Developer · Garland, TX · Member since 2008 · 8k+ posts · 4k+ votes
11y
The key, at least to satisfaction and contentment: "What matters most is being grateful for what you have. I’m a big believer that wealth is not a number or an amount, it’s an attitude and the umbilical cord to attitude is gratitude."
Developer · Garland, TX · Member since 2008 · 8k+ posts · 4k+ votes
11y
The key, at least to satisfaction and contentment: "What matters most is being grateful for what you have. I’m a big believer that wealth is not a number or an amount, it’s an attitude and the umbilical cord to attitude is gratitude."
Rental Property Investor · MA · Member since 2014 · 420 posts · 213 votes
11y
The only issue I take with that article is it focuses purely on income level and not on net assets. Income is deceiving in a world riddled with expenses, $400 phones, $250 Cable/Internet, and so on. Also, income at the high levels is common in high cost areas, LA or NY for example.
Additionally, as someone who gets killed by AMT at tax time, I am paying close to 40% in effective taxes which is mind blowing.
Any who, long post short here, I think you are very correct when saying it really is not that hard to achieve a "1% Income" level. I cannot remember the 1% asset level but if memory serves(probably does not) it is somewhere in the $2.5-3MM range net.
Whenever articles are posted about this income level the inevitable comments start flowing, "I wish I had that", "try living on what I make", and so on. Wrong attitude. Knock on 5 more doors, send 10 more letters, ask 2 more questions, call 20 more banks, ........
Real Estate Broker · Johns Creek, GA · Member since 2009 · 870 posts · 664 votes
11y
Being in the top 1% varies to city to city. For example $487k is the top 1% income in Orange County, CA while $407k is the top 1% income in Atlanta. Top 1% Networth also depends by age. $6.8M in your 40s, $8.4M in your 50s, and $10M+ in your 60s.
These are just numbers and I agree with @Jon Klaus that wealth is not a number or an amount, it's an attitude of gratitude. As a Christian and a believer, I am very grateful to the Lord for all he has blessed me with. Wealth to me is a mindset of gratitude and peace of mind not just in financial sense, but also spiritually, emotionally, and physically. Wealth to me means to be able to help the poor and ones in need.
The key, at least to satisfaction and contentment: "What matters most is being grateful for what you have. I’m a big believer that wealth is not a number or an amount, it’s an attitude and the umbilical cord to attitude is gratitude."
Real Estate Investor · Newark, DE · Member since 2014 · 20 posts · 4 votes
11y
This is a very informative post. I guess the figure $521,411 is an average for the entire country. I hope all of us reading this will join such a club!
Investor · Thermopolis, WY · Member since 2012 · 4k+ posts · 4k+ votes
11y
@David Krulac thanks for the post. While knowing what other folks make will not make your life any more fulfilling, it is always of interest to see how others are doing and help you put your goals in perspective. For those in real estate the real advantage is some of the tax breaks we receive. Popular stars do not necessarily have those benefits.
Flipper/Rehabber · Greeley, CO · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
11y
I tend to think it is not income or net worth that is the most important, but cash flow. What do you have coming in that doesn't take constant work? Will your business run on its own or do you have enough investments to provide for the rest of your life if you quit working?
Specialist · Honolulu, HI · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
11y
I think hours worked/income generated should be the metric. That's right at the national average income for my medical specialty, but people don't realize the sweat and training it takes to get there.
The top half of the 1% (the top .5%) live FAR different lives than the bottom half.
I do agree that mindset plays a lot into who is wealthy. I am sure there are many people in the top 1% that accumulate very little year to year because they have very expensive lifestyles. There are plenty that are not in the top 1% that could go a long time before they eat through their reserves because they live a more frugal lifestyle.
There are also many that work for a living for someone else and live like rock stars. One of my wealthy investor buddies was telling me tales of his friend that is one of the heads of The Teacher's Retirement System of Texas. The guy regularly gets expensive and lavish treatment from people wanting to convince him to invest in their projects. He lives a lifestyle 10X most of his peers with his net worth and income.
A pretty classical definition of being wealthy is defined by being able to decide how you want to spend your time. I have software engineering buddies that I consider very wealthy because they can quit their job and get 10 new job offers in a few weeks. One of my buddies is a data scientist that does consulting work. He can try out startup companies and do consulting for a few months a year. He can basically decide how he wants to spend his time and can invest in real estate projects to amplify his wealth with the mounds of dough he makes when he chooses to work. I consider these folks to be pretty wealthy. They're certainly wealthier than the wage slave in mid management that fears for his job working long hours that would have to struggle a lot to find similar work if the company decided to ditch them.
Investor · Colorado Springs, CO · Member since 2013 · 643 posts · 280 votes
11y
According to this article ($34,000 makes you part of the top 1% globally), I would guess the vast majority of people hanging around BP are already part of the top 1% globally. I spent a good bit of my adult life comparing myself to other Americans and lamenting my lack of cash/ wealth/ assets. 15 years of working in Africa made me realize that most people in the world look at me the same way I was looking at the multimillionaires in the US. I realized I was responsible for what was in front of me and I've started to make the most of it. It is a small perspective change, but it made a big differece in my life.
if you make $521000 a year minus taxes ,you are not really rich, you are comfortable
Also with 8.4 mill networth ,you are not really rich, i would say comfortable, You Just get an apartment in Manhattan
However we can be really rich if we are happy with what we have
It's unfortunate that anyone believes this. If you are in the top 1%, you are definitely rich. The top 5% is probably pretty rich too. It's all relative. It seems to be that when you make more money, you typically don't feel anymore rich. You make more so you enroll your kids in a private school, buy an expensive car with payments, a more expensive house with a higher mortgage. At the end of the month, you're not left with much more in the bank as you had in college.
If you have 8.4 million dollars, you are rich. You can take that money, buy a nice house in Raleigh, and never have to work or worry about money again. Maybe it doesn't buy the same thing in Manhattan, but you are still rich.
There is commonality among the "richest" out there. Money was not and is not the primary goal. It is an insatiable drive to innovate, grow, create, and so on. This drive creates the wealth not the wealth creating the drive.
When I wake up and go to my extremely stressful job it is not the prospect of money that makes me move my butt. I think about my son, daughter(arriving in 2 weeks), and wife and how great it would be to retire as young as possible. When happiness(regardless of what that individually means) is the driver nothing will stand in our way.
My real point, don't strive to be at $X strive to change lives, the world, the environment, whatever! This is why I find myself reading posts all day, we are not really here to make another couple bucks, we are hear to be part of something bigger.....pockets?
Real Estate Broker · Raleigh, NC · Member since 2014 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
11y
@Chai Sag I know you did. My post wasn't really directed at you, more so to the point that it seems like no matter how much people make, they aren't happy with it. I caught your last sentence, "However we can be really rich if we are happy with what we have." That really is the key to being happy.
I suffer from the same affliction as the rest of the world. I make at least four times what I made when I started working. I'm also now part of a dual income household. I do save more money in retirement accounts, and I have some investment properties, but I hardly feel like I'm rolling in the dough. I bought a bigger house, had two kids, furnished the house, etc...
@Sean T. I agree. If I were just living life for me, I would eat ramen noodles and live in a tiny house. Alas, I have kids, a husband, an aging mom and a business to run.
Urbana, IL · Member since 2012 · 1k+ posts · 425 votes
11y
Not sure that I completely agree with the articles referenced. So much goes into the net worth of an individual and much of it is not 'associated' with that individual. Once you start putting entities into trusts and other such protective veils you 'lose' much of the value associated with those entities. For me, the net profit does indeed play the most important role but there are many who have the hidden entities that add or subtract so much more. I'd love to hear other opinions!