Re: Minimal amount

[Kris Krieger]

"Don" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Whats the minimal amount of money in the bank, that you could get your > hands around in 24 hours, you'd have to have before you'd call > yourself wealthy in the popular sense of the word? >

I don't know because I don't know what's meant by "in the popular sense of the word". Average of all the people on earth? Average for all people in the US? Popular for a given income range? If Al makes $12K per year and Bill else makes $50K, Al prob thinks Bill is wealthy - but if Cal makes $100K, Bill prpb thinks he is not wealthy but Cal is - meanwhile, if Doug makes $500K a year, Cal might not think he is wealthy but that Doug is...and so on and so forth. ALso, is wealth=income or is wealth=liquid investments? IOW, what is wealth? If all your investments are in real estate, the actual (and oft- denied fact) is that you're only as wealthy as other people are willing to make you - IOW, buy a forclosure for $10K in a poor neighboorhood, put in mega-improvements, try to ask for $365K, well, it's not likely anyone will bite.

If wealth=liquid investments, then some (many?) wealthy people are not actually wealthy.

IOW, it seems to be a bit of a "trick" question.

[Edgar]

5k sounds good. Heck if it didn't include any living expenses and bills, I'd be happy with a grand of walking money a month.

[Kris Krieger]

"Don" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

OK, *now* I see your point ;)

You're exactly right. Wealth is generally in the proverbial 'eye of the beholder'.

Exactly. Rather than doing their personal best and enjoying what they have, people almost always seem to, themselves, ruin their own experience, i.e. create their own misery, by the endless game of Making Comparisons.

SO, rather than being excited that they got a new car that doesn't need repairs every couple months (as do many cars when they reach the age of

12 years...), they hate their new car because it isn't as expensive (read: "impressive", i.e. accompanied by an imaginary sense of increased social status/importance) as soemone else's car (neighbor, relative, whatever). So they end up miserable - but it's not because of what they have or don't have, it's only because they *choose* to live in a continual state of envy, whining about all the things they can't afford.

Ah - but for many, and I'd guiess most, people, "what others think" is something of an obsession. Material wealth is not something they crave because they would *enjoy* it, but rather, because it would (they imagine) increase their social status, i.e. their importance, becaus ethat is how many (most?) people interpret envy - if others envy you your stuff, they see you as having importance. And, really, that is how poeple *behave* - what I mean is, if people *perceive* you as having material wealth, they are drawn to you, they want to try to grap "part fo the magic" so to speak. Buying a car is an excellent example. Go into a car dealership dressed in jeans and a t-shirt and, even if they're perfectly clean, you will be snubbed in favor for the people wearing designer this and designer that. Been there, done that - it's like pulling teeth to get a sales person to even acknowledge you. OF course, when you say "Payments? No way, I'm paying cash", it's hilarious to see them suddenly turning red and falling all over their dumbass selves to do their jobs - since 99.99% of those folks in desnger duds are either leasing, or extending the payments out as long as possible so as to lower the monthly payments, even tho' it raises the end-cost of the thing by an obscene amount.

IOW, most poeple are quite shallow and *DO* judge the proverbial book by its proverbial cover, so, for most people, unlike yourself, "what others think" is a central issue in their lives.

Personally, I couldn't care less about "impressing" a bunch of nitwits and borderline-morons who are utterly irrelevant to my life (well, irrelevant as long as they don't mess with me or my property...I never said I wasn't territorial ) But most people? IMO, most people thnik and beleive an dlike what they're told, without thinking, never developing an individual aesthetic, ethic, or idea.

I'd say very few folks - even ones whom others consider to be wealthy. Too much cash sunk into house, car, gee-gaws, clothing, and so on. Very few Americans have actual investments and emergency accounts and the like that can be cashed-out.

Actually, I'd venture to guess that most, according to your parameter, are dirt-poor.

That's why I put "rick" into quotes ;) I was being wry - or rye... ;)

Part of the problem is that the vast majority of people only think "stuff" when they thing of welath - a big house stuffed to the rafters with, well, stuff.

True financial wealth is not about acquiring stuff - it's abotu getting

*some* stuff, and then investing the rest of your $$ into a wide variety of well-chosen areas.

That's why lottery winners bottom out - all they think of is spend, spend, spend. Few seem to have in hteir vocabulary the word "invest". And they also never ever seem to consider the fact of taxes.

Same is true of many sports stars - make $10 million a year for x years, stop playing, and be living off the dole within 5 years.

Yup - the "trick" being that the question has a different answer depending upon whether one does or doesn't have a functional/thinking brain

"Retirement" is IMO something of a bogus word/concept. I think it is - or, at least, should be - more like "life change" or "new stage of life" - ideally, you get to the point where you can stop working just to make money, and have enough savings and investments so that you can start doing what you *really want* to do, whether it's getting into wildlife carving and entering shows, pr playing a musical instrument, or raising giant pumpkins, travelling, etc. :)

[Kris Krieger]

"Don" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

I can't even think of a reply - it's just so insane...I feel bad for your father-in-law - man, 60 years spent bewing a cog in some big, dumb wheel, and then you get left with...what? It's insane...