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Feedback: Your ideas on what rich is
Mmmmmoney. Counting money.
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Next week on Marketplace Money, the show will concentrate on one number: $250,000. It's the current line in the sand in the debate on whether to extend Bush-era tax cuts. An income of $250,000 makes you wealthy, says one side. Oh no it doesn't, says the other.
We'll hear from people like you across the nation on the topic. Some say, "A household of $250,000 is not wealthy." Others say, "Yes, in many places in the country its." What do you think?
We'll also hear from people like Robert Frank, whose book "Richistan" chronicled a dozen or so folks worth millions of dollars who say they don't feel rich.
"I had a couple, they're worth $200 million. They said to me, 'Wow, I love reading that book about those people. I couldn't believe those people in your books.' So the wealthy they don't see themselves as wealthy," says Frank. "There was a billionaire I talked to who said, 'I'm not rich. Now let me tell you about this guy who is rich.' And he genuinely meant it because, again, we're always looking at those above us and comparing ourselves to the people that we'd like to be rather than looking down at the reality."
We want your feedback: What is rich to you? Leave a comment here or at our Facebook page.
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Somehow in my previous comment, my quotation of
By m wiebe
From clayton, NC, 10/17/2010
Rich is being able to pay out of pocket for the best medical treatment where ever it might be offered and regardless of the severity or rarity of the illness.
turned into >
Somehow in my previous comment,my quotation of :
By m wiebe
From clayton, NC, 10/17/2010
Rich is being able to pay out of pocket for the best medical treatment where ever it might be offered and regardless of the severity or rarity of the illness.
turned into >
<< By m wiebe
From clayton, NC, 10/17/2010
Rich is being able to pay out of pocket for the best medical treatment where ever it might be offered and regardless of the severity or rarity of the illness. >>
That's a high limit for being rich, and it counts assets rather than income.
I'm guessing that the out of pocket price of the best medical treatment anywhere for anything could be around three million dollars a year. If so, the average-over-time interest on savings of one hundred million dollars would pay for it. Or spending the principal would cover 33 years of it. A person with savings of only three million dollars would pass this test to be rich until the medical expense occurred, after which they might be destitute.
Yes, I think that an income of greater than $250,000 does make me rich. I can afford all my bills, buy pretty much whatever I want, travel when I want, pay for someone else to do yardwork and housework, save for retirement and now for my grandchildren's education. I consider my self very fortunate as I have benefitted greatly from the enlightened policies of our government with scholarships and guaranteed loans for college that absolutely changed my life. I spent most of my professional career (30 plus years) in the US Army and have my pension and healthcare benefits to cushion my retirement years when I am no longer able to work. I do not dread paying my taxes even if they will rise and I think the most important thing for our collective future is that every young person has the opportunities that I had.
Suggesting that an annual income of over $250,000 makes a family "rich" or "wealthy" is ridculous. I have earned in excess of $250,000 for several years. My wife and I purchase previously owned cars and drive them well over 100,000 miles before purchasing a new one. We live in a 2500 square foot house in which we raised our five children. Four of them are in college or graduate school that require us to make tuition payments and room and board charges that approach $100,000 each year. We had no family wealth and have inhererited nothing so we had no nest egg to use to help pay our bills. We pay over $100,0000 in taxes every year to the federal, state and local governments. There are many moths when we have to use credit cards to buy groceries and pay for gas. We try to dave something for retirement. we do not take vacations to Europe, own a boat, or dine out on a regular basis. We are saving to refurbish our bathrooms which have not been updated since we bought our home twenty-five years ago. I buy my clothes at Kohl's. We might feel rich if we spent every penny we make on our lifestyles, instead of making sure our kids received good edcuations, but if we did, who would the government tax in the next generation to pay for its non stop spending. Calling us rich is an insult.
When they asked J. Paul Getty, who was once the richest man in the world, how it felt to be so wealthy, he said he "never felt rich." And when they asked how much money is enough, he said "just a little bit more."
Conclusion, $250,000 is rich enough for the purpose of President Obama's tax increase (necessary to help with the deficit and stupid of President Bush to enact when he was waging an expensive war), but no figure will ever be high enough to define wealth if you ask the rich.
Reading each of your comments I can't help but notice your hometowns. I am certain that in Sasser, GA or Bristol, TN someone making over $250,000 is without a doubt rich. But as someone pointed out earlier, there are cities in this country where that level of income does not buy you the big estate and fancy lifestyle that it buys in other parts of the country. And you have to take that into consideration. In NYC the cost of living is astronomical. And I'm not talking for fancy dinners or broadway shows. You wouldn't believe what a gallon of milk costs here. Or a pack of diapers. Or rent. Not everyone's financial reality is the same and it's not fair to paint everyone with the same broad brush.
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