Big discussion yesterday at work about this. What amount of income and what amount of assets do you think a family with say 2 kids needs to be considered “rich.” At work the answers varied from $100k/year and 500,000 in assets to 500k/ year and 5 million in assets minimum.
Your views?
Rich = has enough assets to live off comfortably without the need to work or government assistance.
The amount of money/assets needed to be rich in NYC is far different than in Des Moines. And one amount of income highly taxed as earned income, in a high tax state is far different than just being taxed on cap gains in a zero tax state.
My point being, the number varies.
How about, when you’re working purely for fun, and if you even get paid is irrelevant?
Yes, the location makes a huge difference in the amount to call one rich.
However, http://www.globalrichlist.com/ puts lots of things into perspective.
“Comfortably” is the killer word. What does that mean?
He’s a guy down the hall.
Comfort is a personal thing; it means being able to sleep well at night without worrying about $$.
From college admissions standpoint, “rich” is one who doesn’t have to base his/her college decision upon cost of attendance. If your family can comfortably afford every college or financial aid system would pick up your tab then you are “rich”, otherwise you are middle class.
Disagree with BunsenBurner on this. Comfortable is middle class, not rich. Not worrying about money is comfortable but not necessarily rich. Being rich does not mean not worrying about money, nor spending it.
Perhaps these fit. Rich means being able to do everything you want without considering finances. It means having plenty of money so you don’t need to work or have the economy remain stable.
I guess after all of these years H and I are rich. But we still live a middle class lifestyle. We still weigh the costs and benefits. We discriminate between wants and “needs” (many needs are actually luxuries to many, btw).
Relative is another word to think about. We are rich compared to many but not so compared to those who can spend on many things without thinking about affordability.
Finally- I assume this is money rich, not spirit et al…
Since the 1%er term is popular.
If you have to worry about you outliving your $$, no, you are not rich.
By definition, no one on CC is rich. Everyone is middle class. That other guy? He’s rich.
A documentary I saw long ago had the answer.
The people were self made millionaires and when they got to 4-5 million they thought they were RICH by ANY standard. Definitely at the top of their present circle (and most everyone else). And then their social circle expanded since they had more money…now they needed 10 million to keep up with their new friends and live the lifestyle. .
But life was good to them and they doubled their money and made the 10 million. And then the social circle expanded once more…and finally they retreated from what they saw as a never-ending spiral… So around 9 mill in 80’s dollars would be the answer. LOL.
The trick is to add up the points in all those columns that make life worth living—family, work, money, security. Add bonus points for travel or any extras you value. That’s what make life rich.
problem with this is, it’s so subjective. We decided, way back when, that we could afford to send our kids wherever they got in. Comfortable for us was very downscale. Since then, I’ve constantly read posts here by people with much, much higher incomes who did not feel they could comfortably send their kids anywhere. So I don’t think it’s a good barometer.
I’ve seen real poverty in countries with life expectancy in the 50’s or less and running water means a family is middle class or better. Most of us on here are rich.
Now on the U.S. standard, I reject the idea that worrying about outliving your money means you aren’t rich. How many athletes or movie stars went bankrupt on incomes we would drool over? Rich is about standard of living which is going to vary by state and region. If you don’t have to do the math before you go to a restaurant or take a vacation in the U.S. you are certainly on the way. A family with $150,000 in annual income that saves regularly for retirement across a couple decades will be top 10% in net worth.
Some people strike it rich. Some build high incomes as entrepreneurs or neurosurgeons. Others have solid upper-middle class incomes and make wise financial choices to be rich in retirement.
Inheriting the wealth is the easiest way…
“How many athletes or movie stars went bankrupt on incomes we would drool over?”
Precisely my point - their high incomes did not make them rich because their lifestyles demanded more than they had. If your assets’ principal and income are able to sustain the lifestyle you want to maintain without the worries about tomorrow AND the need to work, then you are rich, because “rich” is a relative term.
Do you count Social Security as government assistance? If you don’t, then everyone who can retire comfortably is rich.
Barring extreme unforeseen expenses, my husband and I will be able to retire comfortably. Of course, Social Security will account for part of our income, but we will also have other income. We are not rich.
“Precisely my point - their high incomes did not make them rich because their lifestyles demanded more than they had. If your assets’ principal and income are able to sustain the lifestyle you want to maintain without the worries about tomorrow AND the need to work, then you are rich, because “rich” is a relative term.”
I would look at it differently. These movie stars / athletes were most certainly rich, but managed it poorly and squandered it. It didn’t make them not-rich. It made them formerly rich. They fall in the category of rich-people-who-screwed-up.
“Inheriting the wealth is the easiest way…”
I dunno, @dstark, for many that would entail getting adopted into the right family as an adult. Not the easiest thing to pull off…or I guess you could marry into it. 