Re:California homeowners made more money in equity than work...
by vmception on Saturday June 12, 2021 @04:40PM
(#27487276)
> A 50+ year old married couple that earned incomes around the median and set some money aside in their 401k might have a million or two million dollars of “total net worth”, but it does not mean they can become venture capitalists or develop land or go out and buy a Ferrari.
But they could if they wanted to, by borrowing against their 401k at nearly the lowest interest rates possible.
I want a simple term that describes people that can and can't do that. Millionaire is it as there is a clear distinction between people that have zero and negative net worth, and people with one million dollars in assets that can be borrowed against.
> a “millionaire”, at least when I was growing up, meant someone who could afford luxuries that almost all could not.
Well that's inflation for you. I think you're the one that will need to pick another word. My experience with the luxury concept is that people imagine things are more expensive or unattainable than they are. Like, there is a kind of "commoner's luxury" which is catered towards via leasing and borrowing and there is no way to distinguish which person has actually afforded the lifestyle or simply assumed even more debt. The "millionaire" colloquialism seems to have spawned generations of posers with nearly zero net worth, surrounding themselves with the image of luxuries, which even the illiquid farmer with millions of dollars of land can afford.
But they could if they wanted to, by borrowing against their 401k at nearly the lowest interest rates possible.
I want a simple term that describes people that can and can't do that. Millionaire is it as there is a clear distinction between people that have zero and negative net worth, and people with one million dollars in assets that can be borrowed against.
> a “millionaire”, at least when I was growing up, meant someone who could afford luxuries that almost all could not.
Well that's inflation for you. I think you're the one that will need to pick another word. My experience with the luxury concept is that people imagine things are more expensive or unattainable than they are. Like, there is a kind of "commoner's luxury" which is catered towards via leasing and borrowing and there is no way to distinguish which person has actually afforded the lifestyle or simply assumed even more debt. The "millionaire" colloquialism seems to have spawned generations of posers with nearly zero net worth, surrounding themselves with the image of luxuries, which even the illiquid farmer with millions of dollars of land can afford.