Why don't rich people realize that they are rich?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you consider the nanny, mechanic or hairdresser or other 50K earners in the same middle class as 250K earners? I certainly don't. They all earn significantly less but are part of the middle class that lives in the DC area. That's why it is hard to understand why people who make more than double that, consider themselves middle class. You are not in the same class as them! You are well off, which in our eyes, is another word for rich. You don't have to own a jet to be rich.

There are various degrees of middle class, just as there are various degrees of wealth. There are also various degrees of poverty. Do you agree with that statement? I do not think just because someone is making 60k a year it is fair to label the person making 250k as rich. Are they rich when they have to pay 35% of what they earn out in taxes. That lowers their income by almost $90,000 so right off te bat they are now down to $160k. Still rich just because you feel they make alot of money?

50k here may make you "rich" compared with the very poor person making $20k a year. Do you also agree with that? At 50k you are making more than twice 20k. So are you rich to the person making 20k? In their eyes you may certainly be rich.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know it depends on your point of view but I really don't think of a 250k income in this area as rich. I think maybe a million is rich, maybe even 500k. 250k is absolutely well off but not rich by any means.

If people are capable of living on $50k in this area, then $250K is rich. What do you consider your nanny, or hairdresser, or mechanic to be?

I don't have a nanny, hairdresser or mechanic. Nice try.

As I said, it depends on your perspective. If you are making 50k perhaps 250k looks "rich". But what if you are making 250k, does 500k or a million look "rich".

Simply being able to "live off" a low salary does not make a higher salary "rich". And pp, if 250k is "rich" to you as opposed to "well off", then what would you call someone making a million a year? It's all perspective and opinion.

I am in complete agreement with this poster, except that I have trouble believing she doesn't have a hairdresser and even a mechanic if she owns a car... Really? Not as your private servants, of course (that's the province of the ultra-rich), but as a standing occasional relationship I'd think you'd have some one you know. It isn't so relevant to the discussion, but since I'm avoiding my housework (which I do myself since, at $100k plus a little more, I'm not rich), I thought I'd point out that it seemed to me to be a funny thing to say!

It's nice someone sees my point. Thank you. I swear my husband fixes our old cars himself. And really, it took me three years to grow out my hair from highlighted blonde to my natural color. When I do get trims I go to the Hair Cuttery and see no one particular. Swear! If I needed a mechanic or hair dresser I would of course use them! But yes, it was funny to say that.

[Anonymous]

I think this whole topic of who is rich and who isn't is sort of stupid, actually. I am not sure why people are so obsessed with it. It's tempting to recommend to everybody who makes $250K and over that they start responding to everyone else's posts with something along the lines of, "OMG! You only make $60K? Why on earth did you have kids since you can't afford them?" That's about the same sort of snide and ridiculous venom that gets directed the other way towards the "rich".

We're all parents, and most people on here are looking for real answers to problems they have. Their problems may or may not seem like problems to you, but to the person asking, they are real and they are looking for answers. Enough with the bashing of peole who make over $100K, $250K, or whatever. I have a friend who makes millions, and desperately wants kids, but she married the wrong guy, it didn't work out, and she doesn't want to be a single mom. She is in her mid-40s now and is really struggling with the pain of not getting to fulfill her dream of being a mother. I would d never say to her, "You don't have any problems because you're rich. Just go out and buy a kid or something."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: You are well off, which in our eyes, is another word for rich.

You're completely embracing relativism here, and using a standard that's very debatable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I were making 250K, I would consider myself rich, and everyone who makes more than that, I would consider rich as well. If I made 150K I'd consider myself rich. I could probably afford a house and have a cushion on that salary.

I didn't mean to imply that you had a nanny, mechanic, or hairdresser, but rather...if you are middle class, then what do people in the mentioned professions classify as?

Again, house + cushion = middle class.

No. It used to mean middle class. But the middle class has slowly been losing ground over the past decades. The middle class is now in a ver precarious position, such that if they lose their credit cards, they have absolutely no cusion at all.

The middle class nowadays has a lot of debt, no savings, and if they own a house, it has a mortgage they can barely afford.

If you have a house plus a decent cusion, NOWADAYS, chances are good you are "rich". Sure, not "filthy rich". Not "rolling in the dough rich, extravagent rich. But if you are paying a mortgage in the DC area in a "nice" school district, funding your 401K to get matching employer funds, funding your Flexible Spending Account, putting away a little something for your child's college tuition, paying off some college loans, are able to pay for a nanny plus a little preschool, eat out a few times a month, do a night or two of takeout during the week, and are able to shop for groceries without budgeting every dime, or needing to resort to a credit card to afford to eat, even in DC, you are rich.

I think people prefer to use the term, "Well off".

[Anonymous]

I've posted once already . . . but now after reading it, this is the dumbest thread ever. Why are people even caring whether I am to be labeled rich or well off or dirt poor? What's it to you? Ugh, I wish I never even looked at this.

[Anonymous]

So if class is all relative, then a person making $20K is rich compared to someone making $9K? A person making $900K is poor compared to a billionaire? I guess we are in whatever class we perceive ourselves to be in. There are division lines, even if they are not clearly defined.

You pay 35% taxes because you are rich enough to pay that much and still have a house, cushion, insurance, etc. There are advantages and disadvantages both rich, middle and lower class have to deal with, whether it's paying taxes up the wazoo or working three jobs to keep the lights on.

Right on 15:57

I'm not here to bash the rich. I have rich friends and I have poor friends. But like I said before, the rich obviously don't realize that they are in fact rich. Not extravagant rich like PP stated. There's nothing wrong with being rich, but you are in fact rich.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't normally post a topic like this, but on a rainy day, reading these million dollar posts - oh what should I do - it provoked some thought on the matter.

[Anonymous]

OP, I am the person about whom you are talking. I make about $250K a year, divorced with one child. I guess on a day to day basis I don't feel rich because I continually feel overextended to pay for three things, granted three things which most people in the country can't even consider. I had to struggle to pay for the nanny (and I could have gone with daycare). I have struggled to keep up with private school tuition (when I could have gone with public). And I struggle to pay the mortgage on my little house in NW DC (when I could have bought something far less expensive in VA or MD and commuted). And those three choices eat up most of my net income. On paper, it sure does seem rich (nanny, elite private school, house in a great section of DC). And I don't know why, but almost everyone I know at the same income is like me: house and tuition poor: we have crappy cars and take cheap vacations, but we just cannot seem to consider budging on those 3 titanically expensive items in our budget.

That doesn't mean I don't know I am wealthy. It only means that I have made choices which leave me surprisingly little disposable income.

[Anonymous]

OP, I am the person about whom you are talking. I make about $250K a year, divorced with one child. I guess on a day to day basis I don't feel rich because I continually feel overextended to pay for three things, granted three things which most people in the country can't even consider. I had to struggle to pay for the nanny (and I could have gone with daycare). I have struggled to keep up with private school tuition (when I could have gone with public). And I struggle to pay the mortgage on my little house in NW DC (when I could have bought something far less expensive in VA or MD and commuted). And those three choices eat up most of my net income. On paper, it sure does seem rich (nanny, elite private school, house in a great section of DC). And I don't know why, but almost everyone I know at the same income is like me: house and tuition poor: we have crappy cars and take cheap vacations, but we just cannot seem to consider budging on those 3 titanically expensive items in our budget.

That doesn't mean I don't know I am wealthy. It only means that I have made choices which leave me surprisingly little disposable income.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I were making 250K, I would consider myself rich, and everyone who makes more than that, I would consider rich as well. If I made 150K I'd consider myself rich. I could probably afford a house and have a cushion on that salary.

I didn't mean to imply that you had a nanny, mechanic, or hairdresser, but rather...if you are middle class, then what do people in the mentioned professions classify as?

Again, house + cushion = middle class.

No. It used to mean middle class. But the middle class has slowly been losing ground over the past decades. The middle class is now in a ver precarious position, such that if they lose their credit cards, they have absolutely no cusion at all.

The middle class nowadays has a lot of debt, no savings, and if they own a house, it has a mortgage they can barely afford.

If you have a house plus a decent cusion, NOWADAYS, chances are good you are "rich". Sure, not "filthy rich". Not "rolling in the dough rich, extravagent rich. But if you are paying a mortgage in the DC area in a "nice" school district, funding your 401K to get matching employer funds, funding your Flexible Spending Account, putting away a little something for your child's college tuition, paying off some college loans, are able to pay for a nanny plus a little preschool, eat out a few times a month, do a night or two of takeout during the week, and are able to shop for groceries without budgeting every dime, or needing to resort to a credit card to afford to eat, even in DC, you are rich.

I think people prefer to use the term, "Well off".

No, because the "middle class" to which you're referring doesn't really have a cushion. This suggests, naturally, that it takes that much more money to maintain a middle class lifestyle of house + cushion.

[Anonymous]

14:00 - you are wise, indeed.

My nanny owns more properties than I do, does that make her rich?

Having lived in many metropolitan cities, it is clear that this area equates snobby with rich. Wrong.

[Anonymous]

Isn't the question of "How do you define who's rich?" just like "How do you define who drinks too much?" Anyone who makes more than you do is rich, and anyone who drinks more than you do clearly drinks too much.

[Anonymous]

That's exactly it!!!
Middle class does not have a cushion. Or they have a cushion of $5-10K.

On this board, posters (myself included) are making incomes of $250+ and feeling poor because our ideas of a financial cushion is 50K+ (or actually for most posters it's 200K or more).
We had a recent post where posters making 400K itemized budgets in which it appears that every last cent is seems to be accounted for, making the budgets seem tight to those earning the money.
ONLY THING IS----they both included savings of more than 50K a year! (once retirement, college plans and "cushion" savings are added up). Middle class America does not save 50K a year. Being able to save 50K a year and maintain a comfortable lifestyle is not middle class even if this rate of savings makes your monthly budget tight.

[Anonymous]

This is a dumb thread. I read through it because I am sick of posters saying "in this area, $250K is NOT rich!!"

Puh-leeeeze.

If you can't pay your bills on 250K, reexamine your expenses.

People who can't pay basic expenses out of their salaries (never mind nannies, private schools, expensive real estate) are NOT rich. Those who can afford such things, even if it leaves precious little spending money ARE rich. Get over it, people. You are rich. Those with 1M or 2M or 100M are richer. But you, who have $250K coming in every year, are rich.

Bleech. This makes me ill.