What is rich?

[Anonymous]

Rich is having a partner you love, children that are healthy and happy, a comfortable house and enough income to easily pay your bills and travel and are able to provide your children with extras.

[Anonymous]

My definition would be having the ability to send my kids to any college they want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you have to get vacation time approved, you're not "rich."

If you get an annual review at work, you're not "rich."

If someone else dictates your schedule on a daily basis, you're not "rich."

Sure, you might have a top 3% income via a W2. But if you stop working and are no longer "rich".....were you ever actually "rich"? Nope.

You need to rethink your definitions.

The CEO of the company I work has to have his vacation time approved. He gets annual performance reviews from his bosses: the board of directors. His schedule is not fully under his control.
His total compensation last year was 200m. His net worth is estimated to be 1.5b.
If he gets fired or lose his job, he will even get a golden parachute worth hundreds of millions.
If he’s not rich, what is he?

Meanwhile, my plumber doesn’t have to get vacation time approved. He can go whenever he wants to, as long as he can afford to.
He doesn’t get an annual review. No one dictates his schedule. But the guy is not rich by any measure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rich is having a partner you love, children that are healthy and happy, a comfortable house and enough income to easily pay your bills and travel and are able to provide your children with extras.

Couldn't agree more but we are clearly in the minority on this board. Cheers to you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Generational wealth (inheritance), properties owned outright, no debt.

The obsession with “no debt” on this board is fascinating.

Trust me, many unquestionably rich people have loads of debt.

No debt is important when you’re not rich.

[Anonymous]

Rich is not having to worry about paying your bills.

Meaningful human relationships are more important than being rich but it’s better to have both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The other two recent posts about rich people got me thinking. What is rich? To me, the difference is do you have to work to maintain your wealth/status/lifestyle. We belong to the top 1% both in terms of NW and HHI, but all of this would evaporate if I lost my job. So I don’t feel rich. Wealthy? Yes. But rich? No.

That’s not a great definition. Plenty of FIRE folks are “rich” on $1M net worth then.

DP

True.

Why does there have to be a consensus on rich? Weird. My rich is someone else's poor and my poor is someone else's rich. It's all perspective.... subjective.

If you need an objective measure, I think it would be top 5% net worth and income for most social economists. Although I've also seen it defined as wide as the top 20% wealth and income.

[Anonymous]

When you have a yacht with a heli landing pad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have to get vacation time approved, you're not "rich."

If you get an annual review at work, you're not "rich."

If someone else dictates your schedule on a daily basis, you're not "rich."

Sure, you might have a top 3% income via a W2. But if you stop working and are no longer "rich".....were you ever actually "rich"? Nope.

You need to rethink your definitions.

The CEO of the company I work has to have his vacation time approved. He gets annual performance reviews from his bosses: the board of directors. His schedule is not fully under his control.
His total compensation last year was 200m. His net worth is estimated to be 1.5b.
If he gets fired or lose his job, he will even get a golden parachute worth hundreds of millions.
If he’s not rich, what is he?

Meanwhile, my plumber doesn’t have to get vacation time approved. He can go whenever he wants to, as long as he can afford to.
He doesn’t get an annual review. No one dictates his schedule. But the guy is not rich by any measure.

This. I see the same at ny company. CEO get a compensation package worth $5-30M per year. I consider him rich. He reports to the board and even has to ask permission to divest certain stocks. EVERYONE is beholden to someone.

[Anonymous]

I’m friends with a generational oil & gas family. The elementary kids’ trusts have more money than my whole family and extended family combined and multiplied by 100.

I think that’s pretty rich.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Generational wealth (inheritance), properties owned outright, no debt.

The obsession with “no debt” on this board is fascinating.

Trust me, many unquestionably rich people have loads of debt.

No debt is important when you’re not rich.

The rich use debt wisely. Why not play with someone else’s money?

[Anonymous]

Rich is having enough to say “F it”, walk away, and never have to work again. It’s a different number for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Generational wealth (inheritance), properties owned outright, no debt.

The obsession with “no debt” on this board is fascinating.

Trust me, many unquestionably rich people have loads of debt.

No debt is important when you’re not rich.

My parents’ families found out why not having debt was important even if you are rich - as a result of the depression. While those memories are fading fast in our current population, for some of us, it is ingrained in our philosophy. Plus, once you have enough, why the need for more?

[Anonymous]

As this thread shows, "rich" is entirely subjective, driven by (a) one's own financial status and (b) the first or second hand peers one can compare.

I finished college and grad school with significant education debt. I remember thinking throughout my young 20s that "rich" would mean that I could go to the grocery store and not add up my cart with each item I selected. "Rich" would be when I could buy whatever I wanted when grocery shopping without worrying about prices. If I ever achieved that, I thought, I'd be "rich."

Now I'm 41, NW >10m, HHI >3m. I'm no doubt financially secure--and I recognize some people may label me "rich." Indeed, I don't really worry about what I spend at the grocery store anymore. Yet I don't consider myself rich, at least not yet.

Why did my benchmark change? To start, I've met many people far more prosperous than I am. I have clients who are billionaires--I'm just their service peon; they call me like I'd call a housekeeper. My clients are rich; I am not.

Beyond that, the horizon of what I can achieve has changed. "Rich" isn't an absolute term--for me, at least, it's a goal. (To be sure--far from the only goal--having amazing relationships with my spouse and kids is far more important.) And the funny thing about goals is that they often move. The more successful--the more "rich"--I get, the more the goalpost of "rich" shifts farther back.

That isn't because I'm jealous of "rich"--it is because I have an relentless need to "succeed." It is how I value my self-worth. Not healthy, but true. Whatever I do today, I try to beat tomorrow. Being "rich" would be a status, an absolute--it would suggest I've "made it." But with my (likely screwed up) psychology, I'll never "make it." I'll just keep chasing the goal post that continuously moves farther down the field.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The answer is……who cares?

yep that's what I came here to say.