Do you know any truly rich people (someone who consistently maked $500+k per year)?

No. I only hear that they are dark evil members of society who don't want to pay their fair share of taxes and who have disposable income that they hide in their mattresses. Those bastards!

I'm talking about someone you have a real, personal relationship with.

I know people who make that amount per year. I don't think of them as "truly rich". They live very comfortable lifestyles, but approach their lives and their finances in the same fashion as the people I know who make $300K or even $100K.

Shaw Cove wrote:

I know people who make that amount per year. I don't think of them as "truly rich". They live very comfortable lifestyles, but approach their lives and their finances in the same fashion as the people I know who make $300K or even $100K.

That simply cannot be... They all inherited their money and work nothing for it, "bringing it in" strictly from the market! They spend freely and don't pay their fair share in taxes! My college professor told me so!

so why... wrote:

That simply cannot be... They all inherited their money and work nothing for it, "bringing it in" strictly from the market! They spend freely and don't pay their fair share in taxes! My college professor told me so!

While I don't doubt that there are plenty of the leeches you describe lazing about in this country, the people I know in this income bracket have actually worked hard for their money and enjoy both the comforts that it gives them, as well as the satisfying sense of accomplishment that earning your own way in the world can offer.

Does lots of family money count?

I know this guy's family:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Keating

Of Nazi bases in Antarctica, which as we have said, may very well have been the point-of-origin of the 'Nazi-Grey' craft that Barney and Betty Hill encountered during their abduction experience. The historical facts are evident. Beginning in 1938, long before the end of the Second World War, the Nazi's commenced to send out numerous exploratory missions to the Queen Maud region of Antarctica. A steady stream of expeditions were reportedly sent out from [at the time] white supremacist South Africa. Over 230,000 square miles of the frozen continent were mapped from the air, and the Germans discovered vast regions that were surprisingly free of ice, as well as warm water lakes and cave inlets. One vast ice cave within the glacier was reportedly found to extend 30 miles to a large hot-water geothermal lake deep below. Various scientific teams were moved in to the area, including hunters, trappers, collectors and zoologists, botanists, agriculturists, plant specialists, mycologists, parasitologists, marine biologists, ornithologists, and many others. Numerous divisions of the German government were involved in the top secret project.

This is where the mainstream historians leave off, as only revisionist historians will dare consider the implications of the rest of the story...

After all the data was gathered, deep underground construction teams came pouring into the renamed "Neuschwabenland". They came on cargo ships, military transport ships, and submarines. The cargo ships coming from South Africa were protected by a host of killer-submarines and military ships. This might explain the intense Nazi war efforts in North and South Africa. Any ship that even came close to the shipping routes from South Africa to Antarctica were destroyed by German U-boats to protect the secret. After all the goods were brought, the VIPs and scientists started to show up with a compliment of ULTRA, a highly specialized Nazi SS team like our MJ-12. ULTRA has always been in control of Antarctica. ULTRA is the name of a secret alien interface agency in the NSA. Remember that the NSA has connections to both the Nazi S.S. and the Dulce base. According to contactee Alex Collier, the upper level members of the NSA-ULTRA group are cloned replicates or have been so heavily implanted, virtual cyborgs, that they could be considered as being barely human -- automatons who are remotely controlled by the Greys' group ego or group mind. It is also noteworthy that ULTRA is also the NAME OF the Above Top Secret CIA-NSA-Alien base under the Archuleta plateau and peak northeast of DULCE, New Mexico. This might also explain Valdamar Valerian's insistence that early newspaper clippings just prior to the outbreak of World War II imply that "the Germans" were "all over" New Mexico exploring caves and mines, buying up property, and engaging in all sorts of mysterious activities. Could Antarctica be the real power behind the New World Order? If the Nazi bases still exist in Antarctica then they would no doubt still have secret contact with the Bavarian cults which sponsored and were an integral part of the Nazi party, like the Bavarian THULE society for instance.

within 3-5 min walking - prob 5 or 6, and all tremendous people

I hate to point out the obvious, but anybody who needs to work for a living is not truly rich.

No, but I know some truly poor people. Surviving on SS Disability, Medicaid, and Food Stamps. Hardly capable of navigating their house without assistance, let alone working. I help where I can, but I am not rich myself.

Kanye North wrote:

Does lots of family money count?

My dear, it's the only kind that does!

I have several friends in this category. More than 10 that I see daily. For many of them, working is an option but they go daily. Do they play golf on Fridays? Many of them, yes. But they do not need to work ever and yet the ones I know well do.

So, just because you have enough to stop working daily doesn't mean you would make that choice.

Shaw Cove wrote:

I know people who make that amount per year. I don't think of them as "truly rich". They live very comfortable lifestyles, but approach their lives and their finances in the same fashion as the people I know who make $300K or even $100K.

I have to agree. I think it's all relative. No amount of money will separate you from one another, especially in a race. That's why I love about running and being in a race. When I line up among other runners in a race, they and others have NO idea what my financial situation or where I came from...they just think I'm another ordinary runner.

Bottom line....who cares if you know a "rich" person or not. When it comes to race day, it's ALL about getting to the finish line as fast as you can.

nope wrote:

No, but I know some truly poor people. Surviving on SS Disability, Medicaid, and Food Stamps. Hardly capable of navigating their house without assistance, let alone working. I help where I can, but I am not rich myself.

I've known one or two in the +500000/yr category but I know literally dozens in this category.

simply not true wrote:

I have several friends in this category. More than 10 that I see daily. For many of them, working is an option but they go daily. Do they play golf on Fridays? Many of them, yes. But they do not need to work ever and yet the ones I know well do.

So, just because you have enough to stop working daily doesn't mean you would make that choice.

Maybe that's the way you folks over in West Egg do it...

"Bottom line....who cares if you know a "rich" person or not."

Umm.....I do. Obviously.

I was blessed to go to a very good private school and now teach there. A great many of my now-middle-aged classmates are in that category (usually through practicing medicine, occasionally law, and a couple through owning businesses). Also a good number of my students' parents make that kind of money (again, lots of docs and lawyers, but plenty of business owners). My three college roommates are all also in that category--a surgeon, a radiologist, and a big-time corporate attorney. But I'm the only one of us who gets to go to track meets and ball games as "work" and can take off every summer. I'd say the breakdown of really good folks and jerks is about the same as in the regular population--the money is neither cause nor effect.

Hundreds. Mostly clients, but lots of friends as well. Most work, many will work until the day they die. Most are smart and very nice, although some people want to think otherwise. Some of inherited wealth are less driven, but not bad people. Perhaps the most common shortcoming is that many are unbalanced, hyper-driven people in finance or business owners; they are sacrificing what others might think are important responsibilities, like a more balanced family life. One of the most inspiring qualities is that although many live ridiculously lavish lifestyles, some of those same people give away gobs of money, literally millions, some at the expense of their own liquidity. The ones that are the silliest have just fallen into money via marriage, or maybe young entertainers/athletes, but I don't work with too many of them directly.

By comparison, I make a modest amount for NYC, I feel poor due to cost of living, mortgage and my kids college tuition, and I can't give too much away so I volunteer a little. I live in a small house in a very wealthy village and most everyone there is really nice too. It's not that diverse, but pleasant.

Sure. This all depends on where you live and hang out. If you work at Google (microsoft, apple, ...) you will have a couple dozen friends who all have net worth in the 10 million range. It is a nice income but it isn\'t the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Every now and then you would hear something casual (I spend 3k on U2 tickets) and you would remember that they have different money limitations than you. The few I knew in the 100 million+ range were pretty modest about it. That being said if you live in most of the country, it is probably pretty common not to know anyone making that type of bank. It is less than 1% of the population and then tend to cluster together.

Rich Person wrote:

I do not. Do you?