How do you define "rich"

[W2R]

I think "rich" at any stage of life is where you have enough money (since OP wanted to limit this to the $$ factor) to live a life you are content with.

I think you nailed it. Being rich is related more to contentment than to the number of dollars possessed.

"My greatest skill is to want but little." - - H. Thoreau, in Walden

There you go. IMO, Thoreau was really rich! I haven't attained sufficient detachment from material things to be as rich as Thoreau, but at least I am basically content and not at all consumed with longing for things that I cannot afford.

 

[TickTock]

Somebody who is rich doesn't need to worry about what his wife or girlfriend might want for Christmas.

[Wesley]

I don't think they exist.

[/Wesley]

 

[TickTock]

I've been reading this forum for a while, and I haven't seen many if any posts that indicate that $$ became irrelevant, or even less than vitally important to anyone.

On a more serious note, that money doesn't become irrelevant, I agree with. That the things one wants to buy, and the value of those things change, I wholeheartedly endorse!

For example, in college one main goal I had was to buy a Ferrari Testarosa. Mmmmmm, hawt sportz car!!!! Now, I could actually afford one (a used one, anyway...) - but I'm not willing to devote the $ from ER savings to do so. Values change.

 

[Andy R]

Rich is a doctor from Tampa who is witty and a great moderator...

 

[CRABBY JERRY]

Rich is a doctor from Tampa who is witty and a great moderator...

LOL

 

[retiringby50]

Dh and I watched 60 Minutes last night and Andy Rooney did a bit about if he was rich. Compared to dh and I Andy is rich, I guess he doesn't think so. CBS News Video - Top Stories and Video News Clips at CBSNews.com

Thanks for sharing. It's sort of nice to know that people with money also "cut corners" to save more money. I heard Oprah say on her show that she doesn't like to pay for the phone calls at the hotel. She'd call her friend Gayle and ask her to call her back at the hotel! I'm digressing, but ... when I was a teenager, I used to work in Chinatown (San Francisco). You could get your hair washed and styled for about $5. I used to tell me mom that when I got a real job, I would pay someone once a week to wash my hair. I only started doing this about a year ago, over 25 years after those Chinatown days (it's now $9 but in a residential area in SF), but I only do it about once every two months. Now... if I were "rich," I would order room service at the hotel and not freak out over pay $15 for two eggs, 2 sausages, and toast. I've never done that yet.

I think "rich" is the person who has more than me... always.

 

[OAG]

I guess it should have said "less relevant" rather than "irrelevant". Must be that less than high school early education coming back to haunt me. Need a longer edit period.

 

[Enuff2Eat]

rich is....

Set your STANDARD as LOW as possible then you are Rich.


enuff

 

[Maurice]

There are some good thoughts here, but Ken Galbraith nailed this one:

"A wealthy man is one who earns more than his wife's sister's husband."

 

[growing_older]

When I have "enough" and know that I do.

Say, I also saw some studies of state tax rates which were trying to determine which states have lower tax burden, including income tax, property tax, sales tax, etc. For the example families they calculated based on 500K annual income. Yikes, that's rich!

 

[Cruisinthru]

This thread reminds me of an old stand up comedy routine from the seventies. I wish I could remember the source, but can't. Anyway the comedian said that he had determined that the cost of living was always whatever his salary was plus $40. I think most of us consider "rich" to be some number more than what we have. My portfolio plus $500,000 sounds about right.

 

[imnxpat]

Rich to me means being wealthy enough that you really don't have to care about money ever again.

I agree, but "wealthy enough" is relative to one's life style. For me, having enough to live comfortably part of the year here in the Philippines and the other part in the U.S. in a modest but comfortable home or apartment.

 

[Milton]

I agree. $5 million is rich.

Not according to Robert Frank's book Richistan: A Journey Through the American Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Rich (2007). He says that by current standards, you need at least $10 million to be considered "entry-level rich".

 

[waltwill8]

Back to the Little House on the Prairie theme,
Rich is a warm house with indoor plumbing(and the ability to get to it by yourself)

We're all richer than the kings of yore.

 

[P.S.]

Rich is when you can give away enough to affect others' lives but not feel or notice it.