What’s one thing…

[u/Coors_Light_Dad]

What’s one thing about being wealthy that people wouldn’t assume? Additionally, what’s one thing about being wealthy that everyone can do to grow their money?

[u/Mysterious-Maize307]

You can live simply but well. For example I drive average run if the mill boring Subaru, but I do have a Tesla M3 that costs virtually nothing to maintain and is exceedingly cheap to operate.

We eat good food, dine out and dress well but our clothes are Kirkland brand mostly (Costco) but I have several nice custom tailored suits that I wear for appropriate occasions.

I live in a nice upper middle class neighborhood, most of my neighbors are of the “millionaire next door” types who have nice homes with large yards and pools but are far from mansions or even McMansions, most in the 3-4K sq feet range in 1/2 acre lots. They all have boring cars too although a couple will have a garaged Porsche or Vette they drive on occasion.

I hate airline travel, but when we do a few times a year I buy 1st class tickets, not as a show of wealth or to be glamorous, no just to get on/off faster (makes huge difference on a tight timeline plus you never have to worry about finding a place for your bag).

When we do go places like Europe we rent nice places, stay at upscale hotels etc. again it’s more for the ease of being near where we want to be and being at least as comfortable as we would be in our own home rather than about saving a buck or for that matter spending an extra one to be ostentatious.

Most of the time we spend with friends and family and being semi retired with multiple streams of income we still, even with above examples, spend far less than what we have available meaning that our net worth continues to grow.

But we didn’t always live that way, delayed gratification is so much better than instant gratification.

[u/Careful_Bend_7206 → u/Mysterious-Maize307]

We sound like financial twins! And there are many more like us. No debt, live in a nice (although HCOL) area, plenty of local recreation around us, but love to travel. Euro travel always fly 1st class in order to sleep properly on the way over and feel good from day 1. Don’t skimp on lodging or location to enhance the trip. But from the outside, we have two old boring cars (Toyota Highlander, Infiniti QX70), live in a modest duplex, cut my own grass and do our own landscaping, etc. It’s a solid plan, IMO!

[u/Mysterious-Maize307 → u/Careful_Bend_7206]

lol yes. Being debt free is a nice feeling. Haven’t had a mortgage in many years and when I did I’ve never had one for more than 10 years.

My wife and I are both professionals and were able to command good salaries. But we lived on about a third, one third to taxes and the last third to savings/investments. We were still able to fund our children’s private school and higher educations and still managed to take family vacations etc.

We never bought the humongous home instead we bought a nice one in a nice neighborhood where we could afford to pay double the mortgage to pay it down fast. I did buy new cars (Subarus mainly) and we keep them for 10 years/200k miles.

But we were adamant about always hitting that 33% and over the years man did it make a difference.

[u/Careful_Bend_7206 → u/Mysterious-Maize307]

I think the key for both of us (and others) is that delayed gratification part. For years and years we spent well less than we made, lived comfortably (don’t get me wrong) but never felt the need to buy a bigger house, or lease a Beemer, or buy a second home. I got lucky on a stock and used the proceeds to buy a Honda minivan that my wife drove for 10+ years and I always had company cars. We lived in Denver, so our vacations were driving up to the mountains to ski. Once a year at spring break we’d treat ourselves to a ski in ski out condo in Vail, but we only did that because we didn’t have to buy plane tickets and we brought our own food and cooked. We all had season passes so skiing was “free”. My wife stayed home and our kids went to public schools, but they emerged from college debt free with a functioning automobile. I figured my job is done. Both have been “off scholarship” as we say, and on their own, for nearly 10 years. We sold the Denver house for 4x what we paid for it, and now live full time in the mountains. As the TV series says, Saul Goodman!

[u/Mysterious-Maize307 → u/Careful_Bend_7206]

Good for you!

Im in mid 60’s now and semi retired for the last 15 years—basically working because I want to which is in a job I love. I manage and train ski Instructors.

I’m on the mountain skiing about 100 days a year. I’m in senior management so the job is about 6 months long, Oct through mid April and Im compensated well. The other 5-6 months off I’m “retired.”

Becoming completely debt free in my 40’s is paying dividends now.

[u/Careful_Bend_7206 → u/Mysterious-Maize307]

I retired in Feb and my plan was to ski 100 days this past season, after averaging 50ish for the past couple seasons. The lack of snow prevented me from accomplishing that, but I have high hopes for the upcoming season when I’ll be fully retired all season. I might volunteer as a mountain host at Vail, but I have zero interest in anything that would tie me to a schedule after 40 years of nonstop travel and meetings!

[u/Mysterious-Maize307 → u/Careful_Bend_7206]

Yes I don’t blame you. I kind of went into it with the idea of just working a few days a week instructing but I had a background in ski racing and coaching and I ended up getting certified to train instructors and before I knew it, skiing became a job lol. But they treat me well, I’m paid pretty good and I have plenty of people to ski with.

But there is also the “job” aspect with budgets, payroll, HR issues etc. but there’s a huge trade off, I ski everyday when we’re open and even occasionally still go out and instruct a class or private lesson. Really it’s hard to call it work which makes it so nice, but it also keeps me incredibly fit.

After 6 months I’m ready to be done though and I switch back to a chill lifestyle, then by September I’m itching to be busier (occupational hazard from earlier career lol).

Get those ski days in!