Are you Rich?

[Anonymous]

Similar stats.
Ages 49/45
HHI: 460k (fed/retired military and non-profit executive)
NW: $5.1 M (including home equity)
Home equity: $1.45 M ($2 M house)
529s: $675k plus GI benefits (3 kids 15/13/11)
Hoping to retire in 7 years since we have Tricare + pension

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:HHI: 700K-800K (both in tech)
NW: 5.5M including home equity
One home, equity of $500K, outstanding mortgage $350K. not in DC

Don't feel rich, definitely comfortable. We save 400K a year (mostly pretax in deferred compensation/401K).Our jobs are unstable in tech. We both have suffered a layoff in the last 3 years, fortunately found another one in less than 6 months. I personally have layoff anxiety, Don't know if we get hit by layoffs again we will be able to get to the same comp given our age and the state of tech industry

If you don't feel rich, I think you're doing life wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HHI: 700K-800K (both in tech)
NW: 5.5M including home equity
One home, equity of $500K, outstanding mortgage $350K. not in DC

Don't feel rich, definitely comfortable. We save 400K a year (mostly pretax in deferred compensation/401K).Our jobs are unstable in tech. We both have suffered a layoff in the last 3 years, fortunately found another one in less than 6 months. I personally have layoff anxiety, Don't know if we get hit by layoffs again we will be able to get to the same comp given our age and the state of tech industry

If you don't feel rich, I think you're doing life wrong.

DP here. It’s the instability. You can’t spend like you make $700k if you don’t know how long/how reliably you will make that. We are in a similar boat and I get it. I understand I am objectively rich, but that doesn’t mean I can spend willy nilly.

[Anonymous]

I am rich with 💕 love.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HHI: 700K-800K (both in tech)
NW: 5.5M including home equity
One home, equity of $500K, outstanding mortgage $350K. not in DC

Don't feel rich, definitely comfortable. We save 400K a year (mostly pretax in deferred compensation/401K).Our jobs are unstable in tech. We both have suffered a layoff in the last 3 years, fortunately found another one in less than 6 months. I personally have layoff anxiety, Don't know if we get hit by layoffs again we will be able to get to the same comp given our age and the state of tech industry

If you don't feel rich, I think you're doing life wrong.

DP here. It’s the instability. You can’t spend like you make $700k if you don’t know how long/how reliably you will make that. We are in a similar boat and I get it. I understand I am objectively rich, but that doesn’t mean I can spend willy nilly.

You nailed it.

PP from $5.5M NW here, I have ex-colleagues that have not been able to find a new job in more than a year or took 50% paycut for toxic tech job. We would rather save a bunch and have an option to retire early. After saving 400K, taxes, kids stuff we don't have much to spend on luxuries. It is self inflicted with our high savings rate and perhaps that's why we don't feel rich. Kids are teen now and our costs have gone up. Plus, we were able to pull them out from school when they were younger and go to vacations on points. Now with the school and busy work schedules, have to pay for peak travel tickets, sometimes have to book two hotel rooms, plus save for college. If we had even a 60% confidence that we will be able to keep this income stream for another 4-5 years, I would feel very rich. As of now, I honestly don't even have visibility for even the next 6 months. BTW, it's just not us, almost everyone in tech is feeling the same, some (or most) deal with uncertainity better than me. I think I still have PTSD from my job search after a layoff from last year. Sometime it feels like it's all a house of cards and can come crashing down at anytime. I am certainly grateful for all that I have, and I acknowledge we are in a better situation than the majority, but yep, don't feel rich.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:55 year old
HHI 350k 2 jobs
NW 7.5m including 1.5m real estate
Planning to retire soon but worry about health care

I’m running the numbers and you would have to have saved 30%+ of your salary. Are you just super frugal?

Yes, no inheritance, no crazy investments, mainly Index funds in 401k, the market has been good

[Anonymous]

My parents are wealthy

I’m 29 and don’t need to work a day in my life. I have a trust fund and an inheritance of close to 24 million dollars (in addition to the yearly payout from my trust). I also have siblings to help me out if things go wrong (who receive the same inheritance as I do)

Life feels meaningless doing nothing. I’m considering going back to school to become a lawyer or a nurse practitioner. Idk. I only have a Bachelor’s degree and never use it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:HHI - 400k (two fed lawyers)
NW - 5 million not including TSP or home equity of around 2 million
House cost 1.2 million and we put about 500k into it, now paid off.

Why such a cheap house with your net worth & HHI?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This topic again.

100% pointless

A poor is detected

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a former Biglaw partner who retired early a decade ago in my early 50s, haven’t done any kind of work since, and I consider myself rich even though I’d be three times richer had I continued working.

We currently have a net worth of just over $8 million. $2 million of that is real estate equity in our primary residence and second home. We still have a mortgage on our primary residence because the mortgage rate is ridiculous (under 2 percent).

The remaining $6 million plus is a little over on million in a brokerage account and the rest in retirement accounts. I elected to take social security early and between that another small source of income we bring in about $75k a year. We’re living quite well as a result while drawing down substantially less from our accounts than most experts recommend as the maximum, so our net work has been increasing each year.

I am definitely not rich by Biglaw standards or DCUM standards but it sure is nice not having to even think about what day of the week it is most mornings.

Americans are really rich. I am just amazed how quickly some can legally acquire such significant wealth.

We are children of poor Asian immigrants. DH and I studied hard and worked hard. We now have a $2m+ HHI, live in a $4m house and have a $15m net worth.

Compared to other parts of the world, one has so many more opportunities here. Even if you are not academically successful, one can achieve financial success in many ways.

Couldn’t agree more. Academics and where you went to college has nothing to do with it. It may open some doors and provide a few additional opportunities in the beginning but after that it’s all on you — ambition, hard work, risk tolerance, seeing and taking advantage of opportunities, etc. There is definitely some luck involved. Of course, not counting if you were born into money or received a large inheritance.

People-skills and networking are far more pertinent than academic abilities

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HHI - 400k (two fed lawyers)
NW - 5 million not including TSP or home equity of around 2 million
House cost 1.2 million and we put about 500k into it, now paid off.

Why such a cheap house with your net worth & HHI?

Our HHI is higher and we only paid $600k for a house now worth $1.1M. We’ve only done maintenance and minor updates - no major renovations. It’s a perfectly comfortable house! I’m not trying to impress strangers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HHI - 400k (two fed lawyers)
NW - 5 million not including TSP or home equity of around 2 million
House cost 1.2 million and we put about 500k into it, now paid off.

Why such a cheap house with your net worth & HHI?

Buying a "cheap house" and investing the rest of the money is one way people get rich. Mauve you don't know that because you are not rich

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HHI - 400k (two fed lawyers)
NW - 5 million not including TSP or home equity of around 2 million
House cost 1.2 million and we put about 500k into it, now paid off.

Why such a cheap house with your net worth & HHI?

We have similar stats as the original poster. Our house is maybe 950k. No desire for bigger grander house. If we didn’t love area and our mortgage rate wasn’t microscopic, we’d actually look to downsize into less expensive house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HHI - 400k (two fed lawyers)
NW - 5 million not including TSP or home equity of around 2 million
House cost 1.2 million and we put about 500k into it, now paid off.

Why such a cheap house with your net worth & HHI?

We have similar stats as the original poster. Our house is maybe 950k. No desire for bigger grander house. If we didn’t love area and our mortgage rate wasn’t microscopic, we’d actually look to downsize into less expensive house.

+1. Another wealthy person here wishing she could downsize. IYKYK.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HHI - 400k (two fed lawyers)
NW - 5 million not including TSP or home equity of around 2 million
House cost 1.2 million and we put about 500k into it, now paid off.

Why such a cheap house with your net worth & HHI?

We have similar stats as the original poster. Our house is maybe 950k. No desire for bigger grander house. If we didn’t love area and our mortgage rate wasn’t microscopic, we’d actually look to downsize into less expensive house.

And how do you find a cheaper a house than 950K in this area? In Bethesda 950k is a small house on an extremely busy road with a small plot.

https://www.redfin.com/MD/Bethesda/9504-Old-Georgetown-Rd-20814/home/10659902

And also who wants to retire to a dump? My wife is like maybe a place in a Rehoboth type place. My Brothers FIL and MIL he was a cheapskate retired young at 52 as he had 30 years in a Union pension plan and saved a lot. He bought in the cheapest area of Florida in dead central Florida. It was a living Hell to live there. He lasted 30 years. Then at age of 82 him and his 79 year old wife re-retired to a nicer part of Florida closer to Beach.

Who wants a dump in retirement.