[YahRah]

(Original post by Ocassus)
I would think it'd be rather bad ass to be called 'Lord' personally... Its not something to be ashamed of.



Well no, we aren't. Old money is always rather Conservative, you buy what you think can last. There is quite a bit of aristocracy left out here in Devon and they drive around in very nice but very well worn landrovers, simply because they last. I think it is most odd personally that they choose to keep to this style. New money is much more... dynamic and fun. Living in a stuffy old mansion as opposed to a smaller but much newer, sleeker house in some trendy part of town just doesn't sound like fun to me...

Edit : Also, please, don't use 'Daddy'. It really conforms to this stereotype of rich kids relying on parents or being overly immature for their age. Its cringeworthy. Thanks for the neg btw.

Haha I agree with you there, Lord sounds better, although I believe people are supposed to greet him with "my Lord" and not your viscounty-ness? People tend to say your 'your lordship'.
Yeah living the the house can be somewhat boring, but luckily we have a house in London so I stay there a lot when I go out at weekends. I think we are one of the few remaining families who aren't asset rich, cash poor. We know the Cardigan family quite well and he, despite being an Earl which is ranked above my father, can barely afford the upkeep on his house. They drive around in 1990-reg cars and their daughters used to have bursaries for private school.

Edit: I didn't neg you. Why would I?

[Ocassus]

(Original post by YahRah)
Haha I agree with you there, Lord sounds better, although I believe people are supposed to greet him with "my Lord" and not your viscounty-ness? People tend to say your 'your lordship'.
Yeah living the the house can be somewhat boring, but luckily we have a house in London so I stay there a lot when I go out at weekends. I think we are one of the few remaining families who aren't asset rich, cash poor. We know the Cardigan family quite well and he, despite being an Earl which is ranked above my father, can barely afford the upkeep on his house. They drive around in 1990-reg cars and their daughters used to have bursaries for private school.

Don't click the spoiler if you get butthurt by people talking about wealth and moneyz.

Spoiler:

Show

Problem is, who wants to buy an old dreary house? The only house of that kind I'd even consider would be Castle Howard, simply because it is purely stunning. Many of them don't have a choice in being asset rich but cash poor. Nobody wants to buy their heirlooms and they are too old or unqualified to work. Titles like 'Viscount' are relics anyway (No offense), it would be so much better to be a Knight of the realm and a filthy rich businessmen like Richard Branson or Jony Ive or a Peer of the Realm like Alan Sugar. Personally, being the offspring of new money, I cannot concieve of living an extended period of my life in a house with its own dedicated chefs, kitchens, maids etcetera. I mean when you stay in a hotel that is obviously the case, and our house in Singapore has its own maid, but even our yacht has its own 'staff' quarters but instead it merely forms part of the 'kids area'. I or Mum or Dad or even my sister will cook our meals, its never cooked for us by staff at home, its a concept that is almost completely alien to me.
I assume I'm exaggerating and that all to frequently you might wander into your kitchen (or kitchens as you might term it) and rustle up something yourself?

[letsdothetimewarpagain]

(Original post by britchick)
My family is sort of a "closet rich" family. My dad earns very good money but he prefers to save it. For example, instead of buying flashy cars and going on holiday every year, he's set aside enough money for us three kids to have uni maintenance paid for over our 3 years at uni each. So we have to take out student loans for the course fees but he'll be paying for our accommodation/food/books etc. so we won't have to take out as big a student loan as everyone else I know.

We do live in a detached 6-bedroom house (which coincidently has a pool as well but the garden isn't huge and we only got the house because of a 20% price reduction in times of the credit crunch when we were moving back into the country so were EXTREMELY fortunate) and 2 cars but I've never been allowed to have driving lessons or own my own car or anything like that. My dad is so tight on money we don't even really have central heating in our house (we're just told to put on extra layers to keep warm). Which is a bad thing for me because I even have a condition where the cold causes chronic bodily pain, but we still don't spend on heating! Nor do we have Sky, instead we have Freeview, and I have a brick phone and stuff, so we don't live a life of "luxury" so to speak in terms of gadgets and holidays (and keeping warm LOL) like lots of my friends do.

So yeah, we're very lucky my dad works hard for his job and that he looks out for us by providing us with such great financial support in the future, but we're by no means flashy or boast about our money or anything, so upto this point in time I'd say growing up hasn't really been very different to most others'. Hmm anyway you're probably looking for someone with a more interesting answer haha!

Your family sounds exactly like my boyf's. His dad is on a 6 figure salary and you really wouldn't have thought it. They have 90s cars, go on a cheap holiday each year and the house is just a standard detached 4 bed, nothing special. However, he is in the position where he pays for tuition, accomodation and matience at uni for all thee of his kids. He didn't send them to private school because our area has a brilliant comp school so it seemed a waste of money.

However, my dad is on a fifth of what his is on (mine is a single income single parent thing) and I get more of an allowance, have my own car, live just off sandbanks and so on. You'd really never have thought he was the 6 figure family and I was the family that gets near full loans for uni. He made good choices with the money he has and I've never had to go without what I need and I work for a lot of what I want with help to bridge the gaps.

[Arekkusu]

(Original post by zara55)
I enjoyed reading this, they sound sweet.

I always think there's a difference between "privileged by advantage" and "spoilt by upbringing", you can have lots of the former and not be particularly spoilt but there are plenty of spoilt kids out there from much lower down the social spectrum than your friend. Obviously the crucial difference is parenting and family attitudes about work and money.

Too true - my girlfriend is spoilt. Her family is fairly well off (PCs in the 1980s, say no more) but they have no house or car to speak of; all their money goes on consumable luxuries. She is given at least fifty quid every time she goes out and blithely spends it all in imitation of a decadent lifestyle.

However my dad earns £70,000 a year but invested in a house and other savings, so we don't have fancy cars or fancy Christmas presents and even in the boom years holidays were a caravan in Devon. I never had an allowance and all birthday gifts of money were saved. I'm very glad for the education and wouldn't trade places in a million years. Our luxuries are my dad's luxuries: skiing and Sky TV.

The reason is that to be honest anything far above £35,000 is enough for anyone to support a kid and not worry about money. From there it just becomes a matter of choice, so anyone whose family earns more than that has the potential to spoil their child.

[physics1]

(Original post by Norton1)
Something like this was all I wanted as a child. This would have been the main difference in me growing up rich. *sigh* one day

http://www.amazon.com/Power-Wheels-K...bs_166413011_3

nah what you want is actually a demon x 125cc that daddy bought me when my boat was getting repaired! just kidding im not rich im on ema aha

[britchick]

(Original post by letsdothetimewarpagain)
Your family sounds exactly like my boyf's. His dad is on a 6 figure salary and you really wouldn't have thought it. They have 90s cars, go on a cheap holiday each year and the house is just a standard detached 4 bed, nothing special. However, he is in the position where he pays for tuition, accomodation and matience at uni for all thee of his kids. He didn't send them to private school because our area has a brilliant comp school so it seemed a waste of money.

However, my dad is on a fifth of what his is on (mine is a single income single parent thing) and I get more of an allowance, have my own car, live just off sandbanks and so on. You'd really never have thought he was the 6 figure family and I was the family that gets near full loans for uni. He made good choices with the money he has and I've never had to go without what I need and I work for a lot of what I want with help to bridge the gaps.

This was a really interesting post to read! (though at first I thought you said he owned 90 cars and I was like WUT) - I know plenty of people who buy designer this, designer that, own expensive brand new cars (a girl in my year got a brand new Mini Cooper for her 18th the other day, my dream car!), go on at least one expensive holiday a year, have widescreen TVs in their rooms, iPhones, Macbook Pros, you name it! But they're in quite a lot of debt and a heavy mortgage. Whereas I don't have all of those nice things but I also don't have heavy debts hanging over my head for when I'm older. So it's a case of personal preference really, my dad's a super-saver, which I'm grateful for, but maybe personally I'd choose to spend a little bit more on the nice things at the same time as saving.

[britchick]

And to address the person who made a comment about rich families showing less affection: my dad (sorry for going on forever about him) cannot once recall being hugged or kissed or cuddled or told "I love you" by his parents. He grew up in a very wealthy part of Oxford and was looked after by a nanny along with his 3 siblings. He was the youngest of the 4 and often just got extremely bored of being so "proper" all the time he'd rebel and get in trouble at school. His brother also developed social problems from the lack of child interaction and not forming a strong relationship with his parents.

It's sad because that's exactly how my dad is to us kids too. Luckily my mum's the complete opposite and is very affectionate and pays lots of attention to us, but for my dad it has never been considered normal to express affection to your children, so he doesn't do it to us. It means my brother and him don't have the typical father-son relationship and it's actually very upsetting to witness.

[Morleyyy]

Personally I have been luckily enough to experience both growing up, struggling for money to being financially secure or 'rich' (I hate calling it that), mainly due to parents splitting and having different lifestyles.

In recent years I have been lucky, my dad has worked to become a CCO and excessive vice president of one of the biggest companies in the world. So I have been extremely privileged with what i have got. In recent months my dad bought me a luxury apartment in the centre of london (I do pay rent, but no where near what the market value is) and I do get an allowance, but this was from when my parents got divorced so legally I get an income off 10% of whatever my dad earns. However I feel I have worked for this, I have grown up with the ethic if you work hard you will get what you deserve, and this has been reinforced throughout my education.

On the other hand though I have had the experience, of struggling for money, living with a single mum trying to support three kid on a low wage. Recent years things have not been so though.

I feel that the experience off not having money has allowed me to appreciate what its like for others. For example last year i donated a significant sum to the Haiti earthquake find after travelling there and seeing the damage.

[Livingstone]

(Original post by POWCATTY)
i met a guy that went to harrow on a camp thingy. im pretty sure he had absolutely no idea of how most people live as we were discussing concerts and i said i couldnt afford the £55 ticket and he was (quote) 'huh? who cant afford a £55 ticket?? thats weird'. later in the evening he then bought £60 worth of freddo frogs....
so there are definitly people out there who dont realise how privileged they are! but im pretty sure they are the minority!

what i find amazing is how much money people are willing to spend on things. like id never pay more than £50 for a bag, i just think its a complete waste of money. but then you see wealthy people with birkins (bags) worth +£10000 and i just think...there is so much that you can do with that money and youve pretty much flushed it down the toilet.

That should be illegal.

[ocelot92]

Some people take loans to get rich. Those people now have to sell their kidneys for money to give to banks.

[Simpy3]

I suppose a lot of it depends on lineage. You'll often find if your background is wealthy and has been for a few generations, certain traits will carry through, e.g. Children get the goodies.

From personal experience, people often seem to think that 'spoilt' children have everything easy, which is often untrue. Whilst I know my parents love me and vice-versa, the relationship is a bit rough around the edges and not always greatly close.

[fudgesundae]

(Original post by HariboMunch)
Some kids on TSR sound really wealthy, not like poor me!

Makes me wonder, what's it like growing up rich? Is it as cool as everyone assumes? I know some students even at school get their own cars and things like that, but I've read about students with trust funds, properties bought for them, horses, all expenses met. Is that as marvellous as it sounds?

Do students like that understand anything at all about how most of us are living?

My family has old money and its pretty nice. Don't have to get a job, take on student loans. Don't need to worry about money in the future which is nice. I think I am also quite fortunate in that my family is very close. My parents don't try and substitute their time or affection for money, as many people have suggested happens so often. I have the best of both worlds so to speak.

[fudgesundae]

(Original post by YahRah)
Yeah living the the house can be somewhat boring, but luckily we have a house in London so I stay there a lot when I go out at weekends. I think we are one of the few remaining families who aren't asset rich, cash poor. We know the Cardigan family quite well and he, despite being an Earl which is ranked above my father, can barely afford the upkeep on his house. They drive around in 1990-reg cars and their daughters used to have bursaries for private school.

Pretty sure he has a son and a daughter? Haven't met him personally but my father knows him.

edit: is his daughter not that one off the Voice?

[Ocassus]

(Original post by fudgesundae)
Pretty sure he has a son and a daughter? Haven't met him personally but my father knows him.

edit: is his daughter not that one off the Voice?

Wow...

Its like the East India Club all up in here!

[fudgesundae]

(Original post by Ocassus)
Wow...

Its like the East India Club all up in here!

To add to your point about old money being very conservative, many of these families are asset rich, cash poor. I know a fair few families like this, they have the land and property but don't have the income to live the lifestyle to match. We got quite lucky in that my grandfather managed to build a rather large cash fortune to add to his land.

Just read someone else's post about how they grew up. Was quite interesting, I am from a similar background yet have grown up completely differently. My father always placed an emphasis on strong family relationships and didn't like having a nanny to look after me and my siblings. Having not lived any other way, I can't comment on which way was better, however it is nice to live like a normal family and be able to interact with and be close to each other.

[Ocassus]

(Original post by fudgesundae)
To add to your point about old money being very conservative, many of these families are asset rich, cash poor. I know a fair few families like this, they have the land and property but don't have the income to live the lifestyle to match. We got quite lucky in that my grandfather managed to build a rather large cash fortune to add to his land.

Just read someone else's post about how they grew up. Was quite interesting, I am from a similar background yet have grown up completely differently. My father always placed an emphasis on strong family relationships and didn't like having a nanny to look after me and my siblings. Having not lived any other way, I can't comment on which way was better, however it is nice to live like a normal family and be able to interact with and be close to each other.

Well like I said, most new money does not live the way old money does. We cook our meals, we do the housework etc. It just goes to show there is no distinct singular path in lifestyle, even where wealth is concerned.

[YahRah]

(Original post by fudgesundae)
Pretty sure he has a son and a daughter? Haven't met him personally but my father knows him.

edit: is his daughter not that one off the Voice?

Yes you are right he does, I always confuse them because her cousin Florence has the same name. It's Catherine (Bo) and Thomas.
And yes it is her from the Voice, she is not quite as nice as the show makes her out to be unfortunately. She disliked her upbringing so took it out on her family, David has actually had her arrested on a number of occasions. But we won't get into that.

[Ryan_94]

I don't miss what I've never had, but it would be good.

Imagine never worrying about having to find money somehow to go out with mates or buy clothes? Imagine getting a car (even a "rubbish" one) without paying a penny? Imagine going on holiday and exploring the world?

Money is how the world works.

[Sir Fox]

I can't speak for extremely rich families owning tens of millions, but as my father has his own company employing 50+ people and two of my uncles also have their own companies/factories I'd consider my family to be at least wealthy.

For me growing up with wealthy parents meant that in contrast to other families we never had to worry about basic things. As a merchant my father always made sure that we pursue a comfortable yet comparably modest lifestyle. Major differences to other families include nice cars (convertible for my mother, upper class Audi for my father but no sports cars or similar), extensive travelling and quality clothing (I rarely ever go shopping so if it happens like once a year I can easily choose shirts for 100€ each). If there is something we want we almost always could theoretically get it - yet we don't.

On the other hand my mother comes from a rather decent background and both of my parents always made sure that my brother and me should be raised in a way that we keep both feet on the ground. One of my fathers favourite quotes is that he literally abhores people who are "sons by profession." (that is referring to people who brag about and depend on daddies money). My allowance has always been average or even smaller than that of friends with far less wealthy parents.

So how did I grow up? Eating in fancy restaurants once in a while but mostly in the same restaurants (if at all, we mostly eat at home) other people frequent. Wearing rather expensive clothes on one day and a cheap jeans and t-shirt on the other day. Attending some summer schools in expensive British private schools (Sevenoaks and Tonbridge) but attending a quite normal state school at home in Germany. I didn't get a car for my birthday. I don't type this on a Mac and my first mobile phone was my dad's old Nokia. I don't spend one weekend in New York and the next in Shanghai. My parents made/make sure I get what I need and this is mostly of a very high quality (food, clothes etc.) but apart from that if I want something I have to earn it. My first computer was around 900€ and I saved for two years to afford it.

Half a year ago I was accepted by the Australian National University in Canberra where I really wanted to study - would've meant fees of 26k AUSD a year and living costs twice as high as here - my parents could have afforded that but we decided not to. Why? Because being able to afford something doesn't mean you have to - now I'm going to study in Scotland which is comparably cheap and I know I'll love it

It all depends on education and upbringing. My grandfather who founded the family business was a humble man and my father passed the same values on to me. Wealth and money are nothing one should take for granted but it's something that has to be earned.

Most important thing is that my parents have been married for 24 years and my family is not screwed up the way some rich families are My father works his ass off like 55-60 hours a week but when my brother and me were young and my father came home from work in contrast to a lot of other parents he didn't grab the newspaper or settled in front of the TV to relax but played with us, constructed cool houses for our Guinea pigs or did whatever we liked. I'm extremely grateful for the way I've been raised.

[Miraclefish]

Terrible. This one time, the lodge in Aspen didn't have the right braised lark's tongue pate for elevenses and father's helicopter pilot was well over an hour fetching it from the importer, so we had to fire him. We had to take the Bentley for the rest of the week. Gah.