Blowing Our Cover

[Sanstar]

I think others spend way less time thinking about us than we imagine. On the rare occasions I remind myself of one of my favorite sayings: “your opinion of me is none of my business.” Also, no matter how much we have, so many more have so much more. If envy and jealousy are elements of a relationship perhaps having some go to phrases when assets come up in discussions would help.

 

[Time2]

but the truth is, we lived below our means and have been saving mostly in low expense ratio SP500-funds for the past 30+ years compounding tremendously along the way. Anyone with a decent wage who would have done this would probably also be surprised how close they are or how far they exceeded FI. It's not magic, it is just adherence to Bob Brinker's and John Bogle's methods of savings.

I don't have an answer for you, but, I like this part best, "but the truth is, we lived below our means and have been saving mostly in low expense ratio SP500-funds for the past 30+ years compounding tremendously along the way. Anyone with a decent wage who would have done this would probably also be surprised how close they are or how far they exceeded FI. It's not magic, it is just adherence to Bob Brinker's and John Bogle's methods of savings."
It took us 37 yrs on a middle middle class income to be in the top 5% of US household net worth, maybe even 4%, depending on the source I choose. If you made it, it is because you did something right. It does not follow that if you didn't make it you did something wrong, but in many cases it does.

 

[Lewis Clark]

That's basically true most of the time.
But if you go to something like the annual Bogleheads Conference, then you can often get into the weeds with others...

Or look to see if there is a local Bogleheads chapter near where you live.