Do you ever ask yourself “are we rich yet?” during tax season like I do? 😂 It’s a question my wife and I joke about, but it got me thinking – when have you truly felt rich in your life? 🤔
Here are a few moments that have made me feel wealthy, not just financially, but in other aspects too:
– Traveling to a dream destination 🌍
– Being able to give back to others in need 🙏
– Spending quality time with loved ones without any worries 💖
It’s all about perspective and gratitude, isn’t it? So, let’s share our experiences and insights on what makes us feel rich – you never know, it might inspire someone else! 💡✨
#Gratitude #Wealth #Perspective #Richness #LifeRichness #FinancialIndependence
I’ll let you know when I find out.
Hedonistic treadmill and lifestyle creep
When I flew business class for the first time. It may be a regular occurrence for some (not me) but it was so much fun!
I’m from a low income family and also in health (medical).
I am very cognisant of the moving goal posts.
Median (not average) salary was around 65k in 2022. That’s about the base rate I earned as an intern doctor. It was also around what some of my family members made working really hard. I was really grateful at the time and thought it was amazing. Wouldn’t get out of bed now for that salary.
You go from being grateful you’re earning 65k to hearing your anaesthetic bosses whinging they only make 500k now due to dropping to part time or not doing as many private lists. It’s very easy to lose perspective get caught up in lifestyle creep trying to afford shit you don’t want or need.
Interestingly having had the privilege to work in a high earning field and also be around people at the end of their lives I don’t think there is a good correlation between money and happiness beyond 120k or so. I’ve seen people die happily with fairly average finances and known too many people on 1mill + incomes kill themselves.
So to answer your question I think you need to stop and evaluate what brings you joy and adds value to your life. These are the things that make you rich. Beyond food / shelter / essentials it’s likely not money or things money can easily buy.
When I don’t have any money worries.
Having a fancy dinner with my ex on a $500 gift card from my company.
When I travelled to the USA back in 2012.
We’ve paid off our mortgage. I thought we would feel rich then- but now we are trying to save for retirement. When we don’t have to work or can retire- then I’ll feel well off.
I feel rich whenever my kids laugh, the proper uncontrollable belly laugh.
Ever been to India? That’ll do the trick for you. Permanently.
A year ago when I stop looking at prices when food shopping.
I won 18k at the casino when i was 24. I felt rich for a day or 2 😂
Every day I way up in good health, with a roof over my head, food in my fridge and good people around me, I feel rich
When I was in Thailand
Any day feels rich when I don’t see a bill pop up
For me it’s relative, I remember when starting out I was earning $37,000 as a uni graduate. I had to budget carefully to live, buying some hotdogs and renting a few movies was my reward at the end of the week.
Now, I own my house mortgage free, I should be able to retire before I’m 55. I feel incredibly well off to where I started out at, I’ve never really cared to compare what I have to my friends and family.
“Rich” seems like a metric that’s so subjective as to be largely meaningless IMO.
But if you’re retiring very comfortably at 50, I suspect you’d be considered “rich” by the vast majority of people in the country.
In my line of work, I’m surrounded by business owners, senior public servants, and commercial investors. There’s no way I’d ever “feel rich” if I attempted to compare material goods.
I prefer to focus on what is important to me. I have a healthy family and we get to spend lots of quality time together. Makes me feel pretty satisfied with my lot in life.
Doesn’t make me complacent though, come work hours, still hustling hard.
Living with my folks in Cape Town earning ZAR7000 per month (which is around $700) around 2004. Could afford petrol, beer, restaurants and long chill holidays.
Newest fridge has an ice machine, unplumbed, gets used every day in some capacity. Not sure why but makes me feel rich
When you find something that you really want / really want to do, and it’s price/cost doesn’t enter your decision making.
This rule applies irrespective of whether it’s a big or small $$$. The discipline is around how sure you ‘really want’ something.
I’m from a low income background and still live frugally. Cash for everything, no loans unless home loan.
We feel pretty good financially. We aren’t stressed about money because we’ve never cared to “keep up with the joneses”.
Just chill and be cheap.
In Mexico, 2013. Flew out of there to NYC and immediately felt poor again.
Surrounded by good friends and family
Genuinely it was after we had our first kid, and we were able to buy everything we needed / wanted without any hesitation. I’ve since smartened up about how we spend on the little one but it’s great to be able to go and buy all the stuff we needed in one go and not be stressed, or the nice pram vs the cheaper one etc etc.
Before this I definitely did succumb to lifestyle creep, all the promotions and extra money didn’t really make me feel any wealthier even if I could buy nicer shit for myself.
My fridge can automatic make ice cubes; it has a water inlet and a water filter inbuilt. Samsung signature French fridge
I think I’ll feel rich when I can buy or do what I want without looking/worrying about the price. Not massive purchases like a car or house, but when dining out, shopping, or doing groceries. And being able to on holiday without worrying about it taking a hit to my savings.
I feel rich all the time even though we’re not what you’d see on TV associated with “rich”. I don’t have to put my ethics aside to do my job, we don’t struggle to pay bills, we have a great network of loving and supportive friends, every night my kids go to bed with full tummies in warm beds. We have a basic house in western Sydney and we own one car, have minimal tech, don’t ever do fine dining, about to go on our first overseas holiday in 8 years in a few months. We will semi retire at 45, fully retire at 50. Life is good.
Disney fast pass.
I wouldn’t say rich but I am very comfortable now. Retired early and money is not a concern at all. Feeling rich is fleeting. You probably feel rich after winning a large lump sum and then probably get used to it
I felt rich when I first moved to Australia in 2015. Essentially doubled my salary for the same job I was doing in the UK, plus rent was cheaper here (or at least you could get a much nicer place for the same price as London) – my wife and I could afford a two bed in a nice suburb to ourselves (lower north shore), without having to share with another couple. First two years here genuinely felt like we were doing really well.
Fast forward to 2024, I now make more than double what I made in 2015, and my wife makes about 50% more than she did back then, but we constantly feel like we’re playing catchup, and the notion of buying a house where we want to live that is fit for our growing family seems wildly out of reach.
TLDR: Felt rich when we moved here in 2015 and have gradually realised we are not year on year since then.
Not having to check my bank account before making a purchase.
Once a month on payday
First well paying job as a student on centrelink (years back now). I had been living of cupboard mac n cheese and ramen.
First paycheck, I bought chicken, bacon, and a bottle of champagne. Fried and cooked em all up. Then, I watched Titanic while sipping $20 champers and eating a plate full of meat. I finally went to bed full.
Never before or since have I felt so rich
Low income childhood here. Every day that I make a purchase and the word “approved” appears.
I was ready to retire at 50 when I was 48. Wife fell into alcoholism, DV and we had 2 kids under 7. I felt rich just prior to that. Lost everything and the wife died of an overdose. Things can change quickly.
Had a windfall event in early 2017.
I then found I was not interested in any aspirational purchases any more (cars, jewellery, anything flashy) because I didn’t care to impress people by pretending to look rich. I never liked brand names to begin with, but this really made me question the motivation for some purchases.
However, on the other hand I realised that I no longer wanted to take the cheapest option when it was clearly lower quality or less comfortable.
So in some ways I saved money, in others I spent more. All in all I spend a bit more, but I had nowhere near the level of lifestyle creep I expected.
Holidaying in a third world country using a Australian credit card, while paying local proces
Truthfully- doing Case Management in mental health had me working with a lot of folks in the public housing system. Even on community sector money, that did it. Really enforced the significance of shelter, food amd access to healthcare as the big things.
During early covid when the lines at Centrelink exploded in length walking past while still being employed – big rich feeling. Add to that briefly being a sustainable one income household in that period.
Now: opening the door to our own apartment and knowing we have the cash to survive for a significant period if everything went to shit.
When I had spares of stuff. Broken cable, spares in the drawer. Need a light globe, in the drawer. Kid stole my pens, got a box in my drawer. Flat battery, in the drawer.