Depending on how you look at it, ignorance is not always bliss.
My early impression has always been that people who lived in big houses, drive big and fancy cars and lead expensive lifestyles are up to their necks in debt. When I tried to buy my first car after one year of work, my parents dissuaded me saying better not to get into debt. They said "dont think those people driving big and nice cars are happy. They are probably stressed out very month trying to repay their loans". From then on, I had this impression that people are overstretching themselves buying condos, big cars etc.
That impression quickly changed when you get to know these "people" better. I found that many of them who lived in landed homes, condos and drive big cars actually paid for them and do not have debts. Some chose to have loans (eg housing loans) because the interest rates are low, and they can better deploy their money elsewhere to earn bigger returns.
Yes, there will be wannabees who try to live the lifestyles of the rich, but there are many rich people who can well afford their lifestyles.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered
Was looking at the very first post in this thread started by "Avatar" in Jan 2010. Imagine that, 4 years have already passed!
Avatar, who stated he was a a senior software earning $70k pa, wanted to know where he stood in terms of salary. I have not seen any more post from him since. I can only imagine that he was rudely woken up by the many posters here with their few hundred thousand dollar salaries and their multi-million dollar assets.
Sometimes it is good not to know. We can go on living happily with what we earn and save. But once we opened up our eyes and see that our neighbour is driving a bigger car, going for expensive holidays, wearing nice clothes and what not, we begin to feel envy and our happy blissful life is no more. I was once like that. As a new entrant into the job market, many years ago, I was very pleased with my pay of around $3k pm. With bonuses, I was bringing home $40+k pa. Was pleased as pie. But when I found out that older colleagues were bringing home 3 to 4 times what I was earning, envy sets in. I became a different person.
I wonder what Avatar is doing now? Is he still working in the same line or industry? Has he moved into a more lucrative job?
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