Hey now, in the south you can still get away with saying that you have a "'vette" :). Many years ago, I was used to driving my Supra turbo, but when I had my left leg in a cast, I switched cars with my g/f at the time. She had an automatic Chevette, and I swear I almost killed myself a few times attempting to merge into traffic with that turtle (I mean no offense to any turtles).

I think in this day and age, anyone who actually manages to have a positive net worth (in other words, they have more equity in their home than they owe, they have more in the bank than they owe on credit cards, student loans, car payments, etc.) is "rich". They're ahead of 99% of the people out there.

Basically, anyone that is not owned by someone else - a bank, a credit card company, etc. is "rich". Someone who can sustain themselves indefinitely against the onslaught of taxation is "wealthy".

It all comes down to sustainability. Someone who can be self-sufficient, I consider "rich". Someone who actually has a system in place where they take in more each year than they have stolen from them by the tax man - and can sustain it indefinitely, I would argue is either "wealthy" or well on the road to becoming wealthy.

This Chevette that everyone speaks so highly of, is the car that my wife and I left our wedding in. We have been married 3.5 years.
I will try to get some better pics. for all the fans.

Definition - High Net Worth Individual (HNWI)

A classification used by the financial services industry to denote an individual or a family with high net worth. Although there is no precise definition of how rich somebody must be to fit into this category, high net worth is generally quoted in terms of liquid assets over a certain figure. The exact amount differs by financial institution and region. The categorization is relevant because high net worth individuals generally qualify for separately managed investment accounts instead of regular mutual funds.

The most commonly quoted figure for membership in the high net worth "club" is $1 million in liquid financial assets (by definition, this excludes their primary residence). An investor with less than $1 million but more than $100,000 is considered to be "affluent", or perhaps even "sub-HNWI". The upper end of HNWI is around $5 million, at which point the client is then referred to as "very HNWI". More than $50 million in wealth classifies a person as "ultra HNWI".

QUOTE: "So what is rich?"
_____________

If you have to ask ...you probably aren't? :)

Does anyone have a distribution of net worth of Americans. For example.
- <0
- 0
- 0 to 5k
- 5k to 10k
- 10k to 50k
- 50k to 100k
- 100k to 500k
- 500k to 1M
-- 1m to 3m
-- 3m to 10m
-- 10m -50m
-- >50m

Should we do a poll! Just curious (no names of course).;)

I am rich by the standard that started this thread. MY definition of rich is that you have everything and you do not have to pay any taxes, ie your income is all tax free and its in the millions per year.

Unfortunately the democrats define rich as anyone who makes over $1 per year, they want their cut. Waitress, unemployed, no matter, the democrats want you to pay your fair share, ie everything you have. They will then give you back some of your money so you can be grateful to them and vote for them. Just like the so called rebate or whatever its called. Its called vote buying, but they are using your own money to do it! Don't make any money, no problem. They will take some of my money and give it to you to buy your vote.

My tax free income is well into the 6 figures, but not millions yet, so I guess I am not rich,. But all you suckers that "earn" income, youall are rich and you all will be taxed into poverty. Vote Democrats.

"They will take some of my money and give it to you to buy your vote."

I thought you said you didn't pay any taxes???

Snowman,
Please share your formula. What have you invested in, done, and continue doing. Of course if you started rich and just built on it, you do not have to respond..:D

We had one on here recently. But I think it topped out at 1M and would have been more infomative if it had been set up as you suggest above..

If a poll is started, thought should be given to excluding the primary residence from the net worth calculation.

I never said I didn't pay taxes, I said I had tax free income, I also have taxable income.

There is no need for a survey, it is a fact that the rich pay ALL of the taxes and 50% of the population get a free ride.

I consider wealthy as a net worth that's at least your age times your income divided by 10.

This isn't the same definition of wealthy as in some of the descriptions here, but more a general rule of thumb for how well you're doing personally. BTW I'm not there and won't be for another 5 years or so :(

My answer to original question of what is rich: I'd say over $10mil in liquid assets.

So a ten year old with a $2/week allowance and $50 in his/her piggy bank is wealthy? I meet that criteria (not the ten year old), but I KNOW I'm not wealthy :).

edited: ps: On second thought, that ten year old probably is wealthy (relatively speaking), but I'm still not.

My first job was deliering pizzas and the store's delivery vehicle was a diesel Chevette. We called it the "turbo." Usually you got to drive your own car, but sometimes you had to drive it - typically when you screwed up and the boss was pissed.

Diesel Chevette. LOL. Reminds me of the old VW diesels. 0-60 was around 19 seconds!

It is not that fast!
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1208981204.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1208981215.jpg

Now we have the definition of an optimist. Hood pins on that.

Somebody say Chevette? Wonder if they have a diesel class?:D

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I am probably the only one that watched the whole thing.

Boba, the hood latch doesn't work so well anymore.