Given that most of us here are all trying to come up and better our situations, I thought it was interesting to see the recent discussion on money and what it does when you suddenly have more of it than you used to, either over the short term, or the long term.
Do your friends stay the same? Lifestyle? How easy/difficult is it to just “maintain”?
Discuss.
Note: This is meant to be a general discussion on this topic, so let’s not bring names/people into it unless you are talking about your own experience.
My friends stay they same/ my lifestyle stays the same and I just have less stress.
Thing is I live well above my means now and I just have to bust my ass to live that way and stay afloat. So if I came into some money I could continue on living the way I like and just not be stressed about getting all my debts paid in a timely manner and setting myself up more for the future.
I’m only friends with people actively trying to better themselves so I dont have to worry about this. People that are content with their current lifestyle/wages/situation/whatever and dont always want more out of life are boring.
Good post. But think about this… If you came into some money, how easy would it be for you to just pay off / pay down what you now have and leave it at that? Granted I know this depends how much $ you come into and all, but I think you know what I’m getting at.
If one is used to “living above means” as you said, how easy is it to just maintain a lifestyle where you are not in debt / making payments?
Well I drive my dream car now. I have a list of things to finish it off. that costs maybe $10k and thats pricing high
I don’t have much debt maybe $12k including all my school loans.
There is not much more around here I could do to live in a higher style. So depending on how much money I came into I think all I’d really do is go on a vacation and work on bettering my education really. I’m happy with who I am as a person but I would like a more serious challenging job something more SRS and that I enjoyed doing. I wouldn’t look at the money as a way to float through life but a way to better my life. I could use it to improve myself and become something better rather than “endulge my sweet tooth”
If I came into some serious money I would do exactly what Rob Dyrdek has done.
Start an investment business, find companies I like, invest in them.
The rest of the time I would concentrate on taking one of our fine National Parks, mow the shit down, pave it, and make a giant super playground of epicness and invite only my true friends over to it.
I was just about to mention Rob Dyrdek. I am a huge fan of RD and what he’s done and is something I would like to do/get into at some point (the business, investing, and doing whatever I want lol).
The people that would be coming out of the wood work to talk to me and whatever would be fine, I’d talk to them just as I would any stranger or acquaintance, but I know who my real friends are and wouldn’t put them aside because of success.
Money changes some people. I dont think it changes everyone. I do OK. But it’s all about living within’ your means, which people have issues with in today’s society. Everyone wants to compete with the Joneses’ and have this and that.
I learned with me, that I am never truly content with my situation, always wanting more and trying to better myself to have more things, but life is NOT about things. It’s about people, and your family and establishing long term relationships with people. I’ll take my best 5 friends over any sum of money.
A lot of people on this forum need to step back and see the bigger picture. Being happy, having an established career and a plan to get what you want is what its all about. A lot of downers on this site, think positive, DREAM that you will have that car, you need to invision it. Working hard is half the battle, but you just need to believe you can get there and I guarantee it will happen.
My lifestyle will be slightly upgraded. I’d probably get better quality stuff overall.
As far as friends, they would stay the same.
I would definitely have less stress as I wouldn’t have to worry about bills, etc. although I don’t really worry about them now. For a 22 year old single guy, I make a good amount of money and have no issues financially.
+1.
I am happy. I have a great job, great co-workers/benefits/amount of work vs play AT work. I’m on good terms with EVERYONE. As far as I know, no one hates me because I respect everyone. I’m content with everything I own. Just going about my business day to day.
hmm good thread. For me the dream of being rich, having exotic cars and mansions was put on a serious hold when i became a father at 18. I got married at 19. My wife and I both do very well considering the situation we put ourselves into and are still together 10 years later. We have bought a few new cars in our time together and the place we live in now. My wife started out at her job making $8.00 and now makes 60k a year, and I make a little less than that. Am I rich? Fuck no but my kids have everything they want and ive been able to maintain a pretty stable family where my kids have both of their parents around and we have a ton of time to do things together. Thats alot harder than it sounds. Sure we could both do alot better for OURSELVES but its not about ourselves. Its about trying to raise our kids the right way. Both of us working 60-80 hours a week to get a few things we would like but dont need would be hurting our kids.
Honestly if I ran into alot of money, I would put College money aside for my kids. Pay for them to go to private schools the rest of the time they are in regular school, and I would pay off my debts. With whatever I had left id figure out the best way to stretch it out and make it last. How this lump sum of money would come about is another thing, i dont see that happening lol.
I think alot of this has to do with how you have earned this money…
Most of the time the way your mind works / your thought process / mentality or however you want to word it… has a strong relation with your wealth status…
I mean I really suck ass at typing/writing out shit but I think I have a good point if i can just get it out without rambling so much…
Broke person has a = broke mentality
wealthy person has a = wealthy mentality
thats easy to understand… talk to someone “self made” with a million in the bank, and then talk to failvis… big difference…
So now the question is "does money change you? "
In my opinion this answer is YES and NO …
Lets imagine failvis got 1.2 million dollars tomorrow because he won a lawsuit against the bank for giving him a loan that ultimately ruins his life…
Now… is failvis’s going to change? Yea … I mean hes gonna go spend a shit load of money with his “broke mentality” … and hes going to make a ton of friends with his new cars and clothes etc…
But what about someone who …for example comes from the bottom to the top struggling … using their head and american born freedom to conduct business as they wish… im sure this person isnt going to change so drastically… you best believe this person will be talking with great wisdom and common sense over time … another thing to take note on is this person wont have the same spending habbits…
I think both broke and wealthy will suffer somewhat from fake friends and nuttswingers… but the broke one wont know how to handle it the same way and probably wont even realize it…
Lifestyle is almost expected to change in either situation… the biggest movitation behind anything we do is to better our lifestyle… IMO
That doesnt leave out the guy who has a ton of money but never spends it… his life style is also different… he isnt bothered with the same stress as you 9-5’ers , doesnt have an alarm clock buzz constantly ringing in his head… so this is a lifestyle change for sure…
I think it all comes down to this (for me, IMO)
YOUR MENTALITY MUST BE IN PAR WITH YOUR INCOME
And speaking about income… when you make a big lump sum of money… thats income ? Where is the cashflow …
Yea you can say sure “i invested in real estate, stocks whatever bonds, i dont know” So thats bringing you xxx$ in a year but you blow that in a month with your broke mentality ?
I have a real problem typing correct english , this shit is so scrambled if u read all this… “your an idiot”
the problem with this thread is… everyone wants to be comfortable and content with saying “yea I would buy a couple of things but mostly I would stay under control”
I can tell you right now I sure as hell would buy more than a “couple things” and im just being real… most if not all of you would do the exact same thing… say you wont/wouldnt blow a shit load of money… but then go and do it anyways…
start out slowly… some innocent purchases… and then start ballin …
havin problems with wealth but u wouldnt understand unless you had a million your self?
hmmm first and foremost i would make sure that whatever lump sum i got was invested properly to make me VERY comfortable month to month. Then if i had leftovers i would bulldoze my house and garage and put new. House wouldn’t be much bigger, but the garage would be 4 bays. i need more room. If i had more left i would buy me an orange or green murcielago My priority would be making sure Tracey and I stayed VERY comfortable, house would be paid etc etc etc. I’d still work at the same place i do now, and on weekends i would be in the shop, trying to start my own shop. I wouldn’t want it to be too busy because i like my job and don’t want to leave.
I think I ramble almost as much as Singh.
As for friends, I can only count a very small number that I trust anyway, and thats without any $$ spilling out of my pockets. I wouldn’t be overly concerned, i don’t really trust people now, so i at least would already know how to deal with fake ass friends.
It just really sucks when u got a bunch of “friends” over some shit like your car… or even worse because of your girlfriend or some bullshit like that…
its funny that you can instantly like someone over things like that… I think we all do it slightly… more than others needless to say…
money changes people? or have they always been that way and now fully allowed to shine their true character
maybe 10%, your alot better and more on topic than me, and you dont double post annoyingly like i do !
If I stepped in to money it would certainly change me, but for the good.
A couple people mentioned Dyrdek’s situation and I would do something very similiar to this as well.
I’d invest in businesses I’m interested in and I would get serious about investing in property too. I’d certainly pay off the little debt that I do currently have right now.
My priority would be making sure Tracey and I stayed VERY comfortable, house would be paid etc etc etc. I’d still work at the same place i do now, and on weekends i would be in the shop, trying to start my own shop. I wouldn’t want it to be too busy because i like my job and don’t want to leave.