How much $$$ makes you rich?

[Mikelus Trento]

John McCain was asked this question the other night and flippantly answered "Five million a year."

He has an advisor that says Americans are "whining" too much about the economy, that it is all in our imagination.

So in touch with average Americans.

I am curious what the forum members think would be an annual income that would qualify someone as rich.

My opinion is anything over $500,000 a year.

[Thanatos]

I think anything over $200,000 is rich. I also don't believe in an income tax.

[Valentin the II]

Reminds me of Marie Antuanet.

[Thanatos]

Reminds me of Marie Antuanet.

Antoinette?

[Tajir]

Antoinette?

[ZaPPPa]

I think anything over $200,000 is rich. I also don't believe in an income tax.

Depends where you live. Utah yes, Northern Urban California... heck no.. It's comfortable, but not rich. Take into account the mortgage and property tax and there's not much left at the end of the month.

[Ramashan]

And they call Obama elitest.

Honestly thought, the answer really depends on where you live and is it single earner income or dual family earner income?

I tend to think 200g's is a bit low with what houses still costs and how expensive cars are these days, That gets you a comfortable middle class level that once existed where you don't have to worry about money, you can have nice things and take nice vacations, but it is close, anything over 400g's I would consider rich.

But then you have people that make over 100g's a day. Those are the mega rich.

[Dunecat]

200g's income is not rich?

As it has been said in ages past:

"lol WUT?"



Anything over 100-120k a year is most definitely the end of the middle class...

Hell, honestly anything over 40k is pretty damned rich, but I'm sure the wealthy nations don't think so.

Rich in some areas in the Dominican Republic starts when you don't have to live in a neighborhood of windowless concrete blocks.

"Oh god I'm so poor with my computer, tv, car, half-acre, et cetera."

[DisgruntledGoat]

Hell, honestly anything over 40k is pretty damned rich, but I'm sure the wealthy nations don't think so.

In Canada and the US if you aren't making 40K you aren't going to be getting anywhere. 40K is the very very bottom of the middle class if anything. I can't speak for Europe but 40K a year doesn't go every far at all.

Now 5 Million a year is a pretty insane answer. I'd have to agree that 200K a year you have left the end of middle class and have entered the upper class. But are you rich? There are a lot of people that earn 200K a year and are struggling to maintain the "rich" lifestyle. I'd personally say once you breach the 500K mark you don't have to worry about anything and at that point you are officially "rich."

[antares24]

John McCain was asked this question the other night and flippantly answered "Five million a year."

He has an advisor that says Americans are "whining" too much about the economy, that it is all in our imagination.

So in touch with average Americans.

I am curious what the forum members think would be an annual income that would qualify someone as rich.

My opinion is anything over $500,000 a year.

eheheh breaking news so a guy making 4 million a year for McCain is an average guy
I'm curious to know how he will consider people making 20k-30k a year....miserably poor?

I put the rich tag at 300k € a year, below you are high income middle class.

[Zuwxiv]

It definitely matters where you live. In some third world countries, my allowance as a child would make me unbelievably wealthy.

I guess it depends what you mean by rich. What is rich? Is it just not having to worry about money? There are many places in the US that $100,000 a year could do that. Is it being able to afford expensive things? Living in an expensive area? Taking vacations? Maybe that's $150,000 to $200,000 a year. Being able to waste money? Buying the latest and the greatest? Luxury items? Maybe $200,000 to $300,000.

I live in Orange County, CA. For their sixteenth birthday (for non-US folks, that's when you can get your driver's license) many people received new cars worth more than $50,000. You could find people wearing easily $1,000 in clothes ($400 jeans weren't that rare). Homes near me cost around $1 million now (twice as much as 10 years ago) - you just can't afford housing if you aren't making a lot of money.

I'll freely admit that I grew up in a wealthy family. We did not have money problems, and Christmas/birthday gifts were very big. Not that my family wasted money or just poured it away, but I never lacked anything.

My sister has a friend who lives fairly close by. Her father owns several car dealerships. He has several houses. I don't know exactly, but I imagine he must be very wealthy. He might have a new car every month - he trades it in at his dealerships - but that is the only way you could say he shows off his wealth. He lives in a beautiful home, but he doesn't flaunt it. He's a really down-to-earth guy, he's always been very kind and generous. He doesn't act like he's very wealthy, but the truth is he could probably buy most people around here dozens of times over.

He and his family obviously enjoy the privileges that come with wealth, but they don't get caught up in the sense of superiority that many despised rich people have.

Anyway, point is: Rich is more than just a figure of money. There's also a sort of expected behavior to it - and maybe 'being rich' is just being able to show off your money.

But somehow, I get the impression this thread will eventually devolve into people trying to find an actual figure so one day they can shout, "I'm rich, *****!"

"Oh god I'm so poor with my computer, tv, car, half-acre, et cetera."

True. If you have the free time during a Tuesday to get on your internet-connected computer and read TWC, most of the world would consider you wealthy.

[Ulf]

I've always considered rich as being financially stable without having a job.
That is, having enough money that keeping it in savings accounts would net you enough money to live comfortably on the interest alone. A friend, his dad, and I once came up with a rough calculation on what that amount would be and we came up with 5.7 million dollars. But keep in mind that was 7 or 8 years ago when we came up with that figure and of course things change when it comes to money.

[Каие]

Wait a republican is saying republican things? No ing way!

[the_mango55]

I guess it depends on how you define "rich" and if you take it to mean the same thing as "wealthy"

I would say anything over a $1,000,000 a year is rich, while over $200,000 is wealthy.

[ajm317]

rich
adjective

substantially more money than you currently have

ajm317 Dictionary

Almost nobody will admit to being rich if you ask them.

I would say that a necessary precondition for being "rich" is that you don't have to work if you don't want to. If you're 25 years old and you have "only" $500,000 in the bank, you're not rich (not in the U.S. anyway.)

[s.rwitt]

God I knew this would happen. It was an obvious joke. The fact that people are trying to make this an issue is ridiculous.

[Mikelus Trento]

God I knew this would happen. It was an obvious joke. The fact that people are trying to make this an issue is ridiculous.

ahahaha darn, you caught me.

But he did say it, and words do mean things.

Old people say crazy things.

[Ramashan]

200g's income is not rich?

As it has been said in ages past:

"lol WUT?"

I work with people that make that much money in a week and i have friends who are struggling to pay their mortgage, car payments, school debt, and insurance and make over 200g's as a dual house hold income. It really as someone said how you define it and where you live.

200g's is indeed wealthy, but it is not rich. Think about it, two people who earn 75g's a year make close 200g's and that's starting salary for a NY police officer. Is a family of police officers rich?

I just did the math, for a dual income family that makes $200,000 in Los Angeles after all Federal Tax, State Tax, Social Security, mortgage, car payment, gas, property tax, utilities, phone, internet and cable, car insurance, etc they would be lucky to have around 85,000 to put in the bank. That's not bad, but does that make them rich? And what if they have kids? And that doesn't include groceries, spending money, etc. I would say in this case, 200g's is a comfortable wealthy middle class, but not rich.

Not that I'm close to making this amount and would be head over heels excited if I did, but I'm just laying out all the expenses included in living in a more expensive neck of the woods.

[Dunecat]

I work with people that make that much money in a week and i have friends who are struggling to pay their mortgage, car payments, school debt, and insurance and make over 200g's as a dual house hold income. It really as someone said how you define it and where you live.

200g's is indeed wealthy, but it is not rich. Think about it, two people who earn 75g's a year make close 200g's and that's starting salary for a NY police officer. Is a family of police officers rich?

I just did the math, for a dual income family that makes $200,000 in Los Angeles after all Federal Tax, State Tax, Social Security, mortgage, car payment, gas, property tax, utilities, phone, internet and cable, car insurance, etc they would be lucky to have around 85,000 to put in the bank. That's not bad, but does that make them rich? And what if they have kids? And that doesn't include groceries, spending money, etc. I would say in this case, 200g's is a comfortable wealthy middle class, but not rich.

Not that I'm close to making this amount and would be head over heels excited if I did, but I'm just laying out all the expenses included in living in a more expensive neck of the woods.

NY cops have notoriously bad pay, less than 30k, and LA cops do have good pay, but it is hard to find the same sort of standard of living while paying the same amount.

[Thanatos]

I agree, Ramashan. Good points.