Quote:
Originally Posted by grizy
The way I think of rich is the ability to shop... oh, arbitrarily, at J.Crew and eat anywhere without worrying about the price tag or sales.
A professor making steady 500k a year on tenure: rich unless utterly ******ed with personal finances.
A minimum salary pro athlete making 500k a year but one injury away from bagging groceries: not rich, although he might act and feel like he is.
A 20 something making 250k: not rich yet. But should be in 10~20 with prudent personal finance management, even if income growth (other than investment income) is zero and we assume a relatively low 4% return. By prudent management I mean a savings rate between 30~50%. That still leaves ~80k a year to spend. Half of that to rent, 10k to food, 10k to girls (my car goes in this... I hate driving), 10k to misc entertainment, and 10k to clothes. That's pretty comfortable IMO.
A 50 year old making 250k and with less than 1 mil net worth: not rich and probably will not be but he's not going to starve any time soon. He just will have to settle on a country club and probably won't be afford a second home after he pays his medical bills that will skyrocket soon enough.
1) How many professors do you think make 500K a year with tenure? I'll give you a hint: barely any. Like, maybe a few each at the top institutions in the country, I know the dinosaur guy at the AMNH in NYC makes a ton of money though it's hard to suss out from where, and that's about it. Most probably top out at 80K. Not that this is a huge point of contention or anything, I just thought it was a particularly strange example.
2) Skyrocketing for a 50-year old? Maybe like 70-75 in this day and age, at which point you will be on Medicare, or if you get cancer or some other awful illness, but all in all that person should be pretty comfortable if not exactly "rich."
Also 40K a year in rent? To live where? About the only thing I agree with you is that J Crew is expensive as ****.