What is "Good"?

[Tommy92l]

I thought I'd ask this because it's usually one of those questions that is answered in this type of way.... "Well, it's all relative".

I went to an exotic dealership the other day with my dad, and we were lookin' at the cars. Now, I've always remembered people saying "Dude, if I could make 100K a year in my lifetime I AM SET. That is A LOT OF MONEY". But then, you walk into a shop like this and see a car that costs more than what you make in 3 years! It made me think... If that's "Good", than what the hell do you call being able to afford a 400K car? (Used 458 spyder for $372,000).

I've heard my buddies say things along the line of "Well his parents make 400K a year, they are FREAKING LOADED!". And other people say "Well, 500K is pretty good, but not if you live somewhere rich".

I mean really... WHAT IS GOOD? I can't wait to see some of the answers in all honesty.

And if I'm honest... we pulled up in a Honda CRV, and the other 3 cars in the lot consisted of - 1 Bently, 1 Porsche, 1 Jaguar.

As I was saying, if I'm honest. Walking around there and thinking - Woah, this is an absolute dream. And at the SAME time hearing a lady in the background with her husband ordering their car..... it's intimidating. Being totally truthful, it's intimidating.

I don't know if my father could afford one, nor do I care, but it is sort of weird lookin' at people and thinking "Geeze, feeling a little inferior here". Haha.

 

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[mgore714]

Good is defined by the amount of money you need to live life the way you want it.

If your goal in life is to live on a beach, eat good food, and sleep half the day, then you could do that in places like Southeast Asia, Central or South America for less than $20,000 a year - assuming you want some luxury.

If your goal is to live in Manhattan and mask your insecurities by going out with the finance guys then you could do that for about $500k.

How much money you make or have is all relative. What matters is the ratio of how much you have to how much you need to live life the way you want.

 

[OdorcicD]

A study in 2010 found that the mark is around $75,000 [source: http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2019628,00.html]
After that, the average person will have enough money to be able to live fairly comfortably, and have enough money to spend on some extra toys or enjoy their time with friends, etc.

This doesn't stop people from going on. Certain people have that hunger for more. They haven't accomplished enough, contributed enough, made enough of an impact in the world, so they keep going. They get to a point where it's more about status and how you do compared to the people you're surrounded by.

"What is good" depends completely on the person, and likely changes as time goes on. I'm sure there's plenty of people who looked at that 458 Spider and thought they would reach it all when they got that car. And when they finally got it, they then set their eyes on a Bugatti Veyron.

 

[codo3500]

I've seen a study based on "Relative Wealth", which means the happiness you get from wealth is directly proportional to where you stand in your immediate social group.

So a guy who makes $100k and hangs around a bunch of people on $50k will be much happier than a guy making $400k hanging around a bunch of people making $800k.

 

[Tommy92l]

Thank you for the fast and great responses!

Now to even expand on this a little more. Once again, I'm surrounded by the - He didn't work for it, it was inherited mindset.

How many of you guys know people who actually did inherit their wealth?

 

[codo3500]

Thank you for the fast and great responses!

Now to even expand on this a little more. Once again, I'm surrounded by the - He didn't work for it, it was inherited mindset.

How many of you guys know people who actually did inherit their wealth?

Depends what you class as *wealthy*. I know a few pretentious types that were given everything; but I live in a city where if you make 200k you're considered very very wealthy, so they're only given cars worth 50k .etc, not ferraris (I wouldn't say no to a free car of course) . I know some people that inherited their wealth and have worked their asses off to increase it, and have been very successful doing it. It's hit and miss, every scenario is different.

When I ran a web agency in Sydney we had some silver spoon kids try a startup, I watched them blow 200k of daddies money; 4 years later the site still says "Coming Soon" - these are the kind that think money grows on trees, and are a problem. They were VERY pretentious, so yes, your typical trust-fund babies.

 

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[CBlacko]

I thought I'd ask this because it's usually one of those questions that is answered in this type of way.... "Well, it's all relative".

I went to an exotic dealership the other day with my dad, and we were lookin' at the cars. Now, I've always remembered people saying "Dude, if I could make 100K a year in my lifetime I AM SET. That is A LOT OF MONEY". But then, you walk into a shop like this and see a car that costs more than what you make in 3 years! It made me think... If that's "Good", than what the hell do you call being able to afford a 400K car? (Used 458 spyder for $372,000).

I've heard my buddies say things along the line of "Well his parents make 400K a year, they are FREAKING LOADED!". And other people say "Well, 500K is pretty good, but not if you live somewhere rich".

I mean really... WHAT IS GOOD? I can't wait to see some of the answers in all honesty.

And if I'm honest... we pulled up in a Honda CRV, and the other 3 cars in the lot consisted of - 1 Bently, 1 Porsche, 1 Jaguar.

As I was saying, if I'm honest. Walking around there and thinking - Woah, this is an absolute dream. And at the SAME time hearing a lady in the background with her husband ordering their car..... it's intimidating. Being totally truthful, it's intimidating.

I don't know if my father could afford one, nor do I care, but it is sort of weird lookin' at people and thinking "Geeze, feeling a little inferior here". Haha.

Well I know that some exotic car dealerships offer financing, but they would probably require a hefty down payment. So for a car that costs 400k that could be about 40k down give or take....in this article http://www.mybudget360.com/how-much-do-americans-earn-what-is-the-average-us-income/ it shows that in 2011 the average income for an American in the US was the $69,821. There were 93 Americans making $79,000,000+, so what's 400k to some people when they are making 79+ million a year...lol?

 

[Ninjakid]

I've seen a study that says once people in America are making about $85k per year, their satisfaction with money usually plateaus, because at that point they can live comfortably and have their basic needs met. A person who makes $100K is probably more satisfied than a person who makes $50K, but a person who makes $2M probably won't be happier than someone who makes $1M

That said, I don't think it's all about the money. Would you be happy making $5M a year if you were an executive who had to work long hours, spend most of your time away from your family, and travel when you don't want to?

I have a friend who's dad is a manager who works for a conglomerate. He makes about 500,000rmb a year (which is roughly equivalent to $86,000 USD), owns a nice house and apartment in Canada, and another in Shanghhai, owns a Mercedes, and apparently isn't struggling financially. But he works all the time, barely sees his family, and has health problems from excess alcohol consumption at business meetings (in Chinese business etiquette, people drink a lot). My friend told me how when she and her mom moved to Beijing (can't remember why), her dad had to stay in Shanghai because of his job, and could only see them about 2-3 times a year. And when they moved to Canada, they barely ever saw him. This went on for about 13 years.

China is different from the US or Canada in a sense that it's much more difficult to start a business because of all the corruption and lower class mobility. I'm sure his thoughts were about doing what was best for his family because poverty there is way worse than it is here. That said, I like to think that there`s always a better way.

Personally, I would much rather be an entrepreneur who only makes about $50K and be able to come and go as I please then make $80K or however much else and have others always telling me what to do.

 

[Tommy92l]

Without sounding like an a**hole. 86K does not seem like an ok amount of money to never see your family. Granted, no amount of money should be even to never see your family, but that much?

And to those who don't want to become entrepreneurs, finding a new job that makes that much can't be easy. Seems like he's in a tough spot... ;/

 

[CBlacko]

Without sounding like an a**hole. 86K does not seem like an ok amount of money to never see your family. Granted, no amount of money should be even to never see your family, but that much?

And to those who don't want to become entrepreneurs, finding a new job that makes that much can't be easy. Seems like he's in a tough spot... ;/

I would have to agree with you there! Most people get married and have children because it's something they want, I know I wouldn't give it up for any amount of money! It's the little things!