What Do You Consider Rich?

[snarlingcoyote]

Long story short, I'm just curious. I'm hoping this doesn't turn into a fight, somehow. The genesis of the curiosity started off board and has no particular political bent beyond an inconsistency I heard from someone speaking, when the speaker made a reference to "the top 1% of the wealthy in this country" and then continued speaking about "people who make more than a half-million every year" and including them as "wealthy". This left me scratching my head in puzzlement, as I would say the first category are the uber-wealthy and the second category would include a LOT of upper-middle class folks.

(Personally, I would say rich starts at around 6-10 million in assets and wealthy at 50-90 million in assets and uber-wealthy at a couple of hundred million. I would consider anyone with a white-collar or high paying blue-collar job as middle class and anyone with a lower-paying service or blue-collar job as working class. Working poor to me means, lowest end, minimum wage, not able to afford even the basics in some cases, but either employed or, in this economy, normally employed.)

Finally, do you believe that people can easily transcend the economic class they were born to?

(I honestly think it depends upon which class you're talking about. I have many friends who started out as working poor and working class who are now solidly middle class, or vice versa, but I don't know of people who have moved from those classes to the classes of the wealthy. The wealthy - at least the ones I know of - tend to inherit their money and pass it on.)

Finally, have your perceptions about wealthy and economic class changed as you've gotten older?

 

[Charade]

Just bookmarking this so I can respond in the morning.

 

[Anewman]

(Personally, I would say rich starts at around 6-10 million in assets and wealthy at 50-90 million in assets and uber-wealthy at a couple of hundred million. I would consider anyone with a white-collar or high paying blue-collar job as middle class and anyone with a lower-paying service or blue-collar job as working class. Working poor to me means, lowest end, minimum wage, not able to afford even the basics in some cases, but either employed or, in this economy, normally employed.)

I really dont know the stats to give an educated answer. Families with a net worth of over 6 million might be in the top 99.8 percentile.

On that table you would have to consider the 99.7 percentile down to be middle class, sorry but I dont think middle class goes up that high.

Middle class should be just that.

 

[Diva of Dragons]

I don't know about dollar amounts because it totally depends on where you live.

Sticking to the idea of financial wealth, I think "rich" is having all of your financial needs met with plenty of money to do/have what you want when you want. Also, not being tied to a job just because you need the money, but doing what you love and having the time to do what you want. It's being able to pay to pay cash for everything and never having to "plan" for retirement because you have plenty of money in reserve.

Ultimately, it's being in the position to live the want you want to live, with the people you want,, without ever actually having to think about money. That life, and how much it costs, looks different to everyone.

 

[rparmfamily]

Anyone making more than me is weathly LOL. (haha kidding!)

To me weathly=rich. Thjere are different levels of rich in my book. Silly rich (Gates, Buffett, any sports/movie star LOL) and regular rich.

Over $200K is doing pretty dang good, and I do happen to live in one of the most expensive places in the country.

 

[kydisneyfans]

Anyone who makes more than me is rich, anyone who makes less than me is poor.

 

[mrsdon]

I think we are rich.
We live in a nice house, we have a good car, we both have jobs.
We have insurance.
The $ amount we make doesnt really matter, its where I feel like we are.

 

[lisajl]

In my case, I don't think it is money that makes you rich.

I watched my sister in law die of ovarian cancer, anyone that is healthy is rich to me.

 

[ophelia]

I consider anybody rich when they don't have to eat ramen on a regular basis like I do.

 

[Christine]

To the OP--my definition is pretty much like yours.

I live in one of those expensive areas and, while a $250,000 income sounds great on paper, if you have a family of four, you're just going to be doing okay. Don't get me wrong, you can have a very decent, comfy life a $250,000 per year, but it is my no means rich or wealthy by my definition.

 

[AnnaS]

I don't know about dollar amounts because it totally depends on where you live.

Sticking to the idea of financial wealth, I think "rich" is having all of your financial needs met with plenty of money to do/have what you want when you want. Also, not being tied to a job just because you need the money, but doing what you love and having the time to do what you want. It's being able to pay to pay cash for everything and never having to "plan" for retirement because you have plenty of money in reserve.

Ultimately, it's being in the position to live the want you want to live, with the people you want,, without ever actually having to think about money. That life, and how much it costs, looks different to everyone.

I think Lisa answered exactly what I wanted to say.

 

[ConcKahuna]

I personally consider anyone who has an individual income of six figures or more wealthy. When you hit seven figures that's when you're super rich.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

It's all relative. Compared with most people in history, you are rich if you don't worry about getting enough to eat and live in a climate controlled home. Many things that the working class have now were unavailable to even the rich when I was a kid - DVDs, personal computers, cell phones, seedless watermelons, etc.

You can try to define rich as those not needing to work for a living, but the notion of "a living" is too flexible. I could have retired to a third world country years ago and lived off of my meager savings and been rich by their local standards.

It is also confusing to try to sort out "richness" by income or net worth. Is someone that makes $500,000 a year but spends $600,000 a year rich? They have a negative net worth. Is someone that has $10,000,000 saved but lives on only $20,000 a year rich?

I think there is a lot of truth to those who say that the rich are people with more money than them and the poor are people with less. It's all relative.

Personally, I consider myself to be very rich. I have a loving wife, two wonderful children, a great extended family, and lots of really good friends. I live in a great neighborhood. I have a job that I love with a really good company lead by great executives. I live in a country that I consider to be amongst the best in the world and I live in my favorite state. I live in one of the most peaceful times in history. I live in the most technologically advanced time in the history of the world. I know enough about history, other countries, other cultures, and other people's lives to have the perspective to see how extremely fortunate I am.

Rich is a relative term. While I may have less than a few, I have so much more than most people that I'd be crazy to see myself as anything other than very, very rich.

 

[tinker&belle]

According to my grandmother while I was growing up, you only had a kitchen diswasher if you were rich.

Guess I've made it!


We live in a low cost of living area. I think wealthy/rich isn't just about the money coming in but more about assets and debt. If someone makes a million dollars a year, but has it all allocated to boat payment, large mortgage/utilities for large house, other payments etc. they may be 'stuff'' rich but they are not building wealth.

I read a study recently that the median/middle income in the US is in the low 60K range, which would be technically the middle class number.

 

[happygirl]

To me rich is anything over 100,000

 

[Christine]

I personally consider anyone who has an individual income of six figures or more wealthy. When you hit seven figures that's when you're super rich.

Really? Do you not take into account the cost of living in an area?

The combined income of my husband and I is over six figures. I live in a normal, 2,000 square foot home, have two kids that do attend Catholic school (I pay for one child, my mom pays for the other as I cannot afford both). I barely eat out once a week, pack my lunch EVERY day, I feel that I cannot afford (or want to afford) premium cable like HBO. We have one TV, can't afford to do any home improvement projects, and can only take a vacation every other year (see signature). I have a retirement account but have been unable to save for any college education.

All my salary goes toward living expenses in this area.

If I'm wealthy, then wealthy is no fun!

 

[ConcKahuna]

Really? Do you not take into account the cost of living in an area?

The combined income of my husband and I is over six figures. I live in a normal, 2,000 square foot home, have two kids that do attend Catholic school (I pay for one child, my mom pays for the other as I cannot afford both). I barely eat out once a week, pack my lunch EVERY day, I feel that I cannot afford (or want to afford) premium cable like HBO. We have one TV, can't afford to do any home improvement projects, and can only take a vacation every other year (see signature). I have a retirement account but have been unable to save for any college education.

All my salary goes toward living expenses in this area.

If I'm wealthy, then wealthy is no fun!

Yes, I consider that rich.

1) You can afford a 2,000 square foot home. A large new construction home here in FL is a 1,500 sq ft one.

2) You can afford to send even one child to private school. Most people cant even afford that.

3) You can afford to eat out every week.

4) You can afford to go on vacation every other year.

That may not all seem like much to you, but it is WAY beyond what most people can afford.

 

[piglet50]

rich to me means having lots of what you value. to some that means money, others friends, family, etc. to me it means my family, church family, friends, good books, and enough to comfortably live on.

 

[dvcgirl]

I was just reading a bit of Jean Chatsky's new book yesterday. There was a free download from Oprah's website.

She said that there are four financial types in our populations.

The Wealthy (3%)
The Financially Comfortable (27%)
The Paycheck to Paycheck (54%)
The Further in-debtors (15%)

She defined "wealthy" people as being just 3% of the population and here's how she did it. This is from memory, so hopefully I get it right. She said that on average they have investable assets of 2 Million (not including home equity). She said you are wealthy at a younger age if you fit in the categories below. Interesting that she does not use salary as a criteria....which makes sense. I know plenty of people who make big salaries and spend nearly all of it.

You are wealthy if you have the the stated amount of investable assets.....again, not including home equity.

Under age 35........250K or more
35-44..............500K or more
45-54..............750K or more
55 or older.......One million or more.

 

[xoprincessmomxo]

When I was a kid, if I had $100 saved, I was rich!

Personally, anyone making 6 figures, imo, is doing pretty darn good.