Are the well-to-do feeling some guilt?
It’s so uncool to be ostentatious right now that some well-to-do people are vacationing in tiny hotel rooms with reupholstered secondhand furniture (for which they’re still paying big bucks). It’s called “rough luxe” or “Bohemian deluxe.”
Is guilt motivating them to appear frugal – they can tell their less fortunate or laid-off friends about the furniture and keep silent about the exceptional service and cost – or is this just another way to show off?
“Fabulously Broke” wrote about this phenomenon in a post called “Yuppie guilt and how to deal with it delicately” at Fabulously Broke in the City. She has a very successful friend who is feeling remorse about buying 0-plus shoes when others around her are losing their jobs. FB says people like her are also worried about being ostracized.
Thus the birth of the “rough luxe” and “Bohemian deluxe” approach to accommodations FB read about at Trendwatching.
She wrote: “And they want to enjoy their money, but feel like if they go to a Four Seasons hotel, they’re going to get snubbed by their less fortunate friends, so they say they went to a rough luxury hotel … and they feel better about the choice because now they can enjoy luxury, disguised as a clever marketing campaign.”
Reader “Debt Dieter” called such expressions of guilt “essentially a new socially acceptable form of bragging about how well off you are.” She added, “It’s certainly not classy.”
It turns out that wealthy people aren’t the only ones dealing with guilt. “LAL” wrote at Living Almost Large that she and her husband aren’t feeling financial strain because they bought a home they can afford, drive older cars and live on one salary even though they have two. She said, “So we made a few wise decisions. But then why do we feel guilt over our decisions?”
Other readers of Fabulously Broke said: Enough with the guilt already. If you make good money, have the confidence to enjoy it as long as you’re saving as well. (No one mentioned the fact that among those without jobs are the former mighty, and that bad times can befall anyone.)
We also liked this comment: “But if you feel guilty, then maybe you should be doing more to help others. They aren’t mutually exclusive.” Meg wrote.
Related articles:
Just how rich is rich, really?
How long will the ‘new frugality’ last?
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