‘The Millionaire Next Door’ is a Myth to Most Millennials

[ExFlyBoy5]

The objective for me, was never to be rich but to be happy in life.

So,,, I think I/we have succeeded... definitely not rich, but ultimately happy.

With 61 years of marriage, jeanie and I are contented, safe, and hoping for more. One of my best friends, and his wife just had a featured newspaper article about them... 78 years married, very alert, and age 100 for both.

Instead of having $1,000,000, we want to be like Helen and Kelly.

A long, successful marriage is one of the few things in society that cannot be "bought" especially with divorce rates nearing (or exceeding 50%). Your long marriage is something to be very proud of.

 

[gwraigty]

You mean when it was impossible to get a minimum wage job at McDonald's or the local supermarket? At least it was in my neighborhood from the late 70s to early 80s. The unemployed labor pool was just too large for a teenager to compete with.

I haven't read every post here, but I just wish the world and media would stop chopping us all up into blocks and pitting us against each other. This is a bad trend that is growing steam and really leads to nothing good.

I had the opposite experience in my neighborhood during that same time period. I also don't like these articles, therefore, I didn't read it. I see a danger in people just blindly believing what an article says, especially if it discourages someone from even trying.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I had the opposite experience in my neighborhood during that same time period. I also don't like these articles, therefore, I didn't read it. I see a danger in people just blindly believing what an article says, especially if it discourages someone from even trying.

I don't think too many people here would do that. Now, the public in general? Can't vouch for that!

 

[gwraigty]

I don't think too many people here would do that. Now, the public in general? Can't vouch for that!

+1

 

[unclemick]

Much talk about college as a stairway to success, and along the way, monetary security.

I assume both the following are happy examples.



My 50th High School Reunion the two 'richest' were:

1. 82nd Airborne NCO and retired Longshoreman who owned rental RE.

2. A stunning lady who left the 8th grade for a while(before the pill) whose job was to manage a large foundation. You get one guess as to her probable career path.

heh heh heh - ? Many roads to Dublin. ? Or - more than one way to skin a cat. Grin.

 

[ugeauxgirl]

Actually this sounds like the kind of excuse people with no ambition tell themselves. And other people. Is not a discontent with one's lot and an aspiring to greater happiness through achievement ( i.e. Acquiring more wealth and a pile of hardware OR taking a bunch of trips) what is supposed to motivate us? At least according to the philosophy of some? Take here for instance. Nobody here was content with what they had.

Really? I find this inspires me to LBYM- which is how most of us got where we are. After all, a person who makes a million and spends all of it is high-income, not wealthy. Accumulation of wealth requires ignoring the siren call of stuff- or so it seems to me.

 

[imoldernu]

Found the article about Kelley and Helen... 78 yrs. married

99 and doing fine: A chat with WWII vet Carl 'Kelly' Carlson (With Video) | Lifestyle | newstrib.com

 

[ugeauxgirl]

Nice article- good for a smile.

Found the article about Kelley and Helen... 78 yrs. married

99 and doing fine: A chat with WWII vet Carl 'Kelly' Carlson (With Video) | Lifestyle | newstrib.com

 

[pj.mask]

Many new millennials were influenced by their parents to live frugally or live comfortably - just like the boomers generation.

What has changed is the ratio of minimum wage (and/or middle class income) compared to the cost of living.

There are some of us doing very well (you saw that chart showing 1% making great gains) - it seems the author is looking at the middle class but many posters are saying ‘my 1% child is doing well, those who are not are just being lazy’.

You simply cannot live to the same standard on minimum wage that you could a long time ago.
The jobs that do pay well are very specialized - you can’t just walk up with a firm hand shake and good work ethic and get started.

 

[dirtbiker]

I guess I find it astonishing/sad that so few of us are willing to admit that at least a part of our good fortune is a result of timing and luck. I know that despite working hard, lbym, and doing our best it could have ended up differently.

There are some people that will be successful in nearly any situation with only bad luck. Having some good luck along the way will help them, but it isn't what made them their fortune. There are others that will never manage to be even close to successful no matter how much luck/fortune is on their side. I think that most that have the gumption to work hard and save and achieve FI and/or RE fall more to the earlier category.

I think it's a long list of whining and excuses. For example:



The bolding is mine. The solution is obvious - move away from the coasts!

Living in West Virginia for the last nearly 17 years, I can assure the author that there are gobs of very nice homes to be had for $131k, and many for a lot less. While I haven't inspected many of them, I'm fairly confident that few if any have much more than one bathroom, two at the most, and don't have granite countertops or the latest stainless appliances.

Neither DW nor I had any of that when we grew up and we seem to have survived the deprivation.

There are stable jobs here too. One of the guys painting our house today has been employed at the same company for the last eighteen years. I'd call that a stable job.

The other thing about expensive areas is that wages/salaries are generally higher, so the higher cost of housing is usually at least partially offset by this. If you're living in an area that you can't afford to live in, you should either find a new job or a new area of the country to live in.

Disagree completely. Every single one of us has THE SAME opportunity as every other one of us.

If I can crawl out of the Detroit slums by sweat, sacrifice and hard work and RE, anyone can.

Really tired and expaserated by all the "but...other people had "privilege" and "good luck"..and...")

Horseshi!.

We all have the EXACT SAME Opportunity.You're born into the greatest country in the history of the planet, and it is what you make of it. Quit complaining and talking about the "accident of your birth". Seriously? The "accident of MY birth" put me in inner city Detroit, with murders happening outside my front door. Quit complaining and realize you have the SAME opportunities that every single one of us - despite "accident of birth", skin color or what ever perceived "privilege" anyone thinks any of us has. That's total BS, not to mention plain and blatant politics.

ETA - you stated the obvious and not sure you realize it.."many people have the OPPORTUNITY to LBYM, save, invest and plan for the future and FIRE, but they don't"

BINGO. It has SQUAT to do with the "accident of your birth" but instead is all within your own individual control to work hard, sacrifice and make the difficult choices.

Really tired of people hammering on those of us who have made great personal sacrifices to achieve what we have, while claiming some vauge "privilege" or "accident of birth". You simply have NO IDEA what we have done to get where we are at.

Do you think you'd have the same opportunity if you were born in North Korea instead of Detroit? You think you and the kids you grew up with had the same opportunity as a kid with a a multimillion dollar trust fund in Beverly Hills?

Now don't get me wrong, everyone of sound mind and body has the ability to get out of their birth situation (at least in the US) if they work hard to do it. It's just that it takes a lot more work to do it when you come from an impoverished background, as you know.

 

[Andre1969]

There are some of us doing very well (you saw that chart showing 1% making great gains) - it seems the author is looking at the middle class but many posters are saying ‘my 1% child is doing well, those who are not are just being lazy’.

On the subject of the middle class, I've been hearing about the middle class getting squeezed out for some time now. However, I remember one or two articles showing graphs, explaining that the reason the middle class is shrinking is because it's losing people at both ends...more people are dropping off at the bottom, and becoming "lower class", income-wise, but more people are rising above it and joining the upper echelons.

So, while it's not all gloom and doom, necessarily, if the middle gets stretched too far, with too many people at the extremes, that can't be good, either.

 

[NW-Bound]

Luck or hard work? This topic is a perennial one on this forum, and surfaces every so often. I think it is just as popular as the paying-off-mortgage-or-not topic, or the when-to-take-SS topic.

I dunno. I am sure I got some good luck in life, which might have been canceled out by some bad luck too.

Being luck, that means it is random and I cannot change it. That leaves only hard work under my control. So, I concentrated on hard work, and did not count on luck. And that's all I can do and can say about that.


PS. I was not tall, nor handsome, nor muscular, nor super lucky. My pretty wife fell for me. I think she admired my hard work. It must be, because without hard work, I don't have nothin'.

PPS. I did not have really bad luck either. I made it to SS age, well early SS but not to 70 yet. Some unlucky folks I knew died in their 50s, never got to enjoy one day of retirement. Does lack of bad luck count the same as having good luck? Is there a neutral position on the luck scale?

 

[HI Bill]

Luck or hard work?

I think you need both.

I am fortunate to have good health, overall
I had asthma as a kid. If I had been born a decade earlier (1950s) I might not have survived to the age of 5; or if I had been born in a third-world country.
I ended up with above-average intellect.
I worked hard, but that hard work enabled me to take on successively better jobs, at an every-increasing pay scale.
...you get the point.

In 2015, I was in Indonesia, on a small island that was half-owned by a dive resort. The other half was all local Indonesians. They were poor, and were mostly immigrants, who lived in 'pole houses' over the water. The resort provided electricity to the town. I observed some folks who appeared to be doing well financially. They owned a moped, and could afford to pay for gas. They owned a satellite dish and a TV. I watched another man, older, in a dug-out canoe/fishing boat. The engine was broken. The steering was broken. He had a snorkel mask, but only one fin. He was trying in vain to fix the boat. He probably didn't have the drive/intellect to succeed as others did, or he was injured or had an illness. If you lived on this island, it would be difficult to get to the next major island to see a doctor, if you could afford one. I watched some of the villagers work at the dive resort, making luxury cottages with the most basic of tools, and no personal protective equipment. Cutting coral for the walls with hand tools. I also watched pretty, young girls work in the restaurant. Those lucky enough to be born with beauty and some intelligence, and not become sick or injured had a much better life. My wife was happy that I experienced all this, and it has made me much more grateful for all that I have now.

 

[NW-Bound]

Surely, with just a bit of reflection anyone can see how being born in the US gives one such an advantage over being born in a third-world country.

Then, count it as luck, and start working. There's no point in being envious of a descendant of Rockefeller or JP Morgan; it does not get you anywhere.

You may just get cancer and die early. Rich people suffer that fate all the time. I am sure they are willing to exchange their riches for your healthy long life.

 

[Golden sunsets]

Oh it's still true, at least for some. Both of my kids 34 and 36, one a Senior Director and the other about to become Director, work their butts off routinely.

A bunch of Directors in my last workplace got together and discovered that the one thing we had in common was the willingness to work massive weekly hours (65+) at one point in our career as necessary.
Not sure this is true today as much.

 

[Jeffman52]

I think you need both.

+1

I see a lot of similarity in peoples stories. A good work ethic going back to their youth, hard work over time, and making more good decisions with money than bad ones.

My story is just as similar.

My parents were incredibly poor. We had nothing. Lived a basic living at my grandmother's, we lived on her SS check and whatever I could make.
Worked in Rural Georgia as a kid, mowed grass in my area, bailed hay in the summers, bush-hogged peoples property nearby for practically slave wages, got a part time job at the local country store. Eventually got a real job in the cotton mills at 16 years old and worked there for a couple of years. Then the military, then school again (twice). Once at 21 and again at 35 years old after having to change careers.

I had both good and bad luck along the way and not all decisions I made were good ones.

I quit High School. Bad choice.
Invested all my 401K in company stock (bad choice) only to see the company get caught falsifying their financial position. My 110K turned into 10K overnight. It never recovered.

I married someone that I saw the red flags on before I did it. (bad choice) She could spend money faster than I could make it.

Eventually divorced (good choice!) at 40 years old with 30K dollars to my name and moved into an appt.

Another few years to get out of debt. But from 43 until now, I was able to throw off all that, LBYM, and make good money choices and finally last year hit the 1M net worth at 55 years old. Along the way I married my DW who I could not imagine life without. She was in the same boat with debt and nothing saved. But together we got on the same page financially with the same goals.

So with that I would say, yes good luck and good choices. But never think a few bad decisions define you and never think its too late to start the path to at least some wealth.

 

[timbervest]

+1

I see a lot of similarity in peoples stories. A good work ethic going back to their youth, hard work over time, and making more good decisions with money than bad ones.

My story is just as similar.

My parents were incredibly poor. We had nothing. Lived a basic living at my grandmother's, we lived on her SS check and whatever I could make.
Worked in Rural Georgia as a kid, mowed grass in my area, bailed hay in the summers, bush-hogged peoples property nearby for practically slave wages, got a part time job at the local country store. Eventually got a real job in the cotton mills at 16 years old and worked there for a couple of years. Then the military, then school again (twice). Once at 21 and again at 35 years old after having to change careers.

I had both good and bad luck along the way and not all decisions I made were good ones.

I quit High School. Bad choice.
Invested all my 401K in company stock (bad choice) only to see the company get caught falsifying their financial position. My 110K turned into 10K overnight. It never recovered.

I married someone that I saw the red flags on before I did it. (bad choice) She could spend money faster than I could make it.
Eventually divorced (good choice!) at 40 years old with 30K dollars to my name and moved into an appt. Another few years to get out of debt. But from 43 until now, I was able to throw off all that, LBYM, and make good money choices and finally last year hit the 1M net worth at 55 years old. Along the way I married my DW who I could not imagine life without. She was in the same boat with debt and nothing saved. But together we got on the same page financially with the same goals.

So with that I would say, yes good luck and good choices. But never think a few bad decisions define you and never think its too late to start the path to at least some wealth.

Awesome story

 

[Squirrel]

Our children and young relatives have been raised upper-middle-class.

But, the thing that is driving me nuts (and maybe it's my lower-middle-class upbringing) is watching the young millennial relatives letting opportunities pass them by.

I had some examples here, but decided that griping wouldn't accomplish anything.

I wonder if we would have done better to raise them as if we were all lower-middle-class.

 

[pj.mask]

On the subject of the middle class, I've been hearing about the middle class getting squeezed out for some time now. However, I remember one or two articles showing graphs, explaining that the reason the middle class is shrinking is because it's losing people at both ends...more people are dropping off at the bottom, and becoming "lower class", income-wise, but more people are rising above it and joining the upper echelons.

So, while it's not all gloom and doom, necessarily, if the middle gets stretched too far, with too many people at the extremes, that can't be good, either.

The middle class and below has decreased from 80% to now about 70%. That’s good news for the 10% who moved up but the the 70% of people still there - they have been significantly impacted by college, health care, and all the other items that increase faster than “inflation”. In panther words they standard of living has continued to decrease

Remember they adjusted CPI so if meat prices go up 20% and you typically eat steak - well they model you switching to pork so the CPI may not even increase. But a person who is used to grilling steak feels the impact when they pay at the store or when they are eating their porkchop.

 

[HI Bill]

...the thing that is driving me nuts (and maybe it's my lower-middle-class upbringing) is watching the young millennial relatives letting opportunities pass them by.

I watch people all day long make bad choices.

• Most people stick with the status quo, and do what's easiest, not what's in their best interest.
• Look at folks who visit the doctor...probably 99% ask for medicines to solve their problem, rather than addressing the source of the problem.
• Most folks are myopic.
• Most folks don't plan for the distant future.
• Most folks live in the here and now.

My wife said I shouldn't let it bother me...it's their choice. She's right. But it still bothers me!

 

[Dtail]

Oh it's still true, at least for some. Both of my kids 34 and 36, one a Senior Director and the other about to become Director, work their butts off routinely.

That is nice to hear and they will probably become somewhat more of the exception for future FIRE.

 

[Amethyst]

Do people who work their butts off, grow new butts every night?

 

[Senator]

Do people who work their butts off, grow new butts every night?

No, but when you get your butt chewed real good by your boss, there is less for the next time.

 

[Koolau]

<SNIP>

Remember they adjusted CPI so if meat prices go up 20% and you typically eat steak - well they model you switching to pork so the CPI may not even increase. But a person who is used to grilling steak feels the impact when they pay at the store or when they are eating their porkchop.

While that's true, the MND didn't wait for the gummint to adjust the CPI. The MND automatically switched to pork (or chicken or whatever.) The MND (mindset) is not to feel sorry for herself but to change the odds for herself.

By the way, it's numerically MUCH easier to to become a millionaire now than it was when many of us accomplished this feat - heh, heh, one time when inflation works in your favor, I guess. YMMV

 

[ugeauxgirl]

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