What does being rich mean to you? Does it mean having a lot of money or does it mean having more money than someone else?
MSN recently published an article titled “How Much Does it take to be Rich?” and it made me think…am I rich? If I compare myself to other entrepreneurs such as the owner of the Coca Cola Corporation and the creator of Microsoft then No, I am obviously not rich. However, if I compare to myself to some of my family members or my friends then yes, I am definitely rich.
What is being rich anyways? MSN seems to think that the old stereotype of having a million dollars to be rich is now passé. Maybe being rich means having more money than someone else. Maybe it means having enough money to make us financially stable and personally happy. Maybe being rich means being able to pay our bills on time, and also being able to buy everything and anything else we want.
I have to think to myself…is being rich graded on a curve?
After reading this article I definitely think the answer is YES. Being rich is an individual opinion that may or may not be based on the amount of money that other people have. If we are going to compare our riches to someone else, who should that person be? Can I compare myself to other entrepreneurs outside of my field such as the owner of BET? No, because we don’t have the same goals, the same field of work or anything else in common…except for our love of music. Can I compare myself to other people my age such as Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian? No, because I actually work for my money. These are two girls who have branded their name based on excessive partying and sex tapes. I personally don’t care to do either…Despite my opinionated personality, I’m actually a pretty boring person.
What amount of money would you consider being rich?
For some of us it may still the “norm” of one million dollars. For others a billion dollars may be the ideal amount of money to be considered rich. Our goals have to be realistic. We can’t just throw out a random number and hope to achieve it without a plan. Being rich and the amount of money it takes to become rich is definitely a personal choice that is based on our individual situations. I may love to have a million dollars, while some readers may already have it. Some people may love to have a $250,000 annual income, while others may give up all of their savings to live on $250,000 a year.
Photo By Covila
Kristina Tahnyak
Tahnya is a Certified Financial Planner and former Investment Advisor turned marketing and communications professional She holds a degree from Concordia University, is debt free and currently works in the field of digital marketing.
My wife and I have a net worth of about 1.3 million at 38 years old. Our only debt is a smallish mortgage of about 90k… if any of our family and friends knew this, no doubt we would be labelled as “the rich ones”. But to us, being rich would mean being able to quit our 9 to 5 jobs and do whatever we like… we are not there yet. When we reach that stage, I might entertain thoughts of considering ourselves and our lives en”riched”.
I agree with Jon. When you can get up in the morning and decide what to do with your day, you are rich. If I had $1.3 Million put away, I would pay off my smallish mortgage and start living like that today.