Ballin'

[cindylou]

I guess Im the opposite in that I see a rich family and think what had to be sacrificed for the trappings of wealth, and its always the quality family time sacrificed. I dont begrudge folks who have a lot of money but there always seems a price to pay and I just dont see its worth it long term. You only get one shot with family, cant hit a reset button.

Give me a 1500 SF house, two hondas, a motorcycle, a hound dog, a grill, and a low maintenance wife and Im a happy man.

I agree with you and Mitch. I was just stating what I thought in the most diplomatic and least judgmental way possible. I don't think it's worth it. No one wishes they worked more on their death bed.

 

[miplank]

Cindy won't let me have a motorcycle...

 

[mrplunkey]

Maybe so but the fact you would so flippantly pass your kids off to shrinks to just deal with it later is inconceivable to many more.

The shrink comment was a reference to a comedian who had a routine about rich kids with the world at their feet sitting in a psychiatrist's office smoking cigarettes (he made the gesture in his act) and bitching about their should-be-perfect lives.

I'll try to dig up a reference.

 

[mrplunkey]

I guess Im the opposite in that I see a rich family and think what had to be sacrificed for the trappings of wealth, and its always the quality family time sacrificed. I dont begrudge folks who have a lot of money but there always seems a price to pay and I just dont see its worth it long term. You only get one shot with family, cant hit a reset button.

Give me a 1500 SF house, two hondas, a motorcycle, a hound dog, a grill, and a low maintenance wife and Im a happy man.

1) I do realize there are people who feel differently than I do. I don't fault them one bit. It all comes down to the choices you make.

2) Sacrificing time is not the same as abandoning the family. But it does mean sacrifices. I'm at two physician meetings over the next two weekends, which means I'll have two days off over the next three weeks.

3) Agree on the low-maintenance wife. That is a must-have that I've been lucky on (even my first wife of 17 years was low maintenance).


Let me ask you something: What about people on the other end of the spectrum? What if I had two kids, and decided that all our family needed was love and time together? Let's say I cobbled together $8,500/year and we lived in virtual squalor. But the kids would see me 15+ hours a day and I'd do zero nights per week of travel. Now they'd have no health care, no college funds, no help with material items -- but we'd all be close knit.

Would those guys be doing something even more noble than both you and I?

 

[smurf2]

I guess Im the opposite in that I see a rich family and think what had to be sacrificed for the trappings of wealth, and its always the quality family time sacrificed. I dont begrudge folks who have a lot of money but there always seems a price to pay and I just dont see its worth it long term. You only get one shot with family, cant hit a reset button.

Give me a 1500 SF house, two hondas, a motorcycle, a hound dog, a grill, and a low maintenance wife and Im a happy man.

Spoken like a true poor white boy

 

[-SD-]

1) I do realize there are people who feel differently than I do. I don't fault them one bit. It all comes down to the choices you make.

2) Sacrificing time is not the same as abandoning the family. But it does mean sacrifices. I'm at two physician meetings over the next two weekends, which means I'll have two days off over the next three weeks.

3) Agree on the low-maintenance wife. That is a must-have that I've been lucky on (even my first wife of 17 years was low maintenance).


Let me ask you something: What about people on the other end of the spectrum? What if I had two kids, and decided that all our family needed was love and time together? Let's say I cobbled together $8,500/year and we lived in virtual squalor. But the kids would see me 15+ hours a day and I'd do zero nights per week of travel. Now they'd have no health care, no college funds, no help with material items -- but we'd all be close knit.

Would those guys be doing something even more noble than both you and I?

People at any end of any spectrum are probably not in a good position.

Balance.

But have you noticed that a lot of successful people came from modest childhoods? Makes you think

 

[mrplunkey]

People at any end of any spectrum are probably not in a good position.

Balance.

Well no one is going to argue for the absolute extreme. But just like there's "wealthy enough", there's also "adjusted enough". If missing me one or two days a week (in relative terms) means every kid graduates with a terminal degree completely debt-free, I'll give up those one or two days.

But have you noticed that a lot of successful people came from modest childhoods? Makes you think

Of course a lot would come from there -- that's where the numbers are. Let's just do a what-if scenario:

Let's say a 1%er's kid has a 50% chance of success (which I'd say is too low... I'd put it at more like 60%).

So where would the other 50% come from that maintains the 1%? Well, that 50% of 1% would come from the other 99%. So that's 0.5% of of the 99% -- or roughly one in 200. I don't like those odds. I'll miss a few Saturday soccer and t-ball games to up my odds from 1 in 200 to 1 in 2. They can hate me for that, but at least they can hate me from a nice view.

 

[wootoom]

Murdercycle

 

[wootoom]

Family means everything to me, I never got shit handed to me. I always made something of everything. On the other hand I need money to support my family...so yes, works HAS to come first. If it didn't, they would be living on the street...would that make sense? No

 

[digimon7068]

I used to be a lesbian.

pics or it never happened...