Spinoff of Retirement Goals - What do you consider wealth??

[84porsche]

Here is a spinoff question of retirement goals - what do you consider wealth or wealthy and please include a number that you think is enough if you even can put a number to it.

[techweenie]

Real wealth is the condition of being able to live in a desirable manner (you set those standards) on the (conservatively invested) interest of your savings.

Today, I'd roughly put that number at $3.5 million. But I live in an expensive neighborhood where the only homes under a million are in trailer parks. A 'teardown' 800 sf. cottage in the Malibu Colony is currently in escrow at just under $3 million.

:-0

I have a feeling that in West Va, you could be comfortable with half that target amount.

[on-ramp]

with my lifestyle, 1 million dollars would be just fine......live on the interest.

[Bob's Flat-Six]

I consider Wealth to be hundreds of millions and it's been around awhile, Maybe generations.
Rich is any amount a person could go thru if not careful.

[Moneyguy1]

As a financial planner, true wealth cannot be measured in dollars. Ask the multimillionaire with terminal cancer. That being said, rule of thumb is, if you are comfortable with your income while working, then 65% of that should be sufficient to keep you happy after retirement.

[Zeke]

The trouble with any money is that it makes you too serious about money. Like Moneyguy1. It is what it is.

I was born into a wealthy family that was unhappy and blew the dough. Not enough left to send me to college when college was cheap. Parents divorced and I ended up having to give my mother money to get by for a while. She never let go of the minks and alligator purses, figuratively speaking. Same for the old man, drove big cars and ate in Beverly Hills. He died in debt big time.

I spent my youthful weekends at the countryclub trying to figure a way to be somewhere else which I managed to do a lot of the time.

Wealth and money are not related.

[Moneyguy1]

Thanks Zeke..You said it very well.

Unfortunately, some folks never "get it".

Actually, a study years ago at (I think) Syracuse University suggested an inverse link between the two. The more "successful" an individual seems to be in the financial world, the less successful he (or she) is in interpersonal relationships.

I would rather have modest means and friends than have unimaginable amounts of money.

[GrindingGears]

IMO:

Wealth is monetary, how much you've got in your bank account.

Rich is the quality of your life, health, family, love.

$hit, I'd like both, but if I had to choose one or the other I'd go with a rich life over wealthy.

[fintstone]

I lost my job about seven months ago and my family gave up a little more than half of our earned income with less than a week's notice. Surprisingly enough, although I have been careful with my money since then, my lifestyle has changed relatively little. If anything, our lifestyle may have improved from my previous 65-75 hr work week. It looks like I will be going back to work soon and wonder if it is worth it. It seems that I almost have enough to retire...but know that once I start back to work, we will be looking at bigger houses or nicer cars, and will never get out of the rat race. On the bright side, the "alternate income streams" someone mentioned earlier and keeping bills minimal have allowed us to endure this period of unemployment with little hardship other than worry. It is amazing how much it costs to go to work (taxes, eating out, gas, clothes, paying others to do things you don't have time to do, etc). If I am able to return to work and do not incur any additonal expenses..I can probably retire for good in a couple of years..if I am happy with my current lifestyle. Sounds pretty good to me. Hope I have the discipline not to blow all the additional funds when/if my full income resumes.

[tabs]

Originally posted by Bob's Flat-Six
I consider Wealth to be hundreds of millions and it's been around awhile, Maybe generations.
Rich is any amount a person could go thru if not careful.

I think Chris Rock said that.....

I'd be wealthy if I just had a little bit more.....what ever U have is never enuff...

After a certain amount of money...money is no longer money..but POWER.

That level is reached when the amount of income your derive from your money can no longer improve your quality of life.

Let's face it there are only so many steaks yu can eat, so many designer clothes you can wear, so many new cars or old cars for that matter you can buy or houses you can live in. At a certain point you are no longer improving your quality of life but just aquiring bigger and more of...

Is your life improved by owning your own Gulf Stream or just chartering it?

People of means are usually frugal and are in general cheap fks...I once had a conversation with one of the Douglas's as in McDonald Douglas...he said, "The difference between rich and wealthy is that the rich drive RR's while the wealthy drive VW Vans."

Believe me when I say the wealthy never shop retail....It's a mind set...

[rcm]

I have a great place to live, an absolutley beautiful bride, two awesome chidren and we all have our health. This makes me rich beyond my wildest dreams.

Oh yeah, we are comfortable w/ financially.

[id10t]

I've got a wife that loves me, 2 healthy kids the wife can stay home to take care of, and I can pay my bills every month. On top of that, I get to drive a funny looking 40 year old foriegn car every so often.

I'm wealthy.

[RickM]

Nowadays not being in debt is being wealthy.

Some very good points made on this thread.

[cantdrv55]

I have a plan to be rich and wealthy so that I can give more to charity than I'm giving now.

[Evans, Marv]

I have known some very rich families. Most of them weren't happy families. I'm not a money person. I don't measure happiness by having expensive cars, houses, etc. As I've gotten older, I've maintained my spending at the same level I had 10 to 15 years ago. Any extra I've made has gone into savings/retirement. I had a job a long time ago as a summer back country ranger. I spent 3 to 4 months living in the mountains in a small cabin without electricity, running water or plumbing. Had all my food, clothing, equipment, etc. flown in by helicopter at one shot for the whole season. I hauled my water, cooked over a wood stove or Coleman camp stove and crapped in an out house. I was happy, got plenty of exercise, fesh air and enjoyed the beauty of the mountains. It was a real shock to come out at the end of the summer to the noise, exhaust fumes, crowded roads, cities, etc. The point being, after that, I never put much value on having fancy things. Like some of you have said, it's what you value as in terms of quality of live that's important, not what you have.

[pwd72s]

Cindy and I consider ourselves to be wealthy. Definitely NOT rich, but wealthy. Many here would be horrified if they knew how little we live on each year. House and cars all paid for, we eat well, play when her health permits, and generally can say "screw you" to anyone we like. I'm not rich...but I do have "screw you" money. So yeah...I'm a man of wealth.

[RickM]

How about Donald Trump? He's touted as being the 205th wealthiest person. While the media purports he's a "Billionaire" he's in debt up to his eyeballs.

[vash]

my girlfriend's mantra is: a simple life is a good life.
tough pill for me to swallow since in my mind i want 10 cars and 5 motorcycles, that isnt going to happen. but she wants five kids, so i call it a draw. my dad died when i was younger, and i watched my mom bust her ass to keep us living as normal as possible. we were happy. on the other side of the coin, i have a hell-bound auntie that tricked my ailing grandmother into making her sign over power of attorney of everything she owned(legal crap i dont understand really). she bilked her two sisters, one my mom out of two apartment buildings in SAN FRANCISCO! my mother's unit is three blocks from fishermans wharf. hellbound auntie is a millionaire, and my mother is the happier woman. my mother is the most amazing human being on the planet, she still held the family together telling everyone, "money is not important enough to tear a family apart" she didnt sue the living crap out of hellbound. me i would have murdered her. JK! my mother is rich and wealthy.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Interesting viewpoints.

My wife and I are both engineers. We make decent money and save quite a lot of it (very conservative 401k contributions and not-so-conservative stock plans, which we NEVER dip into). Our only debt is the mortgage, but we've got more equity in it than debt at this point (assuming the AZ housing market doesn't implode).

I guess we're wealthy. But my wife has a coronary whenever I decide to buy myself a new toy...the checking account stays at a fixed level and that's what she percieves as our "savings". Never mind that 30% of our salary is gone into savings of some kind before we even get the paychecks.

[Hugh R]

I've known several people who had trust funds from Grandpa. They would get their money at the beginning of the year (like in the $150,000 range) and it would be gone by May. None of them were worth a *****.

Ditto on what others said about health, wife and great kids. Last year I quit being a self-employed consultant and took a full time job with one of my clients. I make about 40% less, but when you consider the uncertainty of getting more consulting work, constantly hussling for new work/clients, working most evenings and weekends, I'm a lot happier. In fact, if I was still a consultant, I would have never considered buying the pcar, while I wanted one, I couldn't justify the luxury, when I have a more reliable, newer and better air conditioned daily driver. Having said all that, wealthy to me would be to "retire" at 55, I'm 50 know, and I'm not going to make it. I think I'll be financially comfortable when I hit age 65 and be able to live something close to my current lifestyle. On top of a small pension, social security (hah!) I'll need about $2 million in the bank/home equity to live out my days (so what if I don't leave a fortune for my kids (see my first comment).