I think the power of compound interest is unknown to most folks. A friend is going to be starting a job soon with a 401k. I was trying to educate her a little on the benefits of investing a lot, and early, and how compound interest can really add up over time. I asked her how much she thought she'd have if she invested even 10% of her salary every year for several decades. She guessed around $50K. When I told her, conservatively, it would be over a million, her reaction was "...What!?". So I guess I got "the look" but from an educational standpoint.
I convinced a young co worker to contribute up to the match in her 401k. She was part time, 22 years old. Living with her parents and spoiled. I told her don't worry it will only be $25 a week. Well we got paid and she flipped out because it was $50 (we got paid biweekly) and she couldn't afford that. I asked her what exactly she couldn't afford, since she lived at home and had no bills. She said she had credit card bills and started naming off various mall clothing stores.
This same girl made a comment about a customer who had $60k in her bank account. She said "if I had $60k, I wouldn't be driving a car like that. I'd be driving a much nicer car." I said the reason she has $60k is because she drives a "car like that".
I love this thread and glad to see it back. I think the story above is the perfect representation of this thread because (at a theoretical level) this thought process and result is the origin of "the look."
The reason why people with t-shirts, jeans and cheap cars have so much money in their bank account is because they don't buy fancy stuff. It's such a simple concept, but at the same time, an extremely difficult concept for Americans to understand.
I contributed to this thread in 2017, when my net worth was around 450K. Now 6 years later, it has tripled. Nowadays, at work (community college professor), I actually don't get "the look". I get respectful questions along the lines of, "How did you do that?" I'm a 43 year old male, so having money, isn't completely out of the question. However, faculty salaries are fairly low at my college, so it's not normal. When I bought my house for 280K with a mortgage rate of 4.125%, I got some questions of how I pulled it off. I think the disbelief was coming up with a down payment of 5%, which is kind of sad because it's only 14K + closing costs. I failed to mention that I put down 20%.
When I'm not at work, I will occasionally get "the look." When in regular clothes (typically surfer or skater style), I have the opportunity to occasionally look younger, especially when I'm wearing a hat, which hides the fact that I'm balding.
I was at the Kauai airport in April/May 2019 talking to a friend and he introduced me to one of his friends and we were having a friendly 3-person chat on where we were going. I was flying to California for two job interviews (age 39). My friend (age 35) was getting paid to fly to Arizona for a musical performance. His friend (age 55) was semi-retired and flying back to South Dakota because his 5-6 month winter in Hawaii was over. He locked up the house and will be back in October. My friend then shared to his friend that I recently bought a house in June 2018 and typically go to the mainland for 3 months during the summer (similar to him). He was surprised and then said, "You got a small plantation house?", which is typically 900 to 1200 sq. ft. and no garage. I replied with "No, it's a custom home that's about 2500 sq. ft. with a large covered deck and a 2.5 car garage." He then gave me "the look" and was confused. I then responded with, "The upstairs is 1850 sq. ft. and we rent out the basement separately, which is about 650 sq. ft. to help off-set the cost of the mortgage." He was more comfortable with that follow up response and made sense to him and it was all good.
I have one more story, which is related to the "yard work in front yard" story on the first page of comments. My wife and I were staying in the lower level 650 sq. ft. apartment last summer for 8 weeks on Kauai. During the first or second week of occupancy, I'm doing yard work in the front yard, covered in Kauai red dirt. A friend of the upstairs tenants parked their truck in our parking lot. The upstairs tenants know that guests should be parking in the drive-way and not in the parking lot for the lower level tenants. The gravel parking lot is on a slope and loose gravel can get spit up by tires and hit other cars in that lot. As a result, upstairs guests are not allowed in the lower level gravel parking area.
I politely asked the upstairs tenants to have their friend park in the driveway or on the side of the road. The guest politely agrees and moves his truck and re-enters the house. About 15 minutes later, he leaves the property and drives away and we politely waive to one another. About 30 minutes later, he comes back and parks in the same spot. Before he enters the house, I asked him why he parked in the same spot again. He responded with, "It's ok, I will only be here for a few minutes" I then responded with, "It's not ok, even for a few minutes. You are not allowed to park in that area, ever. You need to move your vehicle." I wasn't disrespectful, but I was very firm. He was really confused and then moved his vehicle. He was in the house for about 30 minutes and then as he was leaving decided to chat me up.
His first question was how much I liked "landscaping." He implied "for a living", but didn't say that. I replied with, "I like it very much. I love being outside." His tone then became very disrespectful and sarcastic to the point that the upstairs tenants decided to come outside to see what was going on. My upstairs tenants were embarrassed and horrified by how their friend was talking to me that they politely said that it was time for him to make his next appointment and walked him to his vehicle. He was very confused but agreed with his friend. I'm not sure if the upstairs tenants explained to him that I was the owner and not a landscaper. However, when the upstairs tenants walked back they gave me an empathetic look and said, "sorry about that."
