Comfortable or Wealthy?

[scrabbler1]

I was wealthy enough to retire 10 years ago at age 45. But I don't really consider myself "wealthy" per se. I am comfortable, with enough of a cushion to allow me to do things to avoid significant inconveniences from time to time.


An example of this was back in 2014 when my ladyfriend and I took Amtrak from NY to Indianapolis (a scenic trip) before continuing to Louisville, Kentucky, where her family lives. Getting from Indy to Louisville was a minor task. There is cheap, connecting bus service via Greyhound but we would have had to wait 8 hours in Indy for the bus, something I did not want to do. Instead, I rented a car and made the nearly 2-hour drive myself, with her comfortable in the passenger seat. It cost about $140 but the money was nothing. I would have paid double that to avoid having to hang out in a strange city with our luggage for 8 hours.

 

[HadEnuff]

When the recent lottery thingie was over a billion dollars, I had no interest in it at all. DW played it and (we didn't win) her dream was to be able to help others in the family who aren't doing as well financially as we are.

I've never been an enthusiastic lottery player, but now my interest is zero. I really would not want what comes with winning a billion, or 100 million. I like my life, I have enough. I fly under the radar, which is fine by me.
I guess that makes me wealthy.

 

[jollystomper]

We do not think of ourselves as "comfortable" or "wealthy"; we think of ourselves as "content".

 

[socca]

Don't forget the ever-popular category Uncomfortably Wealthy, where the discomfort is a direct consequence of having too much money. Poor folks shake their heads in disbelief that this can possibly happen, but I've witnessed it on multiple occasions. Wealthy people are like fattened sheep surrounded by wolves - feeling comfortable yet?

 

[happy2bretired]

I feel comfortably secure kinda like a nice warm blanket.[emoji1]

 

[Car-Guy]

Don't forget the ever-popular category Uncomfortably Wealthy, where the discomfort is a direct consequence of having too much money. Poor folks shake their heads in disbelief that this can possibly happen, but I've witnessed it on multiple occasions. Wealthy people are like fattened sheep surrounded by wolves - feeling comfortable yet?

I'll probably never know that feeling but I'd be willing to experience that financial position.

 

[street]

I think most people have their own meaning of wealthy/rich or what ever word you may want to use. A person with 25M wouldn't even consider someone with 5M as being rich/wealthy. A person with 1.4M would think that a person with 5M would be wealthy/rich.

I really don't know what I actually feel about my portfolio if I would be considered rich/wealthy or comfortable.

I actually like to see articles that have bars to see and gauge where we are looked at in the finical world.

I understand if doesn't make a crap what others have but I like to see where I am at. It doesn't make me look down or jealous if all had more then me and would never look down on people with less.


I would like to see a poll here, where we can actually see, what money we have as individuals. I also know it isn't something people here want to see. A poll with no comments needed just portfolio ranges to see who we are talking with.

 

[jkern]

These labels defining wealth have little to no meaning and are just for fun. Some find it interesting to see what other peoples opinions are regarding money and wealth.

For me (living in SF Bay Area), comfortable means $2M to $4M and wealthy means greater than $15M.

 

[easysurfer]

From Crazy Rich Asians:

 

[pj.mask]

I think mine started when I filled the car with gas every time I went to the pump, instead putting in $5, or $10. Really makes me remember when I see a young person paying for their gas with a $5 bill and a handful of change.

I never understood this mentality. I have always been long term minded so knowing I will eventually need the gas, find a good price on my route and fill it all the way up. Was there an option to not drive your car because you couldn’t afford gas?

Im not trying to be critical; just could never understand that perspective.

 

[Sunset]

I never understood this mentality. I have always been long term minded so knowing I will eventually need the gas, find a good price on my route and fill it all the way up. Was there an option to not drive your car because you couldn’t afford gas?

Im not trying to be critical; just could never understand that perspective.

+1
In addition, the constant stopping to fill up again with $5 or $10 is a waste of time.

 

[HI Bill]

To be financially comfortable in America today requires an average of $1.4 million, up from $1.2 million a year ago, according to the survey. The net worth needed to be “wealthy”? That’s an average $2.4 million, the same as last year in the online survey of 1,000 Americans between age 21 and 75."

Let's not forget that being financially comfortable, and actually comfortable can be two different things. Having $2.4M at age 50 with good health is entirely different than retiring at 70 with $2.4M after having had two aortic valve replacements and failing health (coworker, who's still working part time).

Sure, I'd love to have a monthly spend rate of $20K (I could go liveaboard diving 2 out of every 4 weeks), but my cost to do so would be another decade of work past age 52. Not worth it. I'd rather be FI at a lower income level, and RE earlier to enjoy travel, diving, time with my wife, etc.

 

[Cut-Throat]

Here are my Definitions:


1.) Comfortable - Able to afford anything in the Super Market.
2.) Wealthy...... - Able to afford anything in the Home Real Estate Market.

 

[Nature Lover]

Regarding finances only: I didn't notice in the article, but was this for an individual or a household? And how does it line up with being FI/not having to work? (eg. $1.2M is ~20x the average income in the US: $56k IIRC; $2.4M is ~40x).

In my earlier years, I definitely focused more on the money/accumulation goal; but after having enough (as defined by my own particular situation), the feeling of comfortable or wealthy comes more from freedom, good health, more time to nurture relationships, and yes, the ability to more than adequately support my chosen lifestyle.

I'm very comfortable, certainly, or wouldn't have retired at 55; however, I'd have to have a lot more dough to go for the luxuries most people associate with being "wealthy".

 

[Walt34]

I never understood this mentality. I have always been long term minded so knowing I will eventually need the gas, find a good price on my route and fill it all the way up. Was there an option to not drive your car because you couldn’t afford gas?

Im not trying to be critical; just could never understand that perspective.

I can answer that. It's all about timing in a payday-to-payday world, BTDT. Say today is Wednesday, I'm gonna get paid Friday, but in the meantime I need to buy half a tank of gas and lunch for the next two days. If I fill the tank I won't have enough to buy lunch, but if I wait 'til Friday to fill up, I'm good for the next week.

 

[kimcdougc]

We still shop at Aldi's for groceries, because we hate to waste money. We only go to Whole Foods once or twice a year because it is so outrageously expensive. But I must say that being able to pay for literally "anything" at the grocery (even at Whole Foods) is quite liberating. That was far from the case when I was young, so it has meant a lot to me as an adult.

We go to Winco and Wal-mart for our groceries and Costco for our bulk items. We are comfortable but still clip coupons and I figure $500 a month for food (for two) in the budget. I don't have to do that, but old habits die hard.

We have no bills (outside the normal ones to live). Everything we own is paid for. We don't have quite as much as some of you on here but we have enough.

I can not believe that we married after knowing each other two weeks (40 years in July) and have come as far in life as we have. God has been good to us and we have worked hard to save and get us where we are today.

Do I feel rich....yes in a money since and a spiritual since. Did I ever think we would do as well as we have....no.

We have done better than any others in both our families. Life is good.

 

[NW-Bound]

... I would like to see a poll here, where we can actually see, what money we have as individuals. I also know it isn't something people here want to see. A poll with no comments needed just portfolio ranges to see who we are talking with.

We have had a few polls on net worth in the past. As I recall, the answers ranged from $100K up to more than $10M, with most respondents in the range of $1M to $3M.

Here are my Definitions:

1.) Comfortable - Able to afford anything in the Super Market.
2.) Wealthy...... - Able to afford anything in the Home Real Estate Market.

I like that. With food being as inexpensive as it is in the US, it is not hard to be comfortable. About the only thing we go shopping weekly for anymore is food, and we can buy so much food and still have not exceeded a Benjamin bill. Or perhaps that's because we do not shop at Whole Food, nor do we eat much.

I can answer that. It's all about timing in a payday-to-payday world, BTDT. Say today is Wednesday, I'm gonna get paid Friday, but in the meantime I need to buy half a tank of gas and lunch for the next two days. If I fill the tank I won't have enough to buy lunch, but if I wait 'til Friday to fill up, I'm good for the next week.

I never have to worry about gas money, nor seen anyone in the family doing that. And we did have some hard times.

 

[Walt34]

I never have to worry about gas money, nor seen anyone in the family doing that. And we did have some hard times.

Well, I did eventually learn to manage things better, like bringing lunch from home. But at 18 or 19, I hadn't figured it out yet. Some of us are slow learners....

 

[Red Badger]

Well, I did eventually learn to manage things better, like bringing lunch from home. But at 18 or 19, I hadn't figured it out yet. Some of us are slow learners....

+++++1.

I was a financial dumb @ss well in to my 30's. DW (who I met in my 30's) reformed me. First wife was worse than me. Spent everything and then some.

DW is Korean - grew up in the extreme poverty of post war S. Korea. She did sh!t growing up that's foreign to most of us. Washing clothes in the river while it was snowing comes to mind. She understood the risk of growing old but poor. I didn't. I do now.

 

[Milton]

It's all about timing in a payday-to-payday world, BTDT. Say today is Wednesday, I'm gonna get paid Friday, but in the meantime I need to buy half a tank of gas and lunch for the next two days. If I fill the tank I won't have enough to buy lunch, but if I wait 'til Friday to fill up, I'm good for the next week.

While there seems to be considerable disagreement on this board about exactly what the two definitions mean, I suspect we can all agree that a person in the above situation is neither 'comfortable' nor 'wealthy'.

I never have to worry about gas money, nor seen anyone in the family doing that. And we did have some hard times.

I guess you've been lucky. I certainly consider myself to be lucky!

For that matter, anyone who has been born in a first world country is very lucky, no matter how they might stack up against the average within that country. It's all relative.

 

[Milton]

I can buy a fancy car if I want to, but I don't care to have it. Lots of people have fancy cars. That's not wealthy.

Agreed. Pricey cars really do nothing for me, either. Some people like them, and that's fine; but they are so easy to lease or purchase on credit (neither of which I would ever do) that in no meaningful sense should they be viewed as a sign of real wealth.

I actually like to see articles that have bars to see and gauge where we are looked at in the financial world. I understand it doesn't make a crap what others have but I like to see where I am at.

Don't want to tell you what to do, but if you get caught up in that sort of game you are vulnerable to subconsciously changing your behaviour to 'keep up with the Jones''.

I would like to see a poll here, where we can actually see, what money we have as individuals.... A poll with no comments needed, just portfolio ranges to see who we are talking with.

Why not go ahead and start one?

 

[GravitySucks]

I can answer that. It's all about timing in a payday-to-payday world, BTDT. Say today is Wednesday, I'm gonna get paid Friday, but in the meantime I need to buy half a tank of gas and lunch for the next two days. If I fill the tank I won't have enough to buy lunch, but if I wait 'til Friday to fill up, I'm good for the next week.

Seems like only a few years ago scrounging for change around the house to get $4.72 for gas in Wednesday and hoping it would last till Friday

 

[brucethebroker]

"To be financially comfortable in America today requires an average of $1.4 million, up from $1.2 million a year ago, according to the survey. The net worth needed to be “wealthy”? That’s an average $2.4 million, the same as last year in the online survey of 1,000 Americans between age 21 and 75."

Net worth.

Clearly the definition is meant to apply to both the $1.4M and $2.4M amounts.

Missed that at 5:30 AM.....thanks for the clarification. I hereby remove 10% of my rant.....

 

[street]

Agreed. Pricey cars really do nothing for me, either. Some people like them, and that's fine; but they are so easy to lease or purchase on credit (neither of which I would ever do) that in no meaningful sense should they be viewed as a sign of real wealth.

Don't want to tell you what to do, but if you get caught up in that sort of game you are vulnerable to subconsciously changing your behaviour to 'keep up with the Jones''.

Why not go ahead and start one?

^ there is no interest here to do so.

 

[omni550]

^ there is no interest here to do so.

And you know this^ how?

Perhaps consider posting a poll and see what responses you get.

omni