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Comment by jacquesm | Hacker News Reader

Define 'rich'.

If you're healthy and you have people to love and that love you in return and you get to write your own ticket in life then you are rich beyond belief.

If you crave money for its own sake you will never be rich.

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Similar to jacquesm, my answer to the question of how I became rich was "I was born in America." Our poor people have access to more than anyone in the history of the world. Our poor people have magic boxes with which they can talk to people anywhere. Our poor people can go to a building where they have free books for anyone, and more magic boxes with which they can look up any piece of information they want, for free. Our poor people can walk into a supermarket and buy fresh fruit year round. (If they have kids, the government will even give them coupons) Our poor people have another magic box that receives 24-hour moving pictures of news, movies, entertainment, and educational programming. Many of our poor people have a metal box that you pour gasoline in and it moves by itself much faster than a horse can gallop. When our poor get sick, they can go to the emergency room and get doctors for free (the rich people's insurance and the rich tax-payers foot the bill).

In a third-world country poor people wonder if they are going to have food today. If they get sick, they die. When they want to travel, they walk. If the crops fail, they starve. They can count on the fingers of one hand the number of suits of clothes they have.

If you have a college degree, statistically, you are richer than 98% of the world.

Everyone has their own version of 'rich'. In my experience the ones that are the richest are the most driven and don't consider themselves rich no matter how much they have. Like my grandparents who had a net worth into the $tens of millions and yet I watched my grandma spend a half hour looking for the cheapest can of food on an aisle at the grocery store - anything to save one or two cents.

I think people become wealthy by being somewhat obsessed with saving money, starting businesses, or cutting costs in all aspects of their lives. Once they've achieved a certain amount of money, no matter how much it is, their brain is hardwired to save, so they will probably never spend it in their lifetime.

I also get a kick out of people responding that they are rich with a net worth of $100K, and also have mortgages, car loans, etc, that they don't count against their savings. This is ridiculous- they brag that they can afford a nice car so they must be rich- no, I'm sorry, you're a poor wage slave who has more debt than savings; you are not rich.

My definition of rich is pretty simple - if you can stop working tomorrow and maintain your present lifestyle - I consider that wealthy. You have the freedom to do what you want with your life. For some people this might be a few million, for some this might be much more.

I agree that you are only rich if you are not a slave to someone elses clock.

> If you can stop working tomorrow and maintain your present lifestyle - I consider that wealthy.

Even for most rich people, stopping work would require some adjustments. Tom Wolfe documented this pretty well in Bonfire of the Vanities. A bond trader loses his job and has to live on his savings. He acknowledges that he could still live like a king if he just moved out of his Park Avenue apartment, but "going backwards" is just socially inconceivable. He'd have to quit the club that all his wife's friends are members of, etc. etc.

However, I agree to some extent with your definition of rich. I just note that 'present lifestyle' is also a variable here. This is why adjusting your expectations provides, in a certain sense, the best ROI possible. It costs nothing and you can become fabulously wealthy as a result.

My reply to the question "How did you become rich?" would be "I cut down on the amount of money I need to live".

> Define 'rich'.

Not having to worry about money, and working by choice rather than out of necessity.

Then I know a lot of people with >$30 million who are not rich, and I know a few with <$1 million who are rich.

That doesn't make your definition wrong, but it does point out that being rich is a matter of personal choices on expenses just as much as income/gross worth.

If you go to West Chester county NY you'll find hundreds of ex-Wall Street guys with foreclosures on their 5 million dollar houses and annual salaries >400k and little to show for it after the crash.

Rich: having passive income that satisfies your material needs/desires.

It's easier to make money than to love and be loved for some.

you wouldn't be able to make that statement without that being the case for you personally, now would you?

If you crave money for its own sake you will never be rich.

What's the logic behind that? I see a lot of people making this claim (probably unwarranted).. where exactly is this coming from?

By learning what 'enough' is for me.

I'm not "rich", but I'm cashflow positive.

I define it in a different way, and in more practical terms. Being rich in America means not having day-to-day concerns about money. Sure, the rich need to worry about their riches. But not like most of us who are far to close to becoming poor (definition: not enough wherewithal to care for one's self and family).

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