RE: "I think that people tend to acquire "stuff" to make up for the fact that they have no time, they have no time because they spend all that time working to pay for all that stuff."
My observation is people with careers usually don't waste their time acquring stuff. When I go back to the state I grew up, where money isn't as prevalent, I'm always amazed at all the stuff that some of the people there have, people that should really be saving their money in an IRA rather than buying a lot of junk.
Meanwhile, in the Bay Area, I find a mix of all sorts. Some people that are very wealthy with a spartan lifestyle, some borderline rich people that want to look rich so buy a lot of stuff, some that are newly rich so want to look rich so spend a lot of money, some that are middle class that have a spartan lifestyle (because the average home costs a million, so they have no spare money to spend on anything), some reckless people that rack up a lot of debt for image reasons I guess, and some poor people that seem to buy tons of stuff from Ross because they can't afford to buy a house but their rents are so cheap so they have money to spend (this is according to a lady I asked there - I was curious by the trend.) I also find a lot of image-oriented people that live in the downtown area of Los Gatos (a bit of a salesy downtown area where I keep seeing these rather dressed up, doormat woman on the arm of an older guy in the restaurants there, which isn't to generalize the entire town but just to mention there are a few that stand out there), and too many there seem to buy a lot of image-oriented stuff that's expensive, maybe because they have a lot of time to waste and nothing else better to do. One guy that lives in Los Gatos was complaining to some of his employees about his $1000/mo heat bill. Am pretty certain some of them were equating it to their rent bill.
But I've noticed it's usually the people, whether rich or poor, that don't work that tend to acquire a lot of stuff - maybe because it's their past-time.
At a bank where I do some business, a teller told me it's the people that don't look weathly that are very wealthy.
Regards,
Amy J |
