Ask Lemmy

In general I would say you're rich if you could stop working and live a life where you never want for anything

You are wealthy/rich at the point where you no longer know or care about the well being of the people that count on you to survive–the point of dehumanization is the threshold of a monster.

Living in London and working in the City so long really skewed my view on this. I guess because I worked with so many people earning six figures (and double that for household income) who were still very much "workers", were paying off the mortgage and hated commuting like anyone else. They didn't seem rich to me. Maybe if they sold up and moved out of town, sure, but just trying to live day to day they were counting the cost like an average person just up-scaled.

I feel like being able to live off passive income / interest AND living where you want is where "rich" starts for me. I could live off passive income now, in a basic place far from London but I'm not "rich". I can live pretty much where I want in London, but I'd have to continually work for it. Being able to do either of these things would put me in many people's "rich" bracket but for me it's when you can do both at the same time.

Anyone with a net worth listed on their wikipedia page.

Anyone who can lose several million dollars at work and might still have a job the next day.

Anyone who can damage fancy clothing and think "I'll just get a new one."

Anyone who can have a holiday abroad every year. Especially if they have a summer home.

Anyone who gets surprised when they find out someone has never been skiing.

$500,000 combined household gross income

Rich - enough money to throw around and buy expensive things, but could lose everything with some poor decisions because they are spending their income instead of focusing on future wealth

Wealthy - expenses are easily paid using income from investments, easily accessible loans from property, or some other wealth based process. They don't need to actively work to do the same kinds of thing a rich person can do, and it is difficult for them to lose their wealth.

There are not any specific dollar amount thresholds, because it depends on spending and local cost of living. Wealthy people will make decisions that maintain enough wealth that will increase in value over time to beat inflation, rich people make decisions based on whether they can afford it right now.

A wealthy man has no bills

Wealth, to me, is relative, measured by how far-reaching you can do things.

In the top tier, there are billionaires who can make decisions on the world stage, such as Elon Musk making satellites to help various countries or L Ron Hubbard buying a navy and putting places of worship in other countries.

In the middle tier, there are people who can make decisions on the national level, such as smaller business chains putting their businesses in various states.

In the low tier, there are people who can make decisions on the local level, such as buying management at a local school.

And then there are the rest of us, who have our whole empires concentrated on a single street.

Anyone who has strong opinions about new video games or a favourite Tiktoker is wealthy