What is Wealth in America?
forbes.com
What is Wealth in America?
1–10 of 43 posts
Re: What is Wealth in America?
#2Great snakes! That's because $100 million is really a 'tweener number: You can be Richie Rich among your upper-middle-class friends or a hanger-on in the superrich crowd.
It takes tens of millions to be an upper-middle-class person? That would be news to most of us, and to the IRS, I bet.
It appears that this whole article is skewed by the editorialist's particular place in the very rich of society. I think that everything else he writes should be examined carefully.
Re: What is Wealth in America?
#3Great snakes! That's because $100 million is really a 'tweener number: You can be Richie Rich among your upper-middle-class friends or a hanger-on in the superrich crowd. It takes tens of millions to be an upper-middle-class person? That would be news to most of us, and to the IRS, I bet. It appears that this whole article is skewed by the editorialist's particular place in the very rich of society. I think that ever…
Yeah, I think he meant that $100 million makes you richie rich among the HNWI set, just "one of the guys" in the UHNWI set, and downright poor in the billionaire set.
I'm pretty sure being worth $100 million makes you a serious "What-are-you-doing-here?"/"superrich" among upper middle class (folks making < $250k/yr).
Re: What is Wealth in America?
#4It would be interesting to see Forbes 400 adjusted for local economy. For instance, Warren Buffett who spends most of his time in Omaha certainly gets more bang for his buck than the Billionaires that live in Silicon Valley.
Re: What is Wealth in America?
#5Great snakes! That's because $100 million is really a 'tweener number: You can be Richie Rich among your upper-middle-class friends or a hanger-on in the superrich crowd. It takes tens of millions to be an upper-middle-class person? That would be news to most of us, and to the IRS, I bet. It appears that this whole article is skewed by the editorialist's particular place in the very rich of society. I think that ever…
Yeah, I think he meant that $100 million makes you richie rich among the HNWI set, just "one of the guys" in the UHNWI set, and downright poor in the billionaire set. I'm pretty sure being worth $100 million makes you a serious "What-are-you-doing-here?"/"superrich" among upper middle class (folks making < $250k/yr).
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Re: What is Wealth in America?
#6Great snakes! That's because $100 million is really a 'tweener number: You can be Richie Rich among your upper-middle-class friends or a hanger-on in the superrich crowd. It takes tens of millions to be an upper-middle-class person? That would be news to most of us, and to the IRS, I bet. It appears that this whole article is skewed by the editorialist's particular place in the very rich of society. I think that ever…
I think He means that to an upper middle class person, someone who is worth $100 million (say with 5-10% of that liquid) would be superrich. This might be someone who was a startup founder whose company was acquired for a large cash + stock deal. If he hangs out with Bill Gates, his money wouldn't be as impressive.
Re: What is Wealth in America?
#7If you still look at the prices of the stuff you intend to buy then you're not rich.
Once you stop looking at prices you're rich, no matter how much actual money you've got.
Re: What is Wealth in America?
#8"A million dollars then would be about $20 million today, which is, interestingly, $1 million a year at a 5% aftertax return."
5%?? Does anyone know what investment is he talking about?
Re: What is Wealth in America?
#9Two million bucks is the great dividing line between middle-class comfort and worry in America right now.
Is this irony or just staggering cluelessness? A family net worth of $2 million puts you in the top few percent.
(From http://www.federalreserve.gov/econresdata/scf/scf_2009p.htm, it's somewhere above the 95th percentile of family wealth in 2009)
Re: What is Wealth in America?
#10If you still look at the prices of the stuff you intend to buy then you're not rich. Once you stop looking at prices you're rich, no matter how much actual money you've got.
This.
Thank you. This article is ridiculous. I sold my startup last year and I'm (barely) in one of those groups that he discusses. I know I'm "rich" (upper 98-99%) and extremely grateful for it.
I still work, but I now have the luxury of not worrying about the price on the dinner menu or thinking twice about getting a new laptop. I don't desire boats or fancy cars (which I would have to look at the price tag). So my real source of wealth is not my Fidelity account balance, but because I like being at home watching movies with my wife and I prefer electronics and gadgets that I'll always be able to afford.
This article is crazy, especially in this economy with the wealth gap between the rich and everyone else widening in the last few decades. A lot of people work until they die. $2M is unimaginable to them. It's a sick world we live in where $50M is scoffed at and $2M is considered "middle class".