Why do people who make 500k + not "feel" rich?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's strange. We make $145k currently, with two kids in elementary, currently on one salary. I feel rich, even though our particular situation is not extremely stable -- we have lots of savings but the job is ending soon so we're both looking. I think it's just that I'm an optimist, and I'm extremely grateful for what we've worked so hard to earn. Growing up, money was tight, but we never wanted for anything. Why don't you really rich people try to shift your mindset? You're never going to catch up. Make peace with that.

Duh. You don’t have to pay full pay college or for childcare! If you did, you’d use the entirety of another $100k. You’e a moron for not realizing this.

I don’t think people who make $145,000 get significant discounts on college tuition.

Depends on the school. Depending on assets, you'd get a full ride or close to one at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Rice, and other schools with big endowments that have need blind admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When you have to work for any income you are not rich. When you stop working it goes away. Rich is when you have enough passive income you don't have to go into the office and worry about your job.

Boom. Agreed. Rich is a net worth concept, not an income concept. A large income can help you become rich faster, but you can be a broke high-earning person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

300 to 400k each would be rich. 300-400k HHI is middle class on DCUM

I think this is a troll.

Not to hard for a person to be at 175k to 200k. You can be sitting in a cube and do it with bonus. Even 325k one person not hard. Getting 400k and above usually SVPs, Big 4 Partners, Lawyers, Doctors. And often they Marry similar so we are taking 800k to 1.5 million income.

Wow. Please tell me where I can get one of these easy cubicle jobs that will pay me $175-200k, much less $325k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These threads just reflect the same fundamental difference of opinion over and over. Do you define "rich" as "high income" or do you define it as "independently wealthy". Many posters argue that being "rich" means you have enough wealth that you don't have to work. So you could say that someone who has had a trust fund paying out $75K a year is rich, even if they work at a non-profit for 20K a year, and never make six figures in their life. On the flip side, the BigLaw associate making 200K who can be fired at any moment is high income, but may not be at all rich, depending on their debts, savings rate etc. However, obviously many people on this thread only consider HHI, or simply think that anyone with either assets of X, or income over Y, is rich. So if you earn 200K you are rich, if you get fired tomorrow and now earn $0, you are poor, etc.
I tend to think lumping wealthy and high income together is fairly misleading. For example, the working class kid who accumulates 300K in college/law school debt, and then starts earning 200K at a law firm, is to my mind not rich yet, and certainly not in the same category as a trust fund baby who has no debt, and never has to work a day if they don't want to. The distinction matters, because from a policy/tax code perspective, it seems like treating those two people the same would be somewhat unfair, and make it tougher for working class/middle class to become rich. If a presidential candidate says "we should tax the rich more" I might agree about trust fund baby, and not agree about indebted working class striver.

This is well said, with one caveat. I agree that the 26 yo working class striver with $300k in debt isn't rich. However, if that person stays on the same path, in 15 years he or she will havbe paif off the educational debt and will be making $500k. At that point, they *are* rich - but likely will have taken on a big mortgage, maybe send kids to private school, and will resist that label, because they don't "feel" rich.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of it is lifestyle. We recently went from making $300-$400k to now making nearly $700k. The increase was so drastic it took us a while to realize how much more it was (we never actually tallied all the compensation- at first we thought it had just gone up to mid-500s.

But we made a conscious effort not to upgrade our lifestyle. We don't plan to move, to get new cars, send kids to private school, etc. We now go to our favorite restaurant once a week instead of once a month, but I still chicken out on ordering the steak or fish and instead get a hamburger or appetizer salad.

We feel rich. Dirty, stinky, filthy rich.

How ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's strange. We make $145k currently, with two kids in elementary, currently on one salary. I feel rich, even though our particular situation is not extremely stable -- we have lots of savings but the job is ending soon so we're both looking. I think it's just that I'm an optimist, and I'm extremely grateful for what we've worked so hard to earn. Growing up, money was tight, but we never wanted for anything. Why don't you really rich people try to shift your mindset? You're never going to catch up. Make peace with that.

Duh. You don’t have to pay full pay college or for childcare! If you did, you’d use the entirety of another $100k. You’e a moron for not realizing this.

I don’t think people who make $145,000 get significant discounts on college tuition.

Yeah, I’m saving for college so we’ll have enough to pay for an out of state public. I’m not counting on FA. Why am I a moron again? Are you saying I should feel not wealthy? F U.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's strange. We make $145k currently, with two kids in elementary, currently on one salary. I feel rich, even though our particular situation is not extremely stable -- we have lots of savings but the job is ending soon so we're both looking. I think it's just that I'm an optimist, and I'm extremely grateful for what we've worked so hard to earn. Growing up, money was tight, but we never wanted for anything. Why don't you really rich people try to shift your mindset? You're never going to catch up. Make peace with that.

Duh. You don’t have to pay full pay college or for childcare! If you did, you’d use the entirety of another $100k. You’e a moron for not realizing this.

I don’t think people who make $145,000 get significant discounts on college tuition.

Yeah, I’m saving for college so we’ll have enough to pay for an out of state public. I’m not counting on FA. Why am I a moron again? Are you saying I should feel not wealthy? F U.

There is a poster on here always claiming that people with a "lower" income (think 100-200) will get a free ride for college while those making significantly more have to full pay. But this poster seems to miss the fact that a salary of 145k (example) is higher than most people in the US make. So doubtful colleges are going to look at that salary as poverty. People's views on here are so skewed they don't even realize it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's strange. We make $145k currently, with two kids in elementary, currently on one salary. I feel rich, even though our particular situation is not extremely stable -- we have lots of savings but the job is ending soon so we're both looking. I think it's just that I'm an optimist, and I'm extremely grateful for what we've worked so hard to earn. Growing up, money was tight, but we never wanted for anything. Why don't you really rich people try to shift your mindset? You're never going to catch up. Make peace with that.

Duh. You don’t have to pay full pay college or for childcare! If you did, you’d use the entirety of another $100k. You’e a moron for not realizing this.

I don’t think people who make $145,000 get significant discounts on college tuition.

Yeah, I’m saving for college so we’ll have enough to pay for an out of state public. I’m not counting on FA. Why am I a moron again? Are you saying I should feel not wealthy? F U.

There is a poster on here always claiming that people with a "lower" income (think 100-200) will get a free ride for college while those making significantly more have to full pay. But this poster seems to miss the fact that a salary of 145k (example) is higher than most people in the US make. So doubtful colleges are going to look at that salary as poverty. People's views on here are so skewed they don't even realize it.

Not the poster you mention, but families with a $145,000 income and not many assets can get a 100% FA award at a handful of highly selective colleges. Not a great strategy for funding college costs though given the odds of acceptance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's strange. We make $145k currently, with two kids in elementary, currently on one salary. I feel rich, even though our particular situation is not extremely stable -- we have lots of savings but the job is ending soon so we're both looking. I think it's just that I'm an optimist, and I'm extremely grateful for what we've worked so hard to earn. Growing up, money was tight, but we never wanted for anything. Why don't you really rich people try to shift your mindset? You're never going to catch up. Make peace with that.

Duh. You don’t have to pay full pay college or for childcare! If you did, you’d use the entirety of another $100k. You’e a moron for not realizing this.

I don’t think people who make $145,000 get significant discounts on college tuition.

Yeah, I’m saving for college so we’ll have enough to pay for an out of state public. I’m not counting on FA. Why am I a moron again? Are you saying I should feel not wealthy? F U.

You’re saving $1,200 a month for college? Because that’s around 20 percent of your take home pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's strange. We make $145k currently, with two kids in elementary, currently on one salary. I feel rich, even though our particular situation is not extremely stable -- we have lots of savings but the job is ending soon so we're both looking. I think it's just that I'm an optimist, and I'm extremely grateful for what we've worked so hard to earn. Growing up, money was tight, but we never wanted for anything. Why don't you really rich people try to shift your mindset? You're never going to catch up. Make peace with that.

Duh. You don’t have to pay full pay college or for childcare! If you did, you’d use the entirety of another $100k. You’e a moron for not realizing this.

I don’t think people who make $145,000 get significant discounts on college tuition.

Yeah, I’m saving for college so we’ll have enough to pay for an out of state public. I’m not counting on FA. Why am I a moron again? Are you saying I should feel not wealthy? F U.

There is a poster on here always claiming that people with a "lower" income (think 100-200) will get a free ride for college while those making significantly more have to full pay. But this poster seems to miss the fact that a salary of 145k (example) is higher than most people in the US make. So doubtful colleges are going to look at that salary as poverty. People's views on here are so skewed they don't even realize it.

Not the poster you mention, but families with a $145,000 income and not many assets can get a 100% FA award at a handful of highly selective colleges. Not a great strategy for funding college costs though given the odds of acceptance.

The vast majority of students aren't going to those handful of highly selective colleges -- so the chances of getting full FA at that income is remote. I would love to know what income will get you FA -- but we've likely exceeded it and we are "only" at 110k....