I’ve seen an interesting documentary about the wealthy in Germany and how they generally differ from e.g. American wealthy. In Germany most of the wealthy pretend to not be that wealthy. They dress rather ordinarily and keep it lowkey. We don’t even know how many of the richest Germans look like currently, because advertising wealth is not seen as positive here than in the United States.
Doesn’t mean that the German wealthy are more virtous or anything, they’re just keeping it down and are thus less bothered.
Most people strive to be seen as Mittelstand. Not poor, but not obscenely wealthy. Which lead to a funny episode where Friedrich Merz, head of the CDU and owner of two private jets, said in an interview that he was upper Mittelstand.
To be fair, that’s true to some extent in the US and most developed countries too. Outside of the popular billionaires constantly on the news, the true wealthy (or old money rich as another comment said) lay low and try not to attract attention to themselves. The ones who flaunt their wealth are newly rich or not actually wealthy enough but want to be seen as such.
Agreed, my wealth is building, but I’m not well off. I don’t want to be viewed as struggling, though in some respects I still am, and likely will be for some time.
That said, I’ve spent the past 10 or so years really focussing on comfort above all else.
I’ve got all the tools/toys I need for my hobbies, a stable and livable income (hard to come by these days) as well as growing savings and investments.
While I’m not well off, the only showy parts of my life are my vehicles. Everything is relatively low-key or intended purely for me, such as gaming rig, 3d printer etc.
As a former (and possibly returning) shiftworker, having multiple forms of transport is near compulsory due to my location and nearby infrastructure shortfalls.
Where convenient I will usually ride my skateboard (eskate) for shorter trips weather permitting, whereas for pleasure I have a motorcycle, and finally for inclement weather or when I need to carry items, the car.
Apart from these things, the only thing i could want for is to not be renting, I’m glad that is almost the only and largest difficulty currently facing me. I do not envy those less fortunate than I.
I’ve seen an interesting documentary about the wealthy in Germany and how they generally differ from e.g. American wealthy. In Germany most of the wealthy pretend to not be that wealthy. They dress rather ordinarily and keep it lowkey. We don’t even know how many of the richest Germans look like currently, because advertising wealth is not seen as positive here than in the United States.
Doesn’t mean that the German wealthy are more virtous or anything, they’re just keeping it down and are thus less bothered.
Most people strive to be seen as Mittelstand. Not poor, but not obscenely wealthy. Which lead to a funny episode where Friedrich Merz, head of the CDU and owner of two private jets, said in an interview that he was upper Mittelstand.
To be fair, that’s true to some extent in the US and most developed countries too. Outside of the popular billionaires constantly on the news, the true wealthy (or old money rich as another comment said) lay low and try not to attract attention to themselves. The ones who flaunt their wealth are newly rich or not actually wealthy enough but want to be seen as such.
Agreed, my wealth is building, but I’m not well off. I don’t want to be viewed as struggling, though in some respects I still am, and likely will be for some time. That said, I’ve spent the past 10 or so years really focussing on comfort above all else. I’ve got all the tools/toys I need for my hobbies, a stable and livable income (hard to come by these days) as well as growing savings and investments.
While I’m not well off, the only showy parts of my life are my vehicles. Everything is relatively low-key or intended purely for me, such as gaming rig, 3d printer etc.
As a former (and possibly returning) shiftworker, having multiple forms of transport is near compulsory due to my location and nearby infrastructure shortfalls.
Where convenient I will usually ride my skateboard (eskate) for shorter trips weather permitting, whereas for pleasure I have a motorcycle, and finally for inclement weather or when I need to carry items, the car.
Apart from these things, the only thing i could want for is to not be renting, I’m glad that is almost the only and largest difficulty currently facing me. I do not envy those less fortunate than I.
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I love the word Mittelstand! That’s wonderful.