• BillyClark@piefed.social
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    5 days ago

    My bare minimum standard for calling a person “rich” is whether they can live in luxury purely on the passive income from their investments. By that standard, a person with only a million dollars would not be rich. You probably need more like 10 million.

    I agree one million isn’t abject poverty, but it would be a giant change in lifestyle. They’d either have to give up on most luxuries and live somewhere cheap, or they’d have to actually work for money.

    • anomnom@sh.itjust.works
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      5 days ago

      6% interest in 10million is 600k plenty to live on unless you have multiple houses, personal cruise ships or private jets.

      • Ava@piefed.blahaj.zone
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        5 days ago

        A safe withdrawal rate on funds invested is usually 3-4%, not 6%.

        Not that $300k isn’t more than sufficient for a high quality lifestyle. Your point is more than valid.

      • BillyClark@piefed.social
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        5 days ago

        I’m not sure you’re trying to say that I did, but I didn’t mean that 10 million was the minimum needed to say a person is rich.

        I was saying my standard for rich was in the neighborhood of 10 million, compared to 1 million. If you have 1 million, your 6% would be 60k, but you don’t get interest on your house where you’re living, so if you purchased a house in today’s market that might be 250k, and now you’re down to 45k. Certainly not a salary where you can live in luxury.

      • redsand@infosec.pub
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        5 days ago

        About $2million is enough for a trust fund one can live relatively comfortably on. $10million and you can live in excess indefinitely.

        • anomnom@sh.itjust.works
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          4 days ago

          Historical average of the stock market, who the fucking knows now. I get shit because I’m not saving at the moment.

    • Soup@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      Like, sorta, but also no. “Most luxuries” and “live somewhere cheap” are both insane things to say, too.

      I know what you’re trying to get at, and I get it, but to say that someone who can still drive any car they want, live pretty much wherever except for some very specific places, get into whatever niche hobby their heart desires, and never needs to fear unemployment is not rich is just silly. I also said “tax them”, which means they’d still have everything else they currently own and could make money on that stuff, too.

      A person with a million dollars is a person without any meaningful restriction on their life.

      Edit: Goddamn, a lot of ya’ll really upset about this comment. Too bad, learn to read, and, failing that, find a high bridge over deep water ‘cause dealing with ya’ll just ain’t worth it.

      • BillyClark@piefed.social
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        5 days ago

        You said “tax them into only having a million dollars,” which I cannot reconcile with your latest statement “they’d still have everything else they currently own and could make money on that stuff, too.”

        If you are talking purely about how much cash they have in the bank, then every person would just buy stocks until they had under that amount. Almost nothing would change.

        • zikzak025@lemmy.world
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          5 days ago

          FWIW, stocks also need to be taxed a lot more than they are, or sharply limited in their trading potential and/or as compensation. Compensation in stock is how most of the billionaires of today amass their wealth, and it needs to stop being the loophole that it is.

      • lad@programming.dev
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        5 days ago

        Well, if I had a million right now and stopped working, and everyone in my family would not work either anymore, that million will not last us even until my retirement age, that’s also if the inflation is 0% until then. A million 50 years ago would probably be enough for that, but not now

      • Grail@multiverse.soulism.net
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        5 days ago

        Isn’t a million like the price of a house these days? I get that we’re all poor and we’re never gonna own property, but the price of a house isn’t enough to live in luxury for life.