By Brian Ojanpa
Free Press Staff Writer
August 18, 2007 12:36 am
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If you don’t think wealth is relative, then you haven’t heard about the so-called working-class millionaires of Silicon Valley.
The plight they perceive themselves in would seem to warrant a good swift kick in the assets. But you be the judge.
In Mankato and the rest of the real world, having a few million bucks sets you up for life. But in the rarefied area of tech tycoons and financier types just south of San Francisco, “a few million doesn’t go as far as it used to.”
Those very words were uttered to a New York Times reporter by 51-year-old Silicon Valley marketing executive Hal Steger.
His net worth: $3.5 million.
His wine-country whine: He feels he has to work 12-hour days plus weekends just to keep up with the Joneses, because in this place, even if you possess single-digit millions, it doesn’t mean jack.
Steger is far from alone in his working stiff self image.
Online dating service founder Gary Kremen says his $10 million net worth makes him a “nobody,” never mind that 99 percent of us would love to be similarly obscure.
Then there is 49-year-old engineer Celeste Baranski — net worth $5 million — who figures she and her hubby have to work at least five more years for the sake of their sanity.
Which is to say, they just don’t feel secure enough yet, even though they apparently felt secure enough six years ago to pay $1.95 million for a house they promptly tore down and replaced with a $1 million abode.
Sifting through more perspective-challenged Siliconites, we come to computer programmer David Koblas — net worth $5 million to $10 million — who feels he’s “a dime a dozen,” and stock-option multimillionaire Tony Barbagallo, who works 70 hours a week to keep the wolf from his door.
“Poor Tony, he’ll never be able to retire,” his wife actually said.
OK, housing is expensive there. We get that. But we also get that beneath that lame real estate excuse for millionaires feeling sorry for themselves lies a mundane human trait: an insatiable desire to always have more.
Even though these people’s fortunes place them in the top 1 percent of the population, they’re chasing neighbors down the street in the top one-tenth of 1 percent, and people even richer living just beyond.
I’m reminded of a quote years ago by Waseca wildlife artist Richard Plasschaert.
His entry had just won the annual federal duck stamp contest, which routinely turns winners into millionaires.
I fished for some type of comment from him regarding how it felt to be suddenly rich, but he wasn’t biting. Instead, he hit me with his personal philosophy:
“Success means having a dollar more than you need.”
Brian Ojanpa is a Free Press staff writer. Call him at 344-6316 or e-mail bojanpa@mankatofreepress.com.
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