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Old 08-06-2007, 09:22 AM   #41
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Originally Posted by ladelfina View Post
The funny thing about the tone of the article is its underlying and either cynical or unintentional ambiguity -- there's some kind of weird, barely-suppressed sympathy for these "poor people"..
I think these articles try to tell us that we should be happy with what we have (that is, we have enough) since the riches are miserable dealing with their wants.
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Old 08-06-2007, 10:52 AM   #42
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my father's side comes from very wealthy stock & my mother's side from well-off professionals & merchants. i don't know a soul on my father's side (actually i'm finally going to meet--out of, mostly, curiosity-my dad's first cousin this summer & i've recently started emailing a cousin i found from my generation) yet i know all my mother's relatives (at one time there were more than 60 of us on that side).

this was all i needed to know about great wealth. it never did anything for me. all the love in my life has come from my less wealthy relatives. i've got just enough money to have early retired and i'm happy with neither need nor desire for more. i'm a happy lazy good for nothing bum.
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Old 08-06-2007, 11:58 AM   #43
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Originally Posted by ladelfina View Post
The funny thing about the tone of the article is its underlying and either cynical or unintentional ambiguity -- there's some kind of weird, barely-suppressed sympathy for these "poor people"..

If you are ever tempted to look at the NYT home/garden/travel/technology sections.. the über-rich lifestyle is basically the only one presented. Sometimes it's fun to peruse but usually the consumption promoted is beyond grotesque. It's their bread and butter, being based in the only place more expensive than the Bay area and with a similar wealthy audience.. but still most of their wealth porn is way beyond the means of even the "average" Manhattanite NYT reader.
NY Times is probably the snobbiest newspaper in the NYC area. back in 2001 they were profiling laid off professionals after the dot com collapse who were making $150,000 and up and one complaint was the wife couldn't shop at Whole Foods anymore. This was also back when Whole Foods was a lot more expensive on almost everything they sold unlike now.

otherwise the NY Times complains how bad "working class" people have it on one page and the next is the hottest new place in The Hamptons or what kind of home you get for $2 million
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Send him the 4%SWR article
Old 08-06-2007, 12:21 PM   #44
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Send him the 4%SWR article

Someone needs to send that economizing engineer ( Mr. Wilson) the article about 4%SWR.

On $1.5 mill, I come up with $60,000. Nice, but in that area, not even middle class.
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Old 08-06-2007, 02:36 PM   #45
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How about this one?

http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_6175386

I worked for this guy for 3 years back in the late 80's/early 90's. After moving to silicon valley and taking the head honcho job at brocade, he was worth a billion dollars.

Not enough. He had to fool around with the numbers a bit. Allegedly.

I sincerely hope he doesnt go to jail, he's not really an evil guy. Cocky, arrogant, and I'm not sure I ever really saw a high caliber talent in him, but not a criminal type.

Poor guy looks like crap. He's younger than I am and he looks 15-20 years older.
AHHH.... now we know how CFB got all his money


Reading the article... it seems (like a lot of people) that the coverup is the thing that will send him to jail.... if he had been upfront and gotten approval, then no harm.... also sounds like he lied to them when asked... arrogance will do that to you.. look at Martha...
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Old 08-06-2007, 05:25 PM   #46
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Someone needs to send that economizing engineer ( Mr. Wilson) the article about 4%SWR.

On $1.5 mill, I come up with $60,000. Nice, but in that area, not even middle class.
It may be enough to pay the basics of living. Personally, I would rather move into a more affordable area.
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Old 08-06-2007, 08:22 PM   #47
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There are other parts of the country, e.g., AUSTIN, SEATTLE, RALEIGH-DURHAM, Boston, WASHINGTON, DC, LOS ANGELES, that host many high tech companies. The cost of living (except for Boston, Washington DC , and LA) is a lot more affordable.
True, but in those places technology is just one industry. In Silicon Valley, technology is not only the business but it is the lifestyle. The entire ecosystem is supportive of new ideas and new companies. For instance during the height of the bubble. An entrepeneur could not only easily get funding from local venture capitalist or angel investor, but he could rent office space, hire an attorney, a PR firm, the CPA, and even get food from the local restaurant in exchange for stock options.

Not saying obsession with technology is entirely a good thing in Silicon Valley, but it is unique.
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Old 08-06-2007, 08:29 PM   #48
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True, but in those places technology is just one industry. In Silicon Valley, technology is not only the business but it is the lifestyle. The entire ecosystem is supportive of new ideas and new companies.
Something similar occurs in San Diego (and South San Francisco) with the biotech industry that is hard to replicate. Basically there are plenty of people in the field that love the area and will stick around even if their employer folds because they know another job awaits them at another start-up. My observation is that locales that try to imitate San Diego for biotech just can't get started because they cannot get enough mass to allow for the churning of jobs that occurs where failure is routine.
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Old 08-06-2007, 08:40 PM   #49
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Not saying obsession with technology is entirely a good thing in Silicon Valley, but it is unique.
You are right that Silicon Valley is unique and opportunities for entrepreneurship are rampant. The area has other businesses as well, i.e., financial services (in San Francisco). Diversity is also welcomed. It's truly a melting pot. I would encourage my daughter to start her career in the Bay Area or anywhere in the west coast after graduation from college.
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Old 08-06-2007, 08:58 PM   #50
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I have $5M @ 25 and I am always looking for ways to get more, either through investments or perhaps even another internet venture to start-up.

Call it what you want but when you have $5M it seems like everything will be so much more secure @ $10M. When I have $10M, I'll probably be saying, man I just need another few million and I'll be set, LOL.

Hey, 50 - 70+ years of inflation is a long time.

Plus, it'd be cool to not have to fly commercial anymore
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Old 08-06-2007, 09:07 PM   #51
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As I have stated before, Silicon Valley can make a lot of sense for the single person who lives below their means. In other words, for anyone who does not spend most of their salary. For such a person, it makes sense to go to the places with the highest salaries.

My last few years I was spending less than 20% of my gross salary income, even including international trips (which I did cheaply). Unfortunately, taxes (including FICA, medicare, fed/state income, state disability tax) were another 30% or so.
Kramer, seems like I'm following in your footsteps... renting in LA for about the same amount while stashing a decent percentage of my salary from IT work. Taxes are my biggest expense as well. I like reading your posts 'cause I hope I'm just a few years behind you!
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Old 08-06-2007, 11:00 PM   #52
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Kramer, seems like I'm following in your footsteps... renting in LA for about the same amount while stashing a decent percentage of my salary from IT work. Taxes are my biggest expense as well. I like reading your posts 'cause I hope I'm just a few years behind you!
Hey figner, I wish you the best! I could not believe how fast FI came on. I went from zero net worth to having a nice enough pile to semi-retire in just 9 years. And very little came from stock options (in fact, my total after tax stock option take was less than my school loan debt) -- it was just LBYM, stashing away regular savings and investing virtually everything in index funds. Of course, it is unlikely that future market returns will be nearly as good, but you never know.

My only advice right now is to guard yourself from burnout. I got burned out and had to drop out early -- in retrospect, it would have been wiser to change jobs a couple of years beforehand to avoid burnout -- but I kept hoping for the generous layoff package in my current job and I didn't have the confidence and willingness to move around when I was making so much money just staying in place. So, it would have been nice to save for a couple more years, but I just couldn't take it anymore. However, I have absolutely no regrets. I am leaving in just a few weeks for my first FIRE safari, Asia, for a trip that I hope lasts four to six months.

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