I don’t feel that rich.

[STATscans]

This is probably just me but when I was younger, I used to think being a ‘millionaire’ meant being able to buy just about anything you want. Reality is that this is not the case. After crossing the million mark a few years ago, it didn’t feel that different. Yes I have money but that money is all tied up.
If I was to go out and buy a 50k car or $30k necklace, I would have to cash some money out. The image of being able to buy what ever you want is not really there. Cause if you start spending the millions, you would soon run out (unless you replenish it too).

I have a good life (from a financial point of view) because I have a high paying income and don’t have to touch what’s growing in my investment. But if I was to stop working and live off my ‘millions’ it wouldn’t last that long.

Now, if I had a billion dollars, that would be different…. I think…

[CordMcNally]

A rich person is someone with $1 more than you.

[pysibal]

I agree with the feeling. My parents were middleclass and a few yr out of residency I make more than both of them combined during their peak years. But as you said, it's all tied up; taxes, retirement, student loans, house payment, saving up for a NEW home in a few years, kid's 529 plans...

It sure doesn't feel like I can buy whatever good/service I want without thinking about it. I basically have a lot more insurance, live in a nice house, and don't worry about ordering beer or appetizers at restaurants. Otherwise, things seem similar.

[billy]

I agree with the feeling. My parents were middleclass and a few yr out of residency I make more than both of them combined during their peak years. But as you said, it's all tied up; taxes, retirement, student loans, house payment, saving up for a NEW home in a few years, kid's 529 plans...

It sure doesn't feel like I can buy whatever good/service I want without thinking about it. I basically have a lot more insurance, live in a nice house, and don't worry about ordering beer or appetizers at restaurants. Otherwise, things seem similar.

Your parents probably did worry about appetizers and desserts at restaurants. You don't. Its all perspective. Ask yourself these questions:

Am I able to have these happen and not stress out bc of the financial concerns if:
my car broke down can I buy a new one tomorrow? yes
I order whatever I want in a restaurant? yes
I plan a trip with my family for vacation? yes

If you can do all that, I'd say compared to the average american, you are rich.

etc etc.

[White.Beard.Doc]

Charles Dickens said it well. He was highly paid but he had a spending problem, so he understood this quite well.

“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery”

Being rich is having something left over every month and for that extra money to build up to the point where none of life's financial surprises have the power to stress you out.

My spouse got pickpocketed at the fancy supermarket a couple of days ago. A well dressed couple was unusually close to her as she was picking peaches. The man handed her a peach from one side and pointed out how good it was, while the woman, from the other side, was picking peaches as well. A strange situation in the moment, which then became very clear a short time later when her bag was emptied of her iPhone 12S Pro Max and more. Being rich means saying, "Oh well, what can you do?" and then buying a new $1300 iPhone on the way home without getting upset.

[ENT Doc]

Charles Dickens said it well. He was highly paid but he had a spending problem, so he understood this quite well.

“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery”

Being rich is having something left over every month and for that extra money to build up to the point where none of life's financial surprises have the power to stress you out.

My spouse got pickpocketed at the fancy supermarket a couple of days ago. A well dressed couple was unusually close to her as she was picking peaches. The man handed her a peach from one side and pointed out how good it was, while the woman, from the other side, was picking peaches as well. A strange situation in the moment, which then became very clear a short time later when her bag was emptied of her iPhone 12S Pro Max and more. Being rich means saying, "Oh well, what can you do?" and then buying a new $1300 iPhone on the way home without getting upset.

Fancy supermarkets should have video monitors, or were they doing mask face? Outside video with shot of a car license plate? I have money. But I don’t like people stealing from me.

[burritos]

Wonder what correlation rate is for someone who is a regular on this board and that person being rich or on the track to being rich(barring catastrophic life event). It's probably asymptotic to 1.

[White.Beard.Doc]

Fancy supermarkets should have video monitors, or were they doing mask face? Outside video with shot of a car license plate? I have money. But I don’t like people stealing from me.

My spouse spoke with the manager of the market regarding the theft, but they were not very helpful. This was in a boutique market in a city of millions of people. They advised that she could report this to the police, but that the police have more serious crimes to deal with.

[G]

My spouse spoke with the manager of the market regarding the theft, but they were not very helpful. This was in a boutique market in a city of millions of people. They advised that she could report this to the police, but that the police have more serious crimes to deal with.

A) Investigation of robbery is squarely in the wheelhouse of the police, even if they can do nothing
B) That manager either makes too much money or has a personality disorder

[ENT Doc]

My spouse spoke with the manager of the market regarding the theft, but they were not very helpful. This was in a boutique market in a city of millions of people. They advised that she could report this to the police, but that the police have more serious crimes to deal with.

#Defundthepolice

[MPMD]

Being rich is having something left over every month and for that extra money to build up to the point where none of life's financial surprises have the power to stress you out..

great definition.

i think we all need to be careful about this. if you have $1M invested in retirement assets and you don't "feel rich" that's fine, but you are.

if nothing else, you are essentially set to retire even if you never save another dollar. so your expenses could swell and you could have to stop all savings and you'd still retire with... more than a million dollars.

this stuff can become really unseemly, i have met people who are worth $5M who constantly poor mouth and act like every dollar they pay in taxes is just killing them. it's irrational and makes people look horrible.

what makes me feel rich is that my wife and are almost bulletproof at this point. we have a ton in retirement, not as much as some on this forum but more than statistically everyone who has ever lived or lives right now. if we spent every dollar we earned from now until we couldn't work anymore we'd still have a lot.

this can become pathological really quickly. as i've said on other threads, it often also becomes somewhat performative. you have $3M in the bank and drive a 2005 accord w/o functioning AC. that's cool, but it's a choice you are making and if you're honest part of the reason is so you can broadcast it. i think one of my favorite pieces of WCI wisdom is "fly first class or your kids will."

[Shant]

Haha that piece of wisdom certainly changed my recent car choice after doing the math on my heirs.

I would also say that a million bucks was worth a lot more 40 years ago, there were a lot fewer things to buy, and even fewer places to learn that they existed. I can't remember who said it but I remember hearing that when people say that they want to have a million dollars, they really mean that they want to spend a million dollars.

And I remember too an interview of a centenarian who said when she was young she thought she would never be so rich as to afford a car, nor so poor as to not be able to afford a full time maid. Times they are a-changing.

[Turf Doc]

How close are you to FI? If a million in the bank is like 20% there then it's not that surprising to me for you not to feel rich. If you're FI and now you can tap out 20 years before the average person does, and STILL live better than 99% of them for the rest of your life, would you feel rich then? I know I would.

This does seem like one problem with the standard index fund/retirement account strategy though. Probably a sliding scale but I can see how unless you're FI you don't necessarily feel how it changes your life. If you do things like real estate i imagine cashflowing properties feels pretty good

[TheDangerZone]

Great blog post on the psychology of feeling rich: "Who Feels Rich Really?"

https://ofdollarsanddata.com/who-fee...r_id=701150654


tl;dr

This is why when I ask, “Who feels rich really?” the answer is—no one.

Because you can always point to someone else who is doing better.

But, the trick is, not to forget all the people who could be pointing at you.

[Tim]

What Is Disposable Income?
Disposable income, also known as disposable personal income (DPI), is the amount of money that an individual or household has to spend or save after income taxes have been deducted.

How you dispose of it is a personal choice. For some, $1m would be a miracle.