Deep reflection time: what's "rich"? [View all]

[jmowreader]

We all want to tax the rich? What IS that?

There is "rich" and "wealthy." Wealthy just means you have a high net worth.

I believe you need three things to be rich.

First, you need enough money that it's not a controlling factor in your life. This is a hard number to pin down because everyone is different. Some people can be here making $25,000 per year. Other people could make $250 million a year and still be controlled by their money; Mitt Romney and Donald Trump come to mind.

Second, more than half of your income is from investments.

And third, your lifestyle wouldn't be diminished if you stopped working.

This doesn't take a huge amount of money. And high income could preclude you from being rich - earn $1 million from work, $500,000 from investments, and your lifestyle would radically change if work went away.