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"When Enough Is Never Enough" - What Do Millionaires Want?
The simple answer: moar.
While hardly a scientific study, it should come as no surprise that in a recent poll of high net worth clients by UBS, the "recidivist" bank found that the more money a high net worth individual has, the more money that same individual needs to retire comfortably.
Or, as the saying goes, "appetite comes with eating" even though according to that other saying: "the rat race has no exit."
UBS' explanation:
Satisfaction goes up as net worth increases, reaching 85% for those with $5 million or more. But enough is not enough for many millionaires to be fully satisfied, because lifestyle expectations rise along with net worth. Fifty-eight percent of millionaires say their expectations for their standard of living have increased in the last 10 years. Those whose wealth has increased significantly during this time period are even more likely to feel their standard of living expectations have gone up (64%). As a result, the majority of millionaires want more. Those with $1 million want $2 million; those with $10 million want $25 million.
And those with $100 million want $1 billion; those with $1 billion want to move AAPL with a single tweet and to stop being so bored with their lives, and so on.
The bottom line, when UBS asks "When is enough…enough?" and "Why the wealthy can’t get off the treadmill"...
... the answer is: never.
But there is good news, because all those overburdened millionaires now live in a crony capitalist system which rewards wealth above all else, and as a result the rich are assured of becoming even richer as the following summary of America's record class divide explains.
For the not so wealthy, well... this is your "chance" to get off the treadmill for the simple reason that when it comes to the US middle class becoming wealthy, the lights were turned off the day the Fed's printed was turned on.
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Blow, strippers and yachts?
At least that's what I'd do with a million.
I feel really lucky that I can stp aspiring.
I have quadrillions of (Zim-) dollars sitting on my desk. I've been handing those things away like candy. About 1/4 of the people get it. The rest just think how cool they will look with that much cash on hand.
I give those out too but not many get the point
"What Do Millionaires Want?"
Power, control, omnipotence, and everyone to fear them...
You know, the basic stuff a "bully" wants to compensate for lack of intelligence, noone who sympathizes with them, and a little dick.
Celebrity Death Match: Bernie Madoff v. Jesse Ventura...short, bone-crackin' fun!
I'd say wealth is time, space and silence.
Surely there are levels of "greed" among humans. But greed is largely a strawman.
The desire for moar wealth is partly due to government destruction of wealth via taxation, and currenct debasement (inflation tax).
Personally, I'd be satisfied with simply ... A Shrubbery!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69iB-xy0u4A
OK, at least you're not wasting it.
true wealth can't be measured in dollars, euros or yen. it is determined by the love one generates and receives, by our own contentment and the joy in our lives.
"there are 2 ways a man can be rich, he can have a lot of friends, or he can have a lot of money, but he cannot have both."
Suicide rates among lottery winners are among the highest (I read that study some time back, will link it if I find it). So it's not only about wealth, but about whether you've actually produced it. Unproductive wealthy people tend to be miserable.
I have an older brother who spent his whole working life taking it easy and spending money as fast as he made it. The other day he tells me what a great life he would have if he had my money. I can't say he ever felt sorry for me when I was bustin my ass working while he was out playing baseball and fishing. Now he's a broke-ass old fool living on social security and every so often I give him money cause I feel sorry for him. He also happens to be a liberal, I don't understand how that happened, we have the same parents, he was just born that way.
Inflation. 1 million is not enough to retire on...
$1 Million sounds like just enough for two elderly people to pay their health care bills after each has their significant medical event.
"$1 Million sounds like just enough for two elderly people to pay their health care bills"
Even less in "real" pre-1970 value.
Meanwhile, back at the Wall St. corral...
$1 Billion = a Thousand Millions
$1 Trillion = a Thousand Billions
"Reported" off shore "private" holdings (cash, not assets) = $32 Trillion
"Estimated", hidden cash holdings = $700 Trillion.
Wake the fuck up everyone. The exploitation is surreal and vast.
It is insane that the US public, in it's mushroom world, has no clue about just how much money has been stolen by these handfull of theives.
They completely orchestrate all activity on the planet and see themselves as Roman "Gods".
Even with this "accounting", remember how inadequate modern eonomics and accounting is in its ability to actually "account" for the true value of output.
"homemaker" is good example....free labor that allows one to focus on a solid career...not in GDP?
Hitler understood what was truly going on.
He did. But by acting on it he sealed his fate and that of Germany. As Churchill predicted in the early thirties.
Not according to Bill Gates
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-17/gates-richest-man-says...
Fom the article:
"Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates, the world’s richest person, said the U.S. economy is strong and that it’s “just nonsense” to suggest current tax rates restrain growth by discouraging innovation."
Funny, Mrs. Shark just voluntarily reduced her work hours because 1/2 of each marginal dollar goes straight to taxes.
It's a 'quality of life' thing...
Financial perverts to the pyramids. Normal folk to the gate in the middle.
And all who wished to be saved, to the narrow gate:
"You can enter God's Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way." - Matthew 7:13
How much does the free shit army want?
How much do the kleptocrats want?
How much does the government, at all levels, want to steal?
"The object of power is power"
- Orwell
Would it be better to say the Objective of Power is Power.
Guess the Focus (object) of power is power, but it is also systems, people, money, wealth, funds, government funds,...
Orwell or Hilary?
The just REP passed fast track TPP trade bill should address any wrongs here....
He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income. This too is vanity. Ecclesiastes 5:10
Nothing like religion to keep people confused, poor, stupid and guilty.
And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? - Mark 8:36
Strawman argument if I ever saw one. Most normal, rational, compassionate people just want to retire off their own lifetime of hard work without living in a cardboard box, and savings that won't buy them more than a Starbucks coffee.
Most people aren't normal, rational, or compassionate. Hell the plurality aren't even saving for retirement, they blow their earnings on stuff and trips.
What's wrong with trips? I'd rather go on trips than have 'stuff'. Besides, it's hard to take your stuff along on trips. George Carlin understood this also.
Who said that there was anything wrong with trips? You travel...neat.
Knowing the Bible is a great way to be free from religions, stupidity, poverty and quite a few other undesirable things.
True Christianity is a religion- it is partially and imperfectly found in organized sects of Christianity.
Excluding true Christianity, then, I agree with you.
Knowing the Bible will lead you to true Christanity.
Sola Scriptura.
There is no salvation for babylonian gold worshippers. Aboriginal people are the only ones not needing ownership to live their lifestyle to full extent, until the greedy fucked up ones arrived to "save them". That is the Paradise Lost.
Thank you.
dupe...
Kind of retarded. Who doesn't want more?
TD likes those class wars.
There's a difference between having a nice life where you don't have to worry about paying bills and an extravagent life where you're always wanting MORE of everything... MORE expensive this and that - plenty of things you do NOT 'need' but simply 'want'.
If you work for what you have - and work HARD to get it you tend ot have realistic expectations and wants - in my opinion. Those that have it easy - especially those that inherit what they have ALWAYS seem to want MORE. If you're working for what you have, 'MORE' means MORe work and at some point there's a trade off between simply getting more 'stuff' and having the time to enjoy your life.
I'm from a blue collar family - first to go to college. My wife and I have been lucky and done well. We've worked hard - but do not discount luck. Plenty of people work hard but bad luck - a bad employer, health issues or whatever can doom you to barely 'getting by' or worse (even when you've done everything 'right'.
While our parents scrambled to pay bills, and we did for years, at this point it's no longer a worry. We can pay bills as they come in. Our kids don't have to worry about college costs while we worked the whole time we were in college AND had loans afterwards. BUT we live within (below) our means. I do most of the work on our house myself - a 'fixer-upper' we bought at the market low in a great neighborhood. I'll spend money on tools to do work instead of paying others to do the work (a blue collar mentality that does save you money - if wearing out your body). We only started going on vacations after having kids (couldn't afford a honeymoon) but our vacations are mainly National Parks and other 'outdoors' experiences. See it while it's still around and it really isn't all that expensive.
Taxes are high but we have short commutes (never underestimate the value of THAT). We run cars into the ground - instead of leasing high end luxury models every 3 years like so many. I see many people earning far more than we do who are always scrambling - because they WANT so much more than they NEED. Our kids know they aren't likely to have the same life as adults they have had as kids (we waited until we were financially 'secure' to even HAVE them - which also makes a difference (lots of kids early in life are EXPENSIVE and will doom you to a life of 'getting by'). Preparing our kids for life - via college AND other practical skills is the best thing we can do.
Frankly, we have 'more' than we ever expected to have (albeit with not very high expectations) and have no real desire for MORE and MORE. We've given aour kids a better start than we had but their lives will be what THEY make of them. We do NOT believe in 'trust fund' kids (not that we're close to that level) - we've seen some of them and they're the worst. They inherit a fortune, never have to work and ALWAYS want MORE.
I see so many kids who expect SO MUCH, whose parents spend SO MUCH... but have no real concept of the long term. They WANT - they BUY. A good friend - from a frugal family married a 'spender'. His kids spend money to 'feel better' - much like their mother. I never understood that mentality.
One of my keys to happiness is this exact realization. That there is no such thing as enough. So, to stay happy I just remember that if I had something I wanted (wants are not needs) I would just want more of it, or something else. Money and things only bring a very temporary feeling of hapiness after you have reached the point where you have what you need. Helps me stay grounded to the fact that hapiness is a state of mind, not a destination. It cannot be bought with any amount of things or money.
Edit: Knowing this has also helped me save a tremendous amount of money. There is a drawback though, the vast majority of women do not think this way so I have to do a lot of searching for women who share or accept my perspective.
try hiking with a good group somewhere.
I met my wife on free Sierra Club outings.
We are both as cheap as possible but live great -- just avoid the status symbols
Hiking, whether alone or with others, is absolute proof the the best things in life are free.
Add the untold benefits to health and learning survival skills, and it's hard to find a better more wholesome physical activity.
Thanks for this thread.
I have to add that if you live to be 85 years old you have a chance of 50% going bankrupt... based on my calculations last year. Mainly this is due to Health Care Costs.
So maybe I have to let go of the idea that I can always provide for my own needs... We get to the Rest Home and turn over all finances to them.
If/when I start going gaga or pissing myself I'm going to take an overdose. I even have the pills stashed away in a secret location.
Seriously.
Don't fall for the matrix brainwashing, people got along fine without modern western medics for most of recorded history.
Excluding trauma care, western medicine will only harm you.
Nursing homes provide no benefit whatsoever, better off going on one last, long, hike and leave your material riches to your loved ones.
"Money and things only bring a very temporary feeling of hapiness after you have reached the point where you have what you need. "
If only the wisdom of this simple statement could be accepted by the population at large the happiness index would shoot up several notches.
I undestand them. I own X ounces of aurum, and am currently aiming to own 14% more ounces of aurum. Please keep those prices depressed, so I can reach my goal within the next 20 months.
"They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will be treated as a thing unclean. Their silver and gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD's wrath. It will not satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs, for it has caused them to stumble into sin." - Ezekiel 7:19
I think good ol' Zek was talking about paper gold and paper silver, since that is what they are doing RIGHT NOW.
So we elect a frontrunning, lying 1%er to guard the hen (white) house?
Musing on the bank Creation of money out of thin air.
- $1.7 Quadrillion in Derivatives through one US Holding Company, DTCC
Does that seem excessive? This is not including the $4.4 Trillion in QE assets on Federal Reserve Books, nor FED Loans given after 2008 Financial Crisis (most of which were short term and re-loaned out many times)
Looking at the 5,500 US Commercial Banks, how much money can they create based on assets, and how do we know they haven't created more than they are allowed?
JPM:
$2.57 Trillion in Assets
$1.36 Trillion in Deposits
$399 Billion in Trading Assets
$348 Billion in Securities
$757 Billion in Loans
$277 Billion in Long term Debt
$232 Billion in Market Capitalization
Basel III only requires HQLA Liquid Assets on hand of $600 Million for 2014... in addition to normal 1/10th as Reserves.
No clue here. Looks like key would be $1.36 Trillion in Deposits, which to me look like they could loan out much more than is evident to me. But could JPM Deposits be over reported if the whole USA has only $10.7 Trillion?? Does JPM hold 1/10 of all US Deposits??
Deposits, All Commercial Banks, - 2015-03: $10,719.9101 Billions of U.S. Dollars ($10.7 Trillion),
Monthly, Not Seasonally Adjusted, DPSACBM027NBOG, Updated: 2015-05-08
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/DPSACBM027NBOG
Gross private saving: Households and institutions
2014: 1,082.5 Billions of Dollars (+ see more)
Annual, Not Seasonally Adjusted, W998RC1A027NBEA, Updated: 2015-03-27
** How does $10.7 Trillion turn into $1.7 Quadrillion? **
Late Add:
I Guess the can sell businesses & Property, Copy Rights.
http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/international/intinv/iip_glance.htm (wow huge trend, $31 Trillion in Foreign Property in USA vs $24 Trillion)
Loot and Hoard Assets, then Trade them off, Sell everything off, even Sell off Jobs for some fee or Kickback:
Current Account Balance: Total Trade of Goods for the United States©, 2013: -703,911,000,000 US Dollars,
Sum Over Component Sub-periods (2013 was last data), Annual,
Not Seasonally Adjusted, BPBLTD01USA637S, Updated: 2014-04-03
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/BPBLTD01USA637S
I could never get my head around that either. Why do they want so much? What can they do with it all? When I sold my company about 20 years ago it gave me lifetime independence but not real wealth. What I found then was that my interest in making more money simply disappeared. I remember shortly after that Mike Milken was busted for racketeering - at a time when he was worth more than $400 million!
FFS!
I just don't get it....
? Don't you mean trillionaires? T is the new M, fucktard.
List the trillionaires. As they do not pay taxes we can only estimate their wealth. This is Your upside down NWO. Tell us, is it blonde on the bottom?
I've never heard them mentioned.
Rothschilds, Rockefeller, Carnegie's, Mellon, Kuhn, Loeb, Schiller, Schiff, Warberg, Brown Bros Harrimen, Krups, Siemens, Farben, The Royal Families of Europe...
We just assume they are Billionaires.
T if fo foundation, teefifises.
The love of money is the root of all evil.
Hence, where the concentration of wealth is greatest, evil is greatest.
TRILLIONAIRES and BILLIONAIRES are the ones who have the most blame when it comes to the evils of this world.
Who owns the Fed, the City of London, the BIS, etc?
They are the apex of the pyramid.
Secrecy is the root of all evil. Secrets shared decay faster than botrytis.
Good.
They want what all "right to rule" people want. After they have enough money to fund dozens of their generations in opulent, bulletproof, tax free trusts, they ramp up the taxes on the slaves just to do it.
Be carefull all you Midas's out there. We have a printing press now a days.
What the proletariat do not understand is that the cost of living goes UP WITH the income for EVERYONE, and not necessarily proportionally.
I strictly limited my routine fixed expenses, but I know of many wealthy people, actually most, who do not and therefore need very large continuous income flow just to pay the fixed expenses of their chosen lifestyles, which includes a surprising amount of debt.
I know of many ordinary wealthy people, ie upper middle-class, who have fixed monthly expenses for mortgages, prorated property taxes, utilities, insurances, property maintenance, vehicle maintenance, children's expenses, children's education, spouse's spending allowance, etc that are more than $30K per month - and they are NOT living extravagantly relative to their net worth or income.
Another factor that the proletariat do not understand because they pay little or no income tax, is that a VERY LARGE portion of the gross income of thee wealthy is confiscated under the euphamism of "income tax", and redistributed to the proletariat - 60% of government spending is on entitlement programs for the proletariat, an amount of money which makes ALL the income of ALL the wealthy, tiny by comparison.
Kudos for the personal anecdotes, they are always interesting.
Government spending is a couple trillion a year on entitlements. I'm not sure if you are maintaining a strict divide between income and capital gains, but I think its safe to say that there is a class above the people you refer to (possibly several classes), who have found accounting tricks to register their revenue streams entirely in flags of convenience countries and/or tax havens, and having them under the heading of capital gains rather than income. The big money in the U.S. isn't in the U.S., its in the carribean. Here's an interesting book about it. As far as the narrative of $300K/year households being our main source of tax revenues, that may be the case, but it would grossly understate the amount of money actually flowing through American corporation's hands and our black budget which is explained in detail here. I don't think your friends have even a small portion of the money which is actually circulating through the veins of this system (not to sound condescending, I too am just another dude with only two eyes and 24 hours in his day, mostly an armchair philosopher in these matters).
Used to be your savings would generate 5% minimum in absolutely safe returns so $1 million would generate $50,000 income annually - a sum that would provide a reasonable living. With plain old interst now at well undr 1% you need 10-20 times more capital to generate the same safe guaranteed income. BUT the cost of living keeps rising as well so you need $100,000 in annual income to provide the same lifestyle you used to get from $50,000 a few years ago.
From a purely pragmatic POV the peron looking to have a safe guaranteed income for retirement NEEDS MORE - and MORE simply to get the income they used to get from far less savings.
Two reasons why the super rich (>$5 million) want to get richer:
More the money, more the prestige and privilege. More the money, more the power they have over others.
In this manner, the primal emotions of Rothschild and Bonaparte were not all that much different from each other.
Who was saying "it begins".
-
- 9 DEAD IN WACO GANG FIGHT...
- VIDEO...
- Rivals fight with guns, chains, knives, bats, clubs...
- Bodies scattered throughout parking lot...
- Police warn violence could spread...
- More members en route...
- Inside world's deadliest biker gangs...
- BIKER BLOODBATH IN TX
I once believed that I wanted to be rich for the freedom it brings. But now I realize that if I don't have it in my own hands, I don't own it, and am not free. And so no amount of fiat is enough when it is just flash paper, and no amount of gold is enough when it can (will) be confiscated.
Signed,
Fucked.
"What Do Millionaires Want?"
They want their millions to transcend human governance, human identity, law, power and non millionaire rights.
That just about covers it all.
maybe they want, as they used to call it in south africa, the "necklace" ?
Because they all believe at some point they will not have enough money to buy something they really want because someone else will have more to buy it with.
That is what drives the relentless march to steal more from the rest.
Above a certain level of wealth you must be a sociopath to accumulate more.
Back in the day Ted Turner was quoted as saying one only needs $50m and he went through his calculation that included a couple houses a yaht and staff. Wonder what that would be in today's dollars? $100m?
I don't know, weekend TD, what do YOU want?
"Millionaires want more money." Well duh. That's like saying "vegans want to eat vegetables", "politicians want more power" or "child molesters want to molest children". Desiring money isn't a sufficient condition for becoming a millionaire, but except for a few lucky heirs, it's a very necessary condition.
If millionaires ever did decide to scale back their lifestyles, the rest of us would be seriously fucked. If e.g. Apple retired every employee with a net worth over $10 million, they'd soon have to let the rest go, because they wouldn't have any products to sell.
Where would black people be without white people? Detroit. Where would Detroit be without money given to it by white people? Africa. Yet they never stop whining how whitey be keepin' them down.
The Bible and several other self help or enlightenment books cite the Seven Deadly Sins. They are: pride, greed, lust, envy, wrath, sloth, and gluttony. That covers just about all the fun anyone could ever have.
Those sins generate enegy.
And that energy is a commodity among demons.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY! "My main interest right now is to expose the Jews. This is a lot bigger than me. They're not just persecuting me. This is not just my struggle, I'm not just doing this for myself... This is life and death for the world. These God-damn Jews have to be stopped. They're a menace to the whole world." -- Bobby Fischer
Absolute Power corrupst absolutely
Its not about money with the very rich, its all about Power the ultimate high.
The 87 people who own as much as the bottom half of the world's population need more money.
We can't be squeamish about this.
Just look at the statistics, old people are a burden and are the main recipients of benefits.
We must think of these 87 people and their need for ever greater wealth.
When people retire they must be sent to the gas chambers, these are hard times and difficult decisions have to be made.
@Monty Burns,
I too, sold my company and now have enough to sit on my ass forever. I was bored out of my mind after a year.
Now I engage in philanthopic activities and trade futures as a hobby with the goal of paying my fixed expenses and for my NetJet card.
Being close to sixty now I worry about the potential coming collapse and seeing a life's work destroyed and, a'la Trading Places, becoming poor. Don't know if I have it in me to start over......there is one hell of a lot of work and sacrifice involved in getting rich.
The Chicago Tribune used to run the results of a survey roughly annually;
The question was how much of a raise would you need to make your life "comfortable", not excessive.
Across all income levels the answers were invariably in the neighborhood of 40%. That always struck me as reasonable insofar as the average man was concerned.
Time to go fight the algos!
Your friend,
Dog
The UN never talks about the sustainability of the billionaire class.
No Agenda 21 for them.
Um, pretty much EVERYONE, whatever they have, they want more. What is wrong with that? Absolutely nothing. It's called life, you only get to live it once.
Um, pretty much EVERYONE, whatever they have, they want more. What is wrong with that? Absolutely nothing. It's called life, you only get to live it once.