What do you consider "rich"?

[TheMatrix31]

Re: What do you consider "rich"?

What do I consider rich?



My friend's garage, circa 2006.

[bluengold34_OS]

Re: What do you consider "rich"?

The word "rich" is such a subjective term. As others have stated, its all relative to your bills, level of comfortable living, as savings. According to that chart earlier, my Wife and I would be considered "Upper middle class" but I find that a joke. She has a great job with Nestle and I work for Chase, but to get where we are, there are college loans for her, new car loans( for her ) and used car upkeep(me)credit cards, insurance, cable, etc..etc..

All of our bills are paid each month, we have savings going into each of our 401k programs, and we have about 50% of our income that is considered "disposable". With that said, there are months that are tighter than others. I feel blessed in this economy that we are able to maintain.

I just consider my Wife and myself middle class people, who work hard, and live comfortable. I guess rich is when you never ever have to worry about any money woe's at all.....the crazy thing is, most people that are rich, watch every single penny that is spent, like they made 30k a year.

[mjb2124]

Re: What do you consider "rich"?

But most 9-5 gigs in that age bracket are going to be somewhere in that range.

What's a 9-5 gig?

It's unfortunate in this day in age, but if you can find a job where you work 9-5 and get paid good money, DON'T LEAVE. Seriously. I don't know anyone (family or friends) who works 9-5. More like 8-7 or 7-7 + cellphone's or blackberries for night and weekend. Of course, most of my friends are in IT so the blackberry/cellphone is almost mandatory.

I agree with the sentiment that someone out of college is going to have a hard time finding a 70K job in most areas. From what I've seen in the local IT world, right out of college will pay around 50K in Pittsburgh (and I believe IT pays quite well in comparison to many other professions). Not a bad salary at all, but still a bit away from 70K.

[Gibbz]

Re: What do you consider "rich"?

$100k a year I consider rich. It's not filthy rich where you can just buy whatever you want, but you've got much more than enough money.

[FlyingFinn]

Re: What do you consider "rich"?

What's a 9-5 gig?

It's unfortunate in this day in age, but if you can find a job where you work 9-5 and get paid good money, DON'T LEAVE. Seriously. I don't know anyone (family or friends) who works 9-5. More like 8-7 or 7-7 + cellphone's or blackberries for night and weekend. Of course, most of my friends are in IT so the blackberry/cellphone is almost mandatory.

I agree with the sentiment that someone out of college is going to have a hard time finding a 70K job in most areas. From what I've seen in the local IT world, right out of college will pay around 50K in Pittsburgh (and I believe IT pays quite well in comparison to many other professions). Not a bad salary at all, but still a bit away from 70K.

I must be lucky then cause unless something goes wrong during a release (I'm a Sr. Software Engineer), I work my straight 8 5 days a week. My company actually forces me to take vacation.

[KG]

Re: What do you consider "rich"?

The word "rich" is such a subjective term. As others have stated, its all relative to your bills, level of comfortable living, as savings. According to that chart earlier, my Wife and I would be considered "Upper middle class" but I find that a joke. She has a great job with Nestle and I work for Chase, but to get where we are, there are college loans for her, new car loans( for her ) and used car upkeep(me)credit cards, insurance, cable, etc..etc..

All of our bills are paid each month, we have savings going into each of our 401k programs, and we have about 50% of our income that is considered "disposable". With that said, there are months that are tighter than others. I feel blessed in this economy that we are able to maintain.

I just consider my Wife and myself middle class people, who work hard, and live comfortable. I guess rich is when you never ever have to worry about any money woe's at all.....the crazy thing is, most people that are rich, watch every single penny that is spent, like they made 30k a year.

You're definately upper-middle class whether you like or not Bob..lol

I definately agree with mjb that a true 9-5 is rare but some companies that pay OT are really cutting down on it to save $. If I got paid my salary +1/2 for putting in OT I would be very happy.

[studbucket]

Re: What do you consider "rich"?

99.9% chance 70k AIN'T gonna happen out of college. Let me just burst your bubble now.

10 years out of college yea but right out no way in hell.

Unless you are the .1% of people who have crazy connections and get spoon fed a nice job. I wish I was that person!

I went to entry level jobs in downtown Charlotte with a degree in Finance and the starting salaries ranged from $30K-$35K!!! People with experience took my opportunities and now I moved into law enforcement.

It's not extremely high, but I know it's higher than you have it. How do I know? I'm one of those lucky few making more than $70k first year out of college. If you can get in the right industry or in the right area, it's not out of the question.

So what do I consider rich? Well, if I was staying in Iowa, I would be pretty darn close to being upper middle class, however, I'm just going to be another person in the Seattle suburbs here in a few months.

I don't think a number can be put on it, but if you can pay all of your bills, your car, your house, etc every month, still make money, and not worry about money, that'll do it. I think a good barometer is being able to purchase a new car in cash without it being a big deal.

Another one is where it's no longer economical to have health insurance because you can just pay the fees as they come instead of having large monthly payments for your family.

[GSW]

Re: What do you consider "rich"?

What do I consider rich?



My friend's garage, circa 2006.

lol @ enzo

[KG]

Re: What do you consider "rich"?

It's not extremely high, but I know it's higher than you have it. How do I know? I'm one of those lucky few making more than $70k first year out of college. If you can get in the right industry or in the right area, it's not out of the question.

So what do I consider rich? Well, if I was staying in Iowa, I would be pretty darn close to being upper middle class, however, I'm just going to be another person in the Seattle suburbs here in a few months.

I don't think a number can be put on it, but if you can pay all of your bills, your car, your house, etc every month, still make money, and not worry about money, that'll do it. I think a good barometer is being able to purchase a new car in cash without it being a big deal.

Another one is where it's no longer economical to have health insurance because you can just pay the fees as they come instead of having large monthly payments for your family.

That's never a good idea.

[TheMatrix31]

Re: What do you consider "rich"?

lol @ enzo

Why lol?

[GSW]

Re: What do you consider "rich"?

Why lol?

i always laugh when i see rich peoples cars.
not often you see an enzo...

this morning i saw a Audi r8 speeding around downtown SF at 5:30 in the morning.

hillarious.

[mjb2124]

Re: What do you consider "rich"?

I must be lucky then cause unless something goes wrong during a release (I'm a Sr. Software Engineer), I work my straight 8 5 days a week. My company actually forces me to take vacation.

You're lucky man... I've had 2 jobs like that in the past, but unfortunately both moved away (one moved from Pittsburgh to Long Island, NY and the other moved from Pittsburgh to Portland, OR). I was offered relocation packages in both instances, but chose not to due to the much higher cost of living in both areas - especially Long Island.

A normal week for me is usually 60-65 hours (Sr. Sys Admin) and that doesn't count time spent working from home on a Sat/Sun or at night during the week. There are slow weeks, but they aren't very often. Unfortunately, there is no OT pay either. If there was OT pay, it wouldn't be bad because my salary would be through the roof.

We are forced to take vacation as well...probably in a different way though. If we don't take it, we lose it so everyone makes sure they take it!

[fistofrage]

Re: What do you consider "rich"?

That's never a good idea.

Giving up Health insurance should be in a thread of how to go from millionaire to pauper in 1 fell swoop. It would rank right up there with letting Madoff control your investment decisions.

1 bad bout with a life threatening illness could set you back millions without insurance.

[studbucket]

Re: What do you consider "rich"?

That's never a good idea.

Giving up Health insurance should be in a thread of how to go from millionaire to pauper in 1 fell swoop. It would rank right up there with letting Madoff control your investment decisions.

1 bad bout with a life threatening illness could set you back millions without insurance.

Whoops! I knew it didn't seem right when I typed it. It must be auto insurance I was thinking of. I know a very wealthy couple that has stopped paying some basic insurance, because it doesn't save them money in the long run.

Sorry for posting something stupid.

[totalownership]

Re: What do you consider "rich"?

Alright, we each probably have different opinions on what's rich. It doesn't have a clear definition. To me, it's when you don't have to worry about any "normal" bills. Obviously some people are extremely materialistic and rich for them is different. My question is, an average family household, what would you consider to be rich, as far as income?

I ask this because got into a debate with friends at school. I say 100K a year is rich. They claim, not even close. I think that's absurd. They said something along the lines of 250K.

I looked at statistics, and only 20% of households make over 97K a year. Also, only 7% of people make over 97K a year.

Just interested in hearing other opinions.

You guys are still in highschool I'm going to assume. lol
100K is NOWHERE NEAR rich. Not even in the same ballpark. Are you talking about having a job or combined income of 100K? Even if you clear 100k it's not rich. At least here in the Tri-State area.