As Utahns work their way into the new millennium, many are trying to keep New Year's resolutions related to finances — to pay off a credit card, increase savings or finally start investing for retirement.
But for a growing number of Utahns — the state's moderately wealthy with combined annual household incomes over $100,000 — the goal is a bit different: How to maximize investment income? How to mitigate their income-tax burden and business expenses? Which school to choose for their children?
For all its rural flavor and a sometimes "uncool" image, Utah has a higher percentage of households with six-figure incomes than many states, and the number is steadily growing. And,
judging from a small sample interviewed for this story, the state's mostly conservative, family-oriented culture extends to households at these upper income levels.
They said security for themselves and their families and business expansion are their first priorities, with other things such as housing, travel and family vacations considered after that. Owning "stuff" — the trinkets and toys typically associated with wealth — was much less important.
That doesn't mean having money is boring. Shan Lassig, 35, whose income is three times the $100,000 benchmark, said he is "still a child" and proves it by dressing like a teenager and maintaining the physique of an athlete.
Besides spending time with their families and friends, these Utahns are involved in helping others. One Orem couple runs an Internet support group for people dealing with mental illnesses, and the wife directs a program for underprivileged aboriginal children in Canada. A Murray family is hosting a young woman from Liberia while she attends Salt Lake Community College.
There are a few boats and sports cars among these Utahns. The children are well-educated, and their futures are financially secure. Planning is a favorite activity, and emergencies don't catch these people off-guard. They don't indulge in frivolous spending, and they don't borrow money for personal items.
"The difference between being rich and being poor is not having to make a house payment," said one 36-year-old who considers his home his "biggest investment."
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The number of households in Utah with incomes of at least $100,000 more than doubled in the four years prior to 1999 from 28,830 to 61,589.
The number of households in the state with incomes of more than $250,000 — Utah's truly wealthy — almost doubled, from 4,597 in 1995 to 8,690 in 1999. Nationally, these households represent the top 1 percent of the population, based on income. The number of Summit County, Utah County and Washington County households with that level of income more than doubled. Duchesne, Grand and Morgan counties joined the ranks of counties with households in the $250,000-plus category during the four years prior to 1999.
Every county in the state showed an increase in its wealthiest residents during that four-year period, and most at least doubled the number as well as the percentage of the total number of households with six-figure incomes.
Nationally, American households making at least $100,000 — the top 12.3 percent — are the fastest-growing segment of the population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Money magazine used figures from some of those economists to calculate in its December issue how much a household in each state would have to earn to reach what it calls "ultra middle class" status, which it defined as 3.5 times the median income, figuring in the differing costs of living. With $100,000 per household as the base income, Utah households would have to bring in $161,000 to be considered "ultra middle class" — the top 5 percent — according to the magazine.
Only 10 other states exceeded that income level, including Alaska, Maryland, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire and New Jersey.
The median income for Utah households is a little over $46,000, according to the Tax Commission. The commission report lumps together as a "household" all tax returns of people with the same last name and same address.
The Deseret News interviewed several Utah families that fit the "upper middle class" income category. Investments make up a sizable amount of their income — from about 25 percent to more than half. Two of the four income-earners interviewed are in the computer business as software engineer or entrepreneur. One is a mortgage banker, another a business owner and one is an investment consultant.
Hobbies include reading, skiing, motocross cycling, coin collecting, sewing and leatherworking, collecting Porsches.
The growing personal debt of Americans is a concern for all those interviewed. One father of five who asked not to be identified said "The rising level of consumer debt . . . could eventually lead to an avalanche of bankruptcies that would devastate this country and the individual people involved."
Russell Graves, 44
Gail Graves, 41, Murray
Software engineer
Russell and Gail Graves are investing heavily — in their family.
With 12 children, 21 years to 9 months old, the Graves family doesn't fit the stereotypical image of the well-to-do. Their home is large — 6,000 square feet — but it is devoid of fancy decor and furnishings. Instead, it has seven bedrooms and five bathrooms, and there is still a lot of sharing going on.
They recently added a family room and are working on an additional two bedrooms and bathroom in the basement, but there is no formal dining room or elegant master bedroom. They have an acre of property at the end of a dead-end street between two freeways in Murray. The setting is lovely and unexpected — a child-oriented oasis in the midst of the city.
Several deer made their way into the Graves' yard this year. "We can't imagine how they got here, but it was so much fun to have them," said Gail. If deer could feel at home anywhere in this crowded valley, it would be here.
The family's financial goal for 2001 is to finish paying for the house, which then adds to the family's investment portfolio. "That was our goal last year, but the stock market took that dive, and we didn't quite make it. I hope the market recovers this year so we can pay it off," said Russell.
Without a house payment, the Graves plan to add to their investments. The five oldest children have money invested for college, but they would like to increase the portfolios of all the children. The couple's oldest daughter was married last week and the oldest son left for college at Brigham Young University-Ricks after returning from an LDS Church mission, so the couple has had a taste of what weddings and tuition cost.
"We want to be able to pay for missions for all the boys, weddings, college," Gail Graves said.
The couple's "hobbies" are going to Little League baseball and soccer games, dance and piano recitals. They own a motor home — "It's cheaper than paying for four or five hotel rooms," Russell said. And they took all the children on two cruises during the past year, one as a family Christmas gift. Once they loaded the motor home with 23 people for a trip to California. The family vehicle is a 15-passenger van.
"I probably should put more money into investments, but I think family trips are very important right now," Russell Graves said.
His concerns for the country's economy are also geared toward his family. "I worry that there might not be adequate jobs, good opportunities, for the children who are being raised now." But, he said, "our parents worried about that back in the '50s, too. I'm fairly optimistic about the future." He said the biggest problem is greed. "With only 3 percent of the population controlling 90 percent of the wealth, there should be enough and to spare."
He said he was happy to see interest rates drop a bit recently. "When the average guy can own his own home, it makes a great country; it's good for morale. I was worried interest rates were pricing young people out."
Gail Graves' worries are a bit different.
"The moral values the country was founded on are being downtrodden. It's church versus state, and people are saying 'let's get rid of the church.' People are looked down on for having moral values."
Russell Graves believes "money is not really a blessing."
"You are going to be happy if you decide to be happy with what you have. It's impossible to satisfy a thirst if it's driven by money."
"I probably should put more money into investments, but I think family trips are very important right now,"
Lorraine Miller, 56, Salt Lake City
Owner, Cactus and Tropicals
"I don't have killer toys . . . " — Lorraine Miller
Lorraine Miller worries that local government is helping national chain businesses steal the soul of the city.
"We're starting to look like every other city in the country, with the Wal-Marts and Barnes and Nobles," she said. Owner of a successful nursery business in Sugar House, Miller has turned her $2,000 initial investment into a million-dollar company, despite having "no idea what a financial statement was and no idea what a spider mite and mealy bug were" when getting started. "I learned everything the hard way," she said.
She does not spend money on herself, other than taking an occasional short vacation; she reinvests it in the business.
"I don't have killer toys" like many successful people, she said.
Never married, Miller nevertheless says she has 60 children — her employees. She has purchased five building lots at 2700 South 2000 East to expand her greenhouses over the nearly 26-year life of the business. She bought a house for herself eight years ago.
During her busy seasons — spring and Christmas — she works seven days a week, but now, in winter, she has the luxury of weekends to herself. The Small Business Administration named her National Small-Business Owner of the Year in 1994, and she proudly displays in her office a photo of President Clinton presenting the award to her.
She was a history major and after college served as a VISTA volunteer, but while working as a lab technician she had a "suppressive boss" and decided she wanted to be her own boss instead. She considered selling books and is glad now that she settled on plants. With her mother's help, she ran the small greenhouse without hired help for five or six years. During the late '70s and early '80s, she said, it was difficult for a woman business owner to deal with the "good ol' boys network" in Salt Lake City.
"It was difficult for a woman to get a loan without a husband to co-sign," she remembered. "But it's better now."
Miller says she has two concerns about business in Salt Lake City and Utah: National chains with the assistance of government agencies on all levels are "the knife in the heart" of small, locally owned businesses. And so much attention is paid to sales tax revenue that people think that is the only value of a business, and they "disregard what local ownership and entrepreneurship does for the character of the community and the sense of place."
Her advice to women considering starting a business: "Be prepared for it to be very difficult, requiring a commitment beyond your imagination. And be prepared for the greatest sense of freedom you can experience."
John Dismuke, 31
Wendi Dismuke, 32
Draper
Financial consulting/investing (John)
Photography (Wendi)
"I don't do the online trading; I think that's more like promoting gambling than investing." — John Dismuke
The fundamental principles of making money haven't changed since the days of Babylon, explains John Dismuke. Only the methods of transacting business have evolved. "Now we may use the Internet where once someone might have had to ride a horse somewhere to make a transaction."
The Dismukes list family and security as their top priorities in deciding how they use their wealth. "We're very boring," Wendi said. They don't spend money on snowmobiles, boats or expensive vacations. Neither do they pay interest to credit-card companies or mortgage lenders. They have no debt.
Money has been invested for each of their three children: Sam, 6; Hannah, 5; Alexander, 3. The children's college educations are financed. The Dismukes have made plans to cover emergencies and the possibility that either of them might die prematurely.
John, 31, conducts his consulting business from his home. His clients are charitable foundations. Income from the couple's personal investments makes up about half their income. Wendi, 32, is a part-time photographer. She credits her husband's expertise for the success of their investments. "He's smarter than our stock broker," she said. John says he researches stocks on his own but does his trading through a broker. "I don't do the online trading; I think that's more like promoting gambling than investing."
Their leisure time is spent primarily with their children, and vacations are usually family-oriented. John's brother works for Disneyworld, so the Dismukes often travel to Florida and visit the resort "since we get in free," Wendi said. Her husband's family live in the Washington, D.C., area, and Wendi's are in Idaho Falls, so they make frequent trips to visit them. "We went to Hawaii once, but we came home a day early because Wendi missed the kids," John said.
The family has dinner every night together. John is a soccer coach for Sam, and Hannah takes ballet lessons. John and Wendi go to a movie and dinner once a week, and they each have activities they enjoy with friends.
John does some skiing and motocross, and Wendi likes to go to Wendover, but the Dismukes consider their lifestyle low-key and conservative. "The simpler your life is, the happier you are," Wendi said. "We want to pass on the wealth to our family."
Shan Lassig, 35
Char Stevenson, 34
Holladay/Cottonwood Mortgage banking
"I'm very goal-oriented." — Shan Lassig
Shan Lassig doesn't fit anybody's stereotype of a mortgage banker. The sandy-haired, bearded man wears shorts and T-shirts to the office — year-round. He looks more like a teenage gymnast than a businessman who routinely handles million-dollar transactions and runs his own branch of a huge corporation. When business is booming, he says he jokes that he doesn't want anybody leaving the office, so he orders lavish catered lunches and bounds around among the desks, making sure everybody has a full plate.
A veritable bundle of energy, Lassig works 60 hours a week (a conservative estimate, he admits) and plays just as hard as he works. He holds a degree in exercise physiology and says one of his hobbies is working as a personal trainer, meeting with clients in the early mornings. He is also a gymnast. He said he enjoys physical workouts and helping others become and stay fit, but there was "not enough money in it" as a full-time profession.
Still a child at heart, Lassig says he and his fiancee, Char Stevenson, spend a lot of time outdoors and exercising indoors, as well.
"Working out allows us to focus and be successful," he said.
Lassig, Stevenson and her 11-year-old son Andre and Lassig's son Broch, 12, and daughter Brittania, 10, spend summer days on various lakes in Utah — on Jet Skis. In the winter, they ski on snow. Lassig owns a big Ford F350 diesel truck to pull the trailer hauling his three-seater Wave Runner and three standup Jet Skis. He is also what he calls a sports car junky and has two Porsches and a 1989 Corvette.
They travel at least once a year to stay in a villa at Zihautenejo, Mexico, to what Lassig calls his "private paradise." It's a southern Mexico retreat near the resort community of Xtapa.
Lassig is involved in training gymnasts and also coached Andre in the Brighton junior football program where the team took the state championship last year in the Mighty Mite division. Lassig's competitive spirit helps him succeed in both athletics and in business.
"I'm very goal-oriented," he said and plans to retire from mortgage banking when he's 40. What does a man do after retirement at that age? "I want to train for the Iron Man Triathlon," he said. Long-term, he wants to "make sure my kids are raised correctly" and ensure that they have money for college. He said he is optimist about the nation's economy "especially now that we have a Republican president."
He said he hopes the stock market improves this year, but he is confident his "very secure investments" will do fine and he plans to maintain them for the long term.
Stevenson is the conservative half of this couple. She said she is more home-oriented and jokes that she works "as little as possible — only eight hours a day." She said after she and Lassig are married and he retires, she would like to move to Mexico, "shave off all my hair and always wear a swimsuit and shorts."