“Your little hoodrat friend makes me sick. And after I get sick I just get sad.”
Here’s another story about AM Catholic Talk Radio. I was driving along and a targeted ad came on that said, “You may not think you’re a high-yield investor because you don’t drive a nice car or live in a mansion. But if you have investments of $500,000 or more…”
It’s like I’m not even angry anymore when I hear this stuff, just sad and quietly homicidal. What went wrong with America to where people with half-a-million dollars in investments - just greed money , money they’re letting “work for them,” usurious sin money, money “on the side” that they don’t even need, the money that’s left over after their needs and then desires are met, gravy, etc. - don’t think of themselves as rich. “We’re middle class, even though we have half a million or more left over after we pay for the things we want and need.”
“We’re middle class.” The parents of a jewish girl that I used to hang with after school used to say this, even as I’d drop by and stick it in her in one of their house’s several unused bedrooms. “We’re middle class,” say the people who just tore down a great, charming, vintage multi-unit dwelling and are putting up a monstrosity of a “house” in its place on my street. “We’re middle class” say George and Laura Bush.
If you have $500,000 or more in greedy investment money after you’ve paid for your needs and wants, I will behead you on Al Jazeera’s broadcast tonight. I’ll even let you pray to Ayn Rand or Baal or whoever you worship right before I do it.
Do 401(k)'s count as “usurious sin money that people don’t even need”? Because a lot of people use those to save for retirement, and hopefully rack up at least a few hundred grand by the time they retire.
Not me, though. I give every penny I have to the poor.
At what age? Very middle class people can amass 500K in retirement savings by 65 by making a middle-middle class income (thinking two paraprofessionals) and living a lower-middle class lifestyle. I’s not uncommon at all: 500K in retirement savings won’t keep a couple wealthy in their retirement–it’s enough to continue living a lower-middle class lifestyle and have some certainty that you if you die slowly, you can do so with a few comforts.
My dollars go into my unnecessary investment account so they can grow to ungodly sums which I then use to purchase diamond-crusted boots to walk on the backs of orphans with. I give the more severely-injured ones whatever pennies I have to buy medicine.
Half a million in investments does not come close to making one rich. The retirement calculator at Vanguard says my SO and I will need about 5-6 million (in estimated inflation adjusted dollars) for us to make it until he’s 85, that’s only 20 years of retirement.
Not much to contribute, but yeah…My parents probably have that much saved for their retirement. My Dad is working 14 hours days at this point to squirrel away what he can (especially since his long term funding is somewhat uncertain).
Their fabulous jobs? Public school librarian and nurse.
We lived the high life as kids! Oh yes, we did! It’s why I’m so comfortable in my high-style efficiency apartment. It just feels so natural.
He has previously said that he has no interest in owning stock, no interest in buying a house, and no interest in earning interest on his savings (he claimed to have his money in a non-interest earning account). I have no idea how he’s going to retire and as no one else I know has these ideas, I am glad that he’s renewed.
