I got a recruitment email today from Curinos looking for folks with $2 million to $5 million in verifiable assets for a financial services shop.

Anyone else think that that's going to be hard to find?

I saw that and laughed. Immediate deletion.

Yeah, unless you count someones home into that equation it's going to be a tough fill. Even then it will be rough.

@luckygirl0100 wrote:

Yeah, unless you count someones home into that equation it's going to be a tough fill. Even then it will be rough.

No, has to be verified cash or investment assets. Property doesn't count.

Laugh, then delete. If someone's a millionaire, why would they want to do this for extra money? I'm pretty sure they could spend their free time doing other things. Relaxing on the yacht, shopping in Beverly Hills, etc.

I don't qualify for roughly 90% of their shops. When I do, I enjoy their shops but that email went to the trash folder lol

I do quite a few shops for the. Their employees (led by Briana) are super chill and easy to work with. I saw the same recruitment email. I qualify for the 2 million if you let me use my rental home + my 401k assets.

Rather do the Curinos shops all day every day over any other shops.

I would rather do a shop like this if it pays well enough than shop in Beverly Hills. I can afford to buy some things they sell there but I am not a consumer and much prefer the challenge of a mystery shop than buying outrageously priced items that are mostly for show.
This email was a probe to see if there were enough shoppers for them to pursue this job. They do not yet have the client. I would imagine for a shop like this they may only need a handful of shoppers in various large and costly cities.

They may not be focusing on the right audience. I don't think there's a lot of millionaires on this forum. At least, I'M not rich. Do rich people even THINK about mystery shopping?

Define RICH. It is all relative.

Living in the United States makes us richer than most other people in the world.

However, there are levels of "rich-ness." Lots of people I know think I'm rich, but I don't think of myself as that.

To me...rich is retired (at any age) and being able to do what you want (within reason - No Jeff Bezos outerspace missions) and not depending on govt checks like social security. I'm in my 50s. I would like to return before I turn 60. If i moved out of CA and sold my 2 houses, I could live in North Dakota and go off the grid and coast until 62. I don't want to do that.

So I mystery shop for supplemental income and for the fun of it. I'm super picky with the assignments I take. Most offerings I think BLOW, so I don't touch them.

@Maryanne J wrote:

They may not be focusing on the right audience. I don't think there's a lot of millionaires on this forum. At least, I'M not rich. Do rich people even THINK about mystery shopping?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/2023 09:48PM by hbbigdaddy.

Where's SteveSoCal when they need him? Remembering his story about the mystery shop of a private island vacation package. And many others.

I once did a parking shop at a boutique hotel. I only did it because it was bonuses which is rare in Los Angeles but the job only paid about $10. The hotel was over $500 per night. I asked the scheduler why they thought someone might do it for $10. There was nowhere to hang out while waiting the 75 min
He told me the parking company thought people staying at the hotel would take it. You were not allowed to park overnight for the job so I thought it would be worthless for people staying there. They would still have to pay the overnight rate.
Some of these clients have no idea. But yes, I agree with Daddy. Many retired folks have big pension and 403b accts to live on. In this city that will not get you thru life til you die and do not get soc sec and other retirement benefits.

@sandyf wrote:

I would rather do a shop like this if it pays well enough than shop in Beverly Hills. I can afford to buy some things they sell there but I am not a consumer and much prefer the challenge of a mystery shop than buying outrageously priced items that are mostly for show.

I love to browse at places like this and managed last year to tie in a high-end bath-fixture shop with a trip to the high-end King of Prussia mall, where I bought the dress I wore to my 50th high-school class reunion. I spent a lot on it, but it was worth it. I could never have found anything like it locally (and I looked!). Usually when I go there, I mostly browse, and it's fun. We have no high-end, tony shops in my area like they have there, so it's a treat for me to go and just browse the stores. More fun for me than MS'ing--but gotta pay the bills....

The e-mail was sent to me also--the banks were mostly obscure ones I've never heard of.

@hbbigdaddy wrote:

I do quite a few shops for the. Their employees (led by Briana) are super chill and easy to work with. I saw the same recruitment email. I qualify for the 2 million if you let me use my rental home + my 401k assets.

Rather do the Curinos shops all day every day over any other shops.

Obviously answer is 'yes' - - but you feel comfortable showing them financial data?

In addition to other mentioned, the price of everything, including housing, wages and other, varies significantly across the country. A comfortable income in one area can leave you literally homeless in another. So maybe, maybe not about them finding shoppers for the assignment.

I do not qualify do not have that much. Not sure I know anyone who does. Wish I did as I could use a few bucks loan. Lol

Guess I'm not really worried. I have worked with them for awhile now. I have opened several accounts. You need secondary authentication (usually texted 6 digit code). So even if they know my login/password, they can't do anything without that secondary authentication. If they were to change the info on the account, i would alerted immediately as well.

I don't give them access to my main bank which has the boatload of money in it.

@hbbigdaddy wrote:

I do quite a few shops for the. Their employees (led by Briana) are super chill and easy to work with. I saw the same recruitment email. I qualify for the 2 million if you let me use my rental home + my 401k assets.

Rather do the Curinos shops all day every day over any other shops.

The phrase is "Stealth Wealth."

@hbbigdaddy wrote:

Guess I'm not really worried. I have worked with them for awhile now. I have opened several accounts. You need secondary authentication (usually texted 6 digit code). So even if they know my login/password, they can't do anything without that secondary authentication. If they were to change the info on the account, i would alerted immediately as well.

I don't give them access to my main bank which has the boatload of money in it.

@hbbigdaddy wrote:

I do quite a few shops for the. Their employees (led by Briana) are super chill and easy to work with. I saw the same recruitment email. I qualify for the 2 million if you let me use my rental home + my 401k assets.

Rather do the Curinos shops all day every day over any other shops.

2 million doesn't go far in this economy. You can't live off that for very long without a high paying job to cover your upkeep.

You are correct. That is why I still work. I hope to have 4 million by 60. I think that might be okay. At 5% interest, i could live off the interest alone at $200K per year.

@EnglishMorning wrote:

2 million doesn't go far in this economy. You can't live off that for very long without a high paying job to cover your upkeep.

Wait a minute. You can't live comfortably if you got 2 million dollars cash dropped in your bank account right now? Let's see.... If living expenses were $6000 per month that would be 72,000 per year...... 72,000 times my 25 year life expectancy is 1,800,000..... sheesh.... that leaves me 200K to blow on frivolity......Add the 50k to 80k interest the 2 mil conservatively earns (2.5%-4%), and I'm living like a fat rat in a cheese factory. I can do that in So Cal.... If you can do it here you can do it anywhere..... And And And, I know it can be done because I'm doing it now and I don't have anything remotely close to 2 mil cash in the bank. But, my living expenses are not nearly 6k per month, and I'm not trying to buy my first home in So CaI either.

@1forum1 wrote:

Wait a minute. You can't live comfortably if you got 2 million dollars cash dropped in your bank account right now? Let's see.... If living expenses were $6000 per month that would be 72,000 per year...... 72,000 times my 25 year life expectancy is 1,800,000..... sheesh.... that leaves me 200K to blow on frivolity......Add the 50k to 80k interest the 2 mil conservatively earns (2.5%-4%), and I'm living like a fat rat in a cheese factory. I can do that in So Cal.... If you can do it here you can do it anywhere..... And And And, I know it can be done because I'm doing it now and I don't have anything remotely close to 2 mil cash in the bank. But, my living expenses are not nearly 6k per month, and I'm not trying to buy my first home in So CaI either.

My living expenses are more then 6k per month.

@luckygirl...............That's unfortunate...... The key for me was to reduce/minimize that living expense. I have two homes in So Cal and have never had a 6k per month living expense. If I ever did have a higher living expense, it would be in the planning to make it short lived. For me, starting the first part of my life earning little money, I taught myself it is not how much you make, it's what you do with it. I positioned myself to save save save, before I bought anything. That philosophy and mindset generated options, and has afforded me a lifestyle today where I can just about live like I have 2 mil cash in the bank, even though I don't.

@1forum1 wrote:

@luckygirl...............That's unfortunate...... The key for me was to reduce/minimize that living expense. I have two homes in So Cal and have never had a 6k per month living expense. If I ever did have a higher living expense, it would be in the planning to make it short lived. For me, starting the first part of my life earning little money, I taught myself it is not how much you make, it's what you do with it. I positioned myself to save save save, before I bought anything. That philosophy and mindset generated options, and has afforded me a lifestyle today where I can just about live like I have 2 mil cash in the bank, even though I don't.

It's not unfortunate at all!
We chose to have these expenses (and have the income to go with it)

We CHOOSE to put our kids in private school, and have the high cost of tuition.
We CHOOSE to allow our twins to play travel ball and both of them along with our youngest daughter to take weekly private lessons for hitting & catching.

We CHOOSE to have a home in a community that has a HOA fee..

Etc, etc, etc.

All I'm saying is 2 mill wouldn't go far maintaining our current lifestyle without working.

My biggest fear is the cost of health insurance outside of employer provided/subsidized. I told my wife she will continue to work for the health insurance benefits when I retire :-)

I have been frugal for just about everything in my life. I do not get a new phone every 2 years. I still have a samsung note 9 and an iphone 12. I don't plan on upgrading iphone until maybe 16 (at earliest)

My only splurge has been the model Y performance tesla after having a honda crv for 20 years and 250k miles.

I can't take my money to the grave. You also don't know which day will be your last. The American "mindset" (for a long time) has been work until 65 and retire. I worked with someone and there was a group layoff in 2021. about 100 of us got our IT jobs outsourced to India. He was 63. He ended up getting terminal brain cancer and did not make it to 65. So saving all your money for something that might never happen is NOT living life either.

You need to be able to spend (withing reason) and travel while your young because you don't know how long you have and your health will not be the same in your later years as it was in your early years.

I waited a minute, even more. I looked at your math and found it incredulous. So I did the math myself 4x and came up with interest of $40,000 per year at 2% which is what I could hope to get up until recently. I thought I must be wrong so I googled it and found an expert who said 1 million at 4% would throw off interest of $40,000.
So double that to 2 million and assume the person is not invested in the stock market and has their money in a few banks that did not fail. They have $80,000 to spend if they spend all their interest.
If they pay rent or own a house in my city they are spending a minimum of $2000 a month just in rent for a tiny one bedroom. If they bought property with their 2 mill they no longer have it. If they invested in the stock market they may have lost a chunk of it this past year. So next year even with higher interest rates they will not have $80,000 to spend. And then there are bills to pay. For the past few months my utilities have cost around $800 a month. My thermostat is set at 66 during the day and 63 at night. Then occasionally I have to buy a new car. I own a house and just got a quote of $9,000 just to recoat my balcony and roof deck. That does not include all the other repairs needed for my house. Oh but i could be living in a rental . Luckily my kids grew up and my husband died so I can fit in one bedroom. A small no frills one bedroom at that. People earning $40,000 a year in this city are often living in their cars.
Your fat rat in the cheese factory is living comfortably for a few years but also reducing the $2 mill every year by doing so. I feel I live comfortably but I do not spend on things others consider needs. Streaming, cell phones for everyone in the family, plane trips and nice hotels on vacation, new clothes once in a while, eating out once or twice a month at least in a mid range place , summer camp for the kids, etc. Those sorts of things are considered living comfortably here.

@1forum1 wrote:

Wait a minute. You can't live comfortably if you got 2 million dollars cash dropped in your bank account right now? Let's see.... If living expenses were $6000 per month that would be 72,000 per year...... 72,000 times my 25 year life expectancy is 1,800,000..... sheesh.... that leaves me 200K to blow on frivolity......Add the 50k to 80k interest the 2 mil conservatively earns (2.5%-4%), and I'm living like a fat rat in a cheese factory. I can do that in So Cal.... If you can do it here you can do it anywhere..... And And And, I know it can be done because I'm doing it now and I don't have anything remotely close to 2 mil cash in the bank. But, my living expenses are not nearly 6k per month, and I'm not trying to buy my first home in So CaI either.

Maybe if they kick in a 3.00 bonus

People who have 2 million in investments can't just cash it in. You are assuming that if you have that kind of money you would live in a cheap rental and eat at McDonald's. If your money is tied up in investments you can't have your cake and eat it too. If you have that kind of money you want to live in a nice place and that costs.

The math is pretty simple. Using the 4% withdrawal rate, you have $80k a year or about $6500 per month to live off of with 2 million. Of course, depending on your age you may have additional income from social security or a pension to supplement that. To some people that may mean living like a fat cat. To others it may mean a frugal existence. It all depends on your spending habits and the cost of living area you live in.