When can someone be considered rich?

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Fireblossom
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12 Dec 2017, 11:36 am

So I saw people discussing in another topic (that was not about money) about how much one has to earn to be considered rich. What do people think? How much does a person need to make in a year that you'd consider him/her rich? Or how big does the value of their house and other things like that have to be for them to be considered rich?

Personally I don't know where I'd put the line... I mean I have very small income at the moment, have had for quite a while, so even someone who has to take care of themselves only (no children or partner to take care of) who gets 24 000 per year after taxes sounds really wealthy to me at the moment, but someone here who makes that much might consider themselves to have low income...



Trogluddite
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12 Dec 2017, 12:02 pm

Sack them from their job or take their pension/welfare away and look to see how scared they get! If they're just all "meh!" about it, they are probably rich! :wink:


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BTDT
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12 Dec 2017, 12:16 pm

If they have enough saved to comfortably retire without working another day I think that qualifies these days as "rich." These days a lot of people are retired but still have to worry about money.



magz
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12 Dec 2017, 2:13 pm

In the range I can observe the income and worrying for money seem almost independent. Okay, I don't know the 1%, neither do I know anyone seriously threatened by starvation (well, except one for some period in their life... but they didn't care much about money back then, too). But to the extent I can observe, worrying for money and income are not very related. The people with higher income get higher mortgages, buy more expensive cars and generally spend more. The people with lower income live more modestly and it's sort of stable.
And in every social strata there are people who spend more than they earn on stupid things.


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BTDT
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14 Dec 2017, 2:13 pm

Sall developed a scale for quantifying wealth. Here's how well off you are depending on how long you could last without a source of income:
• Less than a month: Broke
• One to three months: Teetering
• Three to six months: Satisfactory
• Six months to two years: Well off
• Two to five years: Wealthy
• Five or more years: Ultra-wealthy
http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/personalfinance/the-answer-to-this-question-will-tell-you-if-youre-wealthy/ar-BBGK8WR?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartanntp



fluffysaurus
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14 Dec 2017, 2:37 pm

BTDT wrote:
Sall developed a scale for quantifying wealth. Here's how well off you are depending on how long you could last without a source of income:
• Less than a month: Broke
• One to three months: Teetering
• Three to six months: Satisfactory
• Six months to two years: Well off
• Two to five years: Wealthy
• Five or more years: Ultra-wealthy
http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/personalfinance/the-answer-to-this-question-will-tell-you-if-youre-wealthy/ar-BBGK8WR?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartanntp


That doesn't take account of the fact that some people are savers, that doesn't make them rich. I had a few thousand £ put away enough for six months but I don't think many people considered me well off. No house, no car, minimum wage, part time, sardines and pasta for dinner 3x a week. On the other hand I don't feel as if I'm in poverty (which officially I am) being a saver (if possible) does save you a lot of the stress of being poor, I always know where my next meal is coming from even if I know it's not going to be fancy.

I feel rich when I have slightly more than I thought I was going to have :D but for a lot of people it's having more than the person they feel they're in competition with.



magz
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14 Dec 2017, 2:52 pm

BTDT wrote:
Sall developed a scale for quantifying wealth. Here's how well off you are depending on how long you could last without a source of income:
• Less than a month: Broke
• One to three months: Teetering
• Three to six months: Satisfactory
• Six months to two years: Well off
• Two to five years: Wealthy
• Five or more years: Ultra-wealthy
http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/personalfinance/the-answer-to-this-question-will-tell-you-if-youre-wealthy/ar-BBGK8WR?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartanntp

Funny scale. On this scale my family would be well off/wealthy - with our 16yo car and 2 bedroom apartament :D we seem to be far better off than many people we know to earn a lot more and not having kids :D
But there is something in it - it feels well off. Even if aquired by reducing your needs and spendings, this feeling of security is something I would not exchange for a bigger house :)


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goldfish21
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14 Dec 2017, 5:48 pm

Depends on who's doing the considering & what they consider rich, doesn't it? ;)

Someone with very little may consider someone with a roof over their head "rich."

Someone who makes $30K/year may consider someone who makes $100K "rich."

Someone with $50K in the bank may consider someone with $1M in savings and investments to be "rich."

A guy I once knew from another forum who's business was worth well over $1M by age 21 said he considered someone to be "rich," by the definition of some big $ magazine (maybe Forbes) as someone who earns at least $1M/year.

It's all relative. There is no hard dollar figure or definition, only a variety of definitions and perspectives.

Personally, I've been "rich," since my parents named me; I don't need money for that. :P (obvi my first name is Richard.)


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Syd
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14 Dec 2017, 6:07 pm

I'm so broke this year that my roommates are going to seal me in a box and wrap it in gift paper. I will spend the night in a fetal position under a potted plant covered in tinsel. Then, hopefully, they'll unwrap me on Christmas morning. If I don't post again after that, I've probably been sold to human traffickers.



goldfish21
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14 Dec 2017, 6:32 pm

Fireblossom wrote:
24 000 per year after taxes sounds really wealthy to me at the moment, but someone here who makes that much might consider themselves to have low income...


$24,000 per year after taxes here would be from an income of approximately $16/hr full time, or $32K/year gross.

Here, where I live, a living wage for a single person has been calculated to be $20.64/hr in pay and benefits. (I'm currently below that again, short term low income for long term higher income - apprenticeship program.) In 2009 that figure was $18.81/hr & for a single person in Canada, the poverty line was calculated to be $18,421 in after tax income - Nationwide.. here in the most expensive location in the country, that number would be significantly higher. So, basically, the income level that you would consider "rich," would put someone at approximately the poverty line where I live. It's all relative to what income you're comparing to AND where as costs of living vary significantly.


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fluffysaurus
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15 Dec 2017, 5:20 am

Syd wrote:
I'm so broke this year that my roommates are going to seal me in a box and wrap it in gift paper. I will spend the night in a fetal position under a potted plant covered in tinsel. Then, hopefully, they'll unwrap me on Christmas morning. If I don't post again after that, I've probably been sold to human traffickers.


It's always nice to hear the Christmas traditions popular in other parts of the world. :D



Daniel89
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15 Dec 2017, 5:27 am

For me if you have to work you are not rich. Once you can live a good quality of life without work and your family is okay I would consider that rich.