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Answer five questions to get a better sense of where your expectations meet reality.
Compared to the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, Va., Md. W.Va area, I'm poor.
-Rod
Follow Ups:
Thanks! for sharing- Rod M.
I scored 90th percentile on the graph. Living outside of a U.S. Metro area has its advantages.
Yes, I have good friends & good family.
With out that nothing else matters.
others, not.
We're comfortable by understanding how to play the game.
I need to thank my late oldest brother who taught me all manner of things largely by example. And another on what not to do...
But who cares, really, how much any of us is worth? If life is a race to see who owns the most, it seems a boring affair. Now, there are those who brag on 16-hr. days, little sleep, etc. and credit that with getting them to the "rich" category. At some point, they wake up wealthy, perhaps, having spent their best years in accumulation, i.e trying to elbow the other hogs away from the slop bucket. Of course, FAR more have little to show for all those years except frustration, broken families, envy, anger, and poor health.
It's all about values, in other words.
Nt
We are retired and our income is from the typical sources, SS, small pensions and RMDs from investments. We have very little debt. Our home is paid for. We can afford anything we want within reason, but we don't live extravagantly. That's pretty much how we got to where we are, living within our means and saving and investing conservatively.
According to the supplied ranking tool, we are rich. During our earning and raising kids years, we would have been down the list much further. In my opinion, if we are rich, it has more to do with how little some folks have, not how much we have.
We are in the top 15% in our community. I selected the top 1% as being rich but somewhat objected to not being able to select the top 0.5% as being rich.It's kind of BS thinking the top 5% are rich. Or even the top 2%, and I even think the top 1% aren't really rich either.
This is not to say folks in the top 1%-25% can't build a nice nest egg but being gainfully employed and living frugal while saving isn't rich IMO. These kinds of people are fairly often wiped out by medical expenses or market fluctuations. Rich people in my opinion can afford to risk going without medical insurance and put a nephew or two thru college without the possibility of effecting their own wealth.
Edits: 05/07/21 05/07/21 05/07/21
I picked the top 20% as being perceived to be rich. Of course, that's not truly rich, but enables one to live well, own a home etc. However, there are plenty of folks in that or even higher income levels that aren't rich at all and are just living paycheck to paycheck while trying to keep up with the Joneses.
While the top 0.5% are probably truly rich, I recall seeing a study somewhere where the people in the top income levels change tremendously, think athletes, celebrities and ponzi schemers. High incomes don't typically last forever.
-Rod
I don't think athletes and celebrities make up but a small percentage of folks with lots of wealth and very few of them ever become billionaires.
Here's a list of the richest people in the USA and there's not an athlete or celebrity among them. Not oddly Donald Trump is probably the richest entertainer in America, far ahead of Opra Winfrey. I think Michael Jordan is the richest athlete.
But all these folks, and there's very few of them, fall far down in the list of billionaires.
I think far and away most people on the list are there because the value of things they have invested in have increased - not because of the money they've been paid to act or play sports or to otherwise labor beyond buying and selling stuff.
I should have said income and not wealth as you point out, they are completely different animals. The truly rich, like billionaires may not have much income because their wealth is in real estates, stocks, etc. At the same time, they may not need high incomes to maintain their lifestyles.Where there is a high turnover is in the high income group that does change a lot from year to year. That why the tax the rich mantra is unlikely to be much of an issue to those billionaires, it hits the high income folks that aren't necessarily super rich.
-Rod
Edits: 05/07/21
They gotta have plenty of money available to maintain a lavish lifestyle. I suspect some of us could live happily on what multi-billionaires pay their lawyers and accountants yearly.
Interest on bank accounts/cd's is income and taxable. Likewise stock dividends. When you have a billion or more that adds up to a substantial income. If they invest in real estate other than their homes they're likely making taxable income from that (or will when they sell it).
I would oppose any tax increase on incomes under 1/2 a million per year and expect only a small increase on the next income range - as in income from 1/2 million to 2 million a year. With increasing increases on income levels above that.
Then I hear tax the rich increases are going to start on incomes of like $80,000 a year and I'm thinking who want's anything to do with that?
d
I also heard that more black people are killed by police than white people, that the GOP is the party of moral values and that Democrats hate Jesus.
You going to tell me I heard that wrong too?
BINGO!
collect your prize at the door
it's just an Igloo cooler as [nearly] ALL of tonight's proceeds are considered charitable donations
now please excuse me, my driver has pulled the car up
. . . I can become a white kid!
View YouTube Video
sleepy Joe.
I'm always amazed that a man of your breadth displays such a small heart
don't think for a minute that I believe that what you're saying is ...
ayuckk> ! < gakk!!!
sorry, got a bit choked up by a furrball ... the real U!
damn! there's that shadow over my shoulder again
I'd better go
you take care CFL
What ever happened to millionaires being considered rich ?
I'd considered myself filthy stinkin' rich with just a few million.
Dean.
reelsmith's axiom: Its going to be used equipment when I sell it, so it may as well be used equipment when I buy it.
We seem to be in the same boat.
Early in our working careers, we were in the middle of the pack. We had conversations about having kids OR buying a house. Over the years we did better. At the very end of our careers, we were in the top 5%.
What really mattered though was 40 years of modest savings in conservative investments that slowly compounded. Yes the market goes up and down, but it doesn't wipe out people who are properly invested and diversified. And of course we all need good health insurance. Driving a BMW and skimping on health insurance could bite you in the ass.
My first thought was how could someone save up a million bucks trying to keep that thing running.We were in the bottom 20% when we started out but were in the top 5% when we were both working and the kids were going up. We've been saving for 20 years but the years between 60 and 65 are really dangerous especially with only one of us working. We have great medical insurance but if the job evaporates everything we've worked for is at risk.
Falling into indigent care the State will confiscate assets. Obamacare might be the only way to work through it - it's not like a 60 yo and a 63 yo with preconditions are going to find affordable care on the free market.A week in the hospital can be 1/2 million or more - that's a big bite out of retirement savings and for the average Joe it's a lien on his home if he even has one.
Edits: 05/07/21 05/07/21
I recall those years when my wife left her corporate job along with her insurance. On the upside, ObamaDoesn'tCare will not bankrupt you, but it isn't cheap either. We were paying $1,500 a month for a low tier plan that covered only a colonoscopy and one health physical per year. Otherwise, the deductible was $6,250 each, but that was it, everything would be covered after that, so you'd only be out $18K/year plus a maximum of $12,500 in deductibles for a net of about $30K if you're hit by a truck. Yes, it's not what I'd call affordable, but it wouldn't put us in bankruptcy either.
Now, we have Medicare which isn't free, but it is affordable.
-Rod
"We were paying $1,500 a month for a low tier plan that covered only a colonoscopy and one health physical per year. Otherwise, the deductible was $6,250 each, but that was it, everything would be covered after that, so you'd only be out $18K/year plus a maximum of $12,500 in deductibles for a net of about $30K if you're hit by a truck."
Whoa, dude!
****
We are inclusive and diverse. But dissent will not be tolerated.
I retired with a Fortune 500 company many years ago. After retirement, I had the option to continue insurance through them even as I worked elsewhere. If I ever dropped the insurance, it would not be an option thereafter, so I never let it go. So I have insurance through retirement and of course Medicare is required after 65.
I just spent three weeks in the hospital 8 days of which were in ICU. After insurance, it will cost a few grand, not a half mill. I have no idea about Obamacare or whatever alternatives are out there. I would get the best medical coverage I could afford.
When we got Medicare and went through all the confusing and many options, we choose a Medicare Advantage plan that covers all the deductibles from Medicare along with giving us the option to see any doctor without any need for a referral. It's costs us another $350 a month for the two of us and it will increase a bit every year, but I just look at it as prepaid care and peace of mind.
-Rod
We have a Medicare Advantage plan similar to yours. Every October, we receive a renewal notice through the company I retired with. There are usually three options with higher or lower co-pays, deductibles and other options. There are employees and retirees all across the country, so different plans will suit different people due to where they live and available medical facilities.
My wife worked at the medical facility we use for 40 years. It always amazed us that the cost of insurance through my company for that medical facility was cheaper than the same insurance cost was for employees.
Hey man, if you're ever in the north Dallas area, let me me know. We'll put something on the grill or the smoker!
Continue to get better. And use that breath measurement thingy!!!
****
We are inclusive and diverse. But dissent will not be tolerated.
Thanks for the encouragement. I have to learn to cook again. I'm on a low salt diet.
The oximeter goes on your finger. It reads dissolved oxygen in the blood stream and pulse.
Nice pic!
The test only allows us to chose to the highest 1%. I don't really consider that as being rich. To me it's like the top 0.5% or even 0.1% that I refer to when speaking of rich.
People who make good money even millions of dollars a year might not be much more than day to day. It's folks making more than a couple of million a year who I am referring to when I speak of the rich. You know folks who are in or aspiring to join the billionaires club.
People living in foothills homes worth a million or two who have to work everyday to pay bills are not rich IMO. They are still working people.
Folks living in inner city ghettos or rural trailer parks probably see homeowners with jobs that pay more than for food and rent as being rich.
So it's really a relative thing.
nt
There is a book, How to Live Well With No Job and Nearly No Money. I think you must be living it.
nt
Well, I'm just messing with you anyway, but I'm not sure how you operate with no income or how you pay for things with assets. Being good looking is an asset, but I doubt that I could get a cup of coffee.
nt.
I have assets. The federal government requires me to make minimum withdrawals from those assets yearly and then they tax those withdrawals and they call it income. Maybe your assets are all in a Roth? Still withdrawals would be income.
Withdrawals from Taxable Accounts are NOT Income. Possibly only the earnings on the Accounts... That was my statement. Qualified Withdrawals from Roth Accounts are also not income.
one last question: Why is this non-income and tax on it listed on our INCOME Tax returns?
This sounds a lot like tomato/tomato with different pronunciations.
Again There is NO Tax on a Taxable Account balance. Possibly only the earnings on that account.
A Taxable Account could be like a Savings Account at your Bank... Say you've got $50 Grand in it. You withdraw $5 Grand from it and spend it. It is neither reported on your Income Tax form or is there any Tax due on it.
A qualified withdrawal from a Roth Account has NO Tax due on it either.
BTW - Since I am not 72 yet, I have not had to Withdraw any amount from my IRA Yet.
.
reelsmith's axiom: Its going to be used equipment when I sell it, so it may as well be used equipment when I buy it.
Define "rich".
I don't have a government/taxpayer pension. I live off of my own earnings.
I have the most wonderful wife in the world. She even lets me keep AES journals on the "coffee" table.
Am I rich?
****
We are inclusive and diverse. But dissent will not be tolerated.
you are rich.
Poor is when you have to rearrange the tin and rocks on your roof every time it looks like rain.
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