Define rich and define poor from your perspective.

[Randi]

Rich and poor always seem like rather vague terms to me. We hear a lot these days about the "rich" who benefit from tax cuts and the "poor" who were left to struggle in New Orleans, or the elderly living on a fixed income.

I know from my own experience that people choose to spend what money they have on different priorities. If a family doesn't have a car is it because they have access to public transportation or because they can't afford one? If a family is struggling to put food on the table, is it because of lack of training in how to shop and apply for food stamps and other programs, or is it because the money goes to other things (not necessarily rent)? I also know that my father who has been retired 22 yrs, is getting more money each month than I bring home working 40 hrs a week. He has a very small pension (under $50 a month) and Social Security, but with the annual cost of living raises, his check has risen quite a bit in those 22 yrs. And his annual salary was never high when he was working. I make more annually than he ever did.

This isn't meant as a gripe, more of an observation. I just believe that we all have different perspectives on what rich and poor mean. If someone earns more than us, we think they are rich, and if they earn less, they must be poor.

 

[Viking]

Per United Nations being poor is defined as having an income of less than 50% of the average income of your country.
But even that can be misleading as an income which can afoord you a decent house in i.e. Iowa, won't buy you a dogshed in Los Angeles or New York.
And of course it is 'better' to be poor in Germany or in the USA than in India or Bangladesh.

 

[WDWMom]

The poor are people who can't afford what they NEED. The rich are people who can afford what they need and what others need. JMO

 

[JoeThaNo1Stunna]

In my area I'd consider rich to be anyone with an income over $60,000 and poor to be anyone making less than $25,000.

 

[Disney Doll]

I would agree with the not being able to afford what you need.

The city next to my suburban town is a great example of this. There are many folks who live in the less-desirable section of the city. Yet they are driving cars that are $50 or $60 thousand dollars. But they are liviing in a tenement-style building. Can you consider someone who drives a $50K car poor??? I don't think so. Can you say they make bad choices when it comes to money management...well perhaps that's a better way to put it.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Poor can not buy what they need; rich can buy more than what they need, without much forethought or consideration of the financial impact, AND the purchase does, in fact, have little or no impact.

 

[paigevz]

I agree with Dan.

 

[ibouncetoo]

I guess I'd want to qualify "what they need".

Obviously people who can't feed, clothe or shelter themselve are in they 'poor' catagory. I think there are people who can JUST afford the basic necessities; food, shelter, clothing, basic transportation, basic school required fees but have no real discretionary income. I'd consider them poor also. I guess there's the 'jobless' poor and the 'working' poor.

I guess, to me, the difference between poor and middle class (or lower middle class, if you will) is discretionary income. Do you have the money to upgrade the way you fullfill your basic needs or to do the extras? I know some people who live VERY modestly as far as basic needs go so that they can retire early or vacation with abandon. They may look, in their daily lives/activites, like they are poor, but aren't. I know people who live way beyond their means and may look middle class....but trust me, two months without an income and they'd be on the street. I have friends who live a very nice, comfortable daily life, but have nothing put aside for the future or couldn't come up with the cash for a get-away weekend.

Now, rich, that's easy.....rich is when you have lots of people who love you

 

[EsmeraldaX]

Poor for most parts of the country = people who can not afford to get by on a daily basis without assistance from state and federal programs.

I seriously doubt anyone on the DIS is poor. They all have internet connections except for a small few who access the DIS via other internet connections.

ETA : Joe - I don't think you can say a particular income is rich or poor because it varies by parts of the country and also by how people manage their income. Our household income here at my house would put us at well above wealthy by your definition but it's pretty laughable by New England standards. But we live frugally and prioritize what we spend on, look for good deals on the things we want etc. We live pretty comfortably.

I think as was pointed out above in a post that some people who you might call poor just make stupid decisions as to what to spend their money on. I see it every single time I go to the grocery store. My town borders a town where a fairly large percentage of the residents don't work, are all on welfare and food stamps, have way more kids than they can afford, live in housing that MY FAMILY is paying for for them, yet when I see them in front of me at the grocery store paying with the food stamps, they are ALL wearing name brand clothes, nice jewelry, have expensive looking cel phones, new looking name brand sneakers etc. And they always exit and get into huge, newish SUVs. In my opinion, these people are not poor.

The poor are those who truly can not take care of themselves.

 

[Planogirl]

Of course, it's also possible to be temporarily poor. People who are laid off and have difficulty finding another job or someone who suffers a catastophic even such as illness may struggle for a while. And the Internet is almost vital for a job hunter nowadays.

The chronic poor however is a confusing situation. What makes healthy, able people poor in the long term? Can they be born into it just like so many rich people are?

 

[Sparx]

Rich is when you have enough money to never worry about it again. Poor is when you don't have enough money to eat or pay rent or something like that.

 

[Kermit]

DH and I have defined rich and poor as it relates to our own family, since how much money other people make doesn't have as much of an impact on us. (Not that the amount of poor people or the effect of government regulations for the rich don't affect everybody, but on a practical, day-to-day level.) We define rich, as in the goal we're working toward, as being able to have enough money that we'd be able to comfortably live indefinitely. To us, poor is having our monthly commitments high in relation to our money coming in so that there is little money left over to save and invest. I know that there are much worse levels of being poor, but we've been blessed so that we're not facing that right now. Others have already hit on how being "poor" can be different for people in the same area with the same income. Some people may struggle on a certain salary because they think they HAVE to have newer cars, they don't know how to save money on food, etc. Another family with the same income may live quite comfortably with some money left over each month because they drive older cars, cook from scratch, and save money other ways.

 

[Caradana]

I think Kermit's definition of "rich" is excellent. I'll throw out some real numbers, to give people something definite to react to. Off the top of my head, "rich" is a couple or a family that has over $5K/month cash after bills/mortgage. "Poor" is a couple or family that is spending more than they take in every month.

 

[ibouncetoo]

with some money left over each month because they ..... cook from scratch, and save money other ways.

Boy, that's one that makes a big difference in my budget just going a little overboard on dining out can ruin a budget!

 

[eleanor]

It seems in both of our countries the politicians seem to decide who is rich and who is poor when it comes to election time.Thepoor are people who cannot care for the basic needs. THe rich are everybody that has more money than me.

 

[Kahana-ri]

My belief is if you are rich in love and health, nothing else matters.

 

[Taylor]

I doubt there is any true definition everyone can agree on.

 

[paigevz]

My belief is if you are rich in love and health, nothing else matters.

That's nice.

It is harder to be healthy if you are living in poverty...........poor people have fewer opportunities to practice preventive medicine, and often trouble eating/exercising properly. Some are choices, some are simply "the way it is"........if you live in a dangerous neighborhood and are "working" poor, so that you are only home in the evenings, and it is not safe to go out to exercise after dark, and you have no exercise equipment, and you can't afford a gym..........pretty much you can run circles in your tiny apartment, but that's about it. Poor people often can't get fresh fruit and vegetables when they're out of season as it's so expensive, dairy is expensive, good lean meat is expensive. Sometimes they can't cook as their electricity is shut off and they must eat out.............yes, it's more expensive in the long run, but cheaper than trying to pay a bill that may be up to 400 or 500 dollars since they haven't paid it in the last couple of months because the money wouldn't stretch, and they needed to pay the doctor or he wouldn't see little Timmy and they had to pay the rent or they wouldn't have a place to live, and the car broke down again, and they had to get it fixed or they couldn't work...........................being poor makes life very hard.

Love is also harder. Harder to keep it together when you can't pay anything. You get frustrated, your partner gets frustrated, you fight about who spends what and why and where and how. Kids get snapped at because they ask for something and their parent is already so frustrated and feeling hopeless. Escape is a common theme: through alcohol, drug use, physically leaving, physically just not coming home for hours, days..........and, escaping by going shopping, and buying what you want for you and your kids.........feeling bad that you can't do right, so buying those 100 dollar sneakers. Buying the big TV, so that at least in the evenings, you can watch it and forget about your little tiny dark apartment with 15 locks to keep out the bad guys, your two jobs you have to work tomorrow, your husband who left when the going got tough, your kids who need field trip money, notebooks, new clothes, lice shampoo, and Timmy is coughing again.

My take on another poster's question about being born poor..............it's like that old saying, "it takes money to make money"..........if they have nothing, it makes it harder. Even one car can give the worth they need to bump up to another car with a bit more money, and so on. That's why I love the program I heard about a few years ago where they will come pick up old cars, donated by people who won't get much out of them, and fix them up and give them away to qualifying people. That's a great leg up. I don't remember the name of the charity now, but we gave one of our old cars to them. It wouldn't have fetched us much, but for a few hundered dollars they could get it running well. Also if someone builds or gives a house, such as in Habitat for Humanity, that helps a lot.......not having to come up with rent or car payment monthly, and having that real property can help.

 

[Aidensmom]

The majority of Americans are neither rich nor poor by my definitions.

Poor is someone who cannot afford the basic neccessities of shelter, clothing, food, childcare, transportation (even if that just means taking the bus). If you have a $40,000 vehicle and struggle to put food on the table, you are not poor, you have bad money management skills.

Rich is someone who does not have to consult their budget before making a major purchase, which I would define as something being $100 or more.

The rest of us are middle class. Within middle class, however, there is a HUGE range. Middle class are the people who can afford everything they NEED, but have varying amounts of income that can be dedicated towards savings, investments, and discretionary spending.

I do believe there are MANY people that cannot afford to put much in savings or investments, myself included, but I would not consider these people poor. They may be the most prone to falling into that category, however, if they were to lose their source of income.