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NFT: When you were younger, what made you think people were rich?

gidiefor : Mod : 7/3/2022 9:40 am
I kind of laugh about this thinking about it, but there were three things I remember that made me think a family was rich when I was a kid. A Color TV, a Cadillac, a Mink Coat and living at Turner Towers. Turner Towers was the ritzy apartment house with a doorman on Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn where I grew up in the 60s and 70s.
I guess I can't count - that's 4 things  
gidiefor : Mod : 7/3/2022 9:41 am : link
: )
I didn’t realize it so much when I was younger.  
Jerz44 : 7/3/2022 9:42 am : link
As I got older thou and graduated college and started working, it hit me how wealthy some of my friends were when they never had to work when the rest of us started getting real jobs.
..  
Named Later : 7/3/2022 10:13 am : link
I always thought that Cars were the biggest Status Symbols. That was during the Era of the Big Three automakers, and if your family had the newest model....you were in.

Then I got a job and spent most of my paycheck on a late model GTO -- Gas Tires and Oil, as the saying goes.

in ground pool  
TJ : 7/3/2022 10:21 am : link
One house in my neighborhood had one when I was about 7
Growing up in Maine  
VTChuck : 7/3/2022 10:58 am : link
Indoor plumbing
People with a lot  
section125 : 7/3/2022 11:04 am : link
of money.
I was in Engineering School (NCE)  
KeoweeFan : 7/3/2022 11:26 am : link
and heard that my cousin who graduated 5 years before me was making more than $10,000 per year and he even had a boat with an outboard motor in his garage.
(Now you know how old I am.)
......  
Route 9 : 7/3/2022 11:38 am : link
They had a DVD player
They lived in a house  
JerseyCityJoe : 7/3/2022 11:55 am : link
.
When they lived in towns that didn't have street lights  
Bobby Humphrey's Earpad : 7/3/2022 12:05 pm : link
.
Plenty of things  
Bryanjints : 7/3/2022 12:47 pm : link
It's a long list.
When I was in 6th grade  
steve in ky : 7/3/2022 1:05 pm : link
I was hanging out with a friend from school one day and as kids often do we asked "what does your father do?" I still remember that his father was 36 and "retired" and didn't have to "go to work every day" but instead stayed home and lived off his investments.

As my father always had to work hard long overtime hours to make ends meet, that really stood out to me, I was fascinated by that. I believe that moment likely planted an early seed in me that if a person worked hard, saved and invested wisely, that he could write a different path for his future, and retire at a reasonably young age.

Now looking back on it I don't know whether or not his father ever worked hard, or perhaps just inherited enough money to live off his investments, but I'm glad at twelve I took it as a possibility open to anyone if they put in the work.

A Cadillac or Mercedes  
Matt M. : 7/3/2022 1:07 pm : link
I also had one friend in elementary school who had literally every single Star Wars figure, vehicle, etc. and for generic characters like Stormtroopers, he would have 3 or 4 of each. I thought that made him loaded.
Garages  
Face Pepler : 7/3/2022 1:09 pm : link
Some folks in the neighborhood had no garage, many had a one car garage. A few had two car garages. The rich guy on the corner had a three car garage.
Manners  
lono801 : 7/3/2022 1:15 pm : link
And class
RE: Manners  
Matt M. : 7/3/2022 1:17 pm : link
In comment 15746744 lono801 said:
Quote:
And class
Oddly, I have generally found more manners and class in those with less.
It definitely works both ways  
lono801 : 7/3/2022 1:21 pm : link
I know a few extremely wealthy people who have no idea how to hold a fork properly.
RE: It definitely works both ways  
Matt M. : 7/3/2022 1:22 pm : link
In comment 15746754 lono801 said:
Quote:
I know a few extremely wealthy people who have no idea how to hold a fork properly.
I don't even care about holding a fork. I am interested in more how to interact with people; treat people.
My guess is that my thoughts on manners  
lono801 : 7/3/2022 1:42 pm : link
Are probably somewhat antiquated these days…

My Mothers go to was Emily Post.
RE: My guess is that my thoughts on manners  
Matt M. : 7/3/2022 1:50 pm : link
In comment 15746763 lono801 said:
Quote:
Are probably somewhat antiquated these days…

My Mothers go to was Emily Post.
Makes sense. My mother never had any herself, so she was always my negative example; what not to do.
I grew up in an apartment  
steve in maryland : 7/3/2022 1:54 pm : link
Rich people owned a house
...  
SFGFNCGiantsFan : 7/3/2022 2:02 pm : link
When their yacht had 2 bathrooms to the 1 in our yacht.
RE: I grew up in an apartment  
Matt M. : 7/3/2022 2:06 pm : link
In comment 15746766 steve in maryland said:
Quote:
Rich people owned a house
+1
Rich people had  
Big Al : 7/3/2022 2:07 pm : link
a cement pond.
RE: Rich people had  
steve in ky : 7/3/2022 2:11 pm : link
In comment 15746776 Big Al said:
Quote:
a cement pond.


Haha
I never thought about it when I was a kid.  
bigblue1124 : 7/3/2022 2:17 pm : link
Growing up we always had a pool above ground 4’ deep and all my friend would always hangout out our place. My father built a wrap around deck for the pool, and it was always the place everyone would hangout.

I think I was 12 or 13 when one of my friends had a big birthday party, I am assuming it was for entering the teen years. It was the first time I had ever been to his home it was huge! And most of the party was held in the basement with a walkout patio. They had a two-lane bowling alley, arcade games, pool table, air hockey table, bar, and an inground pool off the patio.

I think my first thought was why the F==k have we been hanging out at my place all these years. But the next day or so we were all back at my place hanging out in the pool I didn’t care and neither did my friend.

Being a kid back then was fun and not a care in the world sadly a lot of kids these days don’t get to enjoy that.
If They  
noro9 : 7/3/2022 2:26 pm : link
Paid someone to mow their lawn
they had lunch money every day....  
BCD : 7/3/2022 2:45 pm : link
and little left to loan me some so I could get a candy bar...
Growing up in the 60s and maybe early 70s, the goal  
Spider56 : 7/3/2022 4:06 pm : link
was to make $30k per year before you were 30. If you made $30k you were rich… or at least you could live like you were.
Microwave  
Svengali : 7/3/2022 5:39 pm : link
It seemed big at the time.
Door man building…  
trueblueinpw : 7/3/2022 7:13 pm : link
Growing up in the city all my rich friends had doormen at their apartments.
RE: in ground pool  
Del Shofner : 7/3/2022 8:13 pm : link
In comment 15746648 TJ said:
Quote:
One house in my neighborhood had one when I was about 7


in ground pool for sure

Cadillac, Mercedes and mink coats as mentioned

for me, color TV - I grew up with B&W only

nice shout-out to Turner Towers gidie - we had good friends who lived there back in the day (like 1995-2010, not my childhood)
RE: I grew up in an apartment  
Route 9 : 7/4/2022 4:43 am : link
In comment 15746766 steve in maryland said:
Quote:
Rich people owned a house


Nice. I've never lived in an apartment and never ever want to.
Three car  
Giantophile : 7/4/2022 6:19 am : link
Garage
RE: Rich people had  
Gman11 : 7/4/2022 7:04 am : link
In comment 15746776 Big Al said:
Quote:
a cement pond.
LOL. And a fancy eatin' table.
Rich people  
BobOnLI : 7/4/2022 8:06 am : link
Had bent noses and were in the carting business.
A full woodshed  
GrMtWoods : 7/4/2022 8:07 am : link
And a full pantry.
I think  
Dave on the UWS : 7/4/2022 8:09 am : link
“Indoor plumbing” wins this thread.
Since I walked to school every day, the kids who got driven to school.
We had a semi rich family friend that I thought was really rich  
rasbutant : 7/4/2022 11:30 pm : link
He had a pool, three-wheeler, snowmobile, and the biggest thing was his GI-Joe collection...it was huge! I was about 8-12yrs old
if they owned their own business....  
BillKo : 7/5/2022 7:48 am : link
....my dad always would say you never make any money working for someone else!
kids can tell things  
pjcas18 : 7/5/2022 8:18 am : link
for one, in my town, it usually started with they had both parents. I grew up in the 80's mostly and it seemed like the divorce rate was crazy (for families with kids) and even if a divorced family was wealthy they still didn't seem it because they were stigmatized, the kids suffered and wealth usually was outweighed by the fucked up family life.

after two parents you could tell by their clothes, their house (if you saw it), their cars, their material things. But also people talk - grownups and kids hear things - like who owns their own business, or who is going on an airplane or who is buying a second home, etc.

to my mother's credit though I basically grew up in projects and I never once felt like we were poor, but looking back we obviously were and she worked so hard at multiple menial jobs to keep my siblings and I sheltered as much from it as possible. so I knew we weren't rich but "what made you think people were poor" would be a funny thread.
I remember being blown away by a master bathroom  
Jerry in_DC : 7/5/2022 5:20 pm : link
Hold on, hold on, there's a bathroom inside a bedroom???? Are you serious? And there's one in the hall too??
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