<p>Because they are not rich. Despite all the claims of no inflation, the necassities are eating away most of the people’s earnings. Many are afraid to retire anymore even if they wish to. </p>
<p>Story about a $3,750 bottle of wine–</p>
<p><a href=“Sustainable Eating”>http://www.mnn.com/food/beverages/blogs/how-to-not-accidentally-order-a-3750-wine</a></p>
<p>When the diner complained, the restaurant reduced the wine to $2200. Clearly, there’s a huge mark-up on wine when you get it in a restaurant.</p>
<p>$2200 is much more than I’d pay for a bottle of wine as well–definitely not a restaurant I’d EVER go to, especially if they aren’t up front about their prices and lull customers into believing it is 100x less expensive than the actual price.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl: you are correct. We have friends who collect (and sometimes drink) very fine wine First the markup in a restaurant can be 4x the retail price. But a 3750 bottle? Historical significene perhaps. Years ago there was a fine wine auction. There was an unopened bottle from George Washiongton’s collection. The wine, experts said was probably vinegar…but the bottle…went for a HUGE amount money.</p>
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<p>Yeah but you can buy a perfectly good shirt for way less than $250 also so… And hell, if a $20 shirt lasts for 2 years and a $250 for 10 years, just buy 5 $20 shirts instead.</p>
<p>I suspect that many of us would pay a lot of money for things that other people wouldn’t value very much. It might be wine, or a watch, or clothing, or travel, or rare books, or antiques, etc. We might (or might not) be able to make a convincing case for why it’s worth it. We recently paid a surprising amount of money for a small bottle of balsamic vinegar.</p>
<p>As for the t-shirt: I saw the kid wearing one of these D&G t-shirts. It is a plain white t-shirt. To me, it looks identical to a $15 t-shirt. I am confident that I could find a t-shirt that was just as nice for, say, 75 bucks.</p>
<p>We were recently at the annual Barney’s warehouse sale in New York (a fascinating event). I was amazed at the original prices on many of the items–apparently, somebody spent those amounts on these (or similar) items. I very much enjoyed buying some neckties marked down from $150 to $9.</p>
<p>" suspect that many of us would pay a lot of money for things that other people wouldn’t value very much. It might be wine, or a watch, or clothing, or travel, or rare books, or antiques, etc. We might (or might not) be able to make a convincing case for why it’s worth it. "</p>
<p>Oh, that’s very true. </p>
<p>Maybe well-to-do is: You can do some of those things some of the time (save up and splurge for the fine watch, the bottle of wine, the fine leather handbag, the special trip to Europe, etc.). </p>
<p>And rich is: You can do these things whenever and wherever you want, and it doesn’t need to be a special occasion to do so.</p>
<p>This is what I always wonder when I’m in a store that has really expensive stuff: are these things being bought mostly by people who have mostly expensive stuff, or as the few expensive items owned by people who mostly have more modest stuff? I suppose there are people with dozens and dozens of $150 neckties–and maybe people with just one.</p>
<p>I think it may have to do with more money than time. We collect art and antiques in a very small time way, because we are very middle class and have champagne tastes on a beer budget. So we have always gone to lots of auctions, which can be a huge investment of time, but has been entertainment and a learning experience for us. If we worked 80 hours a week, we would find a dealer we liked and let that person go to the auctions and find us the stuff we wanted. We would pay for that service because it would be worth it. My husband doesn’t have a whole lot of neckties but I don’t want to say how many blanket chests we own. I use them for storage instead of rubber maid containers. Because they were a great deal.</p>
<p>oh yeah - I think I’m rich.</p>
<p>No $150 ties and no blanket chests. No wines over $20 in my house. A few imported beers. We do have a great gas fireplace. And one of those bidet type toilets. :)</p>
<p>^are you rich? </p>
<p>I am rich enough. We will see what happens in 30 years. Could get in trouble. I hope not. :)</p>
<p>As far as society goes, it depends who you ask. </p>
<p>I like the fireplace and the toilet. I get a lot of use out of both. :)</p>
<p>I make good money (plenty more than I need) and I do buy expensive (not insanely so, commonly $9-$12 for a bomber or $12-$20 for a 4-pack) beer but that’s the only expensive thing I buy I guess. But my total spending on beer would only be a few hundred a month. I do save on rent compared to most people I know though, I figure that makes up for the difference. </p>
<p>I’m rich. I spend all my money on my wife and daughter.</p>
<p>I am richer than I ever intended to be, but don’t have your parenting challenges, dstark, and don’t know how one plans for that. You have my admiration and best wishes.</p>
<p>Tom1944, lol!</p>
<p>Vlad, that is good. You keep fit now… :)</p>
<p>Alh, thanks. I appreciate it. </p>
<p>“I make good money (plenty more than I need) and I do buy expensive (not insanely so, commonly $9-$12 for a bomber or $12-$20 for a 4-pack) beer but that’s the only expensive thing I buy I guess. But my total spending on beer would only be a few hundred a month.”</p>
<p>I don’t think we’ve spent $100 on beer since we’ve been married. We don’t drink it, we’ve served it a handful of times at backyard barbecues and the like, and when we did, we probably bought whatever was the cheapest stuff at the time since it was all swill to us! No, seriously – I think about alcohol the same way I do about cigarettes – god, I’m glad I don’t have that to spend on, because you could rack up some serious spending on that pretty darn quickly.</p>
<p>We did buy fancy cigars for someone who did us a big legal favor and it was amazing how expensive that hobby could be too.</p>
<p>Planning how to financially take care of a handicapped child is very difficult. I was speaking to my BIL this weekend and he and my sister have to deal with this. They are very set financially but this issue is very difficult. Their daughter is now 20 and she will never be even slightly independent. She will need 100% care for the rest of her life.</p>
<p>Maybe “rich” has to do with – not having to worry about this. I have an acquaintance who has four children, one of which is severely handicapped and requires full time care plus periodic surgeries. They just sold a house for $8.5 MM in the Dallas area, so that’s the bracket they are in (he’s in i-banking). The wife is an interior decorator and their homes are to die for – just beautiful and elegant. However, because of their wealth, she can hire the round-the-clock housekeeping and care that she needs to have her career. She can build on a wing to house someone who will care for the daughter full time, as this daughter absolutely cannot be left alone. She can afford to pay for all the surgeries and tests that the daughter requires. In a family of lesser means, it is quite possible this child wouldn’t be living.</p>