Are you wealthy?

[The Witcher]

A lot of great responses here. I reached an epiphany only recently and honestly, money means very little to me now. Of course a steady income is needed in todays world but it isnt be all end all. The stress of thinking about money is so stupid and not worth it. Cherish the little things and life is so much better.

 

[machidafan99]

no but I work for someone who is rich

 

[MMA IAN]

You have never had to worry about money. Your household income when you were raised was 200 grand or higher, or your parents are millionaires.

Yeah, parents bail me out whenever I get in a financial pickle. I live rent free in a 700k house they own which is nice, I do own a property which I bought while I was earning 6 figures in the mines, but now I am at uni and poor I have to rent it out to afford the mortgage (alternative is I work full time while studying), so I'm pretty lucky to be able to rely on my parents in that respect and not damage my grades by working full time or be forced to sell the property.

I actually don't know how much the old man earns he doesn't talk about money, but I know he put 100k a year into super (the max) before they decreased the limit.

 

[WalkenWouldOwn]

Raised lower middle class by a single mom. Shared a small room with 2 brothers. We were poor but not quite trailer park poor. Mom always worked hard and made sacrifices to do what was best for my brothers and I. We couldn't afford much but always had food on the table.

Now I am middle class, far from wealthy but educated and successful in my field, and at least in a position where I can own a nice home, have some money in the bank for a rainy day, and give my kids the things I didn't have.

 

[ucunc156]

once my wife graduates next year and (Godwillingly) has a job, our houshold income should be around 150-200k. Currently we are right around 100k. No wealthy but certainly not poor.

We live a pretty simple life, though we do travel a lot.

 

[ucunc156]

I have a very similar background.

And this is the reason I'm a giant, massive liberal. I know for damn sure that I have it way, way, way easier than both of my parents, yet I'll probably surpass them in material things by the time I reach their age. I did nothing to earn being born to them.

So all that "all you have to do is work hard!" thing is a bunch bullshit. You luck out and have well-off, educated parents, or you don't and have to paddle upstream.

Only the most miserable pieces of shit will treat those paddling upstream with contempt.

My fucking man. Similar situation here. Immigrated to America from India when I was 5. Neither parent had a college degree but still provided for my sisters and I. We were never in want but certainly not rich. Growing up, I was annoyed by those that needed government help. If my family could get by without assistance (they were largely ignorant of the aid available to them), so could people born in this country with no accents and great public school access. I went to college, got a good degree, all at the push of my parents and supportive family structure. They let me live at home rent free if I wanted (I chipped in a little because I felt bad) and the upbringing they gave me is the reason I even got a Chemical Engineering degree. In 2012, I graduated, and I started out earning more than most people I knew at my age. All I cared about was taxes and was enthralled at the idea of low taxes. After all, I made it, why can't others. I certainly subscribed to the libertarian ideals of "do what you want, just don't ask me to pay for it".

Fast forward 4 years and I am a die hard liberal. If I'm still having financial issues with what I make, I can't imagine others scenarios. Whats the single mom going to do? What about those who didn't have a supportive family? What about those who just aren't smart enough to be in a top degree program? I'm never sick, what about the person who tears their ACL, needs to be admitted into an emergency room, or has some other medical emergency (God forbid you get something like cancer)? What about those who lost all their savings in 2008 or saw their house prices greatly depreciate? There are so many factors at play, and so many chances to go broke if just one thing doesn't break your way. I've been lucky and blessed. Sure I worked hard at times, but that doesn't mean that those who haven't are only entitled to die on the streets and poor.

 

[Deleted member 457759]

I lied in my earlier post. Im rich as fuck. I have poor people lick my asshole clean instead of using toilet paper, i have a mega yacht that I spear dolphins from and this isn't even me posting. Im sitting on a thrown in my palace having my dick sucked by miley cyrus as i tell Paris Hilton what to post to sherdog. Cheap whores.

 

[Possum Jenkins]

My fucking man. Similar situation here. Immigrated to America from India when I was 5. Neither parent had a college degree but still provided for my sisters and I. We were never in want but certainly not rich. Growing up, I was annoyed by those that needed government help. If my family could get by without assistance (they were largely ignorant of the aid available to them), so could people born in this country with no accents and great public school access. I went to college, got a good degree, all at the push of my parents and supportive family structure. They let me live at home rent free if I wanted (I chipped in a little because I felt bad) and the upbringing they gave me is the reason I even got a Chemical Engineering degree. In 2012, I graduated, and I started out earning more than most people I knew at my age. All I cared about was taxes and was enthralled at the idea of low taxes. After all, I made it, why can't others. I certainly subscribed to the libertarian ideals of "do what you want, just don't ask me to pay for it".

Fast forward 4 years and I am a die hard liberal. If I'm still having financial issues with what I make, I can't imagine others scenarios. Whats the single mom going to do? What about those who didn't have a supportive family? What about those who just aren't smart enough to be in a top degree program? I'm never sick, what about the person who tears their ACL, needs to be admitted into an emergency room, or has some other medical emergency (God forbid you get something like cancer)? What about those who lost all their savings in 2008 or saw their house prices greatly depreciate? There are so many factors at play, and so many chances to go broke if just one thing doesn't break your way. I've been lucky and blessed. Sure I worked hard at times, but that doesn't mean that those who haven't are only entitled to die on the streets and poor.

Definitely.

I've had a lot of these conversations with friends who are one generation behind me (they're the first in their families to go to college, whereas my parents were both the first in theirs) and some also have the "No excuses! If I struggled and made it, why can't you?" type of attitude, especially towards their family members who aren't doing as well. So I just ask them a few questions:

Them "making it" was tough, hard, and they had to grind. They had to either work exceptionally hard, or be exceptionally talented to get out of that situation, right? They all agree with this. But then I point out that, by definition, being "exceptional" isn't for everyone. In fact, the majority of people won't be exceptional. So we live in a system where if you're poor you have to be exceptional to be able to get out. But if you're middle class you don't have to be, you can just be average.

If you're upper-middle or upper class, you have to be exceptionally shitty to not "make it."

So it makes no sense to look down at the poor as if they fucked up something easy. They didn't. To expect all or most of them to "make it" is like expecting all members of your local HS basketball team to make the NBA and when they don't, to have NBA players say "We made it, why can't you?" (not the best analogy but it's the first that came to mind)

 

[ucunc156]

Spot on. If we agree we live in the richest most powerful country, there is no reason why we, as a population should be okay with a significant population on the streets, hungry, or without healthcare. If you have the be above average to exceptional to live a middle class life, then the system is broken. An average person should be able to live an average life according to american standards, however, that isn't the case and if anything goes wrong, your easily fucked.

 

[panamaican]

What taxes are you referring to?

If the gain is more than $250k individually or $500k jointly. Doesn't apply to most people but if you've lived in it long enough then there's a stronger possibility than if you've only lived in it for several years.

 

[scoopj]

If the gain is more than $250k individually or $500k jointly. Doesn't apply to most people but if you've lived in it long enough then there's a stronger possibility than if you've only lived in it for several years.

Admit that you had to google that. If your gains are more than $500k, chances are you're wealthy. If your gains are more than $500k, chances are that when you do sell, you can pay cash for a pretty nice place and not have a mortgage. Your original post gave me the impression that you've never sold a home. That, or you're pretty well off (or both I suppose).

 

[panamaican]

Admit that you had to google that. If your gains are more than $500k, chances are you're wealthy. If your gains are more than $500k, chances are that when you do sell, you can pay cash for a pretty nice place and not have a mortgage. Your original post gave me the impression that you've never sold a home. That, or you're pretty well off (or both I suppose).

Why would I have to google it? I do real estate law, it comes up regularly.

And you misunderstood my point. If you're talking about your wealth (in terms of the ability to live on it) and you're including your primary residence in that valuation then you're misleading yourself. It's misleading because to access the value in the house, you would have to sell it or borrow against the equity. If you sold the house then you would not add the raw value to your usable assets because, after taxes (if applicable), you would have to spend some of the cash to buy a new place to live. For example, if you had a home worth $500k, you don't really have $500k to make use of. To access the $500k, you'd have to 1st sell the house for $500k and then buy a house to live in. Even if the new house was as cheap as $50k, you're still only getting access to $450k for living expenses. Your real wealth is the value of the existing house minus the cost of a new place to live.

Obviously, this doesn't apply if you own multiple properties and will just move to another property you already own.

If you access the wealth in the home via some sort of debt (HELOC for example), you're still misleading yourself. The money you've gained isn't yours, you have to pay it back to the lender so you're still not accessing your wealth. That's not to say that borrowing against the house is bad but it's not the same as living on your wealth. Once you pay back the loan and interest, you haven't gained anything. You borrow $250k against the property...you have to give the bank $300k (or more) to settle the debt.

I can see why you would get the impression that I've never sold a home, you didn't understand the point.

 

[Higus]

No, but I think I have a pretty good shot at it in my lifetime.

 

[The Clamburglar]

I grew up the richest kid in a very poor town, and now I am the poorest man in a much wealthier town.