CMM: feeling “rich” has more to do with savings than income

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not another of these tiresome threads.

If you can't afford a Park Ave coop or a Beverly Hills mansion or equivalent, you ain't rich. It's that simple. You're just a better off member of the middle classes. There's a reason why you're called upper middle class. If you can't charter a jet tomorrow and fly off for a Botswana safari and not miss a single dime of the cost, you ain't rich. As F. Scott Fitzgerald said, the rich are different from you and me.

Sheesh, the delusions people go through to pretend they're rich with their 40k salary and 250k savings

Lol, you're a snob and a bore. The question is about FEELING rich. There's no wrong answer here.

+1 rich is subjective. Someone who has $250K in the bank, and very little expenses can feel "rich", whereas someone with $3mil in the bank with a lot of expenses (discretionary other otherwise) may not feel rich.

It's a subjective term, and what doesn't feel rich to you may feel rich to another. As a PP stated, the average American feels "rich" at $1.5mil. I don't because I have a lot more expenses (medical and two kids, one in college and one HS).

[Anonymous]

Often you don't know what you have until you don't have it anymore. I'm a "401k millionaire" in my 40s but that doesn't make me feel rich. I just was laid off and had to switch sectors and now make much less than before in my new job. We'll be okay financially but it's different now. We can no longer shrug off an unexpected expense. Previously, if something came up and cost $2k (for example), it would be no big deal. We wouldn't even think about it. Now, we'll have to think about it, at least until I can claw my way back up. That is the opposite of rich.

[Anonymous]

We have bigtime savings, but what makes me feel actually rich is a thick wad of cash in my wallet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not another of these tiresome threads.

If you can't afford a Park Ave coop or a Beverly Hills mansion or equivalent, you ain't rich. It's that simple. You're just a better off member of the middle classes. There's a reason why you're called upper middle class. If you can't charter a jet tomorrow and fly off for a Botswana safari and not miss a single dime of the cost, you ain't rich. As F. Scott Fitzgerald said, the rich are different from you and me.

Sheesh, the delusions people go through to pretend they're rich with their 40k salary and 250k savings

Literally all of the data available says you are beyond wrong.

[Anonymous]

It's not income per se but cash flow. If you're spending less than 25% of your income, live comfortably, save and invest the rest, you'll probably feel better than someone with 3x the net worth but low cash flow (tied up in low-yielding assets).

The gold is if you can balance it. High net worth in growth oriented (low-yielding assets) and high cash flow from other assets (like a small business).

This has been my experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I see these posts all the time: is 300k HHI rich? Is 300k middle class in DC? Why 300-400k HHI isn’t enough to “feel” rich and so on with people arguing back and forth.

Why the constant focus on income? It obscures the real issue, imo, which is that “feeling” rich = knowing what’s in your bank account. I would hazard to guess that the average American wouldn’t “feel” rich without at least $3-5 million in savings/investments, excluding their primary residence (because you have to live somewhere and with housing so inflated, most can’t or don’t want to downsize).

3 million dollars is what you think the floor is? I think you have never met an average American.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I see these posts all the time: is 300k HHI rich? Is 300k middle class in DC? Why 300-400k HHI isn’t enough to “feel” rich and so on with people arguing back and forth.

Why the constant focus on income? It obscures the real issue, imo, which is that “feeling” rich = knowing what’s in your bank account. I would hazard to guess that the average American wouldn’t “feel” rich without at least $3-5 million in savings/investments, excluding their primary residence (because you have to live somewhere and with housing so inflated, most can’t or don’t want to downsize).

I disagree. IMO, "feeling" rich has more to do with spending power.
I have a lot of savings in my 401k, roth IRA and 529s accounts, totaling $3.5m. I don't "feel" rich because I don't have much left for extra luxuries after paying for regular expenses and putting all that money aside into savings.
I "felt" richer in my 20s when I got my first job making $80k, not saving much, spending on exotic travels and living life like there was no tomorrow.

[Anonymous]

It's spending power for some, it's not having to work for me. There is nothing I want to buy. There's nothing I can buy to improve my life significantly. It's already good when I have work as an option, no significant expenses, no health problems.
My biggest problems right now is to get in shape and how to spend all this free time I have. I will never be able to convince people that I don't care to upgrade my home, buy more stuff, or a luxury car. I would have thought most people feel like that by mid-life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's spending power for some, it's not having to work for me. There is nothing I want to buy. There's nothing I can buy to improve my life significantly. It's already good when I have work as an option, no significant expenses, no health problems.
My biggest problems right now is to get in shape and how to spend all this free time I have. I will never be able to convince people that I don't care to upgrade my home, buy more stuff, or a luxury car. I would have thought most people feel like that by mid-life.

Similar, but I have one very expensive hobby and I already work out 5x/week. I don't ever want to do another reno and I don't care about cars. College is paid for. My closets are full, I have fine jewelry & luxury purses and don't feel like I need anything more. I only shop at Christmastime and mainly for others. DH wants one more fancy car, but has the watches, suits, etc. I think we're done with consumerism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's spending power for some, it's not having to work for me. There is nothing I want to buy. There's nothing I can buy to improve my life significantly. It's already good when I have work as an option, no significant expenses, no health problems.
My biggest problems right now is to get in shape and how to spend all this free time I have. I will never be able to convince people that I don't care to upgrade my home, buy more stuff, or a luxury car. I would have thought most people feel like that by mid-life.

Similar, but I have one very expensive hobby and I already work out 5x/week. I don't ever want to do another reno and I don't care about cars. College is paid for. My closets are full, I have fine jewelry & luxury purses and don't feel like I need anything more. I only shop at Christmastime and mainly for others. DH wants one more fancy car, but has the watches, suits, etc. I think we're done with consumerism.

Same here, but I want to travel and travel in style. It’s expensive.