Ok DCUrban Mums. What is Rich

[Anonymous]

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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.

Just curious to know exactly how much extra you paid in taxes, voluntarily for 2019, above your calculated liability?

I gave away money to the things I would want government to spend if they taxed me more heavily. Obviously.

So you think that you should be free to donate your money as you see fit, but you don't think others should be afforded the same privilege. You think other people should pay more taxes, but not you.

No, I think I should be taxed more to pay for the kinds of things that I currently donate money for (diaper banks, UNCF). I think people who are rich like me and not taxes enough should also donate to those things since they are currently not taxed for them, but that they should, of course, be taxed to pay for them.

Of course you do. Other rich people think that more donations should go to the church, and they think you should be taxed more so that more donations can go to churches.

You see how that works? People like you always think that you should have the freedom to choose what to do with other people's money, but you don't want them to be able to dictate what you do with your money.

Except taxes are Constitutional. And using governement money to fund religious activity is not.

Try again

https://www.themonastery.org/blog/supreme-court-churches-can-have-government-money

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Just curious to know exactly how much extra you paid in taxes, voluntarily for 2019, above your calculated liability?

I gave away money to the things I would want government to spend if they taxed me more heavily. Obviously.

So you think that you should be free to donate your money as you see fit, but you don't think others should be afforded the same privilege. You think other people should pay more taxes, but not you.

No, I think I should be taxed more to pay for the kinds of things that I currently donate money for (diaper banks, UNCF). I think people who are rich like me and not taxes enough should also donate to those things since they are currently not taxed for them, but that they should, of course, be taxed to pay for them.

Of course you do. Other rich people think that more donations should go to the church, and they think you should be taxed more so that more donations can go to churches.

You see how that works? People like you always think that you should have the freedom to choose what to do with other people's money, but you don't want them to be able to dictate what you do with your money.

You think you're terribly clever, but you aren't. Obviously, given the current tax structure, I prioritize my priorities. this does *not* mean I would chafe if my taxes were increased to prioritize the priorities of the collective, as imperfectly determined by our current system of government. I fully recognize much of it would go to military spending, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Just curious to know exactly how much extra you paid in taxes, voluntarily for 2019, above your calculated liability?

I gave away money to the things I would want government to spend if they taxed me more heavily. Obviously.

So you think that you should be free to donate your money as you see fit, but you don't think others should be afforded the same privilege. You think other people should pay more taxes, but not you.

No, I think I should be taxed more to pay for the kinds of things that I currently donate money for (diaper banks, UNCF). I think people who are rich like me and not taxes enough should also donate to those things since they are currently not taxed for them, but that they should, of course, be taxed to pay for them.

Of course you do. Other rich people think that more donations should go to the church, and they think you should be taxed more so that more donations can go to churches.

You see how that works? People like you always think that you should have the freedom to choose what to do with other people's money, but you don't want them to be able to dictate what you do with your money.

Except taxes are Constitutional. And using governement money to fund religious activity is not.

Try again

https://www.themonastery.org/blog/supreme-court-churches-can-have-government-money

You try again.
https://www.hhs.gov/answers/grants-and-contracts/what-are-the-rules-on-funding-religious-activity-with-federal-money/index.html#:~:text=The%20United%20States%20Supreme%20Court,support%20%22inherently%20religious%22%20activities.&text=This%20does%20not%20mean%20your,taxpayer%20dollars%20to%20fund%20them.

[Anonymous]

Over 200k is rich. I don't care if that means you can't afford 40k per year private school. You have choices, you are not struggling, none of your bills should be a struggle. So what you cannot afford vacations in Aspen and EU. That doesn't qualify you for middle class.

Any HHI can be on a budget.

There is no 300k middle class. I don't care where you live. You chose your home and your mortgage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Over 200k is rich. I don't care if that means you can't afford 40k per year private school. You have choices, you are not struggling, none of your bills should be a struggle. So what you cannot afford vacations in Aspen and EU. That doesn't qualify you for middle class.

Any HHI can be on a budget.

There is no 300k middle class. I don't care where you live. You chose your home and your mortgage.

This used to be the definition of middle class. Now it's rich?

[Anonymous]

I would generally call the top 5% of earners as "rich", and that varies by region of course. Maybe the top 1% if I'm being absurdly generous to the 1-5%ers who want to call themselves "upper middle class".

For DC, I'm drawing the "rich" line at a double GS-15 Step 1 family: $144,128 * 2 = $288,256. Round it up to $300k to be safe. That's two jobs where you are at or approaching the maximum amount that you can legally be paid by the government. Out of a pool of 2 million workers, GS-15's make up the top 3-4% of the population, which lines up with the 5% I said above.

People go out of their way to avoid calling themselves rich. Home owners in Rockville think they aren't rich because they can't afford to live in Chevy Chase. The owners in Chevy Chase think they aren't rich because they can't afford to send their kids to St Alban's AND join Chevy Chase CC at the same time. The people at Chevy Chase CC think they aren't rich because one of the members has a private jet. The jet owner thinks he isn't rich because he once saw Elon Musk's private jet and it was nicer. For whatever reason, people don't like to open admit that they are rich.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My first thought: if you have to talk about earned income, you're not rich. Rich is defined by the streams of money that come in even if you never get out of bad, and that will continue after your death.

I am not rich. Rich people own private jets and mega yachts, or if they don't, they easily could without any significant hit to their passive income.

We live in a lower-COL area compared to most on this board. Partly because of this, we have been able to convert our approx. $225k income into $2.7M invested and a mortgage-free $600k house. We are 40.

That's certainly not rich, and nothing about our lifestyle would suggest otherwise. On the other hand, compared to most people in our neighborhood and circles and with similar earnings, the fact that we typically have investment earnings that exceed our annual living expenses puts us in a stronger financial position.

I'd say that we're quickly becoming financially independent; perhaps we are already, and that's good enough for me.

Why post on DCUM if you don't live in the DC area? Just curious . . .

[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.

Just curious to know exactly how much extra you paid in taxes, voluntarily for 2019, above your calculated liability?

I am curious to know if you can actually make voluntary additional tax payments? Any time we overpay the IRS send a refund. Is this actually a thing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Just curious to know exactly how much extra you paid in taxes, voluntarily for 2019, above your calculated liability?

I am curious to know if you can actually make voluntary additional tax payments? Any time we overpay the IRS send a refund. Is this actually a thing?

You can make a gift to the government:

https://fiscal.treasury.gov/public/gifts-to-government.html

[Anonymous]

I consider myself to be rich. I'm in my late 50s with a net worth of $7 million. I haven't worked for 7 years. We have two homes, one fully paid for and the other with a manageable mortgage (our only debt) that we have elected not to pay as part of our investment strategy because the interest rate is so low. The kids are long out of college (which we obviously paid for) and self-sufficient. We budget ourselves $200k a year from our investment earnings we live on it easily.

When I was working our HHI was much higher than $200k (especially the last ten years) but I never felt rich because I was, well, working. Our lifestyle now is much more leisurely than it was then. I often wake up not sure what day of the week it is and with no agenda. That, in my opinion, is rich.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Over 200k is rich. I don't care if that means you can't afford 40k per year private school. You have choices, you are not struggling, none of your bills should be a struggle. So what you cannot afford vacations in Aspen and EU. That doesn't qualify you for middle class.

Any HHI can be on a budget.

There is no 300k middle class. I don't care where you live. You chose your home and your mortgage.

This used to be the definition of middle class. Now it's rich?

Yes. Lots of middle class Americans still struggle with paying bills. Middle class is going on vacation one state over, in a cheap motel, staying with family, or even camping in a tent. They are not on government assistance, but when that $500 medical bill comes in, they have to make a payment plan or struggle to pay it off. If you do not feel that dread of an unforeseen expense, because you have savings, a good career, and plenty of options, then you are not really middle class. Sure you aren't Bill Gates, but you are incredibly wealthy in many ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I consider myself to be rich. I'm in my late 50s with a net worth of $7 million. I haven't worked for 7 years. We have two homes, one fully paid for and the other with a manageable mortgage (our only debt) that we have elected not to pay as part of our investment strategy because the interest rate is so low. The kids are long out of college (which we obviously paid for) and self-sufficient. We budget ourselves $200k a year from our investment earnings we live on it easily.

When I was working our HHI was much higher than $200k (especially the last ten years) but I never felt rich because I was, well, working. Our lifestyle now is much more leisurely than it was then. I often wake up not sure what day of the week it is and with no agenda. That, in my opinion, is rich.

I hate when people say, I'm not rich, I still have to work. Give me a break. You've been rich for much, much longer than 7 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Over 200k is rich. I don't care if that means you can't afford 40k per year private school. You have choices, you are not struggling, none of your bills should be a struggle. So what you cannot afford vacations in Aspen and EU. That doesn't qualify you for middle class.

Any HHI can be on a budget.

There is no 300k middle class. I don't care where you live. You chose your home and your mortgage.

This used to be the definition of middle class. Now it's rich?

Yes. Lots of middle class Americans still struggle with paying bills. Middle class is going on vacation one state over, in a cheap motel, staying with family, or even camping in a tent. They are not on government assistance, but when that $500 medical bill comes in, they have to make a payment plan or struggle to pay it off. If you do not feel that dread of an unforeseen expense, because you have savings, a good career, and plenty of options, then you are not really middle class. Sure you aren't Bill Gates, but you are incredibly wealthy in many ways.

But this is insane. According to this definition, I was "rich" when I was in grad school making $9000/year because I had expenses low enough that I could still save money. This definition of "middle class" doesn't make sense.

[Anonymous]

We make $400k a year and are definitely not rich. Pretty laughable to say that we are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Over 200k is rich. I don't care if that means you can't afford 40k per year private school. You have choices, you are not struggling, none of your bills should be a struggle. So what you cannot afford vacations in Aspen and EU. That doesn't qualify you for middle class.

Any HHI can be on a budget.

There is no 300k middle class. I don't care where you live. You chose your home and your mortgage.

This used to be the definition of middle class. Now it's rich?

Yes. Lots of middle class Americans still struggle with paying bills. Middle class is going on vacation one state over, in a cheap motel, staying with family, or even camping in a tent. They are not on government assistance, but when that $500 medical bill comes in, they have to make a payment plan or struggle to pay it off. If you do not feel that dread of an unforeseen expense, because you have savings, a good career, and plenty of options, then you are not really middle class. Sure you aren't Bill Gates, but you are incredibly wealthy in many ways.

So I could walk down the Main Street of Magic Kingdom in Disney World and every single person (non-"cast member") I see must be rich because they obviously have the discretionary funds to spend on a fairly pricey vacation that goes beyond staying in a cheap motel one state over.