[truecougarblue]

I've noticed as I read through the threads that there are many posters who hold the opinion that in a PO decline, long or short, the wealthiest X% will do just fine.

Please opine as to where you would place a threshold to indicate a person who's wealth will make PO a mild inconvenience, expressed as net worth (assets minus liabilities) in US$.

I realize that variation in investment vehicles can make a big difference in this question. Let's take this into account in our estimates.

My guess, 15 million USD current net worth.

[jdumars]

The thing that cracks me up about the notion of being rich right now is that people still have not mentally caught up with the fact that we are in an extreme state of hyperinflation right now in the housing market. Take for example, this lovely one bedroom apartment, er, condo. Folks, that's 1 million dollars. For 1 bedroom. Think about that for a second. Remember when Robin Leach used to tell us about the "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" and so-and-so had a magnificent 3 million dollar home? 7 units in a modest San Francisco condo complex is $13,000,000. Rich today means 50 million+, and that's in wholly-owned hard assets, not just real estate. We're awash in McMillionaires who are going to be in real trouble relatively soon.

[strider3700]

I think the interesting question isn't how much makes you rich but how much is enough.

[rwwff]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jdumars', 'T')he thing that cracks me up about the notion of being rich right now is that people still have not mentally caught up with the fact that we are in an extreme state of hyperinflation right now in the housing market. Take for example, this lovely one bedroom apartment, er, condo. Folks, that's 1 million dollars.

[lateStarter]

Rich - the guy I saw sitting in the shade of some side street in Warsaw selling strawberries, cherries and beans. Talk about a no-stress job... Mind you, this is all excess from his farm outside the city. Drop the wife off at the corner in the morning, return to the farm, pick her up in the evening.

[rwwff]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'r')wfff your 100 acres in the middle of nowwhere is worth little. Now it is called am American farm and these entities are going broke faster than gold hoarders. In the peak oil future that farmette will be called bait

[rwwff]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 's')o you have $1 million sitting out in a loosing piece of americana waiting for tsthtf?

[jaws]

You're rich when you have to hire someone to calculate how rich you are.

[Chaparral]

I'd argue that net worth doesn't mean a thing without factoring in leverage.

It could be said that someone with a few small properties and other assets all worth maybe 1 or 2 million USD but who DOESN'T OWE A THING to any bank or lender whatsoever is richer than someone who has a volatile 12 million dollar portfolio and owes 8 or 9 million dollars to the lenders.

That being said, it seems that one can never have enough. One day a fella wakes up and finds his net worth has reached the 7 figure milestone. The next morning he's worrying about how to make the second million. Five years later he's wondering how long it'll take to make that an eight figure number.

I'd also note that many don't like to include their primary residences as an asset; only investments count towards net worth. The amount owing on that primary residence however is counted as a liability.

[lotrfan55345]

Obviously it depends on what country you live in... A millonare in USD in Africa would be treated like a king there, yet be treated normally in most 1st world countries...

[eastbay]

Absolutely correct. It all depends on where you live.

In a place like SF, London, Tokyo, or Singapore a net worth of a million (US$ equivalent) will force you to go to work every day much like the person who has a net worth of zero or less than zero.

But a few miles away from Manila, or, for example, just about anywhere in South America, Africa, or in most places from the eastern German border all the way to the Pacific Ocean a person with a million US$ will be considered rich.

The pile of miney determining 'rich' ranges from zero to 10's of millions depending on where you are and what you're doing. The guy in selling produce in Warsaw seems 'rich' to me.

[truecougarblue]

Good replies so far, and helpful to the process.

I agree with those who made points about location, debt, and leverage.

Now my question is could we come up with some formulation to calculate a PO wealth quotient? I think with a bit of tweaking we might be able to make something that calls the independent farmer in El Salvador as wealth as an american millionaire.

I'll think about it some more and see what I come up with.

[Liamj]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', ' ')...In the peak oil future that farmette will be called bait

[rwwff]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Liamj', '
')But farmette has no Coke, no hamburgers, no pharmaceuticals, little hot water, no cable tv, no candy bars etc etc. The real dead wood will be drawn to the exurbs like flies to faeces, and the more you fortify the bigger the mob will think you are worth rolling. Add arguably justifiable anger at the corp/gov pasty faces who mal-administer the descent, and I wouldn't even live near an exurb, such will be their detriovore drawing power.

[And_over]

I think there are levels of wealth. **My figures are for the 1st world**

If you have a net worth of 1.5 million USD your wealthy.

If you have a net worth of 10 million USD and an additional yearly income of several 100,000 USD then you are rich.

At 50 milllion USD with an additional yearly income of at least 1 million USD, then you are extremely wealthy.

If you have a net worth of over 400 million USD and/or a yearly income of 10 million USD, then you are riddiculously wealthy and don't have to worry about money.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jaws', 'Y')ou're rich when you have to hire someone to calculate how rich you are.

[lateStarter]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')f you have a net worth of over 400 million USD and/or a yearly income of 10 million USD, then you are riddiculously wealthy and don't have to worry about money.