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Average global income is about 12k per year, a million dollars is 80+ years of the average person working. I'd call that wealthy.

taylodl 3y ago
I'll counter that the American having a million dollars USD also has a lot more in expenses than the average global citizen. The cost of living in the US is quite high. From a certain vantage point, we should encourage those Americans to leave and take their money and distribute it elsewhere in the world.
- etrautmann 3y ago
  Yep - The cost of housing, education, health care, and retirement require a different calculus than living in most other countries.
etrautmann 3y ago
I think it’s more reasonable to think about it in relative terms to the cost of living in an area. Yes, it’s healthy to have perspective, but a 2BR in NY can cost well over 1.5M, and the cost of just existing in a city makes a world-definition of wealthy somewhat less relevant for many.
- willcipriano 3y ago
  This is a common line of thinking among the wealthy, what they are missing is that it isn't just your cost of living that is higher it is your standard of living that is. People living in the Hamptons aren't basically middle class and just happen to have millions of dollars to afford to live there, it's an expensive place to live and only the very wealthy can afford it. They are wealthy. Same as SF, Manhattan, etc. If it was as you claim you'd be foolish not to move to India and have your same high standard of living for pennies on the dollar.
- randomdata 3y ago
  Wealth produces income, and usually in a linear way. If you have $1.5M in wealth then you should have 1.5M times more income each year than someone who has $1 in wealth from that source alone. Note: That doesn't imply a $1.5M income; it more likely means you make, say, $50,000 while the other person makes an imperceptible amount. If that is not the case, you are failing to utilize the asset to its full potential and should be selling it to someone who can. Feeling the pinch on the cost side is the pressure for you to make that happen. Shape up or ship out, as they say. And, should you ship out, once you do sell it then you have $1.5M to deploy somewhere where you can fully utilize the wealth. Then you will realize the 1.5M multiple to not only to your own benefit, but also society at large. Under-utilized assets harm us all. If you have $1.5M in wealth, you are unquestionably wealthy. If you choose to forgo the income wealth can provide, thereby hurting on the cost side, that's merely a choice.
dagw 3y ago
While a million dollars might be wealthy in some global sense I don't think it's helpful to the debate to classify them as such. A 67 year old whom after 45 years of work has managed to pay off his mortgage and scrape together a million dollars into his Vanguard account isn't meaningfully wealthy in the way a 40 year old CEO worth 100s of millions is wealthy, even though they're both "millionaires". The second person has power and influence and options that the first person will never have. The first person has much more in common with someone with a median income than someone actually wealthy.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

taylodl 3y ago

I'll counter that the American having a million dollars USD also has a lot more in expenses than the average global citizen. The cost of living in the US is quite high. From a certain vantage point, we should encourage those Americans to leave and take their money and distribute it elsewhere in the world.

etrautmann 3y ago
Yep - The cost of housing, education, health care, and retirement require a different calculus than living in most other countries.

etrautmann 3y ago

I think it’s more reasonable to think about it in relative terms to the cost of living in an area. Yes, it’s healthy to have perspective, but a 2BR in NY can cost well over 1.5M, and the cost of just existing in a city makes a world-definition of wealthy somewhat less relevant for many.

willcipriano 3y ago
This is a common line of thinking among the wealthy, what they are missing is that it isn't just your cost of living that is higher it is your standard of living that is. People living in the Hamptons aren't basically middle class and just happen to have millions of dollars to afford to live there, it's an expensive place to live and only the very wealthy can afford it. They are wealthy. Same as SF, Manhattan, etc. If it was as you claim you'd be foolish not to move to India and have your same high standard of living for pennies on the dollar.
randomdata 3y ago
Wealth produces income, and usually in a linear way. If you have $1.5M in wealth then you should have 1.5M times more income each year than someone who has $1 in wealth from that source alone. Note: That doesn't imply a $1.5M income; it more likely means you make, say, $50,000 while the other person makes an imperceptible amount. If that is not the case, you are failing to utilize the asset to its full potential and should be selling it to someone who can. Feeling the pinch on the cost side is the pressure for you to make that happen. Shape up or ship out, as they say. And, should you ship out, once you do sell it then you have $1.5M to deploy somewhere where you can fully utilize the wealth. Then you will realize the 1.5M multiple to not only to your own benefit, but also society at large. Under-utilized assets harm us all. If you have $1.5M in wealth, you are unquestionably wealthy. If you choose to forgo the income wealth can provide, thereby hurting on the cost side, that's merely a choice.

dagw 3y ago

While a million dollars might be wealthy in some global sense I don't think it's helpful to the debate to classify them as such. A 67 year old whom after 45 years of work has managed to pay off his mortgage and scrape together a million dollars into his Vanguard account isn't meaningfully wealthy in the way a 40 year old CEO worth 100s of millions is wealthy, even though they're both "millionaires". The second person has power and influence and options that the first person will never have. The first person has much more in common with someone with a median income than someone actually wealthy.

deleted 3y ago
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