click to expand...
 
This is how I can tell if people read the entire thread before posting.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

P
Condo common area cleaning dilemma
2 3
Replies
56
Views
2K
ychuck46
Y
zinger1457
State Tax Refund Lost In Mail
Replies
24
Views
1K
cathy63
C
2017ish
Not everything is getting more expensive...
Replies
1
Views
462
Route246
R
T
New Beginnings: My DD's Journey to Oregon
Replies
12
Views
549
SecondAttempt
S
S
  • Locked
Inflation is giving lower income retirees smaller COLA increases
3 4 5
Replies
103
Views
5K
Gumby
Gumby

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom