How much is 'rich'?

[naomi24]

Aristocracy and celebrities aside, at what salary level would you draw the dividing line between rich and poor?

[gina32]

do you mean rich as in lots of money or rich as in property?

[monkeyeyes]

Morning, naomi.
Good holiday ?

[rojash]

I don't see how you can draw a dividing line between rich and poor. Say you considered someone who earned 200,000 a year to be rich, would you consider someone on 199,000 to be poor ?

There's a lot of gradations between rich and poor.

[naomi24]

Good morning Monkeyeyes, yes thanks, lovely. Off again soon.

Gina and rojash, this question stems from the thread in News about the 10p band (or lack of it) where 'the rich' and 'the poor', have been mentioned, and I wondered what people's perception of 'rich' is, and what criteria they employ to divide the rich from the poor. I'm not talking about government statistics - just people in general.

[jake-the-peg]

I'd say you were rich if you have enough money not to have to work and are happy about that.

You're poor if you have no disposable income after meeting your survival costs.

Most of us are in the middle I'd guess

[keyplus90]

I think it all depends on personal thinking. If you ask the richest person in the world, he or she would still want more wealth. For that reason I do not believe being rich has any thing to do with monetary issues. I believe being rich is having things which you may be able to search with money but not be able to buy. And that is health, children, love, and above all satisfaction about what you have instead of worrying about what you do not have.

I myself would like enough that I would not have to ask for help if I have an on the spot expense (Car, Home, or any thing). I have read about people who had lunch and were not worried about dinner and were satisfied. And I have seen people who have millions and are still looking for more and are not satisfied.

So in the end It is a difficult question to establish as it all depends on personal desire.

[ludwig]

It's impossible to put a figure on it, and pretty hard to define what rich and poor mean.

The Cambridge online dictionary defines rich as 'Having a lot of money or valuable possessions', which doesn't help much because it doesn't go on to tell you what 'a lot of' means.

I quite like Jake's definition of poverty, but his one for 'rich' doesn't really work because it would make pensioners and people living on benefits rich. Also, you could have people who were both rich and poor at the same time using those definitions - I can't come up with anything better though.

[keyplus90]

I will give you definition -

Rich - People who have every thing more than what they need.

Poor - People who hardly have any thing what they need.

Middle Class - People who have something and may not have something else what they need.

[DrFilth]

keyplus90
middle class should be in the middle of rich and poor that is why they are called middle class

[brionon]

My definition of Rich ? ME ! Although my income is very low,I have enough and I don't crave more. I'm rich.

[RevFunk]

Rich is not having to work in my opinion.

You can have a 100 grand a year job but because of your mortgage/car payments/loans be worse off than someone on 200 quid a week

[keyplus90]

There you go. Dr

Rich - People who have every thing more than what they need.

Middle Class - People who have something and may not have something else what they need


Poor - People who hardly have any thing what they need.

[naomi24]

I didn't ask for a 'definition' of rich or poor, nor for personal thoughts on the acquisition of wealth or otherwise. I asked at what level would you consider someone to be rich?

For example, we'll commonly hear people say something like 'it's ok for him/her, he/she's rich', when in fact, although the person in question may have a nice car and a nice house, he does not have boundless wealth, and works hard for a living, albeit for a relatively high salary. In your view, does that really make him rich, or as RevFunk indicates, is the perception of his wealth to those who earn less very often a misconception?

[Octavius]

It would probably have to be measured on disposable income, after all the incoming and outgoing has been toted up. I am always flabbergasted at my monthly tax/NI deductions!

But then as said if you had plenty of DI leftover it is likely that you would use it to buy more/spend more (bigger house/expensive car etc) so the level of DI generally goes down.

You really couldn't put a number on it, other than to say that after all is added and subtracted, if you have enough leftover to do the things you really want to do then that is pretty darn well off. But 'rich' I reckon is where you just can't spend more than your earnings/interest on the ready cash without frittering it away needlessly.

My mate Phil is pretty damn rich, but its based on his "worth" not his salary, although he has been known to 'pay himself' a handsome reward every now and again. Currently he is "worth" around �4 - 5bn depending on who you ask. Thats quite rich in my opinion.

[China Doll]

I'm not going to get started on this again as I think I started a (slightly) stroppy thread about this before myself but I tend to think that if you can do what you want to do most of the time rather than what you have to do then you're pretty damn rich.

Now if you don't mind - Octavius my little love muffin, does this Phil have a significant other and if so, realisitically, how attached is he to them?

[wee willie]

you havin a stropp china?

i'd put it ten 2 one

[Octavius]

Hey my little chewitt, still thinking about me in the early hours eh?

Unfortunately (for you at least) he has a Lady. But even if he didn't, I'm not sure he'd be your type. For a start, he comes from Croydon.

[paulsmummy]

i think you are rich, if u got food in your belly, good health, fresh water, and family to love you and you them.

[China Doll]

Hey up jelly bean,

I can generally over look these little things.

I'm not too worried about where he's from either.

Boom boom! Try the veal folks...

[monkeyeyes]

Hmm..........a bit difficult to answer this one.

I had an astonishingly well-paid job (in my eyes) quite a few years ago and had I answered this question then, I would have been rich.

However, after 3 months (long story !!) I no longer had that job and went to work for an agency which didn't pay me (comparatively) at minimum wage levels, now................so I suppose if you had asked me then, I would have been poor.

I think it is more a question of long-term receipt of a decent salary that can determine upon which side of the divide you fall.