[Gaur]

To me being rich is a combination of having decent material possessions and mental satisfaction/peace.

You cant just have mental satisfaction and zero bank balance and still say i am rich because i feel so, let a hard situation hit you and all mental peace goes for a toss the other way round is as well same, you can have all the money and no mental satisfaction, you will never consider yourself rich.

If i have to define the threshold of being rich i would first start with defining my lifestyle that i want to have and whether i just want to maintain it going forward or further improve it , once this is clear then i look into my finance current and future projection and then say whether i am rich or not.

As far as i am concerned at the moment, i am pretty happy with my current lifestyle, have a house, no loans, fairly stable/decent income (me +wife), parents still not dependent on me (covered completely by Mediclaim and have independent source of income), have some ancestral property.

My kids would be starting schooling in few years that's currently the only major expense i foresee in the future as i dont expect any major shift in my lifestyle, i am happy travelling in economy class, going on local holiday rather then international ones, happy with the roadside vada-pao rather then the 5star meal.

I just wish to maintain this lifestyle, spend time with family and friends without worrying about job security.

My wishlist would be to maintain same level of salary with hike sufficient enough to account for inflation, that would be more then enough to easily maintain monthly expenses plus good enough amount left to invest for future or any emergency or any discretionary spends.

Additionally 3cr-5cr (more the better ) of liquid assets (gold/F.D/Govt bonds) with averaged out 6% post tax returns of which most will be re-invested and i am set for life (hopefully).

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by lina

I should total upto approximately 44Cr as of today. Then, I am rich.

Just food for thought as Ive quoted this before.

[silverado]

For me being rich today would be :

1) To be able to buy a Thar and custom modify it to the hilt.
2) Buy a Force traveler and customize it in to a campervan and roam around the world!

3) Buy a 800cc touring bike and go touring
4) Buy a very small and compact EV with all features - Maybe MG comet.
5) Buy and maintain a Land rover defender.
6) Have a house which can have covered parking for all of these
7) Have a job which can allow me to fulfill above needs

Now you do the maths

[Kickdown]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Just food for thought as Ive quoted this before.

Apt story for the subject .
Reminded me of the comic 'Tinkle' which I was very fond of in my childhood days. The good old days before mobiles took over.

[vredesbyrd]

OT: Since the thread is heavy with mostly philosophy and relatively few answers with quantitative goals, let me joke around here. My definition of rich would be:

1. Most people (especially software devs) working in SaaS within Bangalore
2. IIM/ISB/XLRI graduates
3. Unemployed youth from NCR with a youtube channel
4. A liar called Vikas Dayal
5. That overconfident, helpful, hardworking and rude class bully who made it to Ab InBev/Philips/Diageo/Hardcore high paying no sleep sales role

As much as I agreed that half of these require tremendous effort or maths (latter for any engineering/MBA college - I am very bad at it), we must accept the fact that there always will be someone born with the proverbial golden spoon or sheer luck just to get in and out of right opportunities with little to no effort

So, as the the motto of our friends group:
"Don't stop at the top, Don't stop before you die, But know when to take a breather"

P.S. I hope Bunty the cat gets better soon. Seems like a cool fellow

[RaghuVis]

Let me take a different road and try to answer with less philosophy and more base on your heart. We went to a mall yesterday and kiddo wanted to try out a new café which he has been telling about for so long. Let me tell you, this is not your Starbucks-level café (which itself is ridiculously expensive when you think that it's considered an average café in the western part of the world).

The smallest cup size of coffee is 250 + tax. A small muffin costs about 180 +tax. A starter of Taco (3 pieces) costs 250 +Tax. We ended up spending around 700 bucks for just 2 coffee and a small muffin.

The question is what did we feel while paying? The first question is could we afford that? Of course. Both of us work and we have enough money to spend 700 bucks every day for such a meagre amount of non-tasty food!
The next question is were we happy to spend that money? A big fat No! We were discussing while driving back home and thinking when will be able to spend 700 bucks without even an iota of regret. We kept consoling ourselves that we will at some point in our life want to become so rich that we will spend on such things without thinking about anything. We could not think of an amount though! guess that took a philosophical turn that I said I won't take.

[ScorpWarp]

The answer would vary from person to person depending on life stage, where he/she lives, liabilities, dependents and aspirations. To measure in material possessions:

If:

1. Loan free house
2. Loan free car and bike
3. School, college expenses taken care of
4. Independent parents and in-laws

Then:

Rich =
5 cr in invested assets
+
1.2 L to 1.5L per month net income from invested assets

Work: optional, just to keep busy or pursue passion.

That's my personal goal for living in Pune. Obviously this is subjective.

The other day my company cab driver was chatting with me. He is from Chiplun village in Konkan. His definition of rich and content was:

1. Flat worth 15 L in pune suburb
2. Loan free House in the village
3. 25 k monthly income from crab harvesting and little bit of farming
4. Maruti Ignis currently on yellow plate, to be converted to white plate

[Livnletcarsliv]

Here is my 2 cents.

Well this is an open ended question.
It is like asking how long is actually far (or) how much do you love your mom?

For eg - In India, anyone who falls in any of the choices/options that you've given is a super rich person. Because India is still a poor country where majority of the population are still facing challenges for their daily needs - Food, Water, House, Clothes, etc.

The other challenge to answer such a question is that, the more the audience are , the more the scale/number varies. A question like this in a public forum like Tbhp (which is purely an automotive/auto enthusiasts community) can only give a biased answer with the given choices). And it is definitely not the true representation of a society/country like India.

While I say this, I also believe that FINANCIALLY someone is always richer than me and I am always richer than someone. Of course, when the financial freedom increases or rather the money at disposal increases, the dreams/priorities in life changes. So all it matter is what is the definition of being rich (is it only the money/assets) and what/whom it is compared with?

[GutsyGibbon]

Originally Posted by vjbox

Rich use the art of leverage. The reason business borrow from banks when they still have cash reserves. Those cash reserves are invested in various other instruments and markets working harder and appreciating while the borrowed sum takes care of acquiring various other assets/ expansion plans etc. You can very well apply this principle even as an individual as long as you have a sound financial backing and managed assets.

Good point, you are right, the rich also get better terms, and lower interest rates as its secured with good asset backing. Perhaps the reason I am not rich

[AirbusCapt]

In india, no matter how rich you are, you will never live a high quality life. You always rub shoulders (may be behind a ac glass) with beggars, filth, crowds , noxious fumes, dust and pollution. How much can you insulate yourself from these? Even a modest nation like our neighbour Sri Lanka has an exceptional quality of life when compared to us in India. With only 2.2 crores of population for a land size of almost 3/4 of south India, this is country of cleanliness, beauty, culture and a society where a zebra crossing is respected. I'm currently vacationing on this island and this is a constant thought that strikes me..about how poor we are, even if we are economically getting richer than our neighbours

[Karaboudjan]

This a very interesting debate, the opinions to which would be more apt, if the person writing also disclose their age.
Being rich/wealthy may mean different things at different ages.

[EvilZombie]

In his book "F.U. Money", author Dan Lok describes this something like the amount of money you need to maintain a decently luxurious lifestyle ( Live in a nice house, drive a nice car, take vacations, wear designer clothes, etc) without having to worry about money. This will differ from person to person and country to country. I tend to agree with this perspective to an extent.

Living in India if you own a house and a nice car (cars) that's not on EMI, if you have enough in the bank to support your daily needs plus the occasional splurge, have enough medical and other insurances, and a steady source of passive income that doesn't depend on your work, then you are rich. Offcourse there's no end to what a person wants, so there is no ceiling to the amount of money you need. But the idea is, in order to stay rich, your passive income should exceed your expenses

Now if your lifestyle is dependent on your active income, then you are at risk of losing your lifestyle if you stop working. In that scenario, you aren't really rich, regardless of how much you earn right now.

[VaibhavShatna95]

Just adding one more point of view here,
The definition of rich would also be dependant on how secure you felt while growing up and the generation you have grown up in.
I have seen people making enough money which will definitely put them above the most favoured category here and still being measy and counting every expense.

Most of the government officials would not fall into the 5cr+ and 5lpa+ category but I feel they are rich because they are taken care of for life. Don't even need liquid assets to generate a passive income once they grow old (pension), free/subsidized medicare (talking about pre capitalism era) etc.
This is also observed worldwide as saving rates are dropping in developing/developed nations dramatically because people are not scared of world ending threats like war, loot, riots or even country breaking economic downturns.

Now if you feel secure that would be my definition of rich if you don't then your current living standards are not enough and you have not gone beyond the base of Maslow's heirarchy of needs. So being rich is as much a psychological factor as a wealth factor becuase if you don't spend it in your lifetime then there was no meaning to it for "you" to begin with and you have just passed it along.

And I feel the views here are most biased including mine in terms of poll. I mean in which part of the world if you have a daily help to do your household chores etc. would you not consider yourself rich
After all just 16LPA+ income puts you into top 1% in India, the PPP of Rupee is incredible.

[Schneller]

Personally for me, being rich means having the freedom to do / buy / travel whatever/ wherever you want without thinking of money. This obviously does not include ultra luxury items like $1m watches and $10m cars but, does include your luxury items.

Basically:

Want to buy a 30 lakh rupee watch? No problem
3 cr porsche? No problem
A trip around the world
A good house live in (bought/rented)
Working because you feel like it, not to afford your life
Being able to financially care and settle your kids / parents.

Being financially able to execute business ideas we get. This is important, while most people buy residential properties and rent them for 2-3%, there are people who can afford commercial properties at huge scales (20-50cr) investment and enjoy 12-15% rent.

In my opinion, one would need around $20-30m in todays terms to being actually called “rich”. This is just my thinking and it might be different since I’m 25 right now.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by Schneller

Personally for me, being rich means having the freedom to do / buy / travel whatever/ wherever you want without thinking of money.
In my opinion, one would need around $20-30m in todays terms to being actually called “rich”. This is just my thinking and it might be different since I’m 25 right now.

Please go through the start of this thread and especially that story of 7 jars

Though at your age, I know where you are coming from, at twice yours, I configure my 911-Turbo S built almost daily