How to Tell if You're Rich

Reality

What a silly article. I have food, water, shelter and all the opportunity for education and advancement one could ask for. As does everyone else in this country (or they at least have the opportunity to receive these things). The poorest of the poor in our country still consume several times the resources that the average 3rd world citizen does.

That makes us all rich by world standards.

I'm not advocating sacrificing our happiness for rest of the world, I'm just saying; if you're reading this, you're lucky.

Robin Boling of ID @ Mar 31, 2009 03:53:58 AM

The Fair Tax

Fairtax.org

Ethan of NY @ Mar 12, 2009 14:38:32 PM

Who is rich?

It is the money you save- or have in liquid assets that makes you rich- NOT the money you earn.

Frugal in Illinois of IL @ Mar 12, 2009 10:29:36 AM

Just getting by....

I moved to DC a few years ago from NY. I make more now then I did then but can't get ahead as Uncle Sam wants everything extra that I make. My kids are grown so I don't have any deductions. How is it right the me, a single woman on her own, has to pay over 38% into taxes when the government loves to just give away our money. Look at all the countries we help that hate us. Stop giving them the hard earned money that most Americans are paying and start giving back to people who truly deserve it.

Debbie of MD @ Mar 12, 2009 10:21:47 AM

Who Deserves $200,000?

I , my fiance, and our 6 children live in NJ. he makes almost $200,000 a year and i make over $50,000. To Cindy in PA, I must say where you live is all relative to what you make. It sounds like a lot to you?

Yes, we pay all of our bills and our cars are paid for-we don't live beyond our means-but we ARE supporting a large group!!

Furthermore, my fiance who earns SO much?? I rarely see him...he leaves in the AM as we all do...and walks in the door (on a good night) around 10:00 or 11:00 PM. He proceeds to work from home until the wee-hours of the morning, than do it all over again. We have never takenn a weekend or vacation where the computer and cell did not accompany us. So people making less work just as hard? I'd love to see it. I even get to leave before 6 PM, so all of these people making 40-50 K work like that? I highly doubt it.

AC of NJ @ Mar 12, 2009 10:12:51 AM

It's simple really ...

Most of it is discipline: Learn to live on 80% of your take-home pay early in life, and if you can't pay cash (house excepted), don't buy it.

The rest is luck in avoiding injury, illness, and natural or man-made catastrophe.

I've worked since I was 14, travelled the world, and never took home more than $43K/year. Now that I'm 60+, I have close to a million in liquid assets, and my energy-efficient house and car are paid for.

I credit my parents and grandparents, who weathered a real depression, for teaching me how to survive in an uncertain world.

Millionaire Next Door of MO @ Mar 11, 2009 18:57:02 PM

Sustainable society

Americans need to face the reality that we are competing against the entire world for resources, just as governments are competing against each other for top scientists.

For too long, people have been drawing exponential growth lines without thinking about consequences. The world is not far from a Malthusian crisis. The science behind global warming is decent. Our world is changing, and the American lifestyle of the last 50 years is just unsustainable. Being rich (>$250K / yr.) will mean less if your city is under water (coastal cities are in danger from global warming). It will mean less if your country is ranked near the bottom in education consistently. It will mean less if drug traffickers are relentlessly attacking your borders and ravaging neighboring countries. It will mean less if Lake Mead water levels are too low to produce electricity for LA, and too low for drinking water for Las Vegas.

If you want to be 'rich', which I would define as comfortable living with a sense of security, then you should observe the trends, the macro trends, and make informed decisions accordingly.

full disclosure: I started out 18, on my own, and broke.

Jeff Winkler of TX @ Mar 01, 2009 15:46:27 PM

How to tell if your rich?

Good question for us Americans. For some of us as long as you can satisfy Maslow's first physiological needs and second safety and security needs then your are truly rich. But as things seem to be going we might have lost the second level and beginning to lose the first creating a deficit of needs. With our government borrowing approx $500B in the first quarter such to stay a float, how rich our we really?

Raymond Young of NV @ Feb 26, 2009 00:17:56 AM