25 Traits of the Not So Well to Do
Here’s an interesting list of the 25 traits of the not-so-well-to-do. I have to say I am guilty of number 10, 15, and 23. I have mostly brand name clothing and a set of bespoke suit because I care about how I look. I’m always renting because the median home price where I live is almost 1.1 million. I don’t, however, move often. I tend to leave generous tips because my family was in the restaurant business. Likewise, I offer to pick up the tab because that’s how I was raised in a Chinese family. I’m upper middle class with a 30 to 40% annual savings rate after taxes so I guess the list is at least somewhat accurate.
Interesting list. It sort of bothers me. This is just a person listing his personal observations, right? It bothers me that he does not define some of his characteristics. For instance, what is eating out a lot? Once a week? Once a day?
I am guilty of quite a few of those myself. Why is debt not on the list? It seems to me that the root of why I would be considered NSWTD is that I have oodles of debt from going to grad school.
Now I want to see if there is evidence to back up his observations…
Said by lar June 13th, 2009 at about 8:41 AM
Agreed. The list is vague enough that I think most people would be guilty of at least some of them. I have a coworker who certainly is not NSWTD but would be guilty of all the television related ones because he loves TV. That’s his thing.
I’m even more interested in what does he mean by NSWTD. It can’t be debt because even the upper class carry a significant amount of debt. I wonder if it is defined by “free cash flow”, ie. are you getting out of debt and/or accumulating assets?
Said by Naproxen June 14th, 2009 at about 12:21 AM
I’m slow but I think I finally figured out what’s wrong with this list. The logic is circular. If any wealthy person does all 25 of these things, they would be fine. If a NSWTD person does any of them, they won’t be fine. Basically, the list is a list of expensive habits that NSWTD people shouldn’t do. However, doing them won’t make you a NSWTD. You already have to be a NSWTD for the list to be meaningful.
Said by Naproxen June 14th, 2009 at about 12:42 PM