I'm Wealthy And I Didn't Even Know It

[palomalou]

I'd say that "wealthy" means you can work or not as you please. It is not asking whether you can afford to retire. We are thus not wealthy.
I'm grateful though that we have our health, a nice house to live in, plenty of food to eat, and access to the best medical care. My guess is that the majority of people in the world would give anything to have what we have.

 

[packrat44]

For me that your quote is the definition of wealth and the number is different for everyone. "Being able to spend without worrying about the consequences".

For me that statement is true. However, our country is full of people who spend without worrying about the consequences - when they should be worried.

 

[Helen]

I'm grateful though that we have our health, a nice house to live in, plenty of food to eat, and access to the best medical care. My guess is that the majority of people in the world would give anything to have what we have.

+1

I think of this all the time.

 

[clifp]

I find it humorous that people have such a hard time considering themselves wealthy.

A quick google finds that US has 10.5 millionaires. I'm not sure if this households or people and includes the house or not, it doesn't matter much. So in a country of 300 million people it is 3%. Yet lots of millionaire don't think they are wealthy and would refer to themselves as upper middle class.

On the other hand the definition of a gifted child is upper 2.5% of IQ. I have yet to meet a parent who referred to their gifted kid, by saying "oh no he is not really smart", just a bit above average. In fact most parents wouldn't describe their kid as merely smart, but really smart or super smart.

 

[Sevo]

Having traveled a little in third world countries, I am amazed with every trip just how wealthy us working class American's are . Having just come back from Hawaii where I spent some time visiting some folks who live is very nice houses with a view who really don't have to work it is amazing how poor I feel right now.​

 

[e86s54]

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times"

Recently I was reading or saw something about a study done on happiness. It compared people after one year who won the lottery and people who had a serious health problem (like becoming a quadriplegic). Guess who was happiest?

For me after worrying about how much $ I needed to retire, I've discovered I was looking at the wrong numbers. I should have been more concerned about how many more good years I have. Thankfully I have come to this conclusion in my late 40s. But time is flying by way to fast anyway...

 

[East Texas]

My high woodpile, tall garden, health, youth, and remaining 60-70 years to do with as I wish makes me feel wealthy.

Even if a guy had 10,000 times as much money as me, but still has to put in 40 hours a week, I'd consider myself wealthier.

Not even in a wishy-washy feel good way, but in a very real, financial sense. I have all the money I need. He doesn't. So who's the wealthy one?

+1... except for that garden thing (what the Texas heat didn't destroy in our garden the feral hogs got).

 

[chris2008]

[FONT=&quot]Just a quick comparison on world wide basis:

If we have food in the fridge, a full set of proper clothes on our body and a roof over our heads and a safe place to sleep we are more wealthy than 75% of the world population.

If we have at least some money in a bank account, in our purse or in the piggy bank we belong to the 8% most wealthy people in the world.



[/FONT]

 

[East Texas]

Wealth becomes just a matter of definition. As with Chris, we have basic food, clothing, shelter, and security. Everything else material is just noise.

We are grateful for what we've got. A good part of it was luck - being born in a country with unlimited possibilities. The rest was the result of the choices we've made. We chose to live below our means and are debt free. We chose to save for a rainy day. We listened to our grandparents who said they didn't suffer through the depression because they were farmers who made do with what they had and "envy" was not a part of their vocabulary. We chose friends with similar values and we go to Mass every week and thank God for all the blessings we've received.

We can go to bed at night with a clear conscience and contentment. And that, my friends, is wealth.

 

[Chuckanut]

Wealth is relative. In my mind one is wealthy when he/she can provide for the basics of life, and some pleasurable interests and does not have to follow the order of others to get the $$'s.

Also, we must factor in 'phantom' assets such as pensions and annuities. If one has a $20,000 a year pension that will last for 30 years until one's death, and then dissapear forever, how much cash in the bank does that represent? Is not that phantom balance also something that should be added to ones net worth? Or not?

 

[palomalou]

does not have to follow the order of others to get the $$'s.

Okay, then we are REALLY not wealthy!

 

[Lakewood90712]

[FONT=&quot]Just a quick comparison on world wide basis:[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]If we have food in the fridge, a full set of proper clothes on our body and a roof over our heads and a safe place to sleep we are more wealthy than 75% of the world population.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]If we have at least some money in a bank account, in our purse or in the piggy bank we belong to the 8% most wealthy people in the world.[/FONT]

+1

The closet socialist sometimes slips out of my normal hard shell when I compare the west to most of the world.

 

[East Texas]

I realize there is a group of people who like to have a number to which they can point and say they are wealthy. Net wealth is misleading. One can have a couple of million dollars in net wealth and it all be tied up in a house that can't be sold. Being wealthy based on income doesn't count if outgo is higher.

For us it comes down to our easily meet our financial obligations and have some money left over. Some people tend to forget it's not how much you make - it's how much you spend.

Those of you who like to have number, good for you. A word of caution on flouting the information - there are people out there who think they deserve it more than you. No one outside a few select people have any idea how much money we have because it would be perceived as being uppity and that's not the kind of life we choose to live.

This is not a lecture, it's a philosophy. There were a whole lot of years where I was counting coins at the gas station hoping to have enough money to put in a couple of gallons of gas. There were too many days of having $5 and having to make the choice between shoes for the toddler or milk for the fridge. Having debt was simply out of the question because I was barely making it payday to payday. I believe all those early experiences made the life today possible.