Hellobee Boards

@MsLipGloss: 500k is astronomical for here! A lot of people will work their whole lives and never see 500k.

My dad is very good friends with the couple who own the biggest home-building business & real estate companies in our town. They have a couple 1 million dollar houses and he has a Rolls Royce. I would find it hard to believe they even make 500k a year!

@Ladyfingers: It really is all relative. I remember thinking as a kid that $100k was a lot of money, then I later discovered that it wasn't. Sort of the same thing for $500k . . . while I still think (as someone else mentioned) that could make one "well off" (although there are a lot of variables to consider), I don't consider it to be a lot of money.

@MsLipGloss: I don't think that $500,000 is a lot of money necessarily in one lump sum, like a lottery payment or anything, since it can go so quickly. But as a year-in, year-out salary, it's such an astounding number to me! But you're right that it's all relative. I just think about what we could do if we made 5 times as much as we do and I get boggled.

@MsLipGloss: Oh I know, they ruin everything. I got what I would consider a "lot of money" for a bonus last year, and after taxes I was like... wtf? I mean, still a lot and I was grateful, but geez!

All the upper management (VP and up) at my current company make pretty good money!

@MrBee: Funny you started this thread... I'm currently working on a report for our CEO and HR department and I'm finding the employees who haven't had a raise in "x" # of months.... I'm getting a little depressed when I look at how much some of these people are making. LOL

I don't know what we'd do if we brought in $500k a year, we'd most definitely be overly comfortable. I'd be happy to make $100k a year, but with the size of our family that would only make us comfortable.

We are friends with a dentist that lives in a multi-million dollar home, he and his wife built it and paid for it with cash. They have an 8 car garage filled with fancy cars, and own about 10-12 rental homes. He told us that when he was in his late 20's - mid- 30's he was living out of his car with no job, and started investing in properties, then put himself through dental school.

My son's best friends parents owned a metal fabrication business in Ca. they would contract with NASA. They sold it I believe and I have no idea what exactly they do now, pretty secretive but their home is the nicest largest home I've ever seen in my life and it's on it's own private lake.

The only person that I can think of off the top of my head is Wagon Sr.'s previous boss. Wagon Sr. handled a lot of his personal stuff, so he once saw his retirement account and nearly fainted. His old boss is a vet and has his own practice, but that doesn't even make him any money... he is a director at Harvard Medical School and sits on the board of many many companies. That's where the money really comes in... he gets a paycheck from all these companies for attending one meeting a month or so. He also teaches at Harvard in addition to his full time position so that's two more paychecks. Not to mention all of his investments. These are all things that only come with time, experience, and networking though!

That being said, he is a super nice, down to earth guy. Some days he would eat corn out of a can for lunch.

500k would have been a lot in Dallas, but now that we live in NYC area, it would be more comfortable, but definitely not rich!! Especially because after taxes, you might only clear $250-$275 a year. Booo.

We've been vaguely house hunting for 3 months and can't find any 2 bedrooms w parking we like under $750,000, and we live on the jersey side!! (Sad face)

I used to be a nanny in LA and a lot of my old employers are loaded.

@Anagram - Are you looking in the Hudson County area? That would explain the prices...