Poll: How much would you have to make a year to be "rich"?

[AvesPKS]

Originally posted by: Ameesh

Originally posted by: NeuroSynapsis
i think when you start making 100k you're prettyrich

100k is chump change

It depends on where you live. 100k could be chump change or it could be more.

 

[Nebor]

As a single guy making about $100k a year, without a house payment (house was given to me) I'd say I live a pretty comfortable life. I have two nice cars, don't have to worry about money for the most part... The only thing I'd change if I made $250k a year is, I'd trade my Lightning for an Aston Martin.

 

[amcdonald]

Originally posted by: Ameesh

Originally posted by: NeuroSynapsis
i think when you start making 100k you're prettyrich

100k is chump change

Agreed. I voted for 400k to a million per year... But I'd say that is more wealthy than rich.
Wealthy is having at least 100k in liquid assets and making 500k+ a year.
Rich is more of a net worth kind of thing... I'd say that if your house is worth over 5 million dollars, you are probably rich.
Or if you own a yacht or a personal jet.

 

[Aharami]

id say 150K+

 

[ScottyB]

Median income (dollars)
25,192
31,042
34,688
15,500
12,159



(That's from left to right on that chart)

I guess my parents are rich then :Q

 

[Ranger X]

How depressing. Most of the families around me are making bank!

 

[Fingolfin269]

To say that $X/year = rich is pretty dumb. It all has to do with where you live and how far that money will go.

But, to answer your poll, Bill Gates is rich wherever he decides to live.

 

[WHipLAsh13]

I do believe Rich is relative to your life style but I hardly consider someone making 300 grand a year rich. Well off absolutely but not Rich. A-rod is Rich.

 

[dr150]

Depends on where you live and your speding patterns.

If you're sensible about your spending, I'd say $500,000 net/year in most places would qualify you as having most of what you want.

 

[Riprorin]

Originally posted by: Jigga
By the time I'm 30, I'd imagine $100,000 a year would be the average 'good' salary of someone my age with a college degree. So in a dual-income home, I'd peg $200,000 annually as the new benchmark for 'upper-middle class'...if there is such a thing anymore.

Just wondering what you are going to be doing at age 30 to earn 100K.

 

[NogginBoink]

Rich isn't a function of how much you make. It's how much you can KEEP.

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

It depends on where I live. In Kansas or Wisconsin, $175k will buy you a brand new very nice house. In Long Island, NY, the same house woulkd cost >$400k.

 

[Thegonagle]

Originally posted by: NogginBoink
Rich isn't a function of how much you make. It's how much you can KEEP.

Yep, yep!

EDIT: Four words: The Millionare Next Door. The facts presented in that book could really open some people's eyes. (Bonus points for borrowing the book for free! )

My boss, a restaurant owner, UAW worker, and former pizza delivery driver, has millions in the bank at 40-something. He owns a modest-sized condo in the city (so he doesn't need to do yard work, he says), drives a '95 Ford Contour, wears t-shirts that I recognize from Old Navy, and sports a Timex watch on his wrist.

My landlord is certainly not poor. In the last 4 years, he's bought 4 more apartment buildings at a few million a pop to bring his holdings up to 11. His personal home is on a nice street here in the city, but it's by no means a high-status neighborhood. On an average day, he looks like an ordinary schlub in jeans and a t-shirt or faded polo, and he swears like a sailor. I think he wears some cheap digital watch. He did recently buy a new truck. . . After deciding the 240,000 miles and 12 years he had gotten out of his last one was just about right.

My best friend's parents are obviously loaded. I don't know whether they have a million bucks, but it sure wouldn't surprise me one little bit. Do you know how I know? Because they never seem to spend a dime. (Actually, they do have house cleaners come in every two weeks.) Their $37,000 house now has a market value of roughly $250,000, and it's paid off. His dad owned a successful small business (recently sold because he was tired of running it) and his mom's a school teacher. They don't dress flashy. The most expensive cars I've seen them buy were about $11,000 each (a used Accord for her, and a used mini-van for the business).

The fact is, most "rich" people with a lot of assets (liquid and invested) blend right in, and a great number of those people who put on a good status-show have relatively little besides their fancy homes (which are probably mortgaged up to the rain-gutters anyway).

 

[Siddhartha]

I would live in NYC. It would take more than $1,000,000 a year to be rich there.

 

[rh71]

The more you make, the more they tax, so it's about how much you don't actually use. The wealthiest people in America are frugal... real frugal. Statistics don't lie.

Theoretically speaking though, I think I'd need at least $300k to be satisfied. I spend too much.

 

[StinkyPinky]

For a single dude...

$20k Tight
$35k Doing ok
$50k Comfortable
$75k Well Off
$150k Wealthy
$350k+ Rich

If $100k is chump change then I'm the biggest chump there is.

 

[astroview]

Hmm, this is a really hard question. I'm still in school and I'd be happy with a 40-50k job when I graduate, but with 250k a year I'd be rich

 

[TommyVercetti]

Sales person at my previous job used to make $30K/month. Now that's rich.

 

[Ameesh]

Originally posted by: Thegonagle

Originally posted by: NogginBoink
Rich isn't a function of how much you make. It's how much you can KEEP.

Yep, yep!

EDIT: Four words: The Millionare Next Door. The facts presented in that book could really open some people's eyes. (Bonus points for borrowing the book for free! )

My boss, a restaurant owner, UAW worker, and former pizza delivery driver, has millions in the bank at 40-something. He owns a modest-sized condo in the city (so he doesn't need to do yard work, he says), drives a '95 Ford Contour, wears t-shirts that I recognize from Old Navy, and sports a Timex watch on his wrist.

My landlord is certainly not poor. In the last 4 years, he's bought 4 more apartment buildings at a few million a pop to bring his holdings up to 11. His personal home is on a nice street here in the city, but it's by no means a high-status neighborhood. On an average day, he looks like an ordinary schlub in jeans and a t-shirt or faded polo, and he swears like a sailor. I think he wears some cheap digital watch. He did recently buy a new truck. . . After deciding the 240,000 miles and 12 years he had gotten out of his last one was just about right.

My best friend's parents are obviously loaded. I don't know whether they have a million bucks, but it sure wouldn't surprise me one little bit. Do you know how I know? Because they never seem to spend a dime. (Actually, they do have house cleaners come in every two weeks.) Their $37,000 house now has a market value of roughly $250,000, and it's paid off. His dad owned a successful small business (recently sold because he was tired of running it) and his mom's a school teacher. They don't dress flashy. The most expensive cars I've seen them buy were about $11,000 each (a used Accord for her, and a used mini-van for the business).

The fact is, most "rich" people with a lot of assets (liquid and invested) blend right in, and a great number of those people who put on a good status-show have relatively little besides their fancy homes (which are probably mortgaged up to the rain-gutters anyway).

whats the point of having millions in the bank if you dont enjoy it?

 

[astroview]

Originally posted by: Ameesh

Originally posted by: Thegonagle

Originally posted by: NogginBoink
Rich isn't a function of how much you make. It's how much you can KEEP.

Yep, yep!

EDIT: Four words: The Millionare Next Door. The facts presented in that book could really open some people's eyes. (Bonus points for borrowing the book for free! )

My boss, a restaurant owner, UAW worker, and former pizza delivery driver, has millions in the bank at 40-something. He owns a modest-sized condo in the city (so he doesn't need to do yard work, he says), drives a '95 Ford Contour, wears t-shirts that I recognize from Old Navy, and sports a Timex watch on his wrist.

My landlord is certainly not poor. In the last 4 years, he's bought 4 more apartment buildings at a few million a pop to bring his holdings up to 11. His personal home is on a nice street here in the city, but it's by no means a high-status neighborhood. On an average day, he looks like an ordinary schlub in jeans and a t-shirt or faded polo, and he swears like a sailor. I think he wears some cheap digital watch. He did recently buy a new truck. . . After deciding the 240,000 miles and 12 years he had gotten out of his last one was just about right.

My best friend's parents are obviously loaded. I don't know whether they have a million bucks, but it sure wouldn't surprise me one little bit. Do you know how I know? Because they never seem to spend a dime. (Actually, they do have house cleaners come in every two weeks.) Their $37,000 house now has a market value of roughly $250,000, and it's paid off. His dad owned a successful small business (recently sold because he was tired of running it) and his mom's a school teacher. They don't dress flashy. The most expensive cars I've seen them buy were about $11,000 each (a used Accord for her, and a used mini-van for the business).

The fact is, most "rich" people with a lot of assets (liquid and invested) blend right in, and a great number of those people who put on a good status-show have relatively little besides their fancy homes (which are probably mortgaged up to the rain-gutters anyway).

whats the point of having millions in the bank if you dont enjoy it?

Peace of mind? Plus why not? You can pay for your kids' education, make sure your family is taken care of longterm with trusts, etc... And just b/c these people don't use the money in a gaudy manner doesn't mean they don't enjoy life. I'm sure they still eat and vacation well.

 

[Ameesh]

being rich has nothing to do with how you spend it, if you are making 300K and spending it all every year your are still wealthy but maybe not fiscally smart.


and IMO you can say you are finaicially rich when you can say it no matter where you live. Sure i would probably be considered very wealthy in some sh!thole town in the midwest and i could probably fund a small army in nicaragua (lol most of us could) but that doesnt make me rich . I guess it really depends on ones' definition but in my opnion 100K is not wealthy in any case; but its probably a good start.

 

[Thegonagle]

Originally posted by: Ameesh

Originally posted by: Thegonagle

Originally posted by: NogginBoink
Rich isn't a function of how much you make. It's how much you can KEEP.

Yep, yep!

EDIT: Four words: The Millionare Next Door. The facts presented in that book could really open some people's eyes. (Bonus points for borrowing the book for free! )

My boss, a restaurant owner, UAW worker, and former pizza delivery driver, has millions in the bank at 40-something. He owns a modest-sized condo in the city (so he doesn't need to do yard work, he says), drives a '95 Ford Contour, wears t-shirts that I recognize from Old Navy, and sports a Timex watch on his wrist.

My landlord is certainly not poor. In the last 4 years, he's bought 4 more apartment buildings at a few million a pop to bring his holdings up to 11. His personal home is on a nice street here in the city, but it's by no means a high-status neighborhood. On an average day, he looks like an ordinary schlub in jeans and a t-shirt or faded polo, and he swears like a sailor. I think he wears some cheap digital watch. He did recently buy a new truck. . . After deciding the 240,000 miles and 12 years he had gotten out of his last one was just about right.

My best friend's parents are obviously loaded. I don't know whether they have a million bucks, but it sure wouldn't surprise me one little bit. Do you know how I know? Because they never seem to spend a dime. (Actually, they do have house cleaners come in every two weeks.) Their $37,000 house now has a market value of roughly $250,000, and it's paid off. His dad owned a successful small business (recently sold because he was tired of running it) and his mom's a school teacher. They don't dress flashy. The most expensive cars I've seen them buy were about $11,000 each (a used Accord for her, and a used mini-van for the business).

The fact is, most "rich" people with a lot of assets (liquid and invested) blend right in, and a great number of those people who put on a good status-show have relatively little besides their fancy homes (which are probably mortgaged up to the rain-gutters anyway).

whats the point of having millions in the bank if you dont enjoy it?

Who wants to: A) Retire penniless on the government dole; or B) be forced work until you're too frail to enjoy the things retirees do, like golfing, world-traveling, and driving 5 under the limit in a big car with no particular place to go? If that sounds good, raise your hands! No, wait! Raise your credit cards!

 

[Squisher]

I'd say $300K-$400K plus.


It doesn't take much with two people working for their combined income to hit $150K.

 

[JonnyBlaze]

i think it varies person to person. if you can live with no money problems and can afford everything you want, you might consider yourself rich.

JB

 

[Thegonagle]

Originally posted by: Ameesh
being rich has nothing to do with how you spend it, if you are making 300K and spending it all every year your are still wealthy but maybe not fiscally smart.

No! Income and wealth are not synonymous. If you take home $300K per year, and spend $299,999 per year on crap, you are not wealthy. You have no wealth except for one small green portrait of George Washington.