<p>Igloo, you did not list food, clothing, transporation, health care needs, vacations and any educational costs
Where are social security taxes?</p>
<p>You are also using inflation adjusted numbers?</p>
<p><a href=“Dave Manuel - Economy, Stock Market and Real Estate News”>http://www.davemanuel.com/median-household-income.php</a></p>
<p>Are the above items only for the rich?</p>
<p>I don’t know how many people are in a household now compared to 20 years ago, but looking at inflation adjusted numbers… Real incomes have stagnated for a very long time.</p>
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<p>I guess maybe I wrote that ambiguously… What I meant is that any individual among some 50% (really much more I’d say) could achieve the general consensus of the “American Dream” should they want to. </p>
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<p>Fair enough, I’m used to the small/mid-sized cities, not the big cities and surrounding suburbs. </p>
<p>I actually live in a small/mid-sized city now. What’s funny is that I am in the process of trying to sell my house in one of the “acceptable” neighborhoods for one that has less status (it’s in an area that may as well be “the other side of the tracks”), and my friends all think I am crazy.</p>
<p>We do have McMansion neighborhoods that are maybe attractive to a certain type of buyer, but I wouldn’t call them “upper class.”</p>
<p>Sally305, you are switching neighborhoods to save on expenses? Why are you switching?</p>
<p>“Alh and poetgrl, you two made me laugh”</p>
<p>And they made me spit up my coffee.
Just kidding 
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<p>I think the problem in this conversation is that people are trying to answer the question posed in the thread. Why, if you are making over a random amount of money (determined by the OP as rich), do you not feel that you are?</p>
<p>And when people are honestly trying to answer the question, they are berated by others saying if they don’t feel rich with XX salary, they are complaining, whining, trying to keep up with the neighbors, suckered by advertising, or told to suck it up because people have much less in third world countries.</p>
<p>I haven’t seen anyone on here complaining, just trying to answer the question. Perhaps the definition of rich is completely different to many people. But I certainly don’t expect everyone must think exactly as I do, why should they?</p>
<p>There is no specific definition…which means there is no answer. </p>
<p>In some cases, we know rich when we see rich. Warren Buffett is rich. The Waltons are rich. Bill Gates is rich. After that, the answers get murky. :)</p>
<p>I am not sure if Donald Trump is rich or if he just lives rich. :)</p>
<p>Don’t let the berating get you down. As far as threads go…this thread is fairly mild. I find the differing points of views interesting.</p>
<p>IxnayBob- I have to reply to your post yesterday where about the mall friends my parents met. I can only say- if you only met my mom. She gets more information than a CIA waterboarding team and the people she meets give it up without a second thought.</p>
<p>When we were kids the owner of the dress shop on the main street in town called her out of the blue to offer her a job because everyone in town will come to the store if you work here. She stayed 20 years. She knew everyone in town and they shared all kinds of things about themselves and their families with her. People still do to this day.</p>
<p>She does not need to ask they just share.</p>
<p>dstark, yes. I will be reducing my monthly housing costs by $500 AND have room for my elderly dad to stay with us when he wants or needs to. The house we are in now is technically a two BR but we improvised an additional room in the basement that worked well enough for my son when he was in high school but really isn’t guest- or parent-worthy. The entire house is only 1200 square feet, but the taxes are high and I feel I am paying for the privilege of being in a “hot” neighborhood (although it wasn’t so hot when I moved in).</p>
<p>busdriver, there is a sort of petulance that comes through in some people’s posts. I would never complain about my circumstances but I am not at all in the same league financially as a lot of those who post here. There don’t seem to be a lot of single parents on this site, nor people who make under six figures. I am one of the few, apparently. My elite-school education doesn’t seem to have protected me from the randomness of life. :)</p>
<p>“Don’t let the berating get you down. As far as threads go…this thread is fairly mild. I find the differing points of views interesting”</p>
<p>Nah, threads like this don’t get me down, very little does. This is nothing compared to the old forum, where people were more plain spoken.</p>
<p>But I was walking around the crew room the other night, and for a minute I thought how entertaining it would be to start asking people if they were rich. Most everyone except for the new guys would apparently be considered rich, and some have family income in multiples of 3-4 times that. Most everyone had this exhausted look on their faces, some guys were slumped over in recliners trying to catch a nap. A few people I barely recognized because they’d gained so much weight over the years. Some people getting ready to work all night, fly into miserable weather, a little bit of coughing going on, unhappy with the company, and the ugly season is just getting started. I’m pretty sure the general reaction would be a laugh, and a comment that, “I’d be home sleeping, and not working in the middle of the night if I was rich, now wouldn’t I?”</p>
<p>That’s sweet you are making space for your dad.
I wanted to make our detached garage into a cottage for my mom to live in, ( & for us to live in & rent the house later-), but my mother died before I could talk H into it. Today is her birthday, she would have been 80.
( half the basement is a workshop, which is really more than enough room)</p>
<p>Socioeconomic class seems to be more represented by what you do for work & leisure activities,
People who can’t afford to live in the city, do end up in the outlying areas, and may have a larger house to compensate. My sister in law for instance. She married a guy who is nutso, because he went along with her plan to build a huge house. Now she is compromising her future in order to buy him out because she can’t give up her " dream" house.
We lived within a mile of the Gates compound when we got married, but Seattle had more to do, so we moved to an established neighborhood. ( actually the area on the east side of Lake Washington was established also, but not as much to do without driving and parking)
People are moving closer in, not further out, and they like the perks of amenities like mature landscaping and short commute times.
I like being able to get my errands done during the week so I have my weekends free.
I tried to do errands on the outskirts of the city last weekend, and I seriously underestimated the amount of time/traffic.</p>
<p>I could probably count on one hand the people I know that I would describe as rich.
People that work for entertainment or volunteer only, because they could live off their investments.
Of course, if some others were frugal, and temperate, they probably could also live off their profit.</p>
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<p>The number I quoted are median not average. they are not adjusted for inflation.</p>
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<p>For the discussion here, I am assuming $200K-500K/yr group. Buffets, Gates or Waltons seem les relevant to me.</p>
<p>Sally305, as you know, you have to do what works for you. </p>
<p>That 's nice that you will have room for your dad and you will take him in. </p>
<p>I have been told on a couple of occassions…if that guy is so smart, why isn’t he rich? I am smarter than that guy. If that guy is so smart why am I richer than he is?</p>
<p>Of course, people who make these comments are neither smart nor rich. ;)</p>
<p>Igloo, Your numbers of household income for the year 2000 are too high.</p>
<p>I provided a link a few posts up… Or is it down? :)</p>
<p>@tom1944, your Mom and I would probably be good friends. My wife and kids make fun of me for befriending everyone, and tell me that it’s possible to get a tank of gas without making a new friend at the gas station. </p>
<p>dstark, It’s from censux data. </p>
<p>I wonder if ther’s a formula for an ideal median income given the GDP or some other macro data.</p>
<p>Wow, the range of $200K-500K/year seems pretty dang big to me, seeing as how the latter number is 2.5 times the former. $200K is the upper 3% in the US, according to what I’ve read. Upper 1% is $388K. Not sure where the $500K came from or represents.</p>
<p>^out of thin air. Just nice round number. We could pick $200-400K range, the top 1-3%ers. </p>
<p>One reason the rich may not feel rich is that once you reach the point that you can provide all your essential needs functionally things don’t change much as you gain income. A good used car gets you to the grocery store just as quickly as a $100k Mercedes. A modest house shelters you, has central air and heat, indoor plumbing, full kitchen with appliances, etc just like any mansion. Clothing gets more expensive but the function doesn’t change. Most people can still vacation albeit much more modestly. What differs is the luxury and cost. The luxury obviously requires more financial resources but doesn’t satisfy any more basic needs. </p>