
Reticent rich: Preferred style in Silicon Valley - bootload
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/18/technology/a-start-up-is-gold-for-facebooks-new-millionaires.html?hpw&pagewanted=print
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jasonkester
I can empathize with this, but for reasons the author doesn't mention.

You don't suppress your outward signs of wealth for the sake of your
millionaire co-workers. You do it so that you can keep your non-millionaire
friends.

You know, those fun people you hang out with and have for the last dozen
years. The ones you have barbecues with on the roof of their (and until
recently, your) shabby apartment building. The ones you rope into dirtbag
backpacking trips, hopping chicken buses through Central America. And the ones
who, through accident of fortune, now make roughly 15% of your currently
inflated salary.

We say that money doesn't matter. But try buying that house you can now afford
in that neighborhood with the gate and watch how it affects your friends the
first time you invite them over for drinks by the pool.

I don't know what the solution for this is. But lying low seems to be a good
plan until somebody comes up with a better idea.

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adrianN
Can you explain what's the point of buying a bike for 20000 or jeans for 1200
dollars if they are virtually indistinguishable from products costing a tenth
of that?

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lmm
The key's in that "virtually". The returns from more expensive things are
diminishing, but they are still there. Not so long ago I bought a new shirt
for about 10x what I usually spend. It's not 10x nicer - but it /is/ that
little bit nicer; every time I wear it it adds a little bit of joy to my day.

I've seen it argued that that's a much more effective way to enjoy money:
rather than making drastic changes to your lifestyle, just make every little
thing you do that little bit nicer.

~~~
arethuza
It can get really silly though - I seriously doubt that 20K Euro Louis Vuitton
skis are really better skis than much cheaper ones - you are just paying for
the brand. Plus there is the common complaint about "all the gear - no idea" -
where cost/amount of gear is often perceived as having a negative correlation
with ability.

~~~
mseebach
Although I haven't seen them, I would expect your Louis Vuitton skis to be
very much visibly distinguishable from regular skis - and thus their purpose
is to loudly broadcast a message of "I am very rich" on the slopes. Just as is
the case with the very much distinguishable Louis Vuitton luggage lines.

~~~
arethuza
My wife spotted them for sale in Courchevel 1850 - which is a very popular
haunt for extremely wealthy Russians (and which oddly isn't that expensive to
go to if you stay away from the places aimed at the private jet set).

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alexgartrell
The "zuckerberg's underlings" thing was a load of bullshit. I've seen a
corvette, an r8, a lotus, and various other really nice cars at work. You can
drive whatever you want, just don't be an asshole about it.

~~~
joshu
FWIW Lotuses aren't very expensive cars.

~~~
bmelton
That depends on your net worth, your definition of 'expensive', and which
Lotus you're talking about.

The Elise is on the high side of 'normally priced', but as commuters they're
great because they get decent gas mileage.

A well-appointed Exige is close to $80k I think, and cuts the mileage in half.
It's a track car, really, so anybody driving it on the streets is probably
'doing it wrong', but I've driven more serious cars as daily drivers so I'm
not one to judge.

I can't really comment on the Evora because it's 'new tech', and is supposed
to be expensive as such. They're expensive compared to the Prius, but they
aren't really comparable either.

Edit: s/Elan/Elise/g. Memories.

~~~
joshu
My point is that none of these are even $100k cars, and if you wanted one you
could save for one. They're not Ferraris or otherwise requiring IPO money.

Exige is basically the same as an Elise. Sometimes they have superchargers.

An Evora is similarly priced to a decked-out Cayman. I mean, we're not talking
Expensive for any of these.

(I've driven all of these, and much higher-end stuff, too.)

~~~
lanstein
Not to nitpick, but the R8 is most definitely 100k.

~~~
joshu
I was calling out Lotuses as not being that expensive.

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lhnz
I reckon this is counter-signalling that they are 'above' caring about money.

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toadi
I ride a lot with my bikes and do triathlons but can't imagine spending 20k on
a bike. Something between 3 and 5k is enough to have a superbike. A
lamborghini I can understand, a boat I can understand but a bike. This coming
from a bike nut.

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gaius
The funny thing is, there was a time when this article could have been written
about Goldman Sachs employees.

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cageface
I was thinking _exactly_ the same thing.

This is why I'm annoyed by this new bubble. When it pops its going to
stigmatize the entire profession again, just like last time.

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mixitup12
They spend so much time and effort proving that they are not affected by their
wealth it's embarrassing. Just goes to show that the industry is made up of
some very immature people who care far too much what other people think of
them. Naturally this doesn't apply to everyone and the story needs to be taken
with a pinch of salt.

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Eeko
> "It’s almost an unspoken rule: spend your money, but do it privately,"

So... Facebook applies the Jantelagen?

~~~
andyjohnson0
Thank you for introducing me to a new word!
<http://wwword.com/79/words/untranslatable/jantelagen/>

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irreverentbits
And so the Valley demonstrates its fixation on wealth through deliberate
contrast to "those other places". Just demonstrates that pressure to conform
to behavioral expectations associated with financial status affects everyone,
even if in different ways.

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lmm
That story makes google suddenly seem a lot less cool to me. If I've made a
million because they value the work I do for them, I'll spend it however I
damn well please, and I'm pretty sure one of the ways I'd enjoy it would be a
nice car.

~~~
olalonde
As someone else said here: counter-signaling. One of my first job was to be a
valet at high-end events and clubs. I would often see people driving Ferraris
while dressed with shorts and flip flops. Or I would see a guy driving a dirty
old car while wearing a 30K$ watch. I can't say this is what's really
happening here but it seems like a probable hypothesis.

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Super_luigi
day after the GOOG IPO there were lotuses and Maseratis galore (OK, mostly
from sales, but still). And Larry and Sergey bought a jet for chrissakes.

Besides; the way to flaunt money now is to spread it all over Angel List

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gavanwoolery
I'm all for living well when you are wealthy, but somebody please kill me when
I start spending $1200 on jeans.

~~~
jarek
$200k on a car and $7M on a house is all fine and dandy, but man, the $1.2k
jeans is just way over the top. It's like you can get a perfectly serviceable
equivalent for a quarter of the price.

~~~
gavanwoolery
I get where you are going, but...

$200k on a car is probably too much (once the novelty wears off) - you can get
a nice luxury car with more performance than you can handle for $50k.

As for housing, it depends on the location. Zuckerberg's $7M house is actually
relatively modest. You can buy the same house in the midwest for probably
under $500k.

Even still, those things are relatively justifiable. You can't measure denim
jeans worth by square footage or horse-power. I understand the difference
between a $30 pair of jeans and a $200 pair (having been stupid enough to
shell out that much myself), but beyond that I cannot really justify the cost.

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mahyarm
Uh what? Palo Alto does look like a sleepy suburb for a billionaire town, but
you see 911 turbos parked in a row beside each other like nothing. People
aren't conceited about it.

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abcd_f
> _Palo Alto, a suburb so expensive that even a small, no-frills house easily
> goes for $1.5 million these days_

Still remarkably affordable compared to Vancouver, Canada.

~~~
jarek
Proportional to the sight-line distance to the closest mountains ;)

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barredo
I have a question: What are the best and most expensive things/services you
can buy to improve your life that are not noticeable by your friends?

~~~
adventureful
Regular checkups by the best doctors on earth, making it more likely that you
catch something before it goes very wrong.

Stem cell therapies from Germany / Europe that stimulate adult stem cells to
heal damaged joints / tendons / ligaments (Kobe Bryant used this in the off-
season, and claims it worked wonders on his rapidly aging body (by athlete
standards)). Great for someone over the age of 30 or 40 with some wear & tear
to their body.

Financial security - socking away physical gold and silver in Switzerland (or
whatever your value preference is).

Dual / multi citizenship. It's very hard to acquire citizenship in most of the
preferable countries. The nicer European countries let very few immigrants in,
ditto New Zealand, and so on. You can almost always buy your way in however,
granted your character is up to par. Great option for escaping America if it
keeps heading toward being a police state.

Use bulk leverage to get discounts on everything you would normally be
purchasing. Pay cash for your car, whatever the type you buy, and save on
interest. Call up the top insurance firms, they almost always have millionaire
packages, pay 10 years out on your insurance coverages (home owners, car,
health) and save. Also, buy the best insurance possible, including having a
hefty life insurance policy for your loves ones.

Pay off all your debt, and never carry debt again (except for purposes of
credit building). These days a lot of people are carrying $50k, $100k, etc. in
student debt or debt in general (including vehicle debt, mortgage debt,
student loans, credit cards).

Buying time is the real kicker, whenever you can manage to. Hire a personal
assistant that works from a distance, but helps organize your life virtually.
Your friends would never need to know the assistant exists.

~~~
kristofferR
Getting a virtual personal assistant isn't very expensive, most SF/SV
engineers could probably afford it if they wanted to (whether they would need
it is another question though..) The really expensive thing is getting a local
person who can do "real" tasks for you in your area, there's a lot that can't
be done on the net yet.

BTW, it seems like you are hellbanned PGenes. Contact an admin to fix it?

~~~
adventureful
Hellbanned PGenes? No clue what that means.

Are you speculating that I'm a previously banned member?

I am a previously banned (restricted really) member, but not PGenes (or
whatever). I got 'hellbanned' for defending myself too aggressively against a
sharp shooter that was being an asshole reddit style. Noticed that I could
still comment and vote, but my comments no longer showed up to everyone else,
waited weeks, and then left HN for a while because it was bullshit. Then I
came back and made a new profile.

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kristofferR
PGenes is a hellbanned user who also replied to your comment. Activate
"ShowDead" in your profile if you can't see him.

I added the notice in my reply to you since I couldn't reply to the hellbanned
comment PGenes made.

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drtse4
I just hope that some of that money will help to build at least a few startups
_that are actually useful_ (i know, usefulness is subjective but i'm sure you
get what i mean).

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rdl
I do predict a lot of new "max out" contributions to political candidates this
fall, and a bunch of $5k fundraising dinners held here.

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bootload
_"... Cycling and kite-boarding are preferred over golf. ..."_

Cycling is the new golf: James Cockington, _"Come in spinners"_ ~
[http://www.theage.com.au/money/investing/come-in-
spinners-20...](http://www.theage.com.au/money/investing/come-in-
spinners-20120501-1xvkz.html)

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dsolomon
If someone for "senior company management" is going to show up with baseball
bat telling me what car I can or cannot drive should be prepared for a
response they may not appreciate.

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carguy1983
This entire article is nonsense. People in SV buy expensive cars, boats,
planes, flashy watches/jewelry, and all the other shiny things that rich
people in LA, NY, and Florida/Texas buy.

There's also a very poor underclass and a shrinking middle class - just like
everywhere else. It's suburban America with boring office parks and shitty
chain restaurants and Target stores and burrito stands just like the other 95%
of the state/region. Everything is just way more expensive because there's so
much money floating around here.

