I don't think you could set a specific amount of money as being "too much," but I do think it's possible to be "too wealthy." My interpretation of Christianity leads me to believe that we're called to share what we have and help others. Accumulating money just for the sake of accumulating money seems like a wasteful and selfish thing to do.
Today I talked about this exact topic with friends at the gym. We had a discussion as to why health insurance is going up. Obscene insurance company profits? Most people are surprised to learn that the industry average for health insurers is a profit margin of about 3%. Well, what about the obscene pay to CEOs? If you look up the CEO's income (including income from stock options) and divide that by the number of people his company covers, each insured person might be contributing just $1 annually to the CEO's income.
One of my friends objected because it was a matter of scale. It felt wrong to her that some people have so much. If that CEO worked for free, it would matter very little to each of the people insured. I am not worried about it. It is between him and God, or his conscious, or his sense of morality.
If it is a matter of scale, who is to decide what is the right scale? If 1000 to 1 is not okay, is 100 to 1 okay? If so, why? One could argue no one should have more than anyone else.
The way I see it, I am super-wealthy by the standards of people in third world countries. How many times have we seen those ads for kids with cleft pallets, and read that for a mere $250 we could profoundly change one kid's life. Yet have we donated? I haven't. And yet nearly every family in this country could afford to send $250 overseas. Many of us in the middle class could fund 10 operations a year. But instead we have Netflix, or feel we deserve to eat out once in a while, or want a fancier cell phone. We don't donate because somehow we feel disconnected from what we know is happening in other parts of the globe. We fault CEOs for being similarly disconnected. It's the same thing.
I would not trade places with any CEO. The reality is few of us would want to do what he did to get there... starting as an exceptional high school student, getting into a first-rate business school, many years of working 80 hours a week to get to the top of a corporation, doing work I would not want to do, and living some place I would not want to live.
I have only one life to live, and I like the one I have. I am rich in different ways. I've have the time to spend with my kids. I have a degree of freedom. My basic needs are met. I am happy. So I don't worry if someone has more money than I do.
Because of the cost of it hubby and I actually take the bus between CO and Toronto over flying its cheaper by a world of a lot (cost just over 100 per person for a round trip), though spending almost 2 days in travel time isn't great, but when finances trump its the way to go.
I think if a person works hard and earns a lot of money they deserve to keep it and do whatever they want with their money. No one should tell them what they can or cannot do.
Actually, Alyson, The sauce doesn't come in a can, it comes in a bag Ha-ha and the Cheese? It comes prepackaged, but they shred it themselves. The produce they get is all fresh; they cut them themselves. They may use help from a slicer, but its' all done by hand. The dough is mixed in a huge industrial mixer using already mixed dry ingredients in a bag for the dough (like a big flour bag) except for the yeast, then they add the wet ingredients. They have their stuff prepped for the next day and the following day they make more stuff. Only occasional things come in a can, like, pineapples and anchovies which, to be quite honest, I would get from the store too! Honestly, to the blog person, if you're having issues with THAT particular Papa Murphy Take N' Bake, go to another one or just go somewhere else instead of wasting valuable minutes of your life complaining. Not everything you assume is correct and not everything you are told is true. My advice would be for the people making assumptions and believing everything they hear: stop! Double check or just don't talk about it. Anyways, have some grace! Be understanding and have a positive, benefit of the doubt about situations like what you experienced. Like you said yourself, blogger, there was a new kid at the counter (apparently) and it was probably their first day at a rush! When there is a rush, there's going to be, most likely, a mistake or two. Forgive them, move on, but try to be understanding. They were probably training new people, a mistake probably happened the day before, you never really know. Don't get angry because if you were in their shoes, I'm sure you would rethink your whole attitude.
No, I don't think the amount of money is as important as a person's perspective on money. If it doesn't own you or define you, and you got it through legal and ethical means, I don't see there being any certain amount that could be considered *too* much money.
Hmmm...sounds like maybe your parents didn't teach you that always fair, huh? Your situation stinks, as does 90% of America's-- but why should you get a break because you're investment turned out to be a bad one? My fiancée and I each bought a townhouse/condo when we were single and "did everything right" too-- put down payments, way "under-bought" our incomes, 30 yr. amortizing loans, didn't buy during the boom time, plenty of savings, etc. But as we got engaged we needed a place to accommodate the two of us and a future family. Of course we're too far underwater to sell either place so we are renting them out-- and taking almost $1,000/month loss!! (We're about $100k underwater on the two places). We bought a new house for the two of us and now have 3 mortgages. We have a wedding to pay for, could be investing for retirement, we each could use a new car, could use a vacation, etc. So yes, loosing $1,000/month makes me sick but walking away isn't right. You signed a contract that you would pay your debt-- there's no exception that you can "get out if it doesn't appreciate". If you bought a stock and it went down after you bought it, would you ask the brokerage to give your money back because you didn't think far enough ahead to realize it could go down? Did you ask your employer to give you your money back after your 401(k) went down?
P.S. When you pay a bank interest, it's not like that was $100k of profit they collected. They have to borrow the money they lend you (i.e. Cost of Funds) and there's a cost for the continued servicing and they have to reserve for defaults/loan losses, etc. so it's not the same as "giving" a casino $100k. A bank's margin is extremely thin so they make it up on doing large volumes; a casino's margins are extremely high. However, there is no excuse for bad customer service- any large institution should do better than that. My guess is those reps are just so sick of getting asked for hand-outs all day long.
No. The question itself implies that there is a standard of "just enough" with which to measure against. Someone in India living in a small room with his/her entire family might think that I am wealthy because I have a 3 bedroom townhome for just the four of us. But just a mile away, there are 4000-8000 square foot homes with 6 bedroooms and just a family of four.
I think it's someone's right to earn as much money as he or she desires by legal means, but that's not to say it's not selfish once you've already got a few trillion dollars and are still trying to find ways to screw people and whatnot. Hey, nothing wrong with being selfish as long as you admit it.
I also worked there when in High School. No mop bucket or room temperature. People who tell you that are telling fibs. If a store did do that, they would not be open for long or the manager would not be with Wendy's for long.
The food is not safe just by cooking it to above 160F. There are heat tolerant bacteria that can survive above 200F. On top of that some foodborn illness is not caused by live bacteria (foodborn infection) but rather by the toxin's produced by the bacteria (foodborn intoxication). So just because you may kill the bacteria, the toxin would be making many people sick.
at some point, yes. Beyond legacy money. Like $250 million dollars. at that point, you stop trying to accumulate, b/c whats the point. Unless it is for altruistic reasons, or the love of the game.
Yes, money-wise I think that people can be to wealthy, After all gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins. I don't have a problem with those that have honestly worked hard to accumulate wealth like super stars, media moguls or athletes But I don't like the attitude that some of them have regarding wealth like those that feel owed and entitled special privileges because they are wealthy I'm a firm believer that your only truly blessed when you help others. That's why I think its important for those who have been blessed with a massive fortune to pay if forward to help others who were in their similar situation before becoming famous. Paying-it-Forward to others not only shows that you care about humanity but that money really isn't everything as it can always come and go but a simple act of kindness can sure last a lifetime
The only people that I consider too wealthy are those that have plenty of money but obviously don't know what to do with it, so they spend it on drugs, etc. Celebs like Paris Hilton come to mind. In my opinion, they don't deserve their money if that's the best way they can come up with to spend their lives.
There is no such thing as "too wealthy," but, in my opinion, there are positive and negative ways to use one's wealth when accumulated. More power to everyone to accumulate wealth, to profit from your talents and hard work, but use it, as with any tool, wisely. Don't succumb to the lavish and gawdy. Don't let it go to your head. Help others with it. Use it to improve society, spur innovation and education, cure illness, feed the hungry and have a positive ripple effect throughout the community. It doesn't take millions of dollars to do this either. Even a few dollars can change someone's life for a moment.
No, I don't think any financial abundance can't be managed. But then, I've always said I want to be a philanthropist when I grow up.
And I'm wondering how the opposite works - can you be too poor? (.. living in a situation where you cannot grow your own food or access clean water notwithstanding.) It seems as though no matter how little you have, someone else is doing better with less. It seems like a lot of it has to do with setting your mind on the difference between true needs and wants - something many of us cannot or do not want to do.
While we still have two cars, my husband recently started riding his bike into work, and like you, we have saved a ton on gas/maintenance (and a gym membership!) For us, it just hasn't made financial sense to sell the car, because with 150K miles on it, we would get so little out of the sale, that we keep it around in case of emergencies.
As long as the money is put to good use, I don't think you can be too wealthy. I once read that Michael Jackson's money could cure the hunger problem in Biafra. I always wondered why he didn't.
Here's the scoop on the chili. I worked at Wendy's for a year. The process is supposed to look like this:
1. Fresh burger is on the grill
2. No one uses that burger during the time it is ready and it gets slightly overcooked.
3. Grill person takes meat and puts it in a warmer drawer (similar to what McDs does with all their hamburgers before serving).
4. Warmer drawer is emptied out into freezer bag and placed in freezer overnight (it can stay in freezer up to one week if I remember correctly - bag must be labeled with date)
5. Meat is removed in the morning (fat has congealed) and fat is rinsed off with hot water using strainer.
6. Meat is boiled to remove additional fat and strained again. (This also removes the crusty overcooked bits)
7. Meat is mashed using potato masher.
8. Mashed meat is then dumped into pot with other chili ingredients.
Now obviously all these steps are not always followed at every location. You can always tell how good your location is by how much grease is floating on the top of your chili. There shouldn't be any. If anyone from corporate saw anything other than the process I listed above they would ding the location.
As a franchised company, there are going to be locations breaking the rules. You just have to find one you trust and stick with it. The location I worked at was one of the top two in the nation and was a stickler for following the standard operating procedures (it is located in Fairfield, OH near Cincinnati)
I don't think you could set a specific amount of money as being "too much," but I do think it's possible to be "too wealthy." My interpretation of Christianity leads me to believe that we're called to share what we have and help others. Accumulating money just for the sake of accumulating money seems like a wasteful and selfish thing to do.
Today I talked about this exact topic with friends at the gym. We had a discussion as to why health insurance is going up. Obscene insurance company profits? Most people are surprised to learn that the industry average for health insurers is a profit margin of about 3%. Well, what about the obscene pay to CEOs? If you look up the CEO's income (including income from stock options) and divide that by the number of people his company covers, each insured person might be contributing just $1 annually to the CEO's income.
One of my friends objected because it was a matter of scale. It felt wrong to her that some people have so much. If that CEO worked for free, it would matter very little to each of the people insured. I am not worried about it. It is between him and God, or his conscious, or his sense of morality.
If it is a matter of scale, who is to decide what is the right scale? If 1000 to 1 is not okay, is 100 to 1 okay? If so, why? One could argue no one should have more than anyone else.
The way I see it, I am super-wealthy by the standards of people in third world countries. How many times have we seen those ads for kids with cleft pallets, and read that for a mere $250 we could profoundly change one kid's life. Yet have we donated? I haven't. And yet nearly every family in this country could afford to send $250 overseas. Many of us in the middle class could fund 10 operations a year. But instead we have Netflix, or feel we deserve to eat out once in a while, or want a fancier cell phone. We don't donate because somehow we feel disconnected from what we know is happening in other parts of the globe. We fault CEOs for being similarly disconnected. It's the same thing.
I would not trade places with any CEO. The reality is few of us would want to do what he did to get there... starting as an exceptional high school student, getting into a first-rate business school, many years of working 80 hours a week to get to the top of a corporation, doing work I would not want to do, and living some place I would not want to live.
I have only one life to live, and I like the one I have. I am rich in different ways. I've have the time to spend with my kids. I have a degree of freedom. My basic needs are met. I am happy. So I don't worry if someone has more money than I do.
I think so.. if you are "too" rich, it probably means you aren't giving your money away or helping those less fortunate.
Because of the cost of it hubby and I actually take the bus between CO and Toronto over flying its cheaper by a world of a lot (cost just over 100 per person for a round trip), though spending almost 2 days in travel time isn't great, but when finances trump its the way to go.
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I think if a person works hard and earns a lot of money they deserve to keep it and do whatever they want with their money. No one should tell them what they can or cannot do.
I don't think you could have too much money. There are so many things the wealthy people could do to help others in their communities.
Actually, Alyson, The sauce doesn't come in a can, it comes in a bag Ha-ha and the Cheese? It comes prepackaged, but they shred it themselves. The produce they get is all fresh; they cut them themselves. They may use help from a slicer, but its' all done by hand. The dough is mixed in a huge industrial mixer using already mixed dry ingredients in a bag for the dough (like a big flour bag) except for the yeast, then they add the wet ingredients. They have their stuff prepped for the next day and the following day they make more stuff. Only occasional things come in a can, like, pineapples and anchovies which, to be quite honest, I would get from the store too! Honestly, to the blog person, if you're having issues with THAT particular Papa Murphy Take N' Bake, go to another one or just go somewhere else instead of wasting valuable minutes of your life complaining. Not everything you assume is correct and not everything you are told is true. My advice would be for the people making assumptions and believing everything they hear: stop! Double check or just don't talk about it. Anyways, have some grace! Be understanding and have a positive, benefit of the doubt about situations like what you experienced. Like you said yourself, blogger, there was a new kid at the counter (apparently) and it was probably their first day at a rush! When there is a rush, there's going to be, most likely, a mistake or two. Forgive them, move on, but try to be understanding. They were probably training new people, a mistake probably happened the day before, you never really know. Don't get angry because if you were in their shoes, I'm sure you would rethink your whole attitude.
you can be "too wealthy" if you save just for the sake of saving but are stingy otherwise.
No, I don't think the amount of money is as important as a person's perspective on money. If it doesn't own you or define you, and you got it through legal and ethical means, I don't see there being any certain amount that could be considered *too* much money.
Hmmm...sounds like maybe your parents didn't teach you that always fair, huh? Your situation stinks, as does 90% of America's-- but why should you get a break because you're investment turned out to be a bad one? My fiancée and I each bought a townhouse/condo when we were single and "did everything right" too-- put down payments, way "under-bought" our incomes, 30 yr. amortizing loans, didn't buy during the boom time, plenty of savings, etc. But as we got engaged we needed a place to accommodate the two of us and a future family. Of course we're too far underwater to sell either place so we are renting them out-- and taking almost $1,000/month loss!! (We're about $100k underwater on the two places). We bought a new house for the two of us and now have 3 mortgages. We have a wedding to pay for, could be investing for retirement, we each could use a new car, could use a vacation, etc. So yes, loosing $1,000/month makes me sick but walking away isn't right. You signed a contract that you would pay your debt-- there's no exception that you can "get out if it doesn't appreciate". If you bought a stock and it went down after you bought it, would you ask the brokerage to give your money back because you didn't think far enough ahead to realize it could go down? Did you ask your employer to give you your money back after your 401(k) went down?
P.S. When you pay a bank interest, it's not like that was $100k of profit they collected. They have to borrow the money they lend you (i.e. Cost of Funds) and there's a cost for the continued servicing and they have to reserve for defaults/loan losses, etc. so it's not the same as "giving" a casino $100k. A bank's margin is extremely thin so they make it up on doing large volumes; a casino's margins are extremely high. However, there is no excuse for bad customer service- any large institution should do better than that. My guess is those reps are just so sick of getting asked for hand-outs all day long.
No. The question itself implies that there is a standard of "just enough" with which to measure against. Someone in India living in a small room with his/her entire family might think that I am wealthy because I have a 3 bedroom townhome for just the four of us. But just a mile away, there are 4000-8000 square foot homes with 6 bedroooms and just a family of four.
I think it's someone's right to earn as much money as he or she desires by legal means, but that's not to say it's not selfish once you've already got a few trillion dollars and are still trying to find ways to screw people and whatnot. Hey, nothing wrong with being selfish as long as you admit it.
Exactly!
I also worked there when in High School. No mop bucket or room temperature. People who tell you that are telling fibs. If a store did do that, they would not be open for long or the manager would not be with Wendy's for long.
The food is not safe just by cooking it to above 160F. There are heat tolerant bacteria that can survive above 200F. On top of that some foodborn illness is not caused by live bacteria (foodborn infection) but rather by the toxin's produced by the bacteria (foodborn intoxication). So just because you may kill the bacteria, the toxin would be making many people sick.
It's all in the eye of the beholder. *I* can't have too much money, but anyone who is not me certainly can and needs to share the wealth!
at some point, yes. Beyond legacy money. Like $250 million dollars. at that point, you stop trying to accumulate, b/c whats the point. Unless it is for altruistic reasons, or the love of the game.
Yes, money-wise I think that people can be to wealthy, After all gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins. I don't have a problem with those that have honestly worked hard to accumulate wealth like super stars, media moguls or athletes But I don't like the attitude that some of them have regarding wealth like those that feel owed and entitled special privileges because they are wealthy I'm a firm believer that your only truly blessed when you help others. That's why I think its important for those who have been blessed with a massive fortune to pay if forward to help others who were in their similar situation before becoming famous. Paying-it-Forward to others not only shows that you care about humanity but that money really isn't everything as it can always come and go but a simple act of kindness can sure last a lifetime
How am I supposed to invest 102% in stocks? (Im 18).
The only people that I consider too wealthy are those that have plenty of money but obviously don't know what to do with it, so they spend it on drugs, etc. Celebs like Paris Hilton come to mind. In my opinion, they don't deserve their money if that's the best way they can come up with to spend their lives.
There is no such thing as "too wealthy," but, in my opinion, there are positive and negative ways to use one's wealth when accumulated. More power to everyone to accumulate wealth, to profit from your talents and hard work, but use it, as with any tool, wisely. Don't succumb to the lavish and gawdy. Don't let it go to your head. Help others with it. Use it to improve society, spur innovation and education, cure illness, feed the hungry and have a positive ripple effect throughout the community. It doesn't take millions of dollars to do this either. Even a few dollars can change someone's life for a moment.
No, I don't think any financial abundance can't be managed. But then, I've always said I want to be a philanthropist when I grow up.
And I'm wondering how the opposite works - can you be too poor? (.. living in a situation where you cannot grow your own food or access clean water notwithstanding.) It seems as though no matter how little you have, someone else is doing better with less. It seems like a lot of it has to do with setting your mind on the difference between true needs and wants - something many of us cannot or do not want to do.
As long as some people don't have enough money, yes, you can have too much.
While we still have two cars, my husband recently started riding his bike into work, and like you, we have saved a ton on gas/maintenance (and a gym membership!) For us, it just hasn't made financial sense to sell the car, because with 150K miles on it, we would get so little out of the sale, that we keep it around in case of emergencies.
As long as the money is put to good use, I don't think you can be too wealthy. I once read that Michael Jackson's money could cure the hunger problem in Biafra. I always wondered why he didn't.
Here's the scoop on the chili. I worked at Wendy's for a year. The process is supposed to look like this:
1. Fresh burger is on the grill
2. No one uses that burger during the time it is ready and it gets slightly overcooked.
3. Grill person takes meat and puts it in a warmer drawer (similar to what McDs does with all their hamburgers before serving).
4. Warmer drawer is emptied out into freezer bag and placed in freezer overnight (it can stay in freezer up to one week if I remember correctly - bag must be labeled with date)
5. Meat is removed in the morning (fat has congealed) and fat is rinsed off with hot water using strainer.
6. Meat is boiled to remove additional fat and strained again. (This also removes the crusty overcooked bits)
7. Meat is mashed using potato masher.
8. Mashed meat is then dumped into pot with other chili ingredients.
Now obviously all these steps are not always followed at every location. You can always tell how good your location is by how much grease is floating on the top of your chili. There shouldn't be any. If anyone from corporate saw anything other than the process I listed above they would ding the location.
As a franchised company, there are going to be locations breaking the rules. You just have to find one you trust and stick with it. The location I worked at was one of the top two in the nation and was a stickler for following the standard operating procedures (it is located in Fairfield, OH near Cincinnati)