Ok DCUrban Mums. What is Rich

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're rich! We have good jobs, great kids, live in a nice home in an area with great schools, we are saving for retirement and college, we have a lot of friends and while I'm very careful with money I don't worry about it. Plus, my husband loves me!

Kewl story

[Anonymous]

I think objectively rich is where you can afford to save while also having a nice house and furnishings, purchase or lease luxury vehicles, take nice vacations, donate to some charities, and have reasonable household help like cleaning and childcare, and can afford more than two kids - meaning college, camps and either a private school or in a top public school district, which where I live in NY, means a baseline like 1.5m dollar house for it to be decently sized and maybe semi updated. The cost of all this varies based on where you live, but you are objectively wealthy if you don’t need to worry about balancing these expenses, even if you “have to work” for your money. Entry level income for rich IMO is 600k+. 200-300k+ is UMC.

There will always be even wealthier people than this, who have bigger, multiple versions of the above, but wealthy is a large range in which you enter once your income exceeds the 600k mark in coastal areas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We feel upper middle class in Northern VA but would be considered rich. Our lifestyle would not be viewed as rich and our friends do not think we are rich. I look at my brother who is worth $35 - 50 million as rich.

We (early 50s) make $340K annually on W2 income, but our net worth is ~ $ 9 million. But we have always lived below our means, no family money involved except my doctor spouse had no student loans. We have no debt, 10% of our net worth is in our kids 529 plans. Our home in NoVA was purchased for less than a million, but is about $1.5 now, but less than 3,500 sq ft. About $2.5 M in retirement accounts. I made a lot of money early in my career in big law, but stepped back some years ago to work as a fed with much less salary. Our kids attend public schools. We don't have a 2nd home and drive Toyotas and Hondas

We don't budget, but we are debt free and don't spend frivolusly, and most expenses outside of living expenses are kid activity related. We have been lucky with real estate before prices jumped, and we invest our money ourselves in passive index funds.

We have many friends who are heads of businesses, attorneys partners, specialist doctors, finance, etc who make much more than we do and live more lavishly, and probably worth much more than we are worth.

So objectively we are wealthy, but we live a very modest upper middle class lifestyle compared with our peers and neighbors.

What drives you to be so class obsessed? Did you grow up feeling inadequate? Do you have higher achieving siblings that have caused you to be insecure?

Trying to understand where all this insecurity comes from.

Pp shared their experience without any drama. Where did you find they are insecure? Have you looked into the mirror recently? Maybe you need to see a tgerapist.

[Anonymous]

Rich is when you don’t stress about the small stuff because you know it won’t send your life into a downward spiral. If your car breaks down for a few days you know you can get a rental or pay for transportation to get around some other way. It does not even enter your mind that you might lose your job, or have to decide between fixing the car and paying for some other necessity, etc.

Rich people don’t worry about money, basically. They stress over future things and overall wealth like college and the market and retirement, but they are not seriously worried about how one little hiccup could send their lives into a spiral right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand all these people who are like "you make 400k you are rich, stfu"

What do you think when you go to really upscale places like Nantucket or Aspen and see how truly rich people live? When we were in Bar Harbor over the summer, I was amazed by all the big yachts we saw in the harbor or anchored off shore. Plus all the huge vacation homes that people own. These people are the rich in this country!

And I think this is utter nonsense. Just because there are rich people who are even richer than other rich people doesn't mean that they are the *only* rich people.

I know that I am rich (HHI of $300k-800k for the past 8 years, now in mid 30s with NW of a couple million). I'm not going to point to Jeff Bezos and cry, "but he's the REALLY rich one!" I should be taxed heavily, be expected to give money to people in need, and not expect financial aid for my kids' private school or college, and yes, STFU.

I think the blindness to one's own richness comes from the affluent all congregating in NYC/DC/SF/Chicago. When I was a kid growing up in a small town, the "rich" were specialty doctors or small business owners clearing a few hundred thousand. They knew they were rich, sponsored my soccer team, all that. I see people saying they're not *really* rich, don't *really* live an affluent lifestyle, because they don't carry Chanel bags and their only real indulgence is spending $30k a year on travel. You see, all their money is just eaten up by living in an affluent neighborhood in a million dollar house.

Well anyone in my hometown would see you're rich. You've just deluded yourself to thinking that your richness doesn't count because too many people you know are also rich.

Thank you. You make so much sense.
Many on DCUM here are part of the top 10% in the DC area, but they will still tell you they not rich. This is ridiculous. If top 10% doesn't make you rich, what does?
People are so out of touch to the point that the top 1% in this country says they are not rich.

I dont think $400k today is rich (maybe 40 years ago it was).
I think top .1% is well to do....HHI above $1.5M per year or top .01% which is HHI about $7M per year - is wealthy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rich is when you don’t stress about the small stuff because you know it won’t send your life into a downward spiral. If your car breaks down for a few days you know you can get a rental or pay for transportation to get around some other way. It does not even enter your mind that you might lose your job, or have to decide between fixing the car and paying for some other necessity, etc.

Rich people don’t worry about money, basically. They stress over future things and overall wealth like college and the market and retirement, but they are not seriously worried about how one little hiccup could send their lives into a spiral right now.

Tbh I think what you’re describing is upper middle class. Rich people aren’t worrying about paying for college or sending their kids to private school. They may be “worried” about retiring into the lifestyle to which they and their children have become accustomed, though.

[Anonymous]

It’s all about net worth. All this blather about income means nothing.

You can make 600k a year. If you save nothing, you’ll have nothing to show for it. Not rich.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rich is when you don’t stress about the small stuff because you know it won’t send your life into a downward spiral. If your car breaks down for a few days you know you can get a rental or pay for transportation to get around some other way. It does not even enter your mind that you might lose your job, or have to decide between fixing the car and paying for some other necessity, etc.

Rich people don’t worry about money, basically. They stress over future things and overall wealth like college and the market and retirement, but they are not seriously worried about how one little hiccup could send their lives into a spiral right now.

Tbh I think what you’re describing is upper middle class. Rich people aren’t worrying about paying for college or sending their kids to private school. They may be “worried” about retiring into the lifestyle to which they and their children have become accustomed, though.

And UMC people are rich! I get it, everyone wants to be or be seen as middle class but just face it: most of us middle classers and up in the US are rich. Just ask an actual poor person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is rich net worth?

https://dqydj.com/top-one-percent-united-states/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rich is when you don’t stress about the small stuff because you know it won’t send your life into a downward spiral. If your car breaks down for a few days you know you can get a rental or pay for transportation to get around some other way. It does not even enter your mind that you might lose your job, or have to decide between fixing the car and paying for some other necessity, etc.

Rich people don’t worry about money, basically. They stress over future things and overall wealth like college and the market and retirement, but they are not seriously worried about how one little hiccup could send their lives into a spiral right now.

You are describing the baseline for middle class. Try it, try substituting "middle class" where you write "rich" and it works much better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rich is when you don’t stress about the small stuff because you know it won’t send your life into a downward spiral. If your car breaks down for a few days you know you can get a rental or pay for transportation to get around some other way. It does not even enter your mind that you might lose your job, or have to decide between fixing the car and paying for some other necessity, etc.

Rich people don’t worry about money, basically. They stress over future things and overall wealth like college and the market and retirement, but they are not seriously worried about how one little hiccup could send their lives into a spiral right now.

You are describing the baseline for middle class. Try it, try substituting "middle class" where you write "rich" and it works much better.

this. Rich can full pay at wherever their kids decide to attend without having any impact on their overall finances. If you can't absorb the 300k hit, you aren't rich

[Anonymous]

Rich people have congregated together in such bubbles that they don’t realize they are rich. They just think that they are similar to their normal neighbors. Just because there are richer people does not mean you are not rich. They don’t live like Jeff Bezos or even Kim Kardashian so they must not be rich, so diluted.

If most of the people you know have college degrees and 6 figure professional jobs that is not normal. If you make a 1% income, over 400k, then you are rich in income. You just don’t realize because of your social circle and bubbled life.

Incomes used to mix much more in the past which led to more awareness. The small town doctors and business owners still know they are rich because they can’t live in a bubble like in a big suburb. They sponsor the local sports teams, give the most to church/charity drives etc.