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Hannah

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Posts posted by Hannah

    How do you define wealth?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    34 minutes ago, SKL said:

    It really is interesting how differently wealth plays out in different countries.

    The way my housemate summed it up, "back home, the cost of a pound of chicken and a month's worth of household help is the same."  Also, "at least they are not on the street, they have good food to eat, and their kids can go to school."  The latter is huge.

    I don't plan on hiring a full-time house servant, unless that is needed in my declining years.  But I do provide funds to educate a number of kids in less-developed countries.  I hope it makes a real difference.  (Not that you have to be wealthy to do that; I co-founded a charity when I was $85K in debt.)

    Education makes the most difference - especially good STEM education.

    • Like 1

    How do you define wealth?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted · Edited by Hannah

    17 minutes ago, TexasProud said:

    Yes, that was hard for me when we were in Kenya. We hired someone to do our laundry and to clean our small studio apartment, which I could easily have done myself. But my husband convinced me that it was a good thing to do so for the reason you mentioned.  It just felt so wasteful to me and also weird... wrong actually like I think I am too good to do menial tasks and have to hire someone else to do them...  Probably why I will never hire a housecleaner here in the US.  It feels like cleaning toilets is good for spiritual formation.

    My family who live in Europe also did not understand until they came to visit.  Our previous cleaner worked for us for 28 years before she passed away and our gardener has been with us for 20 years.  Now that we are empty nesters I would actually prefer not having a cleaner, but I felt a social responsibility  to again provide someone the opportunity of a job. 

    eta: they do not live in.  They live in their own homes and use public transport to get to us.  The cleaner's is a brick home: 2-bedroomed + kitchen + bathroom.  The gardener's is a shack built of wood and corregated iron.  Both have running water, sewerage and electricity.

    • Like 2

    How do you define wealth?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    47 minutes ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

    There, anyone with middle class money was expected to have servants and to "spread the wealth".  It was a cultural expectation.  

    That is very much the expectation here.   We have 33% unemployment in the country.  Us employing a cleaner and gardener feeds 9 mouths.

     

    • Like 2

    How do you define wealth?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    56 minutes ago, Corraleno said:

    I would use the term "financially independent" (FI) to describe someone who has enough money and assets that they can live in whatever style they prefer without having to work.

    I like this definition.  It speaks to an individual's preferences.

    How do you define wealth?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted · Edited by Hannah

    2 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

    A quick google says R15.5 million, or roughly 1 million USD is the high net worth threshold for SA. https://www.news24.com/amp/fin24/economy/degrees-of-separation-heres-what-sas-super-rich-studied-20220426

    ETA: looks like the exchange rate has changed since 2022–1 million USD is now 19.9 million rand?

    Working out the numbers, savings of R15mil at a retirement age 65 would not actually cover lifelong frail-care + medical costs. 

     I'm going off the assumption that currently with R15mil one would be able to buy a life-time inflation-linked pension which would provide an after-tax income of R 52 500 per month.     Two people would be able to live off that very comfortably, though, if they dind't need long-term frail care.

    24/7 frail care in a reasonably well run home in Johannesburg is around R25 000 per person.  And medical insurance for hospital and chronic medication cover would be R 5 000 per person.  So, if a couple both needed frail-care, they would be short of R8 000 per month that their family would need to cover.

    If they were living off the earnings from investment and we assume a 2.5% above inflation growth and no dipping into capital, then their monthly income comes to only R25 000 after tax.  They would have to start living off the capital when they need frail care and could run short.  

     

     

     

    How do you define wealth?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted · Edited by Hannah

    11 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

    I went to a conference a couple of years ago for attorneys who do estate planning and wealth management, and most of the presenters and hosting banks used 5 million USD as a minimum threshold, professionally, for a lot of services.

    I have pondered that number for a long while, looking at what retirement portfolios need to look like, and a number of other factors, and I think that is about right.

    I live in a developing country and with our current exchange rate, that's a mind-boggling number.  (eta it would be interesting to know what the equivalent number for estate planning and wealth management of 'high worth individuals is here).

    • Like 1

    How do you define wealth?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    20 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

    I have friends whose parents have enough savings to pay for high medical costs even if they live to a hundred without worrying. 

    Wealthy would then mean that one can live off investments and that the income covers a reasonable standard of living (again whatever that means for the individual) + emergencies + extended high medical costs (ie dementia care for 20 years if required).  

    How do you define wealth?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted · Edited by Hannah

    What I'm understanding from the conversation so far is that wealthy would mean that one can comfortably retire, at whatever age that is possible?  And comfortable is open to interpretation and individual needs?

     

    • Like 3

    Eurovision is so much fun!

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    We watched as a family every year, but this year my daughters are both at university.  They logged in from their dorms and we from home and we kept a running commentary going on our family WhatsApp group.   It was huge fun to connect that way.

    • Like 5

    Washing Machine in Kitchen

    in The Chat Board

    Posted · Edited by Hannah

    12 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

    Keep in mind also that clothes dryers are not the norm worldwide. In the places I have lived you need a space large enough for the airer or drying racks on days when you can’t hang your laundry outside. The kitchen is more private (to guests) than your living room.

    We don't own a drier. I could afford one, but where we live the winters are dry and it warms up in the day, so we line dry. I've very very occasionally taken wet laundry to the laundromat to dry, but that's the exception linked to cold, wet weather of more than a week when nothing dries indoors.

    In wetter winter-rainfall parts of the country, people do use driers.  My parents do. Their washer and dryer is in a mudroom.  They still line dry when the weather allows though.

    Poll: comfortable square feet per person

    in The Chat Board

    Posted · Edited by Hannah

    11 hours ago, maize said:

    We've made bedrooms work in our current home by being a bit unconventional. We turned a basement sitting room into a bedroom for all four of my boys--the 17 year old has a full-size bed and the 12, 10, and 5 year olds have a triple bunk bed. It works for now. I'm a bit worried about what to do as the younger boys get older, the triple bunk isn't going to be comfortable for long, and my older son is autistic and not likely to be moving away from home in the near future.

    The biggest problem honestly has been having only two bathrooms for nine of us. It is very common for someone to need a toilet and both bathrooms are already occupied, especially if people are showering or bathing.

    When I lived in Holland about 30 years ago there was a family with 12 children living down the road in a house built in the 1600's.   The front door opened into a tiny halway stuffed with coats on hooks and shoes in built-in cubicles and that in turn opened into a large living room with kitchen and bathroom (behind the kitchen) on the bottom (1st?) floor, then two rooms and a bathroom on the middle (2nd) floor and an attic floor under the eaves with two bedrooms.  The rom was dominated by a very large dining table where everyone gathered.

    The boys room in the attic had four built in box beds similar to this https://www.muramura.nl/42-bedstee-inbouw with a fairly narrow walkway between the beds.  Each child's clothes and possessions were in the storage under or in the hanging space between the beds and in a shelf at the end of the bed. 

    The parents also had a tiny room in the attic and I recall their bed being quite high, so I guess also with storage underneath.

    The girls's rooms had built-ins more like this https://www.welke.nl/photo/Mademoiselle/Super-gave-Bedtime-bedstee-en-bureau-van-Kidsfactory-Leuk-voor.1365586376. 

    While I was there they did somehow extend the bottom bathroom to add an additional WC closet so that there'd be two on the bottom floor, so I guess they did have the need for that.

    ETA:  I"m not sure if this Pinterest link will work, but some nice ideas here too https://www.pinterest.com/liekesp/bedstee/

    • Like 2

    Multiple IVF losses

    in The Chat Board

    Posted · Edited by Hannah
    Fixed typos

    We have good friends that had a number of failed attempts.  I can't remember exactly how many, but more than 5. They had good jobs, would save up every cent and just keep trying.  Their daughter is 11 now. 

    We handled it like any other grief - dropped off a few meals, we were there for them when they needed us, sat with them and held them when they needed it and we kept inviting them over with the understanding that they would only come when they were ready.  I think it does depend on how close you are, what type of relationship you have and how they themselves handle grief.

    • Like 2
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