When I was younger, being “rich” equated to buying stuff. Now that I’m older and wiser, I still want to be rich, but for different reasons. Sure, I still want to buy things, but the things I want to buy have changed substantially.
Having just hit the $1M milestone with my husband (with almost 90% of it being my savings), I am not rich yet, but feel finally on our way. Rich, to me, is having $10M in assets. This is what I would do if I was rich:
- own a home outright and be able to comfortably afford taxes and maintenance on investments/interest (i.e. in Bay Area a $2M home)
- easily afford college for all kids in full and leftover $ to help them get started out (but not to the point where they become lazy)
- pass down some wealth to my children–enough to help them but not enough so they do not know the value of a dollar
- “treat” friends and family to meals out, buy them nice gifts, even take them on vacations and pay for the trip
- donate to causes that matter and/or put $ into trust for later donation after it grows to more substantial amount.
- take time off to spend with family and travel
- afford IVF if needed to have 2nd + 3rd kid
- pay for kid’s extracurriculars, camps, pre college programs, etc, without worrying about $
- have enough financial stability to start my own business (or non-profit) and it not impacting long term financial goals
- not worry about retirement or long-term care or unexpected disability
- hire household help to cook healthy meals, clean, personal trainer, etc, esp while working
- buy my mother a home and make sure her financial future is stable
- help future grandkids out as needed
- take classes in art and photography, focus some time on my hobbies and see if I can get any better at them
- write books or at least have the time to write them
I don’t think I’ll be “rich” ever but if I do get to $10M it will be after many years of working and I’ll likely be on my deathbed! But it’s good to have goals!
(Visited 145 times, 1 visits today)
Have you thought about calculating how much money you would really need to be able to afford everything that would make you feel rich? My quick estimate is about $6M.
I didn’t calculate it entirely but my semi arbitrary goal is $6M. I think $10M would be ideal but $6M feels a *little* more realistic (talking $6M of my own money not including husband’s.) I should break $1M on my own in the next year but have a long way to go to get to $6M.