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
Reader Comments
(5)
Comments are presented chronologically, with replies indented beneath
the comments to which they respond.
A
Austin H
June 28, 2010
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
C
Connelly Barnes
August 8, 2013
Science says the utility of money declines after a certain point that's a bit above average income level (some studies say $60k, some $110k). The actual point varies but I'd argue that 1 or 2 sigma above average in one's local area is getting to a diminishing utility of money. I guess "rich" is just a moniker that I'm not sure matters so much since only happiness is meaningful to humans.
J
Joshua Kennon
August 8, 2013
Replying to Connelly Barnes
The best study I found on the topic was this one, because it bothered to differentiate between the two types of happiness. It found that, in the United States, it took an income of $75,000 to max out on daily utility, which is roughly 50% more than the median American household earns. Part of me wonders if there isn't a psychological factor at play there based on relative standard of livings, just as much as absolute purchasing power.
C
Connelly Barnes
September 13, 2013
Replying to Joshua Kennon
A few studies have suggested that relative wealth or rank ordering people based on similar peer groups predict happiness:
My guess is people end up happy when they get paid to do something so intrinsically fun or interesting that they would do it as a hobby, when it also happens to pay well :-). Wealth and happiness are both happy consequences of such situations.
BTW it would be cool if you cross-post some of your articles to an InstaBlog on SeekingAlpha. That should give you more traffic. I follow investors on there and it's harder for me to keep track of what's going on in independent blogs...
Austin H
June 28, 2010
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
Connelly Barnes
August 8, 2013
Science says the utility of money declines after a certain point that's a bit above average income level (some studies say $60k, some $110k). The actual point varies but I'd argue that 1 or 2 sigma above average in one's local area is getting to a diminishing utility of money. I guess "rich" is just a moniker that I'm not sure matters so much since only happiness is meaningful to humans.
Joshua Kennon
August 8, 2013
Replying to Connelly Barnes
The best study I found on the topic was this one, because it bothered to differentiate between the two types of happiness. It found that, in the United States, it took an income of $75,000 to max out on daily utility, which is roughly 50% more than the median American household earns. Part of me wonders if there isn't a psychological factor at play there based on relative standard of livings, just as much as absolute purchasing power.
Connelly Barnes
September 13, 2013
Replying to Joshua Kennon
A few studies have suggested that relative wealth or rank ordering people based on similar peer groups predict happiness:
http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1974718,00.html
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-mindful-self-express/201209/is-money-the-secret-happiness
My guess is people end up happy when they get paid to do something so intrinsically fun or interesting that they would do it as a hobby, when it also happens to pay well :-). Wealth and happiness are both happy consequences of such situations.
BTW it would be cool if you cross-post some of your articles to an InstaBlog on SeekingAlpha. That should give you more traffic. I follow investors on there and it's harder for me to keep track of what's going on in independent blogs...
canyon wanderer
September 16, 2013
Being rich is being able to say NO.