Talking about your wad of cash in public/on VJ

[Aymerlu 3]

I'm flat a$$ broke so there is no money to talk about

[Fandango 1,439]

Alex is right...I didn't really notice it before, but there's money talk all over the boards lately.

I see the money as being used as qualifiers as to how 'great' a person is. In the past 10 minutes I've read two statements in two seperate threads:

Poster X: hell I've cleared $xxx already this year

Poster X: well I make 6 figures

ok and???? What's that mean? You're great? special? talented? What point was that supposed to drive home? If the topic is about money directly, what's so bad about saying 'I do ok' or some other euphemism? If the topic is about how you pulled yourself up to make a great life for yourself...do you have to say you 'make 6 figures? does that really add to the point?

I really do think that it's just a question of how you were raised cos for those who grew up in households where you DON'T talk about money...well I can tell you these instances sounds sooooo weird.

And the fact that both two posters in this thread who have spoken about money have flat out accussed people here of being envious proves the point that it's used as a qualifier. 'you're jealous of me cos I have more than you do'

Hey, if that makes you feel better about yourself

[Mags 112]

I only found out what my Dad made (before retirement) last year and that was only because we were talking about house prices back in the day. I spent 33 years not knowing what my parents' earned. It was thought of as private and personal and, being frank here, none of my damn business.

Boasting about money reminds me of men with loud trucks. You can draw your own conclusions about that...

[brnidokiegurl 0]

Ok its Tuesday morning and now there are 14 of us "broke" people, we're still waiting on you rich ones to share a little. In the end who cares, after all this for those that have more are they any happier? sure doesnt appear so does it.

[Sofiyya 1,687]

It depends on how it's said: "I have $35,000 a year, is that enough to support my fiancée and her two kids on the I-864?" Totally cool. "Wow, I made more than that in six weeks!" Poor taste. It's only new money that has to brag.

I'm sort of amused that G-EG seems to think if more people talk about money, people will be richer. I can see that about sharing plans for financial success, but that doesn't make a lot of sense if we're talking about trust funds.

"How did you get your money?"

"I'm a trust fund baby! You should be more fiscally responsible like me because somehow I earned that money."

"Okay, next time I'm born, I'll get new parents. That was my mistake!"

Oh please.

But anyhow. Most of the talking about money lately was in specific dollar amounts anyway, due to mawilson's thread, so there was a context for it. I didn't think anyone was bragging, really, but I can see how it would be taken that way. Class doesn't have to brag.

This is what I actually said:

. . . I think there's a time and a place for it, but dodging the fact that there are social and economic classes and levels in the world is silly because it's so obvious that there are. If we talked about money more and educated people about it, maybe more would have some.

All kinds of people here are talking about money. No one is being educated. Some are bitter, critical and pointing fingers at others about who has it and how they should behave so that the whiners don't feel bad. That is very telling. Check yourselves.

The fact is, you've got what you've got. Make the best of it because complaining about what someone else has isn't getting you any more nor making you any happier.

[ChristinaM 0]

Am I envious of the people who can come on here and say "Wow, I earned more than $35K in the last 3 months!" or "I earn a six-figure salary"? You bet I am. Would I like to be earning that kind of money? You bet I would. So that I can say I have it? No. Because earning that kind of money would change my life.

I don't have a problem with people with money; whether they earned it or inherited it. I don't have a problem with what they do with it, and I don't think it's inappropriate to pass comment on it, in context. I don't like the childish one-upmanship of "I earned $35K in three months", "Well I earned over $200K last year!" - a persons intrinsic value is not related to their wealth. If you make $25K in a year and give to charity, good for you. If you earn $1M in a year and don't give to charity, that's your right.

My husband and I are considering moving, and as such, have spent a lot of time talking about the cost of renting in different places with various people. Is that tacky? I don't think so. Yes, it gives an indicator of our level of wealth when I have to say to someone that $1200 a month is more than we can afford. Does anyone think any differently of me for knowing that? I would like to think not.

GEG is a trust-fund baby by her own admission. She's very lucky to have that. Whoop-de-doo. Charles, Gary and Gupt work in jobs where they makes a good amount of money; what's that to me? Incentive. That's what The US is all about, right? Work hard and you will be rewarded. If you work hard and you're proud of what you've achieved, then why pretend otherwise. I don't need to know the exact details of what anyone earns, but it doesn't bother me to know there are people out there earning 4 or 5 times what I do in a year, or that there are people born into money.

I think that some people need to learn the difference between bragging and pride, and they need to learn to put things in context.

I'm lacking caffeine, so forgive me if that doesn't make much sense

[Candace 2]

I only found out what my Dad made (before retirement) last year and that was only because we were talking about house prices back in the day. I spent 33 years not knowing what my parents' earned. It was thought of as private and personal and, being frank here, none of my damn business.

Ditto Mags, except I actually still have no clue what either of my parents earn now or ever did!

[Caladan 19]

I don't consider being born rich to make one a winner, any more than being born beautiful or tall does. I really don't think it's out of jealousy, and that's certainly not my case, at least. What would I have to be jealous of?

And while I agree educating people is the way to get people financially secure (the credit card debt thread was a good idea all around), I'm not sure that just "talking about money" helps towards that end at all. I suspect quite a lot of the time it does the opposite, as people feel that they need to keep up with the Joneses. Conspicuous consumption certainly doesn't incentivize people save more so they can afford nice things; they just go into credit card debt.

Context is very important (hence why I think this thread is a bit much), but I think there's decent social reasons not to talk about about income, and most of it isn't out of some deep-seated jealousy.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

I think the bragging about money is hilarious -- especially when "earning 6 figures" or "clearing $x amount this year already" still only makes you part of the beleaguered middle class and hardly constitutes class envy. It's not like this is the vast fortune enjoyed from inventing the wheel.

[William33 110]

Who brought this dead thread back to life?

[Alex+R 0]

What is this, resurrect Alex's controversial polls week?

[panamania79 2]

I've noticed a lot of people talking about their money, listing their salaries, mentioning how hard they've worked to make X, and other specific mentions of their income or assets.

My parents always said, "the more money you have the less you should talk about it." But that is a Jewish attitude, AFAIK.

I am so broke,I can't even afford to pay attention.But all kidding aside,I think it's so tacky when people brag about their "riches." One of my co-workers is always flashing his wad of 20's and what makes me laugh is that he only has this money because his father in law died and left his wife money nad he re-financed his house last summer.He walks around work every day bragging to everybody, " I have 50 thousand dollars in the bank,bla,bla,bla."Everybody just looks at him like, "you dummy.40 thousand of that you're paying for." But he's such an idiot he doesn't know.

[panamania79 2]

I've noticed a lot of people talking about their money, listing their salaries, mentioning how hard they've worked to make X, and other specific mentions of their income or assets.

My parents always said, "the more money you have the less you should talk about it." But that is a Jewish attitude, AFAIK.

I am so broke,I can't even afford to pay attention.But all kidding aside,I think it's so tacky when people brag about their "riches." One of my co-workers is always flashing his wad of 20's and what makes me laugh is that he only has this money because his father in law died and left his wife money and he re-financed his house last summer.He walks around work every day bragging to everybody, " I have 50 thousand dollars in the bank,bla,bla,bla."Everybody just looks at him like, "You dummy,40 thousand of that you're paying for." But he's such an idiot he doesn't know.He also loves to brag about the nice neighborhood he lives in.When he saw that my car radio was gone,he said to me,"If you lived in MY neighborhood,that would have never happened."

[Fandango 1,439]

This was a great thread!

[panamania79 2]

Who brought this dead thread back to life?

My bad ! I had to tell that story.