<p>It’s easy to get caught up in worries like these because they are important, but you’ve got to let your brain rest once in a while. I prescribe a spinning wheel and class to learn how to use it. Very therapeutic. Or knitting. Let your hands do the work for a while. You may find your brain miraculously figures out how to tackle some of these big issues from a new angle. Any garments created along the way are a bonus. :)</p>
<p>Reading some of these posts reminds me of someone I used to know. His mother’s last name was one all of us would know, and they were definitely rich. He wrote a check for his home in an upper-middle class neighborhood at 18 or so. Many people took advantage of him. For his 21st birthday, I bought him a drink. He was very “touched” or whatever, because it didn’t even occur to anyone else that he shouldn’t be paying on his birthday. I guess being rich comes with it’s own set of problems. </p>
<p>My mother had a friend who was rich. She was divorced with two children. The father of the bride told her that her ex husband married her for the money. Every time she went out same speech: No one will love you without your money.</p>
<p><a href=“Oprah Winfrey - Lots of people want to ride with you in...”>http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/o/oprahwinfr105255.html</a></p>
<p>Yes, it is nice to have friends who are OK being poor with you instead of wanting to only be around you when you are paying. My relative has a client like that–wants to be “important” so he buys private jets and likes to be the “big man about town.” Sadly, he has horrible business sense and trusts people who are using him instead of those who have his true interests at heart. He has managed to spend a lot of the fortune his family left him because of repeated extremely poor choices and decisions.</p>
<p>I mentioned before that I’m a wine lover and very middle class. I had the opportunity several years back to attend the friend of a friend of a friends wine cellar reduction party. The person had a 10,000 bottle wine cellar that was far more wine than he would ever drink and periodically would pare down his cellar. The party was complete with several tents with several wines of varying styles at each tent. There were hundreds of bottles of wine. They asked everyone to bring some appetizers so there was food aplenty. I’d say there were at least a couple hundred people who attended. The Cabernets and Bordeaux were all from 1986 and were excellent wines. His wine collection was probably worth more than everything I own several times over. I only attended once and am guessing that it will be a unique event in my life. It was fun even for one evening partaking in a rich mans hobby.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Hmmm, is he someone who merely inherited the wealth but has no significant achievements of his own, so he spends on status symbols to feel important?</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus, ^ I live in a town full of those. I once was at a school function listening to a blowhard describe to someone how he had “grown a business;” I eavesdrop, I know it’s shabby, but it’s interesting and if they don’t want me to hear, they can stop talking so loud. </p>
<p>As it happened, I knew that his father had left him a business worth ~$200M. I have to think that growing that to $201M must be easier than getting it to the first $1M 
There were always Aston Martins and Ferraris in the driveway. </p>
<p>I don’t know what it is like to inherit $200 million but I guess it is tough for some. I think I could handle it. </p>
<p>Nearly everything this guy has bought has lost money. He just has an awful business sense, and yes, I believe he has less now than when he inherited the business from his dad, who was a great businessman. </p>
<p>@dstark, I inherited $11k in my 60s. I could have just as easily handled $200M, but unfortunately, it slipped my parents’ mind to have that much. </p>
<p>On balance though, it is a two-edged sword. I have seen a number of foreshortened lives in the trust fund crowd. And more than one jerk.</p>
<p>I agree IxnayBob. I have seen the same. I am pretty sure we would have turned out ok. :)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Hmmm, more expensive cars than what Warren Buffett drives, or what Sam Walton drove when he was alive.</p>
<p>Always better to be under the radar. Why would you want people to know you were worth a lot? So your kids can be potential kidnap victims? No way. Under the radar. Invisible. </p>
<p>Warren Buffett does not need to drive an expensive car to inspire confidence in others that he is doing well and is worthy of respect.</p>
<p>I would also bet that his cars are always in good repair, and that he could afford a new car pronto if his car were to break down. Also, he does not worry about parking fees.</p>
<p>My husband (a physician) deliberately drives a nondescript car (Toyota Camry, probably about 12 years old at this point, not sure) precisely because he can’t think of anything stupider than having his patients see he has a flashy car and think that they are overpaying him. He looks down on the doctors who do drive flashy cars that their patients see them getting in and out of. </p>
<p>He also tends to somewhat hide the name of the suburb we live in because it has a snooty connotation, and because our kids went to school in the neighboring suburb which has a more down-to-earth reputation.</p>
<p>I doubt anyone notices or cares.</p>
<p>My dad worked for a private company started by 3 men who didn’t have formal education, but who had a good fashion sense, were excellent at sales, hard workers, etc. Long story short, they sold the company to a much larger company and the 3 men split something like $60MM amongst them (this was 25 years ago). One of the couples decided to take some very expensive round-the-world monthlong cruise with their profits. This was all written up in the society column of the city paper. </p>
<p>The two other couples were incensed that the third man had made this all public knowledge. They felt - first, it was stupid because now all the thieves knew that they’d be out of town for a month, and second, having people know that they had this money put their children / grandchildren at risk for kidnapping. (Indeed, one of the families had had burglars with guns who waited for them in their garage when they pulled up after an afternoon of Christmas shopping. Thankfully they just took the stuff and fled and no one was hurt.)</p>
<p>In any case, that always stuck with me – why would you ever want to be outwardly showy and make it apparent to others that you have money. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I don’t mean nice handbags and things of that nature - I mean real money. Keep it on the downlow. LIve below your means. Let your banker be the only one who knows. </p>
<p>Here in Silicon Valley, we have tons of people with money. One day you are making $180K as an engineer, and the next day you can be worth $180M because your company was just bought out. Nice cars, fancy clothes are very common. Lots of very wealthy people also wear T shirts and jeans. Hardly anyone pays attention. We are very casual in CA.</p>
<p>The glitz level in Silicon Valley is much lower than the glitz level in the wealthier parts of southern California (e.g. Newport Beach).</p>