What salary do you need to be considered "wealthy"

Would be curious if that 1% is skewed by the very top earners and the median wasn't lower than that (even for the top 1%)

The first two responses summed it up very well.

I didn't read past that.

I'll say $4 million under 40, $3 million under 50, or $2 million thereafter in assets, at least a million of which are more or less liquid. Since those are the magic retirement numbers I've had in my head for a while

uhhhh wrote:

Wealthy people don't have "salaries."

This was my first response.

But I don't think assets is the only determination of being wealthy.

You can have high income that makes you wealthy. Business owners have incomes not salaries.

You can't build assets without income unless you inherit it.

Now the exception to the post I quoted would be receiving an NBA salary.

If you get a multi-million dollar salary, you are wealthy.

Maintaining that wealth is another thing.

uhhhh wrote:

gohawkeyes wrote:

Major city, what income do you need to be considered wealthy?

$100K doesn't go as far as you would think in a lot of place, especially if you have kids.

Wealthy people don't have "salaries." Whoever owns the company paying you that salary is likely wealthy.

Ps Hawkeyes suck

He asked about "income," not "salary." Wealthy people definitely have income, but you're right, it's generally not wholly from a salary. It would tend to come from some form of investment. And the investment options are much better when you have large sums of money to invest -- which is why wealthy people seem to always get wealthier and it's incredibly difficult to penetrate their ranks as a member of the middle class.

X-Runner wrote:

If you get a multi-million dollar salary, you are wealthy.

I'm with Chris Rock on this one. Rich != Wealthy.

income vs salary wrote:

He asked about "income," not "salary."

Re-read the subject line.

I was going to say this. Chris Rock : Shaq is rich. The guy who signs his paycheck is wealthy.

wealth wrote:

X-Runner wrote:

If you get a multi-million dollar salary, you are wealthy.

I'm with Chris Rock on this one. Rich != Wealthy.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2r3rjh

Yes. I agree with Chris Rock.

Good pull.

That's why I wrote "Maintaining that wealth is another thing."

Wealth is not determined on how much you make it's by how much you HAVE in assets.

More you make the more you spend which does not determine wealth. Your total assets less debt is your net worth.

I usually gross right under 100k and I feel wealthy if I can afford an apatezer when we go out to eat, the few times a year that we actually do

gohawkeyes wrote:

Major city, what income do you need to be considered wealthy?

$100K doesn't go as far as you would think in a lot of place, especially if you have kids.

"A man is wealthy in proportion to the number of things he can do without." Henry David Thoreau

100k? lol People with kids still budget on 100k.

Considered wealthy.... definitely 500k

I consider wealthy being able to take a trip a whenever you want, go out to nice dinners without thinking twice.... new cars every two years or so. New car model comes out and "I want that" - no issue i'll buy it next week.

You're rich if you can afford appetizers.

You're wealthy if you can buy the restaurant.

Everyone is going to have their own opinion, so here is mine.

Wealthy people own the company, workers can be rich but are not wealthy.

Example, my father made much more than me per year ($480k/yr.) and his lifestyle increased once he retired. However he worked for someone else and thus had limitations to his capital. I own a company and although I don't have as much per year which I pay myself, I have the company which provides me with opportunities in life that he can only dream of. That's just one part of it. Another is status, capital available to you, if you get paid even if you do nothing, how much goes to taxes, etc.

Long story short, if you want to get wealthy start a company.

These are some good responses.

I am just trying to get a gauge on what people consider "wealthy".

For instance I am inheriting nothing and had a ton of student loans to pay off. Having worked in an industry where I get to analyze many companies, the task of starting a completely new one without being backed by MAJOR private equity or financial sponsors seems daunting and almost impossible. For instance take a company that makes bricks. Massive capital requirements up front, difficult logistics, lots of raw materials that are difficult to procure. On top of that it is a cyclical industry. Most industries are like this. There will always be a place for the next facebook or technology but I am not smart enough to do that. This combined with the $70K of debt I had made (will continue to make) extraordinarily hesitant to start a business.

My next question is those that aren't going to be entrepreneurs what do we consider "wealthy". This will change city by city but it sounds like many of you wouldn't consider a professional wealthy at all. The accountants, bankers, lawyers, doctors and IT professionals that are the guts of a even the biggest cities will never get "wealthy". A doctor in a specialized field makes what $300K after residency would not measure up to the average LRC user standard of success? If that is the case that is really depressing considering how hard and how educated they are. Same goes for all the lawyers, bankers, accountants, IT, real estate professionals, etc that I deal with. If a doctor earns $9,000,000 in his lifetime he should be able to take away at least $1M of that after saving and investing, is that not considered wealthy in this day and age?

I began feeling wealthy a few years ago when I could reasonably calculate that my net asset value should climb each year even if I quit my job - as long as I maintained my current spending habits. I assumed a relatively modest 4% return on all investments and did not count my house. I think this is how wealth should be defined:

0.04 x investments > typical spending.

I will probably quit working soon because I cannot stand the new management system where I work. Then I would still feel wealthy but have no salary at all.

Like others have said, it's all relative. There are plenty of communities where the "rich" kids live in houses worth 150K while the rest rent space in a trailer park. Globally anyone who can afford a car is rich. That said, here are some numbers for you. These are household incomes for the USA in 2012.

Top 1% - 383K

Top 5% - 188K

Top 10% - 140K

Top 25% - 89K

uhhhh wrote:

gohawkeyes wrote:

Major city, what income do you need to be considered wealthy?

$100K doesn't go as far as you would think in a lot of place, especially if you have kids.

Wealthy people don't have "salaries." Whoever owns the company paying you that salary is likely wealthy.

Ps Hawkeyes suck

Really, David Price and his 31 million dollar salary aren't wealthy?

Hawkeyes ftw.