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A rich guy is typically someone who makes 2x what you do or has 2x more money than you do. It's not really a number in and of itself.
When I made 50k a year I thought man if I could make 100K i'd be so well off. Then at 100K it was 150K and so on. Once I had 1 million I thought 2 was "the number". Somewhere along the line I figured out that I was chasing an illusive number. Kind of like chasing your own shadow I suppose. I no longer define "rich" in monetary terms because I got too damn frustrated trying to figure out what that meant.
300,000 is more than ten times what I earn a year. And it's been enough to provide for two people.
Sorry, but when you've got two luxury car payments, like to shop at Neiman Marcus
Well there is part of the problem. Why do you need two luxury cars? As for shopping at Neiman Marcus; sure, people may "like" to shop there but that and your penchant for driving luxury cars is cutting into your 300K/year salary. BTW, I'm not chastising you at all. Good for you that you are making 300K/year. And if luxury cars and Neiman Marcus are your thing, more power to ya!
As for considering 300K/year rich? No, I wouldn't consider it rich but I would consider you financially well off. I would only consider someone rich that doesn't have to work for a living and does pretty much what they want. If someone was bringing in 300K/year and lived within their means and didn't have to go to work everyday I would consider that person wealthy.
Last edited by free_food; 11-16-2009 at 12:53 AM..
My point exactly. Often times people with these incomes live in homes that cost anywhere from $500k to $700k, lease luxury cars, dress well, and generally live an opulent lifestyle.
why would one need to drive a luxury car?
why would one need to live in a 500k - 700k house?
The courts understand getting accustomed to s lifestyle. Explain to the court system during a divorce settlement that the divorcing spouse doesn't deserve or need any of those things either. It's not really the point if someone needs that much or not, it's an important part of our, and any, economy to have people who produce, earn, save and spend money like that. It's important to have choices in an economy and if anyone doubts that just look to the communist states that couldn't provide a vast assortment of products, and the ones they could you had to wait in lines for, for it's people and how productive they were. Those luxury cars have provided that part of the economy with innovations and will most likely be the first to produce cars that require no user input to get it's passengers from point A to point B. It may be far off or just around the corner but it's coming.
First, you have to decide what group of people to compare your income to: the entire world, the country, the state, the city, the neighborhood, the block, etc.
Your definition of rich then becomes different from someone living in another area, where their cost of living is substantially different then yours. 300k in San Francisco isn't rich. 300K in Detroit is extremely rich.
Then if you earn slightly more money than you need for an average home in your area, average clothing, average food - you are "well off".
If you earn substantially more money than you need for the above, you are considered "rich".
And again, it all depends on what group you are comparing yourself to.
If you live in San Francisco, and make 300K, you probably just consider your income average in comparison to your neighbors.
But an average income earner in Detroit would consider you rich simply because you can afford to live in San Francisco.
It's been asked at what salary level is someone considered rich, and there has been some very interesting insight.
My question is, if a family has a combined income of $300,000 a year, are they considered "rich". Of course everything is relative, but in most parts of the US is this considered wealthy?
While this figure is clearly a large sum, I think it depends how old one is when they earn this kind of money which determines whether or not they are rich. If it's someone in their 30's or even 40's, I would argue that they are affluent (not rich).
But if it's someone in their 50's or 60's (who has yet to pay off their mortgage, drives luxury automobiles, travels extensively, dresses to the nines, enjoys fine wine and food) I would say they are not.
Even though a salary of $300,000 puts one in the top .9% of US income earners, I still do not consider this figure to be "rich". Do you?
To earn that kind of money, I would say that a person is quit wealthy. 3 % to 5% own everything in the US. 95% are the low income people. And that is a fact folks. This is how it works in the states.
Last edited by oneyear; 11-16-2009 at 06:08 AM..
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