Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You don't need to be truly rich to do those things, but you do need to be comfortable. Truly rich means you can hire a private jet for your vacations and could have multiple houses around the world, etc.

I see. So privileged beyond belief compared to the rest of the world, developed or not is not considered rich on this forum. You need to be Koch Brothers/Bill Gates rich to be truly rich. Or at least movie star rich. Got it.

The criteria that were used to determine "rich" by OP are very middle class concerns. When you do it at the levels of income many are describing you are talking upper-upper-middle class. But the rich don't give a sh*t about 529s, IRAs, and occasional date night splurge meals.

Agree. My brother sells high-end timeshares ($1-2M and up--for a 12-week SHARE) and for his clients, the $1M ski condo is usually their fifth or sixth place, after the main house, the apartment in New York, the house in Martha's Vineyard, the condo in Miami, and the yacht. They all have their own planes to travel among all these homes and a permanent staff or crew in each location. They wouldn't think twice about buying an Audi, let alone paying for sleep away camp or a $250 restaurant bill. And it's not just Bill Gates or the Koch brothers, there are hundreds of thousands of people in the US with ultra high net worth. Yes, a HHI of $250K or $500K is "rich" by any definition, but there are still worlds of differences between a $250K income and $2M in net worth and $30M in net worth.

+100 Thee are many people around here with net worth $2M. It takes at least $10M to be "upper class" by net worth. That is the bottom.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In any case, there are not in fact "hundreds of thousands" of people in the US with ultra high net worth. There are about 3 million people who are millionaires, but less than 2% of those milionairres have "$30M in net worth."

OK, so there are 50,000 people in the US with more than $30M. That's still a lot of people.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millionaire#United_States

Who all seated together couldn't half fill of many football stadiums. Statistically, it's a very small number.
But I get you're point of the huge difference between a net worth of $25M+ and $1.25M

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In any case, there are not in fact "hundreds of thousands" of people in the US with ultra high net worth. There are about 3 million people who are millionaires, but less than 2% of those milionairres have "$30M in net worth."

OK, so there are 50,000 people in the US with more than $30M. That's still a lot of people.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millionaire#United_States

No. 50000 is not a lot of people. It's statistically irrelevant. 500000 would be, too.

Hello all,

Keeping it simple - 2013 income just over 4mm, net with just over 14mm, hard work and good luck have gotten us here. 2 school age children with undergrad and grad school money set aside, $500,000 HOME in PWC that is in a wonderful neighborhood with a lot of families, white picket fences and a real sense of community. Splurges? Wife has her dream Mercedes, we have a suite at the MCI Center and 3 week long trips to the carribean, NYC and our beach house in SC. When we travel we fly first class and upgrade to the more expensive accomodations. 5% of income goes to church - 5% goes to a couple of charities that are important to us. Keeping a level head and not spoiling are kids (too much) is difficult at times but always remembering where you came from so that you can always remember to appreciate what we have. Oh and shoes...DW loves her shoes...and I do not mind as long as they are high heels and she wears them to bed.

Anonymous wrote:In any case, there are not in fact "hundreds of thousands" of people in the US with ultra high net worth. There are about 3 million people who are millionaires, but less than 2% of those milionairres have "$30M in net worth."

OK, so there are 50,000 people in the US with more than $30M. That's still a lot of people.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millionaire#United_States

In any case, there are not in fact "hundreds of thousands" of people in the US with ultra high net worth. There are about 3 million people who are millionaires, but less than 2% of those milionairres have "$30M in net worth."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You don't need to be truly rich to do those things, but you do need to be comfortable. Truly rich means you can hire a private jet for your vacations and could have multiple houses around the world, etc.

I see. So privileged beyond belief compared to the rest of the world, developed or not is not considered rich on this forum. You need to be Koch Brothers/Bill Gates rich to be truly rich. Or at least movie star rich. Got it.

The criteria that were used to determine "rich" by OP are very middle class concerns. When you do it at the levels of income many are describing you are talking upper-upper-middle class. But the rich don't give a sh*t about 529s, IRAs, and occasional date night splurge meals.

Agree. My brother sells high-end timeshares ($1-2M and up--for a 12-week SHARE) and for his clients, the $1M ski condo is usually their fifth or sixth place, after the main house, the apartment in New York, the house in Martha's Vineyard, the condo in Miami, and the yacht. They all have their own planes to travel among all these homes and a permanent staff or crew in each location. They wouldn't think twice about buying an Audi, let alone paying for sleep away camp or a $250 restaurant bill. And it's not just Bill Gates or the Koch brothers, there are hundreds of thousands of people in the US with ultra high net worth. Yes, a HHI of $250K or $500K is "rich" by any definition, but there are still worlds of differences between a $250K income and $2M in net worth and $30M in net worth.

I'm amazed that people with that kind of net worth would be stupid enought to buy timeshares. Hunh. Good for your brother, I guess.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You don't need to be truly rich to do those things, but you do need to be comfortable. Truly rich means you can hire a private jet for your vacations and could have multiple houses around the world, etc.

I see. So privileged beyond belief compared to the rest of the world, developed or not is not considered rich on this forum. You need to be Koch Brothers/Bill Gates rich to be truly rich. Or at least movie star rich. Got it.

The criteria that were used to determine "rich" by OP are very middle class concerns. When you do it at the levels of income many are describing you are talking upper-upper-middle class. But the rich don't give a sh*t about 529s, IRAs, and occasional date night splurge meals.

Agree. My brother sells high-end timeshares ($1-2M and up--for a 12-week SHARE) and for his clients, the $1M ski condo is usually their fifth or sixth place, after the main house, the apartment in New York, the house in Martha's Vineyard, the condo in Miami, and the yacht. They all have their own planes to travel among all these homes and a permanent staff or crew in each location. They wouldn't think twice about buying an Audi, let alone paying for sleep away camp or a $250 restaurant bill. And it's not just Bill Gates or the Koch brothers, there are hundreds of thousands of people in the US with ultra high net worth. Yes, a HHI of $250K or $500K is "rich" by any definition, but there are still worlds of differences between a $250K income and $2M in net worth and $30M in net worth.

Anonymous wrote:Me!

My HHI is 90K.

I'm rich!

I'm with ya!

Our HHI is ~1.5mil a year and we comfortably do all these things.

Why would I even think of apologizing for having money?

OMG

This thread is so catty. It's like the BIL you hate, the one that brags he has better than whatever you have or has had better or could get better.

The major thing is, no one in the family likes him.

You shallow bitches.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Someone who is rich knows that expensive cars, clothes, and handbags can be obtained by almost anyone. HHI of $730K here and drive a Honda & Acura, no designer handbag, and kid wears clothes from Children's Place, Old Navy, etc. We have all of the other financial stuff mentioned but the cars and fancy stuff don't mean you're rich."

Totally agree. But I also feel that you are sinfully cheap at your income.

You have the money to spend on clothes not made by children in other countries, i.e., sweatshops, and you choose not to purchase those, instead sticking with the most egregious companies.

You also have the money for super fuel efficient, electric or hybrid cars but you stick with Acuras and Hondas?

So you may think you are being virtuous by not spending as much on cars and clothes, but you are not.

I'm in the same boat. I don't give a whit that you think I'm being "sinfully cheap." How much do YOU give to charity annually? I bet I give more, in absolute dollars and as a percentage of HHI. Plus, if you want to retire young, you need to be cheap, although I do have one Prius, so I might be okay with you <eyeroll>.

Bullshit. Buying more expensive clothing will not keep you from retiring young. We "only" make in the 400s and manage to support companies that support a living wage.

I DON'T CARE what your ethics are.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Someone who is rich knows that expensive cars, clothes, and handbags can be obtained by almost anyone. HHI of $730K here and drive a Honda & Acura, no designer handbag, and kid wears clothes from Children's Place, Old Navy, etc. We have all of the other financial stuff mentioned but the cars and fancy stuff don't mean you're rich."

Totally agree. But I also feel that you are sinfully cheap at your income.

You have the money to spend on clothes not made by children in other countries, i.e., sweatshops, and you choose not to purchase those, instead sticking with the most egregious companies.

You also have the money for super fuel efficient, electric or hybrid cars but you stick with Acuras and Hondas?

So you may think you are being virtuous by not spending as much on cars and clothes, but you are not.

I'm in the same boat. I don't give a whit that you think I'm being "sinfully cheap." How much do YOU give to charity annually? I bet I give more, in absolute dollars and as a percentage of HHI. Plus, if you want to retire young, you need to be cheap, although I do have one Prius, so I might be okay with you <eyeroll>.

You can get as defensive as you want but it doesn't change anything. Our HHI is just shy of 300k. As a person of means, I feel it is my responsibility to spend my money on socially and environmentally reponsible ways. I don't want to compare because it seems useless, but we donated 30K in charity last year: two of our bonuses. We also volunteer 2-3 hours a week, and so do our kids.

I cannot fathom rich people coming on here and bragging about how they buy the dregs of consumer products when their purchasing power allows them to make better decisions.

Um, I'm concerned about other things in life. Sorry to break it to you. Maybe it's generational? I was born in 1966 and frankly don't have time to research who are the ethical clothing manufacturers of the month. I buy all clothes online.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who, then, is buying all the 1K+ designer handbags? I think the better measure would be own more than 3 pairs of 'manolo blahniks'.

People who have a ton of credit card debt.

Does it make you feel better to think so?