I’m rich, but you’re not: The only suitable answer for a child who asks this question.
Dad, Are We Rich?
71–80 of 164 posts
Re: Dad, Are We Rich?
#72I think the HN bubble is far detached from the real world. If you own 100k+ of assets, most of the people in the world will see you as incredibly rich. If you own a house in the Bay Area even with a mortgage most Americans will see you as rich. Sure you might not feel rich because you have to go to the office each day and you dont have a sports car, but you are. Median and mean wealth per adult, in US dollars. USA: 6…
This answer is nonsensical. Yes there are vast swaths of people who are living in areas that are much poorer than the US. But that doesn't mean we need to measure ourselves based on the poorest of the world. Does that mean that we should ignore the demands of workers who want a liveable wage of $15/hr in the US? Should we tell them "you're rich compared to most of the people in the world"? The fact is that we measure…
To that end, we shouldn't also compare ourself to the richest of rich. If you are making $150,000 a year you shouldn't be middle class just because someone out there is making a million.
Re: Dad, Are We Rich?
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Physician takes for granted that his profession has a monopoly on perscriptions and declaring medical necessity. >Laughably some consider me rich I know the article is supposed to hate on the 0.1%ers, but since Physicians always say this crap about their income, it's important to know Healthcare costs are terrible because he is paid so well.
Says the software developer that makes about as much as a doctor for writing Jenkins pipelines or something else essentially valueless to most people.
Most software devs aren't even close to doctors in terms of salary.
Re: Dad, Are We Rich?
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Of course, that would require persisting in my current lifestyle in the face of a massive increase in wealth, which takes nontrivial self-discipline. And you must maintain that self-discipline in a world where you are constantly bombarded with messages to "spoil yourself" because "you're worth it" and "you can afford it". It's not easy.
Also, you better never have children.
In my case, my current income provides a comfortable lifestyle for my family of five. But yes, if you have kids, your expenses are definitely going to go up.
Re: Dad, Are We Rich?
#75My measure of rich is "Can I live my current lifestyle without regular income from a job?". If the answer is yes, then you are rich. The trick here is to make sure to keep your lifestyle costs in line with your salary when you first start out, so that as your income grows you can save. So yeah, if you want a big house and nice cars and nice vacations, you wouldn't consider yourself rich compared to people who don't h…
What is so special about "current" in "my current lifestyle"? I am not saying it's a bad definition, but it highlites the choices that one can make, and so subverts the whole concept of "rich".
Re: Dad, Are We Rich?
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
The costs of having children are dramatically over-costed on internet forums. People going the DINK route are mostly prioritizing careers over life. It's a vicious cycle for many, who end up changing their mind and spending alot of money and opportunity cost trying to make up for it.
It's not the cost of birthing/feeding/clothing/daycaring. It's the cost of having a house in the best school district you can afford, sending your kids on ski trips or international vacations with their friends who also have higher income parents, and various other activities that are involved with being in the "up and coming" social group.
It is the cost of daycare and regular living stuff. At least for me with my 2 year old.
- Daycare is 18k per year.
- Extra seat on airplanes, depending on your travel habits could be 2k
- Food, diapers, increased medical premiums might all total around 1500
That's like a 30% pay cut for a lot of people.
Re: Dad, Are We Rich?
#77Was anyone else surprised that Dinesh D’Souza defines anyone who earns up to $15 million as "Upper Middle"? That can't be correct, can it?
This isn't a single number in TFA that makes sense. $100K was merely "adequate" in 1970? The whole thing is suspect.
Re: Dad, Are We Rich?
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
I came from a poor area. I used to think 80k/yr was rich. Time passed, I got work in Silicon valley with a wife and kids. Living there I think 500k would be middle class. Not even upper middle class. Perspectives change as you are exposed
80th percentile household income in Santa Clara County is $200k/yr [0]. The linked dataset doesn't go any higher, but I suspect 500k/year is 95th percentile or above, which puts you in the upper class. Even in the Bay, $500k/yr is the "own two homes and a few Porches" level. [0] http://www.vitalsigns.mtc.ca.gov/income
If you are single maybe.
I think of a middle class man being what my old man was. Single income, wife stayed home and he provided for everyone. 4 kids.
Good luck having 2 homes and some porsches with only 500k in the valley supporting a wife and kids
Re: Dad, Are We Rich?
#79The wealth figures for X percentile seem low. I wonder where he's getting them. When I Google it, 2.4M was the 95th percentile two years ago.
The income levels are also way off on globalrichlist.com $60,000 a year makes you the 11,425,788th richest person in the world? US median household income was $59,039 in 2016 and if there are 125 million households in the US, then that means you are only the 62th million richest person in the US alone let alone the world.
Due to the mixture of children and adults and eldert, singles and households, it's impossible to correctly combine stats from multiple sources, or even properly understand a single metric.
Re: Dad, Are We Rich?
#80Was anyone else surprised that Dinesh D’Souza defines anyone who earns up to $15 million as "Upper Middle"? That can't be correct, can it?
$15M net worth or $1.5M income. Seems reasonable.