May 18, 2012

How Much Money Is Rich?

Here are some quotes I’ve come across the past few days online and elsewhere. What do you all think? … I’m not entirely decided on all of them …

“Being rich is being able to buy whatever you really want, whenever you really want it.”

- Robert Reich

“There are two ways to be rich: One is to have great wealth, the other is to have few wants”

- Anonymous

“Being rich is the ability to live the lifestyle that is comfortable to you without ever having to work again unless you wish …”

- Anonymous

“Never spend principal, darling!”

- Anonymous

“To be Hollywood rich, you need at least $30 million. That is three homes, top private schools, parties, fashion sprees at Gucci and Prada, and cars. To be rich by elite standards, you need over $200 million. And that doesn’t get too much attention.”

- blackj on a Message Board

“Having a rich friend is like drowning and having a friend who makes lifeboats – and they get touchy if you mention the word ‘lifeboat’.”

- Stockard Channing in Six Degrees of Separation

Related posts:

  1. You Can Still Get Rich and Make Money In a Terrible Economy with a Miserable Stock Market
  2. When Trying to Get Rich, the Early Part of the Journey Is Always the Most Difficult
  3. Stealth Wealth (Why America’s Rich Hide Their Money and Why You Should Practice Stealth Wealth Yourself)
  4. What The Rich Really Collect
  5. The Hierarchy of “The Rich” in the United States
  6. Why Do the Rich Get Richer?
  7. How to Be Rich by 30
  8. My Theory: It Takes $4.5 Million to Feel “Really Well Off” and $10 Million to Feel “Rich” for the Average American
  9. Mail Bag – Once You Become Rich, How Should You Handle People That Wouldn’t Give You the Time of Day in the Past?
  10. The Red Ring Problem – Getting Rich Too Late in Life

  • Austin H

    Out of the 6 above, I’m 1/6 Rich! I have simple wants. :)

    30M at 5% is 1.5M a year. I’d say that is very reasonable rate of return to someone that has 30M and the multiple opportunities that arise once you pass certain capital thresholds. Let’s say that after taxes and hedging against inflation, you are left with 1M for, as you so accurately write, ‘getting up in the morning.’ That leaves you $2,739/ day or roughly 82K/month to spend with no obligation to save.

    If they had 5, 5k/month leases throughout the world and 6k month for a fleet of automobiles. We’d still have 51k to spend on airfare, clothes, food and ????. There is no way I could do it! Then again, I’ve programmed myself to live significantly below my means.

    The only thing I’d want to do is keep increasing the principal! Figures like these and simple calculations make it simple to see how the rich become richer and why it’s imperative to save save save if you want to escape the rat race. The $/day calculations become even more ridiculous at the 50M, 100M and 1B much less the multi-B individuals. It’s fortunate for us that most Billionaires chose to reside in the US and therefore pay more in taxes than most subdivisions make while creating jobs for 100′s of thousands.

    I bought 1 contract’s worth of shares of BP at 27 this past Friday. I think this cigarette butt has a few more puffs as long as the government doesn’t step on the flame. In the mean time, the volitility should prove ample for selling some satisfactory covered calls.

    -Austin
    austinlhill.com

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