What is considered wealthy?

debodun

debodun

SF VIP
Location
way upstate in New York, USA
I heard recently on TV that in America you have to have a net value of between 2 and 3 million dollars to be considered wealthy. I guess I still have some work to do on my finances! LOL

BTW - What dollar value would you consider wealthy?
 

Nonsense ...... it all depends where you live and what your lifestyle is like ....2 to 3 million generates 80-120k ....here in the tristate area that is low for a working couple working .

A cop in Long Island makes more .

To equal the millionaire of old when I was a kid ,takes 8-9 million to equal it
 
Glad you stipulated dollar value since wealthy doesn't necessarily mean money. By that I mean. Wealth can pay for the care needed but wealth can't buy perfect health.

It depends on where you live in our world. A family of four living in poverty in America could live really well on the same dollars they have to spend in some places in Africa. Or A high earner not necessarily a millionaire living in San Francisco could feel wealthy in some parts of America's rural south.

Overall wealthy for me translates to being monitrailly well off to not have to worry about shelter, food, and buying "wants" no matter what the want is whenever you want it.
 

For me, wealth is not a number it is a comfortable balance between what comes in and what goes out, it's about having enough.

"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen [pounds] nineteen [shillings] and six [pence], result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery." - Mr Micawber/Charles Dickens
 
wealthy is 500 000 + a year aussie dollars imo. 5 to 10% of the population earn that much? the ones who can afford to send their kids to elite high schools.
 
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it is a individual thing wealth - but I would say in £££ -- that having in the bank 2 million .is very nice indeed ' wished )))))
 
toffee said:
it is a individual thing wealth - but I would say in £££ -- that having in the bank 2 million .is very nice indeed ' wished )))))
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the problem is in retirement it is no longer about the pile of money .it is only about what that pile of ,money lets you live on ... having a million dollars saved , buys no different lifestyle then a city worker with a 40k pension ....so if we are talking living like the "wealthy " today it takes many millions. we have multiple 7 figures but for queens in nyc where we live it generates the median income for our neighborhood .. we rent an apartment and drive a subaru ... sorry no rolls or butler at these levels .
 
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mathjak107 said:
Nonsense ...... it all depends where you live and what your lifestyle is like ....2 to 3 million generates 80-120k ....here in the tristate area that is low for a working couple working .

A cop in Long Island makes more .

To equal the millionaire of old when I was a kid ,takes 8-9 million to equal it
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Yep, a million bucks ain't what it used to be.

 
Trade said:
I'll go along with this.

https://dqydj.com/net-worth-brackets-wealth-brackets-one-percent/
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it all depends what you want as a lifestyle and where you live and whether you are generating a lifetime of income off that 2.5 million or get to just spend the whole thing wildly .... based on the income generation 2.50 million generates an income here less then a suffolk or nassau county cop makes. my buddies pension from the police dept is more than that generates .

so there is a whole lot more to look at then net worth ... a 40k pension and zero net worth can generate the same lifestyle as a million dollars here .
 
mathjak107 said:
it all depends what you want as a lifestyle and where you live and whether you are generating a lifetime of income off that 2.5 million or get to just spend the whole thing wildly .... based on the income generation 2.50 million generates an income here less then a suffolk or nassau county cop makes. my buddies pension from the police dept is more than that generates .

so there is a whole lot more to look at then net worth ... a 40k pension and zero net worth can generate the same lifestyle as a million dollars here .
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math...have often wondered why retired folks continue to live in those high cost areas...such high density and surely not enough nature. Suppose its just what they're used to? Surely they could take their pensions and move elsewhere, where the quality of life would be more rewarding to them. Know some do...met an ex NYC cop in Ft. Myers - works at the airport. He and his wife chucked it and moved to paradise...lol.
 
I think mathjak hit on something not thought about. Having what anyone considers wealth is one thing, replenishing it to maintain that level or increase takes planning. I've read where athletes & lottery winners that have made millions wound up broke for lack of knowing how to grow that money.
 
Wealth is a state of mind not a dollar amount. Adequate money to fund overhead and needs plus most wants. How much that requires depends on where you live, how important your wants are to you, and how expensive it is to fulfill them.

There are some for whom no bank account could be large enough to make them feel secure, never mind wealthy. Others live happily on barely more than the amount it takes to cover humble overheads. To me, the latter group are the wealthier because they don't let money run them.
 
StarSong said:
Wealth is a state of mind not a dollar amount. Adequate money to fund overhead and needs plus most wants. How much that requires depends on where you live, how important your wants are to you, and how expensive it is to fulfill them.

There are some for whom no bank account could be large enough to make them feel secure, never mind wealthy. Others live happily on barely more than the amount it takes to cover humble overheads. To me, the latter group are the wealthier because they don't let money run them.
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Hey, Star...some of those guys "need to have bigger pockets sewn in their shrouds, because they think they're going to take it with them" as my mom used to say.
 
Mathjak is spot on
So is Star

It boils down to mindset

Bent on keeping solvent?
Heed Mathjak's basic fundamentals

Happy with the basics of life?
Enjoy what that life has given you, and what you've taken out of it

Adaptation is huge, whether it be investing in a fickle market, or overcoming mental/spiritual obstacles

I have quite a few acquaintances that I'd consider quite wealthy, monetarily
But for them it's not enough
It's never enough

Others, I consider poor, feel they are quite wealthy

debodun said:
What dollar value would you consider wealthy?
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Me?

Can't seem to put a finger on it

I'm not poor nor wealthy

I'm content
 
Liberty said:
math...have often wondered why retired folks continue to live in those high cost areas...such high density and surely not enough nature. Suppose its just what they're used to? Surely they could take their pensions and move elsewhere, where the quality of life would be more rewarding to them. Know some do...met an ex NYC cop in Ft. Myers - works at the airport. He and his wife chucked it and moved to paradise...lol.
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Why ? So we can be an active part of our grand kids lives and not be a vacation stopover like our parents were ..they never really were part of any of their grand children’s daily lives once they moved away ..

We had a second home in the poconos in Pennsylvania....we bought to in 2007 to retire to. We thought a cheaper life would be better .

We were wrong.... once we put our retirement hat on things looked very different .

Here in nyc we have a massive mass transit system ..we can go anywhere at anytime..god forbid I couldn’t drive at some point in the poconos ..

Here in nyc we have loads to do daily ... it would take decades of eating out every day to even try all the fabulous places .. we have top medical care , specialists, facility’s here ... I work one day a week in retirement doing something I enjoy ..I would have to work 3 days in pa to earn the same thing.

we have the best in theater , the arts , museums , beaches in long island , etc .... winters were long and hard in pa with little to do as you age .

We ended up selling and realized everything we would want we already have right where we lived

There are so many reasons places like nyc are so desirable. we don't live in manhattan . we live in a more suburban part of queens
 
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mathjak107 said:
Why ? So we can be an active part of our grand kids lives and not be a vacation stopover like our parents were ..they never really were part of any of their grand children’s daily lives once they moved away ..

We had a second home in the poconos in Pennsylvania....we bought to in 2007 to retire to. We thought a cheaper life would be better .

We were wrong.... once we put our retirement hat on things looked very different .

Here in nyc we have a massive mass transit system ..we can go anywhere at anytime..god forbid I couldn’t drive at some point in the poconos ..

Here in nyc we have loads to do daily ... it would take decades of eating out every day to even try all the fabulous places .. we have top medical care , specialists, facility’s here ... I work one day a week in retirement doing something I enjoy ..I would have to work 3 days in pa to earn the same thing we have the best in theater , the arts , museums , etc .... winters were long and hard in pa with little to do as you age .

We ended up selling and realized everything we would want we already have right where we lived

There are so many reasons places like nyc are so desirable
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Yep, its "different strokes for different folks". Our kid lives in Ohio...owns a software company. They would love it if we moved up there but no thanks. The cold just goes right through our bones. They travel a lot and come down here often...always say they relax here like in no other place. We love nature. Nice to be warm and close to everything you might need too. Everyone has different wants and needs. Its good to keep your dreams alive, though. That keeps you young. As long as you do you are happy, happy, happy!
 
mathjak107 said:
"......We had a second home in the poconos in Pennsylvania....to retire to. We thought a cheaper life would be better. We were wrong.... once we put our retirement hat on things looked very different. Here in nyc we have a massive mass transit system ..we can go anywhere at anytime..god forbid I couldn’t drive at some point in the poconos ..Here in nyc we have loads to do daily ... we have the best in theater , the arts , museums , beaches in long island , etc .... winters were long and hard in pa with little to do as you age .
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We understand the sentiment. We will be selling our several acres we're living on and getting an apartment closer to Chicago. There will be transit, stores, museums, parks, entertainment in general we can walk to. Just depends on what you want and more, how 'well' you're aging. We don't want to drive everywhere.
 
Aunt Bea said:
For me, wealth is not a number it is a comfortable balance between what comes in and what goes out, it's about having enough.

"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen [pounds] nineteen [shillings] and six [pence], result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery." - Mr Micawber/Charles Dickens
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I agree and I am lucky enough to be comfortable, but certainly not rich.
Two members of my family scrapped and saved for a rainy day; never traveled, went out to eat, and would never have lived
in a lovely retirement residence as I do.
Both have passed away leaving over a million dollars to family. My family know that I will not leave them with debts, but
there certainly will not be any million dollars!
 
I'm going to stick with my criteria of being in the upper 5% of net worth.

That way you can look down your nose at 19 out of every 20 people.

After all, isn't that what being rich is all about?

Being able to Lord it over the peons beneath you?
 


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