At what income level do you consider someone is rich?

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May 16, 2000
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Originally posted by: spidey07
Originally posted by: dullard
Originally posted by: JD50
You're focusing entirely on statistics and ignoring the real world. Just take a step back for a minute and realize that you are saying that teacher and a cop, relying solely on their income, are upper class rich folks. That is insane.
Why is it insane to say a family which is above DOUBLE the median income is on the border of not being middle class? I didn't say $100k is solidly upper class, but it is the cutoff. Also, being in the upper class isn't about money. Upper class is about having power or access to those with power. $100k is where you can just start to afford that access. It doesn't mean that you'll spend the money to gain that access. But you could if you choose.
Just for clarification, are you seriously saying that a 25 year old couple (teacher and a cop both making around $50k) are rich and part of the American upper class? Seriously?
Again, they will be rich and they can choose to become part of the upper class (Upper class is an attitiude not an income). If they scrimp like they did in school, they could be millionaires by the age of 40. That is certainly borderline rich. It isn't like $100k instantly makes you wealthy, but it is just enough that you can have a big stockpile if you spend it well. That richness of choice is something that a couple each working two jobs and totaling $40k for all jobs combined just doesn't have. Yes, seriously.

You're absolutely insane. Both people working at a factory or other blue collar/service jobs would bring them close to if not over 100K. 100K income does not get you much of anything but being able to afford the bills, save for retirement and put a roof over your head and provide for kids - that's middle class. In a high cost of living area it's borderline poor.

It just isn't a lot of money anymore.

He's not insane, you're out of touch. 30k a year can do everything you named, EASILY. The VAST percentage of people in America earn that or less.
 

erwos

Diamond Member
Apr 7, 2005
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Originally posted by: Acanthus
Sociologists typically define rich as upper class, which begins at $250K
And you found this definition of upper class being $250k where? I mean, you can't say something isn't an arbitrary label by linking it to another arbitrary label...

My problem with $250k is that if both parents in the family work, that's only $125k each before they start hitting the higher brackets. $125k is a pretty good sum of money, definitely, but for two highly-educated professionals, it's hardly out of reach after fifteen years of working.
 

PricklyPete

Lifer
Sep 17, 2002
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Originally posted by: CrazyLazy
Well I am 23 years old and make $800,000 a year/have a hot wife/own a mansion/am a typical ATOTer.

Maybe if you get a $400K raise this year...maybe you'll be up to my level. I have 3 mansions though.
 

imported_Lothar

Diamond Member
Aug 10, 2006
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Originally posted by: Vic
Rich is net worth and assets, not income.

What is the difference between being "rich" and "wealthy"?
I always assumed "rich" to be income, and "wealth" to be net worth and assets.

Ex: It's possible for one to be rich, and not be wealthy.
People who make hundreds of thousands in years but are still drowning in debt might be considered "rich", but are not "wealthy".
 

tw1164

Diamond Member
Dec 8, 1999
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Originally posted by: CrazyLazy
Well I am 23 years old and make $800,000 a year/have a hot wife/own a mansion/am a typical ATOTer.

I think that would make you part of the ATOT working poor. It's a shame you haven't been able to save so that you could retire by age 23.
 

m1ldslide1

Platinum Member
Feb 20, 2006
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Originally posted by: rdubbz420
Originally posted by: Lumathix
Originally posted by: rdubbz420
depends on where you live. $150000 in Texas is probably rich where in NYC that would still be middle class.

$150k in Texas is definately not rich. lol :)

you can get a pretty phat house in TX on that salary. just a 600 sq ft apartment in NYC.

Fixed.

Rich is net worth of 5 million +, or yearly net income of around 1 million. Thats just my 6:45am gut feeling - the 'rich' bracket as we're defining it is going to be by far the widest range of values since the upper limit is unbounded. There is a big effin difference between $5 million and $800 million, and both are apparently considered rich, even given the $795 million difference between the two.
 

MikeyLSU

Platinum Member
Dec 21, 2005
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I'd say maybe around the $500,000 range for a couple.

So $250K each.

Although if you make $500,000 and have 5 kids, you are not nearly as well off as someone making $400,000 with no kids.
 

BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
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Originally posted by: PrinceofWands
Originally posted by: JD50
Originally posted by: PrinceofWands
Originally posted by: dullard
Originally posted by: JD50
I'm sorry but that's ridiculous. I was making $50k as a cop after about 3 years, my wife was making roughly the same. We had a household income of right at $100k, and you're going to tell me that we are rich? Insane.

So now according to you, cops, teachers, etc... are now considered rich and part of the upper class? Ridiculous.
If combined you made more than $100k, then your household made more than 85% of all households in one of the richest countries on Earth. You made more than 99% of housholds on Earth and possibly more than 99.5% of them. With that in mind, how can you NOT call that in the upper regions?

The fact is, at $50k a pop, you each made more than the entire household combined for most families in the US. Teachers and cops like to complain that they have a low income. It just isn't true.

:thumbsup: for rational posts.

:confused:

Are you agreeing with him that a teacher and a cop are not part of the middle class?

For pointing out that MOST people in the US don't make 50k a year, and that's still many times what MOST people make in the rest of the world. If you're not living like a king at 100k a year then you're either in the most expensive area of the free world, or you have an IQ of 5.

You have a pretty low view of what it means to live like a king. In a lot of the US, 100K a year buys a small house, not the palace you seem to be imagining.
 

child of wonder

Diamond Member
Aug 31, 2006
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Living in South Dakota our cost of living is pretty low. I would consider someone who makes $150,000 per year VERY well off.

I'd think of someone making $250,000 per year here to be rich.
 

Capt Caveman

Lifer
Jan 30, 2005
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Originally posted by: BoberFett
Originally posted by: PrinceofWands
Originally posted by: JD50
Originally posted by: PrinceofWands
Originally posted by: dullard
Originally posted by: JD50
I'm sorry but that's ridiculous. I was making $50k as a cop after about 3 years, my wife was making roughly the same. We had a household income of right at $100k, and you're going to tell me that we are rich? Insane.

So now according to you, cops, teachers, etc... are now considered rich and part of the upper class? Ridiculous.
If combined you made more than $100k, then your household made more than 85% of all households in one of the richest countries on Earth. You made more than 99% of housholds on Earth and possibly more than 99.5% of them. With that in mind, how can you NOT call that in the upper regions?

The fact is, at $50k a pop, you each made more than the entire household combined for most families in the US. Teachers and cops like to complain that they have a low income. It just isn't true.

:thumbsup: for rational posts.

:confused:

Are you agreeing with him that a teacher and a cop are not part of the middle class?

For pointing out that MOST people in the US don't make 50k a year, and that's still many times what MOST people make in the rest of the world. If you're not living like a king at 100k a year then you're either in the most expensive area of the free world, or you have an IQ of 5.

You have a pretty low view of what it means to live like a king. In a lot of the US, 100K a year buys a small house, not the palace you seem to be imagining.

And in some locations, a person only making $50k wouldn't be able to afford to live there.
 

Modelworks

Lifer
Feb 22, 2007
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Where I live in NC, probably 250K.
Lots of people appear rich, in reality they are in debt so far that their great great grandchildren will not see them debt free.

 

JD50

Lifer
Sep 4, 2005
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Originally posted by: BoberFett
Originally posted by: PrinceofWands
Originally posted by: JD50
Originally posted by: PrinceofWands
Originally posted by: dullard
Originally posted by: JD50
I'm sorry but that's ridiculous. I was making $50k as a cop after about 3 years, my wife was making roughly the same. We had a household income of right at $100k, and you're going to tell me that we are rich? Insane.

So now according to you, cops, teachers, etc... are now considered rich and part of the upper class? Ridiculous.
If combined you made more than $100k, then your household made more than 85% of all households in one of the richest countries on Earth. You made more than 99% of housholds on Earth and possibly more than 99.5% of them. With that in mind, how can you NOT call that in the upper regions?

The fact is, at $50k a pop, you each made more than the entire household combined for most families in the US. Teachers and cops like to complain that they have a low income. It just isn't true.

:thumbsup: for rational posts.

:confused:

Are you agreeing with him that a teacher and a cop are not part of the middle class?

For pointing out that MOST people in the US don't make 50k a year, and that's still many times what MOST people make in the rest of the world. If you're not living like a king at 100k a year then you're either in the most expensive area of the free world, or you have an IQ of 5.

You have a pretty low view of what it means to live like a king. In a lot of the US, 100K a year buys a small house, not the palace you seem to be imagining.

QFT
 

Polish3d

Diamond Member
Jul 6, 2005
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I'll share my experience.


My parents make a combined income, at the moment of over 300k a year, my mom is not working though due to injury, if she were/when she did it was above 400k/year.

At this level, I would describe things as pretty comfortable, but not necessarily "rich."

It allows me to live a pretty solid lifestyle as a college student, though their help is largely based upon the fact that I work extremely hard in school and have a specific goal and work very hard toward it.

Now, my parents work out in Silicon Valley, and they are founding members of a tech startup.

If this startup continues and goes public, THEN the windfall from that would definitely put my parents in the rich category, IMO. The outcome would be a rough doubling of base income, and stock options worth low-8 figures.

I'm personally curious to see how this goes, although I can say I'm definitely not counting on it either way.

Btw, many people where my parents live (near Palo Alto) have become wealthy in this way, through tech startups et al

A note, I'm really proud of both of my parents, they both worked their way to where they are now, from fairly tough circumstances (family were farmers from Kansas on one end for instance)

 

ABitTooSpicy

Senior member
Jun 30, 2004
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When your passive income... (income you don't have to lift a finger for... investments etc.) outweigh ALL your expenses. You are then as rich as humanly necessary...

:)
 

NoCreativity

Golden Member
Feb 28, 2008
1,735
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I'll just say what others have, when you don't have to worry about money or working, you are rich. Depending on where you live will make a huge difference in the number. Around here, $250K will put in in upper class, but by no means would I consider you rich.
 

Polish3d

Diamond Member
Jul 6, 2005
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Originally posted by: Modelworks
Where I live in NC, probably 250K.
Lots of people appear rich, in reality they are in debt so far that their great great grandchildren will not see them debt free.


Yes, and I think that's a very important lesson. Where I live right now, I think a lot of people are "fake" rich, or what a friend of mine used to call 50,000 dollar millionaires (ie, income = 50k, lifestyle presentation far above it.)

Where I live is nice, but I would describe it as an upper-middle class enclave with a lot of people who are exaggerating their wealth (in all likelihood). When I go into Whole Foods for instance, I see a lot of people who appear stuck up, but my car is one of the nicest in the parking lot, which as a college-student is a tad confounding.

My school is like this also except here there really are a lot of wealthy kids.

btw, Whole Foods might not be a great place for good family-sized meal values, but I can get great and interesting meals there for about the cost of a normal grocery store.


 
Sep 29, 2004
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Polish3d,

I was driving around one day looking at homes for sale and noticed an interesting house. Not in the best neighborhood, probably worth $400K. They had about $200K worth of cars in their driveway. Hummer H2, mercedes and a third car. I laughed.

 

Polish3d

Diamond Member
Jul 6, 2005
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Yeah, I think this type of social pressure/competition is something people have to be careful with.

For instance, I could probably spend a lot of time spending my parent's money (though they wouldn't actually go for that) and trying to show how awesome I am, which I think does happen a lot at my school, but in truth I spend the majority of my time on schoolwork and grad-school preparation.

I don't think most people would think my parents do as well as they do by outer appearance alone, they are engineers essentially and spend their time working hard.

I see this type of "stretching" to present a lifestyle far above what one's income suggests a lot, and I think its far better to spend one's time pursuing the kind of income one aims for, rather than trying to "live it" without actually having it.

One just needs to be stronger than social pressures