Are You Financially Rich?

depends upon what you define as "rich" - when it comes to family, friends and love - I am a GAZILLIONAIRE!!!

Financially? We had a good savings until my husband was unemployed for 10 months...but we had it...unlike many people....

We have no credit card debt.

We have some investments left - and are seriously considering divesting them and buying gold and silver or finding a way - like someone had posted yesterday - a way to move the funds out of the country.....

I have financially well off friends and family....and yet I don't expect them to share their wealth with me. I have friends who can drop $10K in one week and not think twice about it.

I have financially strapped friends and family - and I do what I can to help out - pay a water bill, electric bill, send them money for something...and I CHOOSE to do it. I'm not FORCED to do it...

No, we are middle class. But we live in an area that has an affordable cost of living. People who live in NYC, the San Francisco Bay Area, Southern California, Seattle, etc have to make a much higher income to pay for decent housing.

In my local circle of friends, we are the poorest of the bunch (income-wise), but we seem to be richer than my family members who live in NYC and DC and make much more money than us.

ETA: I also feel rich rich rich because I have everything I need and most of what I want. My kids, my husband, and I are healthy. What more could I ask for? Nothing!

We are comfortably middle class.
We have a newish car (6 years old), we have a nice apartment in a very nice family area.
Hubby makes plenty of money.
We are able to eat healthy organic foods.
We are happy and healthy and have what we need.
We are not using reduced school lunches, we are not using food stamps or TANF, we do not get WIC, we are not on Medicaid.

No we are not "wealthy" with money.
I will not give you an exact amount, but we do pay taxes.
We can buy clothes and shoes when we need them, we can give her good birthday parties, and plenty of Christmas presents, lots of good food on Thanksgiving, she is joining a basketball team soon, I dye my hair and buy make up when I need to.
We have 2 XBoxes, a PS3, and a Wii, 2 flat screen TVs, a big canopy queen size bed, 2 computers, and loads of other things.

We also have a lot of love and happiness and that is more important than cash or things will ever be.

We are also white and VERY liberal :)

Good question. Everyones perception of money, financial stability is different. Money/wealth mean different things to different people.
But to answer your question, I feel we are 'well off'. Not wealthy, not upper class. We have a comfortable home, swimming pool, live in a gated neighborhood. We have two nice vehicles (i sold my motorcycle). We don't pay to have our yard done, we don't pay to have our pool cleaned, we don't have a maid. We take vacations when we can, may be just a long weekend. We have investments doing quite well, we have savings. We want for nothing and know we are blessed.
I think you're just being nosey................. ;)

thank you. i now have appropriate knowledge and will now officially start my mass email to mamapedia members to borrow money=)

The true definition of being wealthy is living on less than you make and owing less than you make. For example, someone who makes 250k a year but owes 400k in debt is not wealthy, even though they have a higher income than the average household.

If I told you our income, you would probably say we are "rich". We make more than our friends for the most part. However, most of those friends have "other help" in the form of inheritance, grandparents who babysit for free and buy the kids what they need, etc. That all adds up!

Yes, we pay more than 28% of our household income in taxes. I love being penalized for succeeding.

We don't have car payments, we drive a 2005 and a 2007, we don't use credit cards, we don't take lavish vacations, we make our own laundry soap and we eat 95% of our meals at home. We have a great 401k and savings account. We are huge fans of Dave Ramsey. We are definitely more "wealthy" than friends who drive new cars, take lavish vacations and use credit cards, even when they have similar income.

According to the government we are;) Do I think so...nope.

How do you define wealthy?

Our income puts us in the top 5% of US households, but our net worth isn't very much because we are: 1) paying back: med school loans & my students loans; 2) helping to support my in-laws; 3) sending our kids to Catholic schools; 4) helping to support my SIL's family, as her husband was unemployed for over 3 years, and they live in the very expensive San Francisco area; 5) donating to various individuals/families we encounter; 6) assisting various extended family members who have immigrated to the US from Iraq. We don't have a big, fancy home. Yes, we have a very comfortable home for our needs, but it is older (1970s) and has a lot of maintenance needs which we are just now being able to address.

Amongst our circle of friends, well, it depends if we're talking about my friends (mostly liberal arts or business majors); or my husband's, who are primarily doctors, dentists, etc. Amongst my friends, we are earning probably 3-5 times what other families are making. Amongst my husband's, some of them make 1/2 of what my husband does, but that is a choice, because they choose to work fewer hours. Some of them make 2-4 times as much as we do, because they are highly specialized surgeons, etc.

We are in the 2nd highest tax bracket, so we definitely are above 28%. The only charitable giving we deduct on our 1040 is donations to our church or school. Giving that is for humanitarian purposes we don't claim, so we could have a lower bracket, but choose not to list some of our donations.

ETA: Thought I'd share a timely article from Dave Ramsey about controling spending around the holidays: http://www.daveramsey.com/christmas/blog/id/7-ways-to-go-...

Rich? Not by a long shot but I am comfortable. All four of my uncles were self made millionaires. They never lost sight that it was their employees that put them there, not the government! I digress...

Socially I have friends that are poor, middle class and wealthy. I see no real difference between any of them other than the size of their house and the make of their car and what does that matter anyway?

What ties us together is we are all content with where we are in life. If we want more, we know how to get it. My group of friends know that we are in control of our destiny.

Good question and I like how Jim at Home Dad comments that everyone looks at money and 'wealth' differently.

By some standards we are very well off. We travel. Kids go to a private school. I don't work outside of the home. We were able to pay for very recent repairs to 4 different cars! :( But we drive cars until they die. Those repairs were on a 2001 Impala, 2002 Denali, 2003 Silverado truck and a 2006 Impala. We don't drive new cars but maintain. And no, the kids did not get new cars. Our 18 year old daughter is driving the 2001 Impala. Which is the same car our 22 year old son drove until he bought his own. Which is the same car my husband initially drove.

We do have friends that are very wealthy. But we also have many friends outside of that circle who can't fathom that level of wealth. We are able to go between the groups, because we are just who we are. As a matter of fact my husband's theme song is "Simple Man" by Lynard Skynard.

Oh, and the private school. I have one neighbor who has asked me repeatedly over the years about the school for her son but always follows up with they can't afford it. But they have done a TON of work on their house, all cosmetic, what would have paid for several years of tuition. It's all about choices. We choose to put off refinishing the wood floors. She has decided to retexture the ceilings in the entire house. Which is just one thing of MANY.

Added - I love how Scarlett notes that she (we) are being penalized for succeeding. I'm not sure exactly what our tax bracket is, but I know its above the 28%. I'd also add that I don't see it as being comfortable about talking about our 'wealth'. I could have told much more about our lives or our 'wealth' as it's perceived by others. But again, as other posters have so eloquently pointed out, it's not always about the money, the vacations, the cars. It's being comfortable with what you have. Again, 'wealth' is measured differently by different people.

I *feel* "rich". Do I have the money to go on a cruise or a trip to Europe or visit family in other states like I would love to do? NO. Money for cable channels like HBO? No... but we DO have cable and Internet, and Cell phones!!! My car is almost 13 years old (but paid for).

BUT - I have the money for medical insurance and co-pays. I have a car and can afford full-coverage insurance and we even have AAA! I have the money to give to charitable organizations. I have the money to help other family members pay for emergency needs like their car getting fixed. We use the money we saved for our kids college to pay for their college! I have the money for all the food we need-and high quality food at that, pay our mortgage, and all our bills. We have no debt other than the house mortgage.

So, I *feel* wealthy. But if I start comparing myself to family, friends, and acquaintances who have big houses, boats, go on vacations traveling however much they want, catered parties, big weddings for their kids, and cleaning people who come in once a week to clean... then no, I don't feel wealthy... so I avoid comparing! I just enjoy their company when I am in their company - enjoy them as people.

If they (the ones wealthier than I) compared THEMSELVES to even wealthier folks with live in maids and gardeners, and power from their millions (and billions) then THEY, too would not feel wealthy!

We have different lives. We choose to spend what we have on different things. A person living in a smaller house with less "things" may be spending more money on travel and kids' education. But we may actually have the same income. Someone in a bigger house with newer cars may actually be more in debt.

I am "middle class" -- AND -- I am "wealthy" and very very grateful for what I have. Compared to much of the world, "middle class" **IS** "wealthy".

Well, I would say middle class/comfortable.

We have no debt.
We own our home free & clear.
We have savings.
We have retirement funds.
We have insurance.
We have a college fund for our child.
We don't "do" car payments.
My husband has a small loan for his Harley. Soon to be paid off.
We have earned and paid for everything we have ourselves.
We are 48 and 51 in age.

We live in an area where many people are slaves to their mortgages, have all the toys they want. Can they afford it (by my definition)? Probably not, but it's a matter of how you choose to live, I guess. And I've met as many miserable wealthy people as I have poor people.

We pay 25% Federal Income Tax. Plus property tax, state tax, earned income (local) taxes, school tax, unemployment tax, capital gains tax as applies, etc.

I don't consider us 'wealthy' but if we need/want so etching, we can get it. We don't compare ourselves to our friends, as that's generally not a good idea, as we are fiscally conservative, and many people use credit to maintain their lifestyle, which we will NEVER do! Our money is used to please ourselves (which includes giving), not others!

To me, rich/wealthy is being able to do what you want, when you want to do it. If you want to go to New York, you buy the ticket and go. If you want to go on a cruise, you buy the ticket and go. If you want to go to Hawaii, you buy the ticket and go.

I've never been rich. I came close a time or two. My financial bubble burst when the dotcom bubble burst and I have never fully recovered. I was in the 28% tax bracket for one year.

We live frugally. We have no car payment. We will be paying off our credit cards when the 0% interest ends. We hope to have our home paid for, for the third and final time, in a year or two.

Before Obama, we were free and clear of debt and my wife and I both had jobs. No house payment. No credit cards. No car payments. We smiled every day on the way to the bank.

ETA: I find it interesting that some of the responders say middle class, when I would say they are rich. No one here is Bill Gates rich. But If some were being honest before in previous posts and comments, some respoding here are rich IMO, even though they don't admit it.

If I was free and clear of debt, and had a couple of million dollars in the stock market in high dividend stocks, I'd be rich.

Good luck to you and yours.

We are comfortable. We live off one income--we have savings, investments, and college funds for all three kids. The only debt we have is our mortgage and one car payment. Our kids go to Catholic school, we take a couple trips a year, we have great health insurance, and I can't remember the last time we had a *tight* month. We donate regularly to a few charities.

I don't feel we are "rich" compared to our friends and family. Many of our friends make about the same amount of money--as do my brother and one sister. We both grew up comfortable, so we see our lives as normal. We had college paid for us (no loans), we both got cars when we turned 16, had swimming pools in our back yards, etc.

I don't fee "rich" until I read/hear about people who are truly poor. It's really hard to fathom not having ANY money until pay day or having to walk because the family vehicle got a flat and there is no money to fix the tire.

I always try to feel thankful!

Fortunately, we are wealthy. Our circle of friends varies but we are wealthier than the majority of them. Technically I suppose we are upper class but we don't live that way. We live in a modest neighborhood in a modest house, partly bc cost of living where we are is insane, other part bc I am saving saving saving to make sure we pay for college for our kdis, likely private school soon to at a enormous annual cost but our public schools aren't good, and I want our retirement to be ok. I don't count on social security etc. There are some little signs we're wealthy -ie: one car we have. But other one is a kind of crappy one so we probably just confuse people. We don't have any debt at all including no mortgage. We pay way way more than 28% in income taxes! More like 41% + other taxes like property, payroll etc! And that will likely be increasing soon.

Before my divorce, we were middle class, in the low 6 figures.

In our area, that's middle class. 44k is the poverty line (here). Or as a reference point: most teachers, nurses, firefighters, and cops make between 60k-80k. (Some make more, some less). But as the "middle class bastion) those positions are telling. Double their salaries = solid middle class. So in our area 80-200 is the real 'range' of middle class. Lower middle, solid middle, upper middle.

In my dad's family, the same jobs pay less than half that. It's a cost of living thing. Where my dads family lives (rural Midwest) 30-60k is solid middle class.

Post divorce, my ex is fairly wealthy (doubled his salary when we separated)
And I'm waaaaaay below the poverty line (25k)

Amongst my friends? Yikes.

At present I'm not the lowest. But close.
The highest come from family money that's in the hundreds of millions and higher.

I'm not really sure how my friends compare financially.
One neighbors house might be going into foreclosure and another owns a vacation cabin in West Virgina.
We don't earn more than $250,000 a year - less than half that - with 2 incomes.
We're not in the top %1.
We don't belong to a country club or yacht club.
We don't take a traveling vacation every year.
Sphere of influence? I have none.
The only debt we have is the mortgage.
We will be helping our son pay for college so he doesn't start out with a huge amount of debt.
We're comfortable.
What else do we need?

no we are not rich. This last year has been very tough. A lot of going over the budget and struggling. I ended up having to get another part time job (I also own a business) and that has helped and we are now able to stick to our budget and start up our savings again. We are doing MUCH better now, but we are no where near rich. Our budget is still very tight, but we are able to make it work now

Most of our friends make much more than we do because they are all 2 income homes. Even though I do work part time, my friends make mostly $50K and up a year PLUS their husbands income of at least $50 to $100K. Also I know to some, this might be wrong but in my eyes, if you own a home (not renting) and have 2 cars, then you are rich.

We make more money than most of our friends, but they would never know it. I work for a public agency, so if they were curious, they could look it up. We live modestly and spend frugally. Aside from our mortgage, we have no debt... no car payments, no credit cards, my husband's school loans are now gone... Most of our close friends are single income families and they often complain about not being able to "put money away", which is interesting because they vacation and buy more than we do.

Our tax "bracket" is 28% and we have a sizeable savings account as well as investments and accounts to fund our children's future educational choices. We will be able to retire when we want and if our relocation comes through, we will be able to take the massive hit when we sell the house.

Everything Scarlett said....

Why do you ask?

I guess we are technically financially rich. We are in the 1%, but only just. So we are lumped in with the people that make millions, but that is a very different world from where we are. We are generally better off financially in my circle of friends. But I have a few friends that definitely appear to be better off than us (but I don't have intimate knowledge as to their debts/credit cards/etc). We have no debt, other than our mortgage - which should be paid off in 7 years, pending no changes in job structure. We pay a ton in taxes, We pay way over 28% in taxes.

All in all, I don't feel rich, but am extremely thankful for our situation. I feel very secure and well off and more of an upper-middle/upper class than "rich". We also don't have a lot of disposable income because we save a ton of it. We are sure to carry the 6 month back log of income just in case anything were to ever happen. My husband maxes out his 401k, IRA, etc. because we will have to support ourselves in retirement - no pension, etc. And we have 4 kids that we will have to raise and put through college.

Well, my husband just got back to work after being out for 18 months. So we are picking up. We have 5 kids that are growing and require lots of stuff, plus the fees that go along with that. Things have been tough but we are not horribly off, though I would not say wealthy. We own our home but do need more space but stuck with the market as it is right now. And no I do not pay 28% since my income is not high enough at this time. A lot of my friends are single and no kids, or married with 1 or 2 kids so they are a bit better off. I also have friends with no or 1 or 2 kids that make more money than I do but are in debt because they have no clue how to handle money. If it is in their pocket, it gets spent. In that case, I am better off.

We are pretty middle class. We have lived on my husbands income and my part-time job(s) for 10 years, and because my husband is in aircraft manufacturing (very unstable) he has been laid off at least 3 times in the past 10 years. Our home, although modest, is paid for. We have two newer vehicles that are paid for (we keep our vehicles for ten years or more). We have retirement savings and college funds for the kids. We have enough in savings to cover emergencies (home or car repairs, etc). We have no credit card debt. I never have to worry about not having enough to buy food, pay insurance, buy gas or pay my utilities. We have cable, but not a huge cable package. We never do without the things we need. We do not have cell phones. I am a frugal shopper. I shop for clothes second hand. I use coupons or buy memberships for entertainment venues. We rarely vacation out of province. I have friends whose families make less than us but most make more than us. Most seem to spend more and save less.

Am I weathy? No. I would say sort of comfortable, sort of.

We have a nice house, with a pool. We don't pay to have the yard done, hubby does it. I do have someone clean my house once a week. One kid is back home working and saving money to move out in the spring and the other is in college out of state. I do NOT pay out of state tuition because he is in the Kentucky National Guard Army. I pay tuition, room and board. It adds up.

We pay over 28% in taxes. I got a raise and it pushed us over. =( Yay and Boo!

Our circle of friends are varied. In some we are in others we aren't. I don't feel I need to compete with any of them.

It's not what how much you MAKE, but rather it's about how much you KEEP.

I'm not going to answer your question like everyone else, but I did laugh when I read it because it reminded me of a circumstance when my sons were young and I was traveling overseas. A man kept following us around and was very obviously delighting in my sons. He finally got the courage up to come speak to us (he did speak English) and he told me that we must be very rich. I asked him why. He said "Because you have two sons." He then explained that he and his wife had been married for 4 years and they had been trying to have a baby, and were desperate to have a son. I told him that in American we call someone rich if they have a boy and a girl. I explained that we treasure our girls as much as our boys - without girls, we can't even make boys. I didn't want to lecture him (I don't think it would have done any good anyway - this attitude was his culture) but I did tell him that we waited a long time after we married to start trying for kids. He said I gave him hope!

According to what I told him, I must not be rich because I don't have a girl. But to HIM, I had what money cannot buy and was wealthy beyond his dreams because of having given birth to two sons!

Dawn

Not even close to wealthy. We don't make much, but we keep most of it. In that way, we can appear wealthy to some. We make WAY less then anyone we know, but we feel we are more comfortable then many of them. We are smart with money.

Our income is lower than most. BUT I feel comfortably middle class. We have cars that are 1998 and 2002, but both are paid for and actually have been for years. S we put the extra money toward mortgage and that combined with a trailer house (where we first lived) that we were able to sell for a substantial amount more than we paid for it, plus a life insurance policy that we got after hubby's father passed our home is paid off. S those things make a big difference. We don't have cable or cell phones, and we buy 90% of our clothes second hand. We don't have very much savings but this summer when our well pump went out and our car needed $1000 worth of repairs we were able to pay cash, for both things. My kids don't have college savings plans, but I guess they will have to earn scholarships and get loans, maybe someday we will be in a better place to help them with that. We can't afford vacations, or new cars, or private school, but for now we are above water and I am able to stay home and homeschool my kids and that is important to us.

On my way... getting there.

We do fine. Money is tight because we own a small business and can't always cash our paychecks due to cash flow. But we always have food on the table and we are steadily working on building a new house (it is taking us years because we can only afford to do much of the work ourselves while saving up $$ to hire out the tasks that are beyond us). We have some retirement saved and some saved for our son's education. Amongst our friends, we are fairly typical. I guess our sphere of influence would mostly consist of our customers where we fall pretty solidly in the middle. We have some very well off customers and some living hand to mouth. I view us as middle class but have never looked at the official definitions.

Right now, my income puts me and my daughter under the poverty level. I pay no income taxes. When I was about half-way through graduate school and working FT, I chose to work PT until I finish my PhD, which will happen in 2013, and I'm in a job search now along with writing my dissertation. My student loans are still considerably less than my "retirement" fund, so I'm still OK. I have no debt at all other than my student loans.

In the past, I was earning over $100k/year and was married so our combined income put us in the top 5%. We felt well-off and (mostly) happily paid our taxes. Our family situation (child support, lawyer fees, etc) kept us from living extravagantly. Our house was modest and we rarely took a vacation. But we went out to dinner when we felt like it, were generous in our charity giving, etc.

In the past, I had friends at all levels of income. But, as I have adjusted to living on much less, I drifted from the upper income friends. It was uncomfortable to listen to discussions about which private elementary school to put their kids in where the tuition was higher than my annual income. I couldn't afford to bring the "right" bottles of wine to gatherings. The group of moms that I am now close to are all modest income, raising kids, having to watch their monthly budgets to get by. I feel these friendships are more genuine.

I say we are well off I guess. Have a mortgage still. two car payments, mine paid off in 3 years, husbands in June. We drive our cars till they quit. Both have 401K, both work, both have savings although not much in them but am slowly working on it. No credit card debt right now. Get to take a vacation with the fam for 2 weeks each year but we stay with in-laws. I get to go on girls trip for a 4 day weekend each year.
I would say that I have more money than most of my friends.

Ditto Jill below for us...sort of...except we don't live in modest housing.