To wonder how they have so much money? Or is it just social media?

[Spice22]

I understand how older people have money ; they work for it. But I'm just puzzled by how people my age (and younger!) have so much? I'm in my early twenties.
Whenever I go into Instagram or snapchat, I am sure to see lots of pictures of people "popping over to Australia" or beaming with pride because they just a bought a Range Rover. I am not exaggerating!
Don't get me wrong, I'm not envious - though I am jealous of course. I don't blame them at all for the pictures/posts because I would/probably will when i acheieve these things too. I just don't get how they can do this at 17-24 ?
It's small stuff like eating out twice a week, multiple designer handbags a year, to large stuff like new cars and long distance holidays multiple times a year. How??

I know some these girls have 'blessors' but not all. Anyway, I'm just wondering if you guys know people leading such lives and how they do it ?

What is "living life" though, OP?

Is living life really spending money?

I'm not going to say that buying things doesn't ever make you happy, or that people do it as a prop because they're unhappy elsewhere.

Sometimes, it's nice to buy things.

But don't fall into thinking that spending money is living life.

This weekend, I took my stepdaughter to the theatre, a play she's studying for A level.

There were 4 lovely moments for me:

• the play! Amazing. Cost money.
• giving her £20 to go for drinks after with 2 friends. Cost money but she works hard and its lovely to treat her - £20 is worth much more to her than me
• meeting up with her and 3 friends just before the play and seeing them all falling about laughing. Didn't cost a penny but was so lovely to see.
• wandering the city hand in hand with her dad and going to a museum and a public garden. All free.

Living life is about being happy and there are plenty of ways to feel happy that a free or cheap.

I know loads of people who live like this and don't have debt, they've basically worked hard for it, and found themselves in well paid careers.

Actually builders can make oodles of money. I audited a building contractor. They had a profit of about $4m a year in a downturn. When times were good they were making much much more than that. Perfectly reasonable that it's money from their business and not drugs.

Scaffolders are often minted too particularly if they own the equipment and are sole traders/ business owners. (Work ridiculous amount of hours though).

I know a few people who seem to have endless money.

One in particular is a woman in her mid twenties. Her husband works as a sole trader doing a manual fairly unskilled job. They have one DC and she is pregnant with her second. She occasionally will start her own business and promote it on FB, it'll be something like a stylist business or a wedding planning business, then no more is heard of it until she starts the next thing, so presumably none of these ventures earn her any money.

They literally seem to be rolling in it! Neither are from rich families, in fact the husband's family are very poor, so I don't think there is any help coming from families. Yet they have constant holidays, loads of nights away in luxury hotels. She has a Louboutin shoe collection and Louis Vuitton bag collection that she posts about on Facebook regularly. She has constant new clothes, nails done very regularly, hair done all the time, etc.

I have heard rumours that the husband is a prominent drug dealer in our area, and tbh this must be where their lavish lifestyle comes from as they live like multi millionaires.

I do wonder however how those that earn money from drug dealing get away with it for years on end and just live in the lap of luxury!

Mainly credit/loans/leases or getting other people to pay for them.

I've always wondered this..
In most of the situations I know of, yeah they have had a major hand up from their parents, or that they have left home and share a house with 1-2 other couples.

I was envious of them people and I would still love a Range Rover, don't get me wrong! But have a look at what you have in life! There will be many, many others of your age far worse off.

I can't believe the salaries people are quoting here around here it's unusual to earn I've 18,k and most jobs advertised are minimum wage.

My previous neighbours liked to show off about their 'wealth' on social media. To the extent that at Christmas they would post 'Santa's been' with photos of presents for the kids. One year I popped round and noticed that the pile of presents was nowhere near what was suggested in the photo. They had posted a different photo for each child's pile, but it was actually all the presents, they had just rearranged it for each photo to look like more.

They believed that they were entitled to a flashy lifestyle and did nothing to earn it. She was a stay at home mum and he was a salesman on minimum wage, he worked for commission, but this was never cash, it would be things like an i-pad, festival tickets or a day at a spa, he also had a company car. Everything they bought was on credit, they would order designer stuff from catalogues, photograph it and then send it back. If a friend had a new designer item, this would be photographed as if it were their own. They would go abroad for three days but post the photos over two weeks. All of this was to put onto social media to pretend that they had the 'ideal' lifestyle. When in fact they were seriously in debt, had bailiffs knocking on the door and got evicted due to not paying the rent.

Aside from inheritance, credit cards and family help, I think it can sometimes come across that you have spent more on things than you actually have. Between me and my husband we have six brothers, all of which are in a trade. When we had an extension built it only cost a fraction of what others would have to pay, it was all cash in hand, cost price or freebies on the materials and no charge for hourly rate.

Another example is a colleague of mine is very into beauty treatments etc. She has five close friends who all decided they couldn't afford what they wanted so they decided to do it themselves, each went on a course and they get together once a month and do each others treatments eg one does nails, one does waxing etc. It hardly costs anything, but looks like it does.

I am not saying this is the case with everyone, but there are a lot of people faking it, don't take anything at face value, it's certainly not worth being jealous of.

It doesn't necessarily make you happy OP.

I have a friend who has all the trappings, nice house, clothes, cars etc, but she's miserable for various reasons and as she's made a gilded cage for herself can't leave her husband.

I bought a flash car thinking i would enjoy it. It just made me feel really uncomfortable and guilty. Although i could afford it, the cost just was too much when some of my family were struggling, the environmental impact, the way people looked at you in car parks and wouldn't let you out at junctions.

Now i drive a teeny car full of character and i'm much happier.

Everything they bought was on credit, they would order designer stuff from catalogues, photograph it and then send it back. If a friend had a new designer item, this would be photographed as if it were their own. They would go abroad for three days but post the photos over two weeks

People really go to this sort of effort? Why? It's like when people cheat in exams or whatever, 'you're only cheating yourself'.

Gilded cage

Yes. That's my sister 😞😞😞😞

I wonder if some of this generation have given up trying to save for a deposit on a home and instead just blow it all now. When I was in my early twenties I saved a lot of money which I used for my first home. Things are a lot different now and I wonder if that's why the long term perspective has been replaced in many cases by short term buy/accumulate now thinking

goose Most of the time advertised jobs on sites are lower income. The jobs with higher wages tend to be posted by the company directly on their website and not advertised as such. Also, once you are hired you can ask for promotions and then leave to similar company making 10% more after 2-3 years. I did this to increase my income. Lots of people are doing it.

For the UK take a look at indeed.co.uk. That website takes jobs which are posted on company websites as well as places like agencies etc. I also avoid working with agencies like the plague. My experience has been that they are filling roles which no one else wants. If you are in a profession, sometimes headhunters can be a good bet but will only talk to them if the employer is paying them a fee upfront. When there is a commission involved you get used car salesmen/women who are recruiters.

I also know someone who buys stuff, photographs it and returns it. Image is everything. It's quite bizarre that people are so insecure and self involved.

Credit. And then in there 40's they are in a tough place with having debt having over their heads.

I startled working in the financial
Industry quite young and so was fortunate enough to earn descent money and live at home without financial responsibilities ... I was a bit extravagant with my spending back then ( 4 big holidays a year , designer wardrobe etc ) minus social media !

I do have an acquaintance who is popular on Instagram for her lavish lifestyle, however , she did mention to me that she buys clothes, wears them once and then returns them! I was shocked that people would go to that length to atttact attention on social media . We've all got different circumstances really .

Please don't trot out the 'they work hard' line. I work bloody hard 50+ hours per week as a teacher. My cousin has three jobs - two are cleaning jobs and she does ironing - works until she's half-dead, cycles everywhere. And runs a family home. That's hard work.
Hard work does not necessarily make you loaded!
Loaded family/partner, credit, prostitution (or a more 'polite' version of: webcam work, sugar daddy etc). Lots of people nearer my age (middle aged) with nice big houses, lots of holidays and nice cars have husbands who are builders and seem to have built their businesses at the right time.

I know people like this, credit, leased cars and a massive sense of entitlement. Many of these will be complaining they can't get on the housing ladder in a few years and blaming the baby boomers.

It's because they are young and can spend all the cash they earn on themselves. I was exactly the same before I had a massive mortgage and 2 kids!

It's very hard to generalise. Some will have rich parents. Others might have inherited from a grandparent. A few will have high earnings in their early 20s - what about footballers of that age and also the very few film stars, Harry Potter stars for example.

My 5 if they had public social media (they don't because they are sensible) in early 20s or late teens could be posting from our family holidays - pretty nice ski resort hotel at Christmas etc and that holiday is paid for by me - their very hard working mother. Or someone else might be at a family villa in France - again not the money the child has earned but the parents.

Som people are are involved in crime - criminal families or in cultures where you show off with various things (see My bit fat gypsy wedding eg they had lovely dresses and expensive cars and things like that).

I literally had the same thought this morn!! People I know who live entirely off benefits in a rented council place completely kitted out the house, professionally decorated, new flooring throughout.. always having days out etc just baffles me 🤔🤔

And totally agree image is everything! A fair few people on my social media picture everything they buy (as long as it's a name brand off course) so showy and materialistic. I really just don't get it 🤔

Many more Young women are selling their bodies nowadays to keep up with the Jones.

When you get older you mostly find out the truth.

Friend A. Lived a nice life, got into debt because of credit cards and and spent years living miserably to get out of it.

Friend B. Married someone for money. Not the love of his life. I'd rather be poor and happy tbh

My EX: doesnt have a pension plan, 0 saved. Has a large mortgage but doesn't pay anything off (used to be possible here, new mortgages have different rules now). He thinks he will make a million sometime in his life for no good reason. He laughs at me because I have a a small pension plan. I also paid off 30% of my small flat. I will probably have the last laugh when we are old and I own a small flat outright and have a small pension and he has nothing but the designer clothes. I feel safe.

Just do your own thing. You don't see the truth in you friends at this moment.